Brexit's Potential Impact On The Environment Not Good

Britain has made its exit from the EU with a June 23 referendum vote in the UK after 40 years of membership. Right now, at the forefront of the UK's EU referendum campaign is most likely its economic impacts.

"The environment has not played a prominent role" in the referendum, as noted by Sebastian Oberthür's blog on LSE,

The impacts may not be felt immediately, but since the EU has had a significant role in making European states work together to secure environmental international agreements for the good of Europe and the world, people will see the effects of Brexit on the environment sooner or later.

According to Chinadialogue, the decision will have a huge impact on the green policies of the UK, as well as the EU's energy and climate policies. The EU holds the world's largest political and economic alliance, which has a population of 500 million people.

The environmental laws of the UK were made following a 1975 referendum which included laws such as cleanliness of beaches. The referendum legally binds everyone in the EU to adhere to the law's standards, and it has been highly beneficial for both EU's people as well as the world.

"Before EU membership, the chances were high that you were swimming in rawsewage and that was making people ill. But the EU's system of Blue Flag beaches raised standards," said Tony Juniper, the former head of Friends of the Earth, government adviser, and a detractor of Brexit.

"...I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that those who advocate our departure will target these laws as 'red tape' and something that will get in the way of competitiveness and creating jobs," Juniper added during a panel discussion arranged by Environmentalists for Europe, as posted in Chinadialgoue. "European standards drive innovation and investment (in greener products) Take all that away and we go backwards very quickly. It will be a problem for jobs and a problem for human health, particularly through poor air quality."

Also, many on the green-left have agreed that EU without the UK is more environmentally uncertain.

While the prospects aren't so bright, there's a brightside to all this. As Chinadialogue notes, environmentalists have had complaints against EU's cluttered decisions and policies, with some benefiting national self-interest rather than the collective interest of the nations' environments.

The future may be bleak, but with cons comes pros. The future is generally uncertain anyway, and much can still be done to change an unforeseeable future.