Solving environmental problems should be the responsibility of one international organization rather than each local government. Do you agree or disagree?
SIMILAR ESSAY #133 FROM OUR BOOK
Environmental problems are too big for individual countries and individual persons to address. In other words, we have reached the stage where the only way to protect the environment is at an international level. Do you agree or disagree with this opinion?
Environmental degradation has become an issue of grave concern. While I believe that big steps to save the environment are needed to be taken at the global level, I disagree that no steps can be taken at the national and individual level.
There are many reasons why steps need to be taken at the international level to save the environment. Firstly, pollution caused by one country can affect many others. For instance, the whole Pacific Ocean has now been polluted with mercury due to release of industrial wastewater into the Pacific Ocean by Japan’s industries. Similarly, the ozone hole is the biggest over the Antarctica, nowhere near the industrialized nations of US or Europe, which were the main polluters in the 20th century. Therefore, global intervention is needed to ameliorate these issues.
However, it would be wrong to say that nothing can be done at the individual country’s level. To begin with, countries have to make rules and laws at national level to be followed by people. In addition, countries can take the lead and take steps, which show the way for other countries to follow. To exemplify, many countries are now copying the Israel’s desalination water model. Here a single country’s efforts have resulted in a global solution to fresh-water concerns.
Similarly, small measures taken at the individual level will take mammoth dimensions when mounted up. For example, if 9 billion people of the world plant a tree each, say no to plastics and start using public transport more, it would have gigantic results. People can take simple steps like recycling things such as newspapers, plastics and glass. They could also walk for short distances instead of using their vehicles and for long distances they could use the public transport. Thus, individual participation is actually critical to the success of global and national level environmental efforts.
Summing up, to protect the environment, steps need to be taken at all levels – individual, national and international.
Thanks for sharing the essay. It is written brilliantly.