The credit crunch, wall street crumbling, markets dropping all around the world , ‘Times they are a changing’.

What significance does this have for the Environment?

Well in times of hardship people become more prudent with their spending. Generally this is good on a local level, people start to buy second hand items, get things fixed and become less obsessed with buying new things all the time. This means less resource consumption, less shipping and less pollution. Though on a negative note any country whose economy is sustained by exports will suffer in a global recession.

Deeper than this is something interesting. Something that could spell a change for the global political system for years to come.

What we’re seeing now is state interventionism in the market unlike we’ve seen before. This is especially important in global development, because the world is divided between those that believe that market forces are the best means of governance and those that believe that the state can do a better job. A series of state intervention failures in the past, such as the World Bank’s structural adjustment policies of the 1980s, has meant the free market vision has been winning.

That is up until now. The USA - a champion of the free market and capitalism - has taken an unprecedented U-turn. It has recognised the failing of the banks and intervened. Not just once but in various different ways: Bear Sterns, Fannie Mae and now the $700 billion bailout plan.

So why is this a good thing? Well personally I’m hopeful that it might mean a quicker turn around in terms of state intervention for environmental problems. Take the Olympics for example. China managed to clean up it’s air quality in a matter of weeks by just switching off it’s industry. Would this been as quick if they relied on the free market? Personally I don’t think so. People might not like the controlling nature of the state, but sometimes it’s necessary to sacrifice some economic freedom in return for change. Change that doesn’t mean bigger material gains. But change that leaves society feeling greater and happier. But this change won’t come without tears and fears.

For many years people have deliberated the moral hazard of bailing out developing countries from their debts. Why should we help those that have squandered our money on wars and corrupt dictatorships. All of a sudden the argument has come home to roost. Now the questions is why should we bail out those that have taken limitless risks and profited from this risk?

I can’t guarantee the world will change overnight. But one things for sure, the direction of global politics is changing. I’m optimistic the shifts we are seeing now will ripple into a number of political areas in the future and facilitate change for the better.

Recently the UN have forecast a boom in green jobs, so not everything is doom and gloom. We’re just beginning our new economic journey.