Essay On Environmental Issues

Throughout all types of civilizations, environmental issues were an obstacle dating back to the earliest of recorded history. Humans were forced to migrate or adapt to their environmental surroundings depending on the severity of the situation. As technology increased, civilizations founded new ways to protect themselves and predict when occurrences might happen to prevent disastrous outcomes. Any environmental occurrence is felt globally if not directly.

Environmental problems differ greatly from ancient times to the modern era. Humans are the deciding factor for this difference. In earlier times, environmental issues were strictly caused by natural forces that could not be stopped. Because these forces were natural, our ancestors had more time and space to determine how they were going to find a solution for the conflict. In the present day, our environmental complications are mainly caused by human activities that have negative effects on the environment.

The world did not always see environmental concerns as a global problem until harmful events occurred causing countries to join together for the cause. These events did not take place until after World War 2, for example the nuclear explosion in the city of Chernobyl and the wreck of the oil tanker Torrey Canyon off the coast of England. Each of the two altercations raised public support for globalizing environmental issues and global trade. Countries began to trade endangered species, rare wood and metals, as well as chemicals and elements.

An environmental movement began around 1945 addressing the more pressing issues such as ocean oil pollution and nuclear weapons. It was wasn’t until after the Biosphere Conference and the UN Conference on the Human Environment, held...

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...d the world is the reason for global involvement.

The most important action taken against the use of greenhouse gases internationally was formed in the Kyoto Protocol. The protocol consists of reducing carbon dioxide emissions but because of the economic effects the protocol would enforce many developed countries did not agree to it. These countries like the United States, China, and India ironically were the leading countries with the largest amounts in emission of greenhouse gases. Because of noncompliance the Kyoto Protocol created different approaches to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. A favorable approach was emissions trading which consisted of trading of greenhouse gases to reduce climate change. Companies would receive levels of how much they could emit and if they did not use all of their gas they could sell it to other companies that needed more gas.