Living in a world where there is no guarantee of a safe tomorrow, where every breath we take is toxic and every morsel of food we eat is filled with pesticide, protecting and saving mother earth should top our to-do list. But sadly, this is the least of our concerns. We are at the tipping point, on the verge when we cannot go back and rectify our mistakes and if we delay any further, it’s going to be too late. There are questions we need to ask ourselves and the governments from time to time: Are our governments doing enough to protect our green? Are they pitching in enough money to save our environment? And if they are, is all the money put to its rightful use? Better coordination between governments and proper funding is required to address this issue effectively. The Rio+20 UN Summit on Sustainable Development which took place in Brazil in 2012, a prototype of unsuccessful collaboration between governments of different countries was very unsuccessful in its objective of sustainable development. is one of the many examples of the inability of different nations to decide on an agenda for Sustainable Development. The final conclusion negotiated “The Future We Want”, comprised of paragraphs of declarations and affirmations, was in fact just a plea for a better environment. Kumi Naidu, the executive director of Greenpeace International, stated that the conference was “A failure of epic proportions” and further added that the statement itself was “the longest suicide notes in history. The world is not any better than what it was a few centuries ago. The list of endangered species is ever growing and major environmental issues like global warming are melting off the ice caps, due to which in a few years, all low lying coastal cities... ... middle of paper ... ...are killing millions right now. Investing the same for providing safe drinking water and sanitation and controlling water and air pollution will save countless lives. Putting pressure on our governments to act promptly to save our environment is our duty as responsible citizens of this planet. We need to focus on solving short term problems that can save millions instead of depending on our governments to save our planet. All we can do is solve the small problems and hope that the big ones are not as serious as we fear they are. Works Cited • Rio+20, and Kumi Naidu Retrieved on December 14, 2013 from http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2118058,00.html • Copenhagen summit, Retrieved on December 15, 2013 http://ieet.org/index.php/ieet/more/dvorsky20100110/ • Failure of Copenhagen Retrieved on December 15, 2013 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8426835.stm
In 1989, seventy five percent of Americans identified themselves as environmentalists, and the number has continued to grow since then (Walls 1). Environmentalism is now the most popular social movement in the United States, with over five million American families donating regularly to environmental organizations (Walls 1). Environmentalists today focus on what kind of world they hope to see in the future, and largely deal with limiting pollution and changing consumption rates (Kent 1 and 9). Modern environmentalists also have much different issues than those Carson’s America faced. With climate change becoming more threatening each year, protection of the natural world is needed more than ever. Pollution has caused the warmest decade in history, the deterioration of the ozone layer, and species extinction in extreme numbers (Hunter 2). It not only threatens nature, but also human populations, who already suffer from lack of clean water and poisoning from toxic chemicals (Hunter 16). Unlike environmental actions in the 1960’s, which were mostly focused on protection, a massive increase in pollution has caused efforts to be focused on environmental restoration (Hunter 16). Like in the time of Silent Spring, environmentalists are not only concerned with one country. Protecting the environment remains a global issue, and every nation is threatened by the
Poaching and overfishing is a big problem that we are facing. Some people do not like to poach, for they poach just to stay alive. Fishermen overfish because a combination of decreasing profit and high consumer demands. This shows that people rely on these rhinos and fish to be able to put food on the table, it shows that we need each other. Nature is like jenga if you take one peace we could all go down with it. The process of urbanization is greatly affecting wildlife through deforestation and urban pollution. Deforestation is causing the loss habitats and urban pollution is causing damage to the ocean, which in return also affects climate
As more time goes on, more species are in peril of becoming extinct. The rate at which they are being lost is startling, even when compared with the catastrophe of the extinction of the dinosaurs approximately 70 million years ago. Nobody knows exactly what the current extinction rate is, but according to leading scientists it is around 1,000 to 10,000 times greater than normal. The rate of extinction seems to keep escalating as time passes as well. Everywhere you go there are hundreds of species at risk of becoming extinct. They are threatened in every habitat of every continent. Freshwater habitats, especially rivers and lakes, are severely affected by species extinction because of the lackadaisical dumping of hazardous wastes.
Yet there are good reasons to attempt to do so. Meteorologists have warned us that pollution linked to the tremendous and growing resource use of the immense and expanding human population will lead to a greater frequency of extreme weather events such as hurricanes and tornadoes, as well as a rise in global temperature; the last decade would seem to support such a suggestion. Biologists have gloomily predicted that many of the Earth's species will be exterminated within the next century, as a direct result of the human domination of the landscape. Social scientists are well aware of the putatively causal link between overcrowding and social conflict, violence and war, and we already have no shortage of these three evils. Even now humans have seriously impacted most ecosystems on Earth, and use more than half of the fresh water accessible for consumption. It is a fundamental truth that on a planet with finite resources, unrestrained growth is an impossible practice to sustain; all of the signals woul...
The Earth was created roughly four point six billion years ago and since modern technology, is thought to have a carrying capacity, a limit that shows how many organisms can thrive under selected conditions. It is obvious that resource use has rapidly increased over the past hundreds of years. Which led to the theory of sustainability, this involves the preservation of resources for future generations. Green living is similar to this as it promotes the conservation and wise use of natural resources. Based on this information, it is very crucial for different governments to be involved and responsible for fostering green practices and sustainable.
The first one to be held was the Rio Summit, also known as the United Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). Following the Stockholm Conference of 1972, the UNCED received a far greater attendance, it received the participation of 172 countries with 108 heads of state, also included numerous non-governmental organisations (NGOs), in the order of 2,400 and 17,000 people in the NGO forum. The outcome of this conference was three major agreements aimed at changing our approach towards development. [1] These were: Agenda 21, a comprehensive document that lists the actions that must be taken where humans directly affect the environment. The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (RDED), a list of 27 principles ‘defining the rights and responsibilities of the states’ towards sustaining the environment. Finally, The Statement of Forest Principles (SFP), a non-legally binding document that makes several recommendations towards the preservation of forest areas. [2]
This persuasive speech was given in Rio de Janeiro, and was a plea to the individuals in attendance at the United Nations Earth Summit to recognize how they are contaminating the environment with hopes that these audience members will revise their future proposals.
A policy of controlled development -"sustainable development"-was codified at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro. Momentum had been building since United Nations Conference on Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972. At Stockholm the outline for sustainable development was first drafted and presented to the world's leaders and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) was born. More than a dozen international conferences followed, culminating in the Rio Conference.
Our planet is suffering from severe pollution, which ranges from contaminated air, water and soil as well. Humans are doing nothing to reduce the amount of pollution that is harming our earth. To understand how pollution works first you must understand that there are different types of pollution. The most common types of pollution and the ones that I will be focusing on which are the ones doing the most harm to our planet are air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination and littering. In order to help out and reduce pollution in our planet people need to be more aware of what these problems are and about the severe damages that they are causing our planet. Before industrialization really jumped into place and had an effect on large cities, nature had its own way of cleaning up its own air and itself. Wind scattered gases, rain washed many substances and the rest dissolved into the ground; while plants absorbed carbon dioxide and made it into oxygen. With big cities growing more every time and with more towns that were becoming more industrialized a lot of more waste began to be released into the environment and the atmosphere and soon this was more than enough for nature to handle. In order to stop and reduce pollution people need to understand the damage that it is causing our environment and our planet as well. People need to be more aware of how they can help out and do their part in reducing these problems that are causing our planet to die slowly with people not even noticing it.
Everyone’s all seen those wildlife shows on tv. The shows on National Geographic and such, showing animals in beautiful environments, everything lush and growing and nothing at all wrong that could threaten these creatures and places. But, have anyone seen the other side? The side where all these beautiful creatures and plants starve, are decimated by predators that have never been there before, and sometime even become poisoned by their very own homes and habitats? Of course no one has. That doesn’t mean that its not happening. It is happening, and its happening everywhere. And guess who is to blame? People. Society. Humans as a race pollute the environment, hunt animals simply for their parts, fish way more than humans will ever need just for the sake of money, introduce new species to new places for our own gain, and even purposefully destroy entire regions just for human expansion. And its starting to take its toll. While it is true that nature is constantly in flux and certain species come and go, humans are causing more species to disappear in the past few hundred years then nature has ever caused since the age of the dinosaurs, and therefore it is up to humans to repair the damage caused, be it cleaning the environment and habitats of these creatures, or taking more direct action to protect and preserve the species that are on the brink of extinction.
This conference triggered the creation of a new resolution titled, “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. This resolution incorporated “far-reaching” goals concerning poverty, cooperation, and protection issues, intending for these goals to be resolved by 2030. As asserted in A/RES/70/1, the United Nations seeks “to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom” by primarily creating partnership between countries. Following this, Agenda 21, a finalized plan of action, was created by a conference run by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and adopted by 178 governments. The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was created in the following conference to assure that the goals addressed in Agenda 21 were properly executed. This agenda was a commitment to maintain diverse aspects of sustainability such as combating climate change, improving sanitation, and helping human settlements. A/RES/70/210 recalls that the United Nations “acknowledges the importance of making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and
The environment today is not in a good condition, Climate change is evident, and oceans are getting polluted. Rainforrest's are decreasing in size due to deforestation and illegal logging. Animals are getting extinct due to the destruction of their habitats. Natural resources are being consumed at very large amounts, and get wasted. There are different ways these problems can be addressed, one option is environmental management. Environmental management focuses on conservation of natural resources, protection of habitats, and impact of humans on the environment. Conservation of natural resources is the smart use of the world's resources by humans, through this waste production is limited, and there will be less garbage in the world. By conserving
According to Article 3 paragraph 1 of the UN’ s legally binding Framework Convention on climate change(Which convention??) “ The Parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generation of humankind”. Nowadays, the unforeseen and adverse effects of climate change declare their presence worldwide. Temperatures and sea-levels are rising, glaciers are shrinking and extreme weather phenomena such as floods and droughts are becoming more and more common. As it is known of course, global challenges require global solutions. The international community, in accordance with Article 3 paragraph 3 of the same Convention, promoted some measures, in order to minimize these effects. Such initiatives includes, the ratification of international treaties, the compulsion with precautionary measures and the adoption of specific policies that would result to the elimination of the causes of climate change. In addition to these, during the Rio+20 Summit, 108 governments adopted three major agreements: Agenda 21, a program for action in all areas of sustainable development, The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, that specifies each State’s rights and responsibilities and the Statement of Forest Principles. Furthermore, many initiatives have been taken also by NGO’s,such as Greenpeace, supranational and intergovernmental mechanisms like E.U., as for example the adoption of the National Environment Strategy for the period till 2020, the National Action Plan for 2009-20012, the establishment of an emission trading system as an instrument that has to deal with the management of GHG emissions.
On the whole, I think that it is our moral obligation to protect the environment and its inhabitants. We must all contribute in protecting the nature. No matter how small or insignificant our actions may seem, they matter. It only takes 1 person to start a movement that could possibly lead to a major environmental breakthrough. Are you going to be that person?
Many people assume that the environment is not in danger. They believe that as technology advances, we do not need to worry about renewing natural resources, recycling, and finding new ways to produce energy. They state that one person in the world does not make a large difference. In reality, each individual's contribution greatly affects our environment. Our natural resources are slowly disappearing, and we must work together to save them and the Earth from ruin.