1) Everyone seems to want finding ways in which they can help the environment. One of the most popular trends is the quest to recycle everything, so that we will not deplete our natural resources and eventually wind up with nothing. The dictionary defines Recycling as The act of processing used or abandoned materials for use in creating new products. Recycling simply means to take old material and use it to make new material. In today’s world, a lot of cities and towns are forming some type of recycling programs to provide opportunities for people to protect the environment.
Recycling has some important advantages, but beside these advantages it also has some downside points. One of the advantages of recycling is that, it does help us to keep garbage out of our disposals and incinerators. There are 41 states that have official goals ranging from recycling 25% of all their garbage to Rhode Island’s goal of recycling 70% of their total waste. This method pose environmental hazards that are non-beneficial to any community. Another advantage is that, new products can be made out of old products. This method mostly cuts down on water and air pollution, which is very beneficial to both the environment and the community.
Recycling uses less energy and less cost than making products out of raw material that has never been used before. By using this process the production cost is decreased and it results a decrease in the final cost of the product. Recycling also has a downside. Recycling can e a very costly project for some communities to afford.
A lot of materials are too expensive for a town to recycle and it is hard for that community to recover the costs quickly. The initial investment of recycling costs a lot. In addition to the regular garbage pick up the town provides, new trucks, employees and other expenses will have to be provided for the recycling cycle. This is an added expense to the town’s budget. If that town doesn’t have enough income coming in, then recycling wouldn’t be successful there. The other downside point of recycling is that,2) The earth and many of its contents, thanks in large part to humans, is deteriorating and it has been for quite a time now.
It is overwhelmingly populated with both ignorant and lazy people. In effect, not much is being done to prevent this deterioration. For instance, we are killing off vital animal populations every day. We have caused the extinction or endangerment of numerous species for absolutely no reason other than selfishness.
An example is the poaching of elephants. We are killing these animals only for our own wealth. We take their ivory and leave them behind to die. As a result, they are on the verge of extinction. Also, pollution caused by humans and their inventions cause a major dilemma. Automobile exhaust fumes and factory pollutants are only a couple of the impurities causing damaging affects to the ozone layer and atmosphere.
We depend on the ozone to defend us from harmful UV rays. Finally, we have a major impact on the degeneration of natural resources. Millions of gallons of oil, coal, and other valuable resources are wasted each day. These are just a few of the human disruptions to nature available to our knowledge.
We are conscious of many more, and there are probably others that we are not aware of. If we do not start taking them seriously soon it will be too late, if it is not already. We need to reevaluate our priorities and plan for the future existence of this world. A group labeled the Earth-Firsters’ often attempt to accomplish this task through drastic and sometimes dangerous methods.
As Joni Seager states ( The Eco-FringeDeep Ecology, Pg. 636), In Australia, Earth-First protesters buried themselves up to their necks in the sand in the middle of logging roads to stop lumbering operations; in the American Southwest, Earth Firsters handcuffed themselves to trees and bulldozers to prevent logging; and in California, they dressed in dolphin and mermaid costumes to picket the stockholders’ meeting of a tuna-fishing company. The Earth-Firsters’ tactics are not the only drastic only measures they practice.
