I consider myself an environmentalist. Not the preachy, self-righteous kind who think buying the right kind of light bulb will save the world. I have selfish motives and realistic hopes. The earth needs to be preserved so that we can use its resources longer. As demand for materials continues to rise, the government needs to become more involved than ever in protecting the earth’s supplies to allow further growth.
Just think: if the government continues to handle all environmental crises like they handled the British Petroleum oil spill in April 2010—doing almost nothing—there will not be many resources left to use! The spill released an estimated 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The Executive government made a half-hearted attempt to act, ordering that all fishing stop until the fish and shrimp were checked for toxins. Deep-water drilling was temporarily suspended. After fishing resumed, there was not enough fish left alive and many fishermen lost their jobs and deep-water drilling continues without much of a change ("BP Oil Spill").
Chopping down rainforests to provide hardwood floors, charging for recycling, continuing to use fossil fuels to power everything from lawn mowers to refineries—the list goes on and on. The biggest change people anticipate in going green is how much it's going to cost them. Earth-friendly is expensive! There need to be some laws preventing the greedy use of all these resources, or at least rewards for doing otherwise.
The real problem is that the “use it up now, deal with the consequences later” attitude has been adopted by the American people and the American government. We have lived successfully by this rule for centuries. Even when we all realize that the number of resources we use uninhibitedly is climbing dangerously high, old habits die hard and most people change absolutely nothing. The government needs to take a stand; citizens need to let government know that if we are going to make this change, we expect some action on their part. It’s going to take more than a few light bulbs to get us out of this mess.
Works Cited
"BP Oil Spill." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Gale, Cengage Learning, 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In
Context. Web. 12 Mar. 2012.
U.S. Coast Guard. n.t. Photograph. The New York Times. April 2010. Getty Images. 14 March 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/03/us/accord-reached-settling-lawsuit-over-bp-oil-spill.html?_r=1>
Posted by: Sarah Allred
I really enjoyed your argument and I agree that the government must take a position with the environment. I also know that the government has a political agenda in all this. Many of the richest companies in America that fuel our economy and nation are oil companies. I think the question I would want to know from you is how should the government get involved to solve this issue? What would you recommend they do? I am not always sure if more governmental involvement hurts or helps.
ReplyDeleteI agree with with much that was written and i also feel that logan's questions are valid. I also feel that the government should take a stand but i feel that our jurisdiction is a lot less far reaching as your article makes it sound. There are plenty of environmental issues here in the U.S. (including the BP oil spill) where the U.S. government can have a significant impact, but many of the other environmental issues are in parts of the world we have no control. Although I feel sad about the rain forests being destroyed, it comes down to the fact that this is taking place in South America and not the U.S. As a country I feel like we can take a stand and look to be a pro environmental voice, but our arms of jurisdiction don't reach out as far as we would sometimes like to think. We have to take care of our home and our over usage before we can start policing others.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog. I feel the same exact way as you do. I feel that the key is government involvement. The government is not doing enough to make a difference. The only problem is that with that our government is so restricted right now as far as money, that environmentalism is not the top thing on the list for them to take care. It's a sad fact,but they've pushed aside many things for the sake of saving some money. It's just the price we pay when we're in a recession. I liked your argument and I agree that it's the only way to start fixing things.
ReplyDelete