Comedian Robert Orben joked, “There is so much pollution in the air now that if it weren’t for our lungs there’d be no place to put it all.” As Homer Simpson famously said, this joke is “funny because it’s true.” The pollution of Earth has been going on for decades, but recently scientists have been pushing very hard for practices that do not harm our planet. In 2006, the first Environmental Performance Index (EPI) was published, ranking countries on how well they are protecting Earth with their policies and practices. Who doesn’t love a little competition? One would think America would love a competition, looking at their competitive market economy. But America is not faring well in this environmental competition. Take a look at the facts. …show more content…
If, however, the result of everyone’s following your action will be very undesirable, do not follow through with the plan. Considering the United States’ ranking in the Environmental Performance Index, the Kantian Universalization Principle must not play a large role in the American environmental policy. An illustration of the lack of Kantian ethics is the Republican Party controlling Congress blocking efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency to keep water meant for drinking, recreation, and development safe. After the Clean Water Rule was released, the House and Senate passed a resolution against the regulations. Congress thought it gave the government too much control over water supplies for farmers, landowners, and developers who would now need a permit just to dig a ditch. President Obama vetoed the resolution. Apply the Kantian Universalization Principle and imagine if every country in the world tried to stop regulations for keeping water
As the world looks on, people start to realize that the problem of environmental pollution is a global
To prevent this terrible apocalyptic catastrophe, America should promote and reward good environmental behavior and also punish individuals who exhibit terrible environmental behavior. We are polluting our earth with smoking cigarettes, factory waste, vehicle waste and deforestation. We are not only polluting the air but also the water, the land and everything else that is apart of our world. With air, noise, and water pollution, the natural state of our world is decaying rapidly. Ever since the industrial revolution, the output of pollution is heavily impacting our world with polar ice caps melting and many ecosystems shutting down. In Source B, a discussion is used about how America should use Singapore as a good model for the environment. The government should raise the price of gasoline, plastic bags, and many other hazardous agents to the environment in order to reinforce a healthy and green
Why is the American not ready to live sustainably like India and China? Brodwin (2015, March, 23), in his article “Unsustainable America”, discusses that consumers are very important to improve the environmental sustainability. In addition, consumers are able to affect sustainability. There are two countries support to improve the environmental sustainability such as India and China. In the other hand, America don’t show their willingness to improve the environmental sustainability. The author uses strong source and example to convince his readers. Also, he is egocentric because he focuses in America’s benefit. Furthermore, he uses a good example to convince reader, and that will be explained below.
Some of them are not even aware the environmental issues are important. The United States has such high quantity of human activities to support people's daily functioning. In the article “Climate of Denial,” Al Gore points out, Americans have quadrupled the global population in the past century. Simultaneously, they depend on almost 85 percent of the world's energy by burning coal, oil, and gas. Americans are cutting, and burning forests, but the trees are supposed to help the atmosphere by reducing some added carbon dioxide (p110.) In the United States, most of the household owns at least one car, and personally owned vehicles are the primary transportation for Americans. These cars are burning a significant amount of gas, and release tons of wasted gas to the air. Compared to other countries that feel guilty, the report shows that they use public transportation more than personally owned cars, and they promote using electric scooters or bikes. If there are not enough trees to reduce these wasted gas, the wasted gas is going straight into the atmosphere and eventually undermine the environment. It is not only affecting the environment of the United States; it is polluting globally. Therefore, some Americans choose to deny the problems because they do not see the impact of global pollution has direct
The environment is an extremely important aspect of our nation today. American families have the legitimate right to an excellent quality of air, that we breathe. As a nation, Americans gravitate towards the pursuit of the prodigious dollar, before our environmental issues. This is a practice that has an urgency to be stopped, immediately. The pollution that is created by personnel transportation and the trucking industry is destroying our planet. The government has the Clean Air Act of 1970, but it is not satisfactory enough. America should be obligated to push for electric transportation and an electric trucking industry.
This environmentally friendly objective is quite the opposite of Americans’ scouring past to use up all the resources on the continent. Today, Americans know that they must create a sustainable future so that their descendants can survive on this planet for generations to come. To understand this current American ideal, one must look at the past and the damage that has been done through
America still ranks high on the list and is more sustainable than some places. In contrast, Ireland ranks 6th and has an overall score of 55.4 (“The Sustainable Competitiveness Index 2017”). Ireland’s “current and future focus is on waste prevention, reuse, maximising recycling and using waste as a fuel in replacement of fossil fuels” (“Ireland”). Keeping essentials such as clean air, safe drinking water, and healthy food is “influenced by the quality of the environment” (“Ireland”). Pollution causes physical harm to people, and air pollution is hard to avoid.
In the cartoon by Stan Eales is the most honest yet terrible diction of an “innovated” world where pollution becomes the prosperity. In the foreground you have a tall building with 2 men standing on the top one being the suprised at what is happening and the owner who is smoke that doesn’t care what is going as long as he is making money . The background has a polluted sky with industries smoking everything up. The focus is the world is being populated and will soon be something common to us. The stereotype of this picture is that the world will be okay with pollution. The cartoonist stance is that Earth will be polluted and it is a bad thing because it will ruin everything for us. The cartoonist wants to correct this issue by reducing the
The average U.S. citizen consumes eighteen tons of natural resources per year and generates an even higher volume of wastes. These wastes get dumped and unloaded into rivers, lakes, and oceans and other landfills; only a small portion are recycled. The spread of mass consumption over the U.S. and its effects are staggering. The production and processing of our wants and needs is done by the extraction of natural resources such as fossil fuels, wood, ore, and water. This requires the creation of factories which gives off poisonous byproducts, while the commodities create more pollutants and waste themselves. This process keeps cycling over and over to create a bigger and more detrimental problem on our environment. Who is paying for this? The Earth; our environment.
Since the Gilded Age when industries became more powerful, the United States has been one of the countries with the biggest effects on nature. The levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have increased radically and are already affecting the Antarctic, our seaboards, and our climate. Even with the evidence provided by the scientists documenting
Psychology, as most know, is the study of the mind and personal or group thoughts, feelings, and emotions in humans and animals. Scientists study, analyze, and investigate many areas of psychology, but the causes and effects of mood disorders and emotion irregularities are still unrecognized. Many studies were an attempt to find more information on mental illnesses. One of the most common illnesses in the United States is depression, also; it is the most often recognized mental illness in the world. What most clinicians don’t know, however, is what happens in the brains of patients before, during, and after depressive episodes.
In the air in particular, six commonly found air pollutants have decreased by more than 50 percent. Between 1970 and 1995 alone, the emissions major air pollutants decreased 30 percent. Air toxins from industrial plants have decreased by more than 70 percent. Today, more than 60 percent of America’s waters meet the fishable and swimmable goal of the Clean Water Act, up from only around 33 percent before the act was passed. While industries argue that the restrictions put on them have been too intense and stifled growth, since the passing of these bills the US GDP has tripled, energy consumption increased by 50 percent, and vehicle use increased by 200 percent. It is clear that without these acts in place it would be impossible to control the pollution in America with such fast social and economic growth in the
The recent uproar over the sensitive issue of global climate change has aggressively expanded our government’s ever growing power over the American people. Through the government program too well known as the Environmental Protection Agency, our federal government has made environmental decisions effecting the American people numerous times without our consent. Our current Democratic President and his administration don’t help matters any, since they tend to give in when extreme environmentalists persistently push for these ideas. Needless to say, the Obama Administration’s ongoing force for drastic changes to environmental standards has allowed the Environmental Protection Agency to gain an alarming amount of power, and it is now resulting in harmful effects to many innocent American citizens.
In the past fifty years, our world has seen remarkable poverty alleviation. Access to running water, electricity, and high-quality healthcare are becoming more common globally as countries continue to develop. The increased mechanization of production has alleviated many problems that poor countries have faced in the past such as hunger, high infant mortality rates, and disease; but the increased industrialization of low-income nations has placed a huge burden on policymakers. Populations continue to face a growing list of unfortunate externalities. One dire consequence of industry that requires urgent attention is environmental pollution. Increased economic activity produces an increasing amount of waste that producers must dispose of. Of particular interest to policymakers are air pollutants, which are easily disposed of through pipes and vents by producers at a minimal cost. Air pollution has been shown to increase respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, and increased cancer rates. Additionally, air pollution has substantially increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the earth 's atmosphere. Such changes in our climate will lead to species extinction, loss of biodiversity, and increased social issues. The wide-ranging effects on humans include a decreasing supply a safe drinking water, food shortages, and natural disasters. Among the methods that governments use in response to these alarming realities are emissions trading programs. By turning to the concept of
Farm growing seafood helps give marine ecosystems a chance to rebuild where there has been over fishing