Introduction
More often citizens look at the government as the all-powerful, and able to meet all the challenges faced by the state. The fact is that there are numerous issues that the government has to grapple with and sometimes it is the individual citizen or groups of citizens who take the initiative to remedy the shortfall. The bureaucracy, and in part the enormous challenges that the government has to face on a daily basis may require that individuals take the leading role in certain social issues. For the purpose of this paper, and having considered the direct role played by the government. I feel that individual citizens have a bigger role to player in getting some of their pressing issues addressed.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has in the past come under sharp criticism for not delivering on some of its mandate. This has led to certain lawsuits and the emergence of certain non-governmental organizations that equally try to create awareness in ensuring sustainable development. For a period of one month, volunteered for at least three hours for this agency, and played my part in supporting the government in discharging her mandate of protecting the environment. Granted that EPA is a Federal agency that has been in existence since 2nd December 1970, I was not able to propose innovative strategies that are not already underway. I, therefore, hinged my activities on the guidance and direction of my supervisor. Through his direction, I had an opportunity to participate in diverse sections of the agency; from the mundane cleaning of the streets, to the intricate issues of curbing the concentration of greenhouse gases.
Cleaning up of Communities and Public recreational Sites
In an ideal situation, every person would love and appreciate a clean environment. One’s environment in this regard would include places of work, schools, homes, recreational centers, and places of worship. As a volunteer, I was involved in numerous activities that sought to clean up areas that had been used as dumping sites, polluted streams, and the general cleaning of streets. EPA went further to bring beauty to parks, streets, and public gardens buy improving their aesthetic value. This was done by introducing beautiful plants and lawns, lighting up dark streets, creating pavements, improving drainage, and building restrooms. Derelict areas that had been abandoned due to pollution or human degradation were similarly rehabilitated. The resultant impact of these projects was protection of community health, and opening up of new spaces for human activities.
I similarly had an opportunity to work alongside a team of experts dedicated to riding the environment of toxic wastes. This was done through recycling initiatives aimed at providing economic significance to recyclable trash. Plastics bags, bottles, and electronic components provided the local communities good income due to the recycling campaigns. Better still, most of the rehabilitation projects created jobs for several Americans. As a volunteer, my role was to raise awareness on the benefits of the rehabilitation projects to the community, the collection points for the recyclable refuse, and the projects that have been completed.
Improving the Quality of Air
EPA, working as an enforcer of the Clean Air Act, has several programmes that are aimed at ensuring that the air we breathe is cleaner and safer. Pollutants are responsible for numerous health problems. Ailments and conditions such as asthma, heart diseases, and cancer sometimes trace their origin to the air we breathe. Besides health issues, air pollution also poses a serious challenge to the existence of mankind through depletion of the ozone layer, causes smog, lead poisoning, acid rain, and in some instances, discomfort due to foul smell. In a bid to promote cleans emissions from combustion engines, EPA have made it a mandatory requirement that catalytic converters are fitted on automobiles. Factories that release huge volumes smoke must also ensure that they incorporate innovations like smokestack scrubbers, alongside purification process that reduced the toxicity of their effluents. The sensitization campaign that I was involved in was meant to create awareness among the public about the milestones that EPA has achieved in making the air we breathe safer and cleaner.
Water protection is also one the key mandates of EPA. The agency has over the years sought better ways of ensuring that water resources are protected. This has been achieved by initiatives aimed at ensuring that pollution of such resources is kept to the bare minimum. Owing to the significance of this resource, EPA has committed to work with communities in ensuring that the vital resource is protected. Sensitization campaign around water bodies gave me the opportunity to learn and to subsequently teach others the benefits of conserving water, and the role of every individual in doing this. It was about educating the community that whatever unnatural interference with water bodies has a resonating effect, and should therefore be limited.
Overly, my engagement as a volunteer to EPA was an opportunity to assist the government in realizing the global challenge of environmental conservation while I would go as far to say that I could have made a bigger difference, I came to appreciate the key challenges that the agency has to grapple with. Most importantly, I realized that the government has a duty to set an agenda, and even spearhead its implementation but the citizens also have a role to play.
Works Cited
Dickinson, Janis L. and Rick Lonney. Citizen Science: Public Participation in Environmental Research. New York: Cornell University Press, 2012.
United States Environmetal Protection Agency. About EPA. 22 O1 2014. 06 02 2014. <http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa>.
