Higher economic inequality in other countries leads to economic destruction – climate change, biodiversity, and pollution
Boyce 18 [James K. Boyce; Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and director of the environment program at the Political Economy Research; 11-1-2018; "How Economic Inequality Harms the Environment"; Scientific American; https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-economic-inequality-harms-the-environment/; Accessed 7-15-2023; AW]
In the 2000s, however, inequality reemerged as a central political issue. The growing gap between the “1 percent” and everyone else, the terrible toll of Hurricane Katrina on low-income residents in New Orleans and the economic dislocations that followed the 2008 financial crisis all helped to put it back on the agenda. At the same time, evidence mounted that more concentrated wealth and political power leads to worse environmental performance—and not just in terms of air and water pollution. Researchers found that the proportion of plants and animals threatened with extirpation or extinction is higher in countries with more unequal income distributions. Rates of deforestation are higher in countries with greater corruption. Public expenditure on environmental research and development and patents on environmental innovations are lower in industrial nations with greater income inequality. More inequality has also been linked to higher carbon emissions per person and per unit of gross domestic product. These findings make sense when we consider that with less inequality, people are better able to defend the air, water and natural resources on which their health and well-being depend. Protecting the environment and reducing inequality go hand in hand.