Does Providing Electricity Justify Diverting Rivers and Building Dams?
Human progress includes providing electricity for people in developing countries. To make electricity widely available, engineers sometime divert rivers and build dams, thereby significantly altering the natural environment.
If the best way for a country to provide electricity, for its people, is to build dams and divert rivers, is it a good idea to build the dam and divert the river? Explain your answer.
Who decides if it’s more important to alter the environment (to provide electricity) or to protect the environment (thereby preventing people who need electricity from getting it)? Explain your answer.