Spring is in the air, the flowers are blooming, and the cherry blossom festival season has begun. Many people go to see the cherry blossoms to Yeouido. But there are still plenty of buds to be seen. As you walk down the street, you'll see magnolias, forsythia, and other flowers whose names you may not recognize.
Spring means fine dust is inevitable. In early spring, a warm mobile high pressure system periodically affects the Korean Peninsula. As the high pressure lingers over the Korean Peninsula, the airflow stabilizes, causing the winds to weaken and the particulate matter from Korea to continue to accumulate. Particulate matter from China, which was brought into Korea by the westerly winds, is also difficult to escape.
In spring, green plants are more active, releasing oxygen into the air and creating a fresher air environment. However, since the late 20th century, when China began to develop and Inner Mongolia began to rapidly desertize due to climate change, yellow dust and fine dust are carried by the westerly winds in the western sky of the Korean Peninsula in spring.
Industrialization and polluted environments prevent us from enjoying spring, making us even more concerned about the environment and aware of the seriousness of environmental and climate issues.
The yellow dust blowing from the Inner Mongolian desert, along with heavy metals and fine dust emitted from industrialized areas in Northeast China, is carried by the prevailing westerly winds across the Korean Peninsula. It also acidifies the soil, contaminates plants with heavy metals, and enters the body through food such as cheeses, causing heavy metal poisoning.
Sweden was the first country to introduce a tax system for environmental purposes, such as a carbon tax (1991), and has succeeded in the green tax shift, which shifts the tax burden from labor to environmentally harmful activities. In addition, institutional support, such as a number of subsidy programs to encourage companies and households to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency, has led to the country's third place in the OECD in environmental technology innovation (by number of environmental patents per capita) and rapid growth in environmental products and services. Many of Sweden's marine areas have been designated and managed as protected areas, strengthening the protection of marine ecosystems.
The Swedish case demonstrates that economic policy instruments, such as environmental taxes, can be used to address environmental issues without negatively impacting economic growth in the long run. In particular, from the perspective of utilizing domestic policies, it is worth noting the social and political conditions that enabled Sweden's successful transition to green taxation and the conditions related to the design and implementation of the policy.
What make these things possible in Sweden?
