Responsibility To Protect The Environment

As human beings we have a responsibility to protect ourselves, each other and our environment. The term environment refers to a complex set of social/cultural conditions that affect an individual or community. However, there are events and processes that occur in the environment that human beings have no control over. Environmental science, the systematic study of processes and materials in our environment, identifies temperature, precipitation and humidity as a few natural conditions. Natural conditions force us to be reactive, while things that we can control, such as consumption and waste, allow us to be proactive.

Two philosophies were developed in the past as part of the early environmental consciousness. Utilitarian conservation states that resources should be used for the greatest good for the greatest number for the longest time. Biocentric preservation, on the other hand, emphasizes the fundamental right of living organisms to exist and to pursue their own goods. Early schools of thought and rising concerns such as fossil fuel issues, air and water pollution and biodiversity loss led to modern environmentalism, the active participation in attempts to solve environmental pollution and resource problems. This term reinforces the notion that human beings have a responsibility to protect the environment. Similarly, global environmentalism is a concern or action to help solve global environmental problems.

Solving problems on the global level is certainly no small task. Some of the issues at hand include: access to clean water, food supplies, energy, climate change, air pollution and biodiversity loss. In order to go about solving any problem, an individual must think critically. In order to think critically, an individual m...

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...son can make a difference, but efforts are much stronger when things are done collectively by a group, community, city or state. As mentioned earlier, one does not need to fully understand the environment, science, matter and evolution to recognize that these natural phenomena are strong and impactful on the world as we know it. Perhaps the best way to live sustainably is by living an exemplary life for others to follow. Not only do people benefit by sustainable communities and habitats, animals, plants and everything else in nature does as well. There is an old expression that states life what we make it; the same can be said about the environment, to an extent. Of course there are things out of the control of humans, but with the things that we can control, it is in the best interest of everyone and everything to be as proactive and wise with things as possible.