Environmentalists: Do They Do More Good Than More Harm?

Previously published on May 10, 2010


With the scientific community in agreement that there is a global climate shift and human activities are largely to blame for the devastating effects that will come from an overall change in the ecosystems of the world, America is slowly waking up to the realities involved in trying to reverse or, at the very least, minimize the process. Beyond recycling and minimizing energy use, the attitudes of many people are oriented to accept the changes that need to be made. On the other hand, government officials in the United States and around the world, who keep using environmental issues to play political games, do not seem to grasp how little time and room for error there is to make the changes that are needed to be made today for tomorrow to benefit. Meanwhile, the United States does not comprehend how drastic of a change is necessary nor does the Nation seem to know what to do as such changes are difficult and the wrong changes will not only fail to stop global climate change, but tear the modern economy apart. Therefore, when extremist environmentalists push policies that completely end the emission of greenhouse gases and other pollutants without regard to economic and social impact, there is going to be backlash that endangers the environmental movement.

If the world is serious about addressing global climate shift, it needs to drastically reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants by developed and underdeveloped nations in industrial and personal applications. Furthermore, recycling and minimizing energy use is truly part of a balanced lifestyle and is necessary to deal with current environmental issues, but it is far too inadequate of a strategy to stop and reverse the damage already done to the environment. As there are domestic economies and the world economy to maintain, taking a cold turkey carbon-free approach would cause an anti-environmental movement as people have the tendency to respond to immediate consequences and economic fallout is far more pressing of a concern in a person's daily life than environmental changes that will fully affect them several years down the road. Then again, the only way people will realize global climate change is a serious concern is to apply the proper amount of pressure necessary to push the world away from bad industry.

Above all, extremist environmentalists can be troublesome because they fail to address the immediate concerns of people; therefore, environmentalists, who push for drastic environmental initiatives while recognizing the need for stable economies, are those who will have the best success. The economy must be reoriented to create industry, which is synergetic with the environment; that is, it emphasizes a need for synergetic technology that works with the environment to lower the negative impact of that technology while hopefully increasing the positive impacts of that technology on the environment. Frankly, there is a lot to do and without the right amount of pressure and action in the proper direction, the environment and the economy will both fail. Overall, environmentalists have been helpful in forcing people to recognize the importance of addressing environmental issues before the impact completely halts the economy with no chance of revitalizing the economy or the environment.
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