https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/04/climate/climate-change-plastics.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fpolitics
When you go to a beach, what do you expect to see, to feel? Plastic bottles floating in the water, or aluminium cans crunching under your feet? With greenhouse gas emissions from the petrochemical industry-which includes plastic, medical equipment, and fertilizer- increasing, our climate has very little time left. Reductions that other industries have been intemplimenting could be completely useless and undone if these emissions continue. It has been estimated that greenhouse gas emissions from petrochemicals alone would increase 20% by 2030, and 30% by 2050. The biggest climate footprint of all will come from the plastic produced by this industry. With around 300 million metric tons of plastic items produced yearly, our climate is in serious danger.
Americans are a huge part of climate endangerment. Each American uses and throws away around 185 pounds of plastic each year. Environmentalists are very adamant to preserve our country and have begun to advocate to replace plastic drinking straws, shopping bags, and water bottles with more environmentally friendly options. However some plastics cannot be replaced so easily. For example IV drips were originally made of glass, but were eventually traded for plastic because it is cheaper and less likely to shatter. Hospitals need these parts to correctly run their facilities, no matter how unfriendly to the environment they are.
Should the government try and regulate greenhouse gas emissions? Are the environmental policies already set in place working? How could you personally reduce your petrochemical use? How can America replace plastics that are not easily replaced?
I think it is certainly within the government's fair and legal bounds to regulate and enforce environmental laws/protection policies; obviously, with the United States being one of the most consumeristic countries in the world as far as overall environmental degradation, according to the environmental research journal PLOS. For instance, the U.S. has a smaller population than China, but motor vehicles per person in every 1,000 people sample is almost 15x more in the United States (Population Reference Bureau, 2018). It is of paramount importance that we step up our environmental protection game. We've only got one Earth and we need to protect and cherish our precious and finite natural resources. I personally could completely stop using any plastic bags (shopping, etc) and plastic water bottles to reduce my own impact. We could focus on researching alternative, environmentally friendly products than plastic bags (biodegradable or better quality, e.g. able to be used more).
ReplyDeleteYes, the government should regulate greenhouse gas emissions. I do feel that most of the environmental policies we do have are working quite adequately. I think that we could use more regulations though. Corporations who suffer from the cost of having to regulate their emissions and agricultural interest groups have too much influence (financially and otherwise) over politicians. This makes it difficult to pass helpful policies. As for how my family and I could reduce emissions, we could definitely could begin using metal reusable water bottles rather than plastic bottles and recycle our plastic waste. The U.S. needs to put energy toward creating inexpensive alternatives to plastic because it is very hard for the majority of Americans to be able to afford environmentally friendly products.
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