Question

With the arrival of the Industrial Revolution, machines became the main source of power for manufacturing and transportation. These machines were mostly dependent on fossil fuels—oil and coal. The world’s economy shifted from an agrarian-based economy to an oil-based economy. Today many people believe the world needs to shift again from an oil-based economy to a clean-energy economy. Just as the move from an agrarian-based economy to an oil-based economy created a destabilizing effect on the poor and working class, how might the shift to a clean-energy economy affect today’s poor and working class? How will the shift affect less-developed nations in comparison to more-developed nations?

Answer 1

the shift to a clean-energy economy can affect today’s poor and working class by a loss of jobs that are closely related to the oil-energy sector, destabilizing the working class. depending on how the shift it is going to be handled, there are a lot of consequences that are possible, similar to the previous shift in the economy, like loss of jobs, mass-migration to more prosperous places and the necessities to reinventing or simply going back to school to learn about the new skills required.

the shift probably would affect less-developed nations in major ways, and again, the consequences depend on how those things will be handled. It is possible, the less developed nation will have an expansion on their market in comparison to more-developed nations, becuase they can easily jump the stage of industralization based on oil and going directly to a clean energy based economy.