“At a conference in Kyoto it became evident that the American government is as aware of the danger as its European counterparts, but American voters are not prepared to accept any limitation which would in any way slow down the increase of their level of consumption, though it is already the highest in the world and has increased tenfold since 1960. Limits on emissions might require limiting air travel or even the use of automobiles, and those have their own merciless logic of disregard. People who would never hurt an animal and would be shocked at the thought of breaking wind in their neighbors’ faces think nothing of hurtling down the highway, killing animals along the roadway, and releasing emissions so deadly that the Nazis used them to exterminate those whom they considered ‘unfit to live.’” – Kohak, E., The Green Halo (page 5).
The environment is defined as the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates, or the natural world, as a whole or in a particular geographical area, especially as affected by human activity (Google, n.d.). By looking at this first definition, it would be easy to describe the environment as the air we breathe, the grass we play on, the water we drink, the home that we live in. It is also easy to use the second definition to say that we, as humans, are what is bringing about the collapse of the environment. We affect the air we breathe with the pollution we bring about while driving our cars, the grass we play on by putting chemicals on it to make it greener, and the water we drink by dumping in local sources of water.
For me, this needs to be stopped. For me, this can be stopped. The Earth is already so behind in trying to fix the damage that we have done, I doubt it will ever catch up – it especially won’t if we keep living our lives the way we do. We need to raise awareness of what is happening to our world and begin changing our ways. We need to stop driving our gas cars, turn off lights when they are no longer being used, and only run the water for as long as necessary. Without doing these things and more, the Earth may collapse and we will have no one else to blame but ourselves.
On this blog, you will not only find problems such as deforestation, the disappearing ocean life, and climate change, you will also see solutions. These include recycling, buying certain products over others, and even jobs that people can start doing. The last thing you will find (besides job types as mentioned) is the current policies that the United States has in place. These are important to look at because they remind us of what we have accomplished so far and what we can accomplish in the future. Let us no longer be ignorant.
Let us fight for our environment, for our Earth. It’s time we step up.
Source of quote – Kohak, E. (2000). The green halo. Chicago, IL: Open Court.
Source of definition – Google [n.d.]. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/webhp?tab=ww&authuser=0&ei=OEtQU-aOMPfUsQTZkYD4BQ&ved=0CBcQ1S4#authuser=0&q=define%20environment
Green Global 