Climate change has within the past twenty years come to be extremely important to the world we live in. It has been observed that not only have temperatures been changing, but different locations throughout the world are experiencing weather patterns that were otherwise abnormal for these locations. In California, although wildfires had always been an issue, this problem has grown much more serious than in previous decades as there has been more extensive droughts. This is not the only example, in many places such as the arctic polar ice caps are melting and in island regions such as Guam, the ocean is becoming more acidic, destroying the coral reefs and sea life. Although there have always been minor changes in climate over time, the extensiveness …show more content…
This meant that not only was the population growing, but also pollution as more material was needed and more resources ended up being exploited to keep up with the growth. This led to a concern for the environment, or the creation of environmentalism as a concept. With a larger economy and population resources become unsustainable, and one of the main pillars of Green Theory is taking responsibility for the environmental impact of a country, as well as not over-consuming, and many countries, including the United States were doing both of these things. Although environmental awareness become predominant in the mid 1950s and into the 1960s, Green Theory specifically was not created until the 1970s, when the United States President, Richard Nixon created the US Environmental Protection Agency, officially bringing environmental problems to the governmental …show more content…
Climate change has been raised as a problem both on the domestic and international levels in the United States, and Green Theory can be used to help explain this growth in awareness. This has led to programs such as the Environmental Protection Agency sponsored Clean Air Act, which determined that carbon-dioxide and greenhouse gases were harming the general public. Policies such as the Clean Air Act although it mainly focuses on the wellbeing for humans would still fall under the concept of Green Theory for it is considered a governmental approach to the environment or the non-human resources and falls under the pillar of taking
Policies like the Water Quality Act of 1965, the Clean Air Act of 1963, the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, and the Wilderness Act of 1964 were all done under the Great Society plan. Johnson’s environmental focus led to the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) under Richard Nixon and the subsequent creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Throughout the history of the United States, many significant figures and groups have taken stands for what they believe in. Perhaps one of the most overlooked, yet successful of these groups is the environmentalist and conservation movement. Just over 150 years ago, a movement sparked within a Scottish-American immigrant named John Muir. He pledged to dedicate his time to standing up for and protecting the environment. Muir was only the beginning of this powerful movement, as he helped to make way for the movement in national politics.
Since the day President Nixon enacted the National Environmental Policy Act, major advances changed the environmental area. On December of 1970, Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Before EPA, there was no central authority, but now the protection of the environment is strong.
Following the Clean Air Act of 1970, air pollution had significantly decreased in statistical levels, even corroborating the fact that Americans experience longer and healthier lives, with better visibility due to diminished smog and fog levels. On a broader note, even crops and farm animals saw a benefit in this Act, with cleaner and fresher air to use in many processes, like respiration and photosynthesis. In response to the Clean Water Act of 1972, the loss of wetlands have significantly decreased, and the bodies of water used for leisurely activities, such as fishing and swimming, have seen an increase. More impactfully, billions of pollutants have been eradicated from national waters, purifying and cleansing it for public use. Furthermore, public advocacy efforts such as the protests seen in the New York Times post in Document 3, and the speech given by Hansen in Document 5, have set the stage for global climate change activism.
Under the assessment and evaluation of current environment situation, the federal government have developed the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change and other collective actions to address climate change. Under the federal consideration of climate change, there exists four pillars including pricing carbon pollution, taking action in each sector of the economy, adapting to climate change and supporting clean technologies, innovation and job creation. As carbon pollution is the majority factor influencing climate in earth, much attention has been put on this area. In order to control the carbon pollution to climate, government will collaborate with the territories and indigenous people to assess the practice of carbon
"The Congress, the Administration and the public all share a profound commitment to the rescue of our natural environment, and the preservation of the Earth as a place both habitable by and hospitable to man." (epa.gov) President Richard Nixon delivered this quote in his State of the Union Address of 1970 in order to establish a baseline for environmental protection in the United States. Nixon wished to fix the problems established with the start of the industrial revolution in order to create better environmental conditions for the future. As his first official act of 1970, he signed into law the National Environmental Policy Act which established the Council on Environmental Quality. Though some citizens became concerned with Nixon’s policies,
The United States, as a leading example for the word, must start taking action to cut its use of fossil fuels. I believe that the effects of global warming are very similar to the effects that tobacco has on a person, you can’t see it but it slowly builds up to destroy you. In other words, if we don’t take action right now to cut carbon dioxide and prevent the increasing greenhouse effect, the ocean levels will slowly rise as glaciers melt and retreat, imperiling the habitat of many endangered species. Since global warming is a proven phenomena, caused by an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, it’s important for the government to regulate the carbon dioxide emissions of factories and the car manufacturers by enforcing laws and regulations.
In Rachel Carson’s book which was published in 1962, it made a powerful case for the idea that if humankind poisoned nature, nature would in turn poison humankind. Throughout the book, she went on about the detrimental affects that human’s bad habits would have on Mother Earth. Her main argument was that society as a whole would have to change their previous ways of living in order to maintain good health for the Earth and in return the Earth would continue taking care of us, providing land and good weather. One of the actions that was a result of her begging for change was the Clean Air act and the Clean Water act. The Clean Air Act was a law which was designed to control air pollution.
An example of air pollution that has become more prominent in the last few years has been acid rain. Acid rain had increased the marginal social cost on the American people through its risks of a persons health, however, most people only realize the marginal social benefits that it represents, like the goods that are made, with the rain as their product. Title IV of the Clean Air Act is where we find the laws that regulate Acid Deposition, which occurs when sulfur and nitrogen emissions combined with other substances, are changed in the atmosphere and then dropped back on Earth in a form that is very harmful to a persons and the environments health. The Clean Water Act was put into place in order to create a system so that there aren 't too many pollutants released into the U.S. 's water supply and to make sure that the water is deemed as safe for Americans to use and drink from.
This landmark symposium made the introduction of the federal government involvement in environmental regulation. In 1955 congress passed its first environmental legislation which was upheld and supported strongly by the public and improved science. After this huge merge the United States environmental protection Agency and the effective public policy toward the environmental were instituted. (Usepa,
Climate Change This quote said by Washington State Governor, Jay Inslee shows the severity of climate change “We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change, and we are the last generation that can do something about it.” “On Earth human activities are changing the natural greenhouse of the Earth.” (A blanket around the Earth). Burning fossil fuels is causing carbon dioxide to be released into the air.
Perhaps less obvious but no less ominous a threat to the environment are the general increase in temperatures worldwide and the resulting climate changes. This phenomenon, known as global warming, could have serious negative effects on humans and all other living things on Earth. Global warming is a complex problem, and governments have had great difficulty deciding how to address it. Some people think that it is the work of the world where nothing we do can ether change it or anything we do will prevent it. While others say that the
Researches show that the average temperature of the planet has been changed during the last decades, as a result, many problems join with it and climate change is considered as the biggest problem around the world. Climate change is one of the results of global warming and it has so many negative disadvantage impacts on earth, including; increasing the events of natural
Global climate change constitutes arguably the single most important threat to mankind. From the onset of the industrial revolution, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), including carbon dioxide (CO2) have increasingly built up in the atmosphere, causing the climate to warm up slowly but steadily (IPCC, 2014). NASA predicts that 2016 will mark the hottest year on record. The effects of global warming are ubiquitous: Greenland’s glacier and the Arctic ice cap are melting, ocean levels are rising, occurrences of extreme weather are increasing, including hurricanes and areas of either intense drought or flooding. Collectively, these changes and their direct consequences are an imminent danger and they directly affect other urgent issues humanity is
Environmental issues began to be discussed and debated only towards the end of the 20th century. Since then significant amount of literature has been penned down raising awareness about issues of pollution, deforestation, animal rights and several others however it has failed to result in major changes, ideas or even actions to save the environment. Several species of animals have become extinct; pollution level is at an all-time high, global warming is leading to severe climate changes all across the globe but these problems do not seem to alarm the decision makers. Leydier & Martin (2013) also states that, “despite the increasing expression of concern in political and media debates about issues such as climate change, pollution and threats