The Current Hype Over Environmental Issues Is Unnecessary. Do You Agree?

I feel that the current hype over environmental issues is necessary. Environmental problems have become a major issue in our world today with global warming and pollution becoming more and more widespread, threatening the very existence of our dear planet. These problems are mainly attributed to the actions of careless, selfish and ignorant people who do not think about or know about the consequences of their actions. Thus little is being done to curb this problem.

This is why the hype over environmental issues must come into play. Currently, we see that only few people whom are aware of the causes of and consequences of environmental problems are taking actions to save our planet. Even out of those whom are aware, many have the ‘why bother?’ toward environmental issues making the attempts of those people insignificant as only if the planet works as a whole can we create a significant enough impact. The current hype will help to create greater awareness among people in terms of environmental issues and the need to solve them. Thus more and more people would start acting more environmental consciously and spread the movement to other people they know.

Moreover, the current hype will also prompt relevant authorities to take action. An example would be the montreal protocol in Canada and the Kyoto protocol in Japan. These were the result of the awareness and the hype over environmental issues in the past and have had many positive effects such as the significant reduction of CO2 ­­­ and ozone depleting substances such as CFCs in many countries, Without the montreal protocol, the release of CFCs would have increased by ten fold leading to much higher incidence rates of skin cancers and eye cataracts. Thus with the hype, authorities would be prompted into such actions and this is vital as the authority has much power and is one of the few entities that can ensure implementation of environmental solutions in society.

In response to Huimin’s post, I agree that much has to be done to educate youths about environmental issues and encourage them to be pro-environment. I feel that it would be easier to inculcate this into youths as compared to adults who would generally be more rigid–minded and difficult to change. Moreover when we inculcate pro-environmentalism in people at a young age it is likely that they would continue to be pro-environment in the future and being the future leaders would be more involved in the process of saving our environment.