Since the start of time, humans, in our pursuit of self satisfaction without regard for the environment, have degraded it by polluting the air, water and land and have caused global warming. Inevitably, as technology improves, the extent of the damage accelerates, as we burn more fuel to satisfy our ever-growing demand for energy and discharge excessive chemical by-products heedlessly into our commonly shared space. Little is known about the detrimental effects we have imposed on our environment until relatively recently where scientists begin to clearly pinpoint the causes of our environmental problems. This has spawned the formation of many international environmental organisations such as the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and galvanised local governments into taking punitive actions to reduce our adverse environmental impact. Furthermore, a myriad of new scientific research has been done on the growing environmental issues in the hope of alleviating, if not reversing these problems. However, we cannot rely solely on science to solve our environmental woes that have evolved into a global issue. Instead, international collaborative efforts are increasingly required to combat the cross-border environmental problems. Therefore, in my view, local governments and international bodies will have to be roped in to avert the global environmental crisis in concert.
Nonetheless, there are some science advocates who strongly believe that we should depend mainly on science to solve environmental issues. Indeed, science has advanced great strides in technological innovations for combating environmental problems. Examples include the identification of the gaping hole in the ozone layer, which can be more than one and a half times the size of the United States of America, and the flue gas systems installed in factory chimneys. Science can reverse the depletion of the ozone layer which limits the amount of biologically damaging ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth that can cause skin cancer and upset the fragile balance of an entire ecosystem. The flue gas system removes harmful gases from factories’ exhausts before releasing them into the atmosphere, similar to how catalytic converters remove harmful gases from cars’ exhausts. Indeed, scientific technologies have successfully minimised the damaging impact of exhaust gases on our atmosphere in addition to reducing our reliance on non-renewable energy sources that are typically heavy polluters. Renewable sources of energy such as wind, water and solar have been made more feasible through the development of cheaper turbines and solar panels. The process of harnessing nuclear energy has been also made safer through the use of less radioactive fuels such as thorium to replace conventional fuels such as uranium and a more controllable molten-salt reactor. Hence, it could be argued that science has provided a slew of practical solutions to our existing environmental problems and may therefore see increasing dependence to solve our intricate problems.
However, it has to be noted that although science has presented us with plenty of solutions, they have yet to solve all our problems. Indeed, there are numerous obstacles, such as inadequate education and the relatively high costs, that limit the adoption rate of the various promising technologies. For example, less developed countries such as South Africa, are still heavily reliant on the use of coal to generate power, even though less polluting alternatives such as natural gas or renewable sources of energy are available. This can be mainly attributed to the insufficient energy reserves required to adopt the more costly yet more environmentally friendly methods of power generation. Another leading cause is that most of the homeowners in backward countries are neither sufficiently educated nor financially able to leverage on renewable energy sources such as solar panels. Therefore, due to the presence of significant barriers that hamper the adoption of less pollutive technologically advanced solutions, science cannot be solely relied upon to solve our environmental problems.
Given the limitations of science, more has to be done to fight the environmental problems effectively. Indeed, a comprehensive environmental management plan will include a plethora of tools at the government’s disposal to deal with the environmental problems. The government can implement rules and legislations on individuals and firms in the country. Although imposing such regulations might seem crude, it manages to achieve its goal. For example, in Singapore, it is mandatory for all cars to have a catalytic converter installed, effectively reducing the emission of polluting gases into the atmosphere. As a result, enforcing such a law ultimately reduces air pollution nationwide. Furthermore, starting from 2014 onwards, all petrol vehicles in Singapore will have to adhere to a new emission standard, the Euro IV standard, which halves the allowable amount of air pollutants, and ultimately move to the Euro V standard which is the norm in most European countries. This regulation will further reduce the release of new pollutants into our atmosphere and minimise our environmental impact. Once again, although these measure might seem blunt and paternalistic, it is a laudable effort by the government to move Singapore towards reducing air pollution and building a sustainable and thriving metropolis.
Finally, environmental problems may be resolved through international environmental organisations such as the United Nations. By engaging in relentless negotiations with local governments and convincing them to pursue a common goal, international environmental bodies can help to reduce the negative environmental impact through the use of treaties. One notable example of an international treaty is the Kyoto Protocol signed in 1997 that came into effect in 2005 with the first phase ended recently. It seeks to stabilise the amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with our climate system. On a global scale, however, a regrettable fact remains. Even though most countries have signed and ratified the treaty, the world’s largest economy, the United States of America, has not expressed a similar intention. Thus, even though international environmental bodies might be able to bring countries to the negotiation table, they might not be able to garner the support of all parties in meeting the ideal environmental targets.
In conclusion, solving our environmental issues is not a simple goal to achieve; we cannot simply rely on science alone to help us overcome it. We have to depend on science, governments, worldwide bodies and mostly importantly, ourselves to resolve such weighty issues. Essentially, science can offer workable solutions, governments can implement and enforce pro-environmental laws while worldwide bodies can rally the world to collaborate and cooperate on sustainable environmental initiatives. However, all of these efforts are useless if the human mindset is fundamentally flawed. All of us should work towards the preservation and protection of our shared environment to ensure the liveability for our future generations. Hence, we, as individuals should not dismiss the fact that we have an enormous and ever increasing role to play in the broader environmental conservation efforts.
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