環境政策は経済政策の上位に置くべきである
「環境政策では票を稼げない」とか「環境保護は経済的に余裕がある時にやればよい」と言う政治家が多い。これは温暖化の緊急性を全く認識していない人の言う言葉であろう。今日、今、を懸命に生きている庶民としては、茫漠とした温暖化問題よりも、現在の経済活動と暮らし向きに関心を持つ事は極めて自然である。
しかしながら、ここが現在の政治システムの欠陥であろう。人間集団を４つの群に分けて考えたとき、１：先見性の高い群、２：１のフォロワー、３：先見性の少ない群、４：将来に関心が無い群に分類が可能であろう。
この様に分類すると、１が数％で、２が２０～３０％、３，４が７０％程度と圧倒的だろう。
このような状態で国民に政策を選ばせれば、長期的で力強い継続的な計画が必要な環境対策を持つ事は不可能である。
タイトルに有るとおり、現在、環境政策は経済政策の後塵を走っているが、求められるのはその逆であり、経済政策は環境政策の中で論議されねばならない。現在、日本政府は環境省は他の省と同列になっているが、温暖化問題等の長期的課題については、内閣直属の機関で対応する形態が必要であろう。
Environmental policy should take precedence over economic policy
Many politicians say, "Environmental policies won't win you voted," or, "We should protect the environment when we have the economic means." These are words from people who have no awareness of the urgency of global warming. For ordinary people who are trying to live their lives to the fullest today, it is quite natural to be more concerned with current economic activity and living standards than with the vague issue of global warming.
However, this is the flaw in the current political system. If we divide the human population into four groups, we can divide them into 1: group with high foresight, 2: group with follower about 1, 3: group with little foresight, and 4: group with no interest in the future.
If we classify them like this, category 1 would account for just a few percent, category 2 would be 20-30%, and categories 3 and 4 would be around 70%, which would be the overwhelming majority.
If we allow the public to choose policies under these circumstances, it will be impossible to have environmental measures that require long-term, strong, and continuous planning.
As the title suggests, environmental policy is currently lagging behind economic policy, but the opposite is required: economic policy must be discussed within environmental policy. Currently, the Japanese government has the Ministry of the Environment on the same level as other ministries, but long-term issues such as global warming should be handled by an agency directly under the Cabinet.
