Lawton_Bronson

Zachary Loft Mr. Uhl English 12 2 October 2012 The Environment Today An Illustration essay The environment today is getting worse day after day. It also does not seem to draw the attention of the people. The main causes of this crisis are development and industrialization. The sad truth is that not one person, except for a few people, cares about the environment. All of us living on planet earth are ignoring the responsibility of humans to care for the environment. There is not much awareness in the younger generation about the seriousness of this matter. All disasters could include pollution, diseases, loss of lives, and a depletion of natural resources. All of these could be avoided or lessened if people living on this planet would start to take care of the environment. There is pollution to water, land, and noise. The most life-threatening and hazardous is air pollution. Open burning, especially the haze from Indonesia, and on a lesser extent, local pollution, plus the smoke released from the exhaust pipes, unfiltered smoke tunnels, cigarettes and hazardous chemical fumes from factories are the main pollutants. Pollution causes illness and puts lives at stake. Sickness like asthma, breathing difficulties, and cancerous diseases would be on the rise. Water that we consume everyday has gone through filters upon filters before it is fit for drinking. Sad to say, more and more rivers are contaminated with wastes being discharged by individuals living nearby, factories and other factors. It is way beyond tolerance and the proper authorities must act promptly as it could kill the aquatic lives, harm other humans, and destroy land. The killing of land, and aquatic lives could cause disruption to the ecological system. A very good example is the kind of recent case in Nilai when a chemical manufacturing company dumped all their wastes near a river causing an evacuation of all the people living nearby who were exposed to dangers of emission of sulphuric fumes. The company was charged and fined. But a harsher punishment with mandatory jail sentence should be served by the offender. Recently, in a program in the National Geographic Channel, there was a finding by NASA scientists that there is a huge iceberg melting due to the warming of the earth which is cause by pollution. If society chooses to ignore this and close their eyes, they would not foresee that there could be a massive flood, a tsunami, and also there is a possibility that planet earth could be living in another ice age. Let’s have a look at a broader view where disasters that wipeout vast areas, which are caused by our own hands, legal, and illegal logging. Logging activity could cause tremendous ecological system damage. Landslides and soil erosions are big, floods drowning cities and provinces with death tolls that are extremely high, which we blame on nature, but in all truth caused mainly by society its self. Economic ability to sustain and compete in today’s demanding world is the main factor of rapid development taking place, often neglecting the importance of ecological balance. Resources are being managed poorly and are depleting at an alarming and critical rate. The management of resources must be done efficiently especially petroleum, gas, minerals and coal, to avoid scarcity and unnecessary extensive excavation and mining activities that give out pollution. More laws need to be proposed in order to save the ecosystems and even the planet. One person can make a difference.