For the first case study I chose to look in to, I found an interesting article about an eco-tax that was implemented in Sweden. It can be found on the Colby College Sustainable Development page at http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/eco-taxation.htm

This case study observed the implementation and outcome of an eco-tax implemented by the Swedish government that heavily taxed the sale of fossil fuels in order to reduce greenhouse emissions. As described in this module, a downside of highly developed countries like Sweden is that they have heavy environmental impacts like greenhouse gas emissions. This article effectively showed how the reduction of pollution is a very complicated and difficult task due to many political and logistical roadblocks. The main problem that arose was the fact that a tax like this increases production costs of firms, which causes a loss of competition and can even damage the economy. Their solution was to reduce the tax for industry while keeping it high for consumers, who were more accepting of the tax. Although this tax plan was not entirely successful, it was a great step towards Sweden becoming more developed environmentally, showing that they are one of the leaders in working to become a highly developed country that is also sustainable.

The second case study I read was from McGraw-Hill at http://www.mhhe.com/Enviro-Sci/CaseStudyLibrary/International/CaseStudy_Int_EnvironmentProtect.pdf It addressed the many issues China faces in becoming more environmentally friendly.

This case study showed the many reasons why China is having such a difficult time becoming more environmentally friendly. The author describes three main reasons: Chinese priorities are focused on economy more than environment, Chinese people are not very environmentally conscious, and there are not enough laws for environmental protection. These topics tie in very closely with this module because China is considered by many as a developed country based on its GDP, yet it has many components that are very behind in development, such as social structure and technology. Because of this, it makes it a very complex issue for a nation with this high of a population to reduce its impact on the environment.

Both of the case studies I read are from very different places than where I live. The first one, in Sweden, is fairly similar to where I live in Pennsylvania, yet I think the main difference is the attitudes of the people here compared to there. In Sweden, high taxation for a cause like environmental protection is much more acceptable by the people than it would be in America. I don’t believe a fuel tax anything like what they implemented would have a chance of being approved of here, where people highly oppose higher taxes. Here, I think people must learn from Sweden that sacrifices must be made if we want to become more sustainable. In the second case study in China, they have a very different lifestyle than people in America. In many aspects besides the economy, America is far more develop, and has a much smaller population. This should make it much easier for the American government to help further protect the environment, since we do not have as many challenges as China to overcome.