THERE'S A REASON THE rIGHT HATES DEMOCRACY:

To understand the fundamental reason why the environment has improved, we should consider the work of Nobel Prize-winning economist Simon Kuznets.

Kuznets examined the relationship between income inequality and development. What he found was, as a country becomes wealthier, inequality begins to increase--at first. But as countries continue to become wealthier, this inequality falls over time. Economists call this relationship, the Kuznets curve.

In other words, as countries get wealthier the wealth begins to concentrate, but it spreads out over time.

A similar pattern has revealed itself over time in environmental economics. The "environmental Kuznets curve" describes how, as poor countries start to get richer, their environments get worse, but then it improves!

Getting rich requires using natural resources. Countries begin extracting minerals, chopping down trees, and burning fuel to lift themselves out of poverty.

However, when these countries get rich, people demand a better environment. This demand drives innovation which leaves the environment improved.

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