Environment

Application Question:

1. The current hype over environmental issues is unnecessary. Do you agree?
   

According to Bjorn Lomborg in "Saving the World", the current hype over environmental issues is unnecessary. Rather, he felt that we should stop worrying about the future and instead, quit panicking and start thinking calmly to ensure that we focus on the right issues. According to him, we can afford to do so because worldwide incomes have increased more than threefold and these positive trends are expected to continue.

On the contrary, I can only see that increasing worldwide incomes would mean that current hype of environmental is necessary. With incomes rising, people would also become more busy with their work and industries would become more intense with their production. Who would have the time and energy to bother about things like the environment? Hence, a hype would be required to draw attention to environmental issues and increase more awareness in them so that more effort would be put in to tackle them. Therefore, I do no t agree that the current hype over environmental issues is unnecessary.

As Michael Pollan put it in "The Way We Live Now Why Bother?", "If enough other people bother, each one influencing yet another in a chain reaction of behavioral change, markets for all manner of green products and alternative technologies will proper and expand." The environmental issues that we are currently facing are in dire states an d the only way to solve it is to ensure that there is a massive global commitment. Firstly, industries would be required to explore new forms of environmentally -friendly technologies. Secondly, governments would have to introduce new legislations to help restrict carbon emissions, thereby slowing down further deterioration of environmental problems. Lastly, not to forget every individual who have to play their part in saving energy and opting for environmentally-friendlier products.

Therefore, it is important to raise consciousness in people to counter the environmental issues and the current hype seems to be very effective in doing so. For example, the build up in the attention for environmental issues has created a surge for energy efficiency – photovoltaic solar panels have made significant improvements while researchers are currently finding a way to store wind power. Thus, the current hype has created urgency within the people to do something about the environmental issues.

In conclusion, we cannot just "quit panicking and start thinking calmly" because this would not create a sense of urgency within people to boost efforts in tackling environmental issue. So, I do not agree that the current hype over environmental issues is not unnecessary, as it is essential to ensure ongoing environment-saving efforts.

With reference to:

AJC reading package on environment
"Why Green is the New Red, White and Blue" by Bryan Walsh, Time magazine