YALS 2010 literary competition winners
C2
Protecting the environment is the most important problem
facing the world today
by Kristina Djordjevic, Oxford School
A clean and healthy environment is part and parcel of the wealth and quality of life that we desire for ourselves now and for our children in the future. People demand that the air they breathe, the water they drink, and food they eat is free of pollution and contaminants, they want to live undisturbed by noise, and they want to enjoy the beauty of the countryside, unspoiled coastlines and mountain areas. They also want a world that is not threatened by climate change.
Nowadays protection of the environment is very important as the world is moving into a new era without considering any of the major problems of pollution with rapid industrialization. The best way to protect the environment is conservation. Conservation is the philosophy and policy of managing the environment to assure adequate supplies of natural resources for future as well as present generations. Our natural environment is something that we must forever take care of, treasure and respect. unfortunately, we only have one planet, one earth, one environment and it we ruin it, we risk destroying it forever and causing irreversible damage that will be devastating for us and our generation but even more so for the future generations that haven`t had a chance to live, enjoy and experience what we have.
There are many things that each and everyone of us can do to help protect our environment and reduce the impact that our life styles and way of living has on the environment. If we each do our bit for the environment, no matter how small, we can create a positive reversal on negative impact. By becoming more environmentally aware and through reducing each of our own carbon footprints, we can minimize the detrimental effect we have on our world.
What can we do in our quest for looking after our environment? We can all look after our environment and do things to become more environmentally friendly. One of the easiest and basic means of becoming more environmentally considerate is to reuse, reduce and recycle. If something has more than a single usage, use it more than once. A classic example of this is reusing plastic shopping bags or even better idea is to get the environmentally friendly shopping bags. Reducing our usage of non renewable resources is paramount. Using things to their full potential, not wasting them and appreciating them without overusing and abusing them can have an extremely positive impact. An example is reducing our electricity usage.
By recycling, we will reduce the amount of rubbish that needs to be taken to landfills, minimizing the impact of rubbish fill on the land. It will also mean, that the recycled products can be reused in the production of other products, meaning less non renewable resources are wasted.
Protecting the environment is also a responsibility of government and business. In order to influence government to do more to protect the environment, we could write letters to newspapers or politicians expressing our desires. We could also write directly to businesses with suggestions on how they could reduce pollution or waste. We might also write a letter to thank those who are making efforts to protect the environment for the environment is an important quality of live.