Environmental Protection
Before the technological revolution, a human being was afraid of nature and felt its power, however, after industrialization, people felt their own mightiness and strength over it. The quick pace of technological development could not but cause a negative impact on the nature, air, land, climate, biosphere, etc. As a result, our environment is changing due to direct or indirect anthropogenic factors. The most terrifying environmental problems that we face today are the pollution, in all its forms, including air, water, land and even space, the global warming that brought up risk of natural calamities, and the natural resource depletion that resulted from uncontrollable and unreasonable use of them for the purpose of economic development. Overpopulation and urbanization lead to the enormous burden in terms of food and water supply. People and industries produce so much waste that it cannot be disposed on time. Climate change as a main consequence of global warming causes lots of harmful effects throughout the world. These all problems are interconnected and cause a vicious circle of other manifestations such as loss of biodiversity, deforestation, ocean acidification and ozone layer depletion (“Environmental Problems”).
The world community understands that it cannot stay clear from one of the major global threat that the world faces today. Lots of actions have been made to tackle the problem of growing CO2 emissions, as they are the main cause of the global warming and the climate changes. Such famous documents as the Kyoto Protocol and the Montreal Protocol were signed, however, not followed. If the biggest and the most developed nations try to avoid their obligations under such treaties, one cannot expect other countries to comply with their regulations. Nationally and locally, the governments of some countries encourage their citizens to pay more attention to the problem of preserving the environment. Plastic-free initiatives in the supermarkets, eco-fuel, and selective approach to litter collection and other activities helped to rise more responsible generation. Some people even gather by themselves for cleaning or planting trees.
However, the world requires more than just fixing “environment” as one of the millennium goals. The emphasis on combating climate change has been shifted to the developing world as the main polluter. China and some other Asian countries are now expected to take actions in order to stop the inevitable. However, it is worth pointing at the fact that only one third of the most polluting plants located in China belong to the Chinese. Other countries, mostly Europe and the U.S., simply shifted their production facilities there, and now blame China. This is why the global war on environmental change seems to be nothing more than just searching for the scapegoat.
If I were in charge, or could direct global efforts to combat climate change, I would try to make everybody aware of the scope of the problem. I would explain that it is not a problem of the countries that risk being sunk in the waters or burned by the equations. The problem is in the air, in the water and in the food that everyone breathes or consumes every day. Therefore, only mutual desire and mutual responsibility can bring changes. Unless the developed nations believe that this is not really their problem and simply devote money to the common fund of environment protection, the situation is deemed to get worse. Every person should save water resources, use electricity and fuels only to the extent of the minimum necessity. Litter depletion and forest preservation should become number one task of everybody who wants to breathe fresh air and eat healthy products. Until this understanding reaches everyone’s mind, all efforts being taken to tackle visible signals of environmental catastrophe are in vain.
Works Cited
“Environmental Problems.” CFF Conserve Energy Future: Be Green, Stay Green. CFF Conserve Energy Future, n.d. http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/15-current-environmental-problems.php
