bad crunch good crunch?

I think that good things can come from this recession. The world as a whole is using a lot less oil which is good because it means reduced co2 emissions, which will reduce global warming. Also because we are using less oil, there is less demand for it and therefore the price of it decreases. This is good for motorists as petrol and diesel prices drop, which helps motorists out who are struggling financially during these difficult times.
Oil is currently below $30 a barrel where during the summer it was around $130 a barrel.
But there are a lot of bad things that have happened during the credit crunch, and I think the negatives definitely out weight the positives. The unemployment rate for the UK is increasing. It was 1.92 million between September and November 2008, which was up by 131,000 from the previous three months. This is the highest level of unemployment in the UK since September 1997. This doesn’t help getting the country out of recession as people won’t have much disposable income which means they won’t spend as much therefore contributing to more redundancies.
The exchange rate for the sterling is decreasing, both the euro and American dollar has dropped. The exchange rate in the summer was £1=$2, but now £1= $1.4. This is also bad for the economy as it will cost more to import goods, therefore increasing the prices of the goods.
So overall I think that the credit crunch is a good thing for the environment. As we are using less fossil fuel, as manufacturing has decreased, and less lorries are on the road transporting these manufactured goods. But it is a bad thing for the population, as there are redundancies, which means there are people out there who cant afford to pay the rent, mortgage and bills, and even provide food for there family. Even though the credit crunch hasn’t affected me, I think the sooner we come out of it the better.