Application of Environmental Economics Worldwide. Evidence From the Greek Christian Orthodox Approach

Environmental Economics considers the effects of the benefits and costs that are reflected in the society of each country. It is an efficient discipline of allocating efficiently scarce resources among alternatives. In this article, we debate the root of the problem and suggest solutions based on the Greek Christian Orthodox approach. Externalities that arise from the interaction of economic agents mean that undesirable effects will appear in the environment. For example, global warming, acid rains and the depletion of the ozone layer are examples of negative effects of externalities. Instead of applying pollution taxes and legislation, we will apply the Greek Christian Orthodox approach. This approach aims at reducing pollution of the air, water and ground and protects the environment. Spiritual effort is aimed to minimize spillover external costs or externalities that affect the whole society negatively. External costs start with the spiritual pollution of the heart and the intellect part of the individuals. The wrong manipulation of thoughts and the effort to gain surpluses affect negatively the mind of the person and as a consequence create pollution in the whole environment. Intervention should be divided between the government and the church. The dual effort will help to achieve two goals. Firstly, to help individual to understand the principles of the Greek Orthodox Church and at the same time to provide incentive to reduce external costs. At a personal level, Orthodox Church will play a determined role to help towards this direction. Environment has the characteristic of non - excludability and rivalry in its use. The external costs are huge and are going to affect future generations in a negative way. On the other hand, lack of respect towards the environment could be caused due to lack of environmental education, economic benefit from insurance companies or ignorance