Preventing further environmental destruction
Because a safe and sound environment is the precondition for human life itself, environmental protection must take precedence over other public goals. And the fundamental problem is how Americans live -- we consume too much, waste too much and restore too little. Despite some gains, we're still making an unprecedented assault on the environment, leading to irreversible and perhaps catastrophic effects. Global warming, in particular, is a real threat that requires coordinated global action. The best option is to move toward a sustainable society where we make decisions based on how they impact future generations.Government has to go much further in reducing pollution.
What Should be Done?
Make environmental protection our highest priority, and reduce pollution and consumption to levels that can be sustained. Make comprehensive efforts to prevent pollution rather than simply trying to limit it, or clean it up after pollution occurs. Raise taxes on coal, oil, gasoline,and pesticides to discourage their use, and encourage people to resort to alternative products that are less damaging to the environment. Ratify the Kyoto treaty to fight global warming. Impose strict limits on greenhouse gases that cause the warming effect. Strengthen auto emissions standards, increase subsidies for public transportation, and encourage transportation technologies that don't require carbon fuels.
Arguments For This Approach
It's our moral obligation to use natural resources in a way that can be sustained, generation after generation, and to protect endangered species. We need to leave a healthy planet for our children and our grandchildren. Our consumer culture is incredibly wasteful and ultimately unsatisfying. We buy more and more stuff and yet we're not any happier -- and we're destroying the environment in the process. Preventing environmental damage is more effective and less costly over the long run than trying to clean up pollution after it has occurred. We may lose some jobs as we move toward environmentally friendly technologies and lifestyles, but we'll create new ones in green industries. The United States, which produces more than its share of global pollutants, has a special responsibility to take the lead in environmental protection around the world.
Arguments Against This Approach
This asks us to take drastic action against threats that maynot even exist. This choice ignores the fact that technology can solve many of the problems it creates. Cars and industries can be made cleaner and more efficient, crops can be bred or even engineered to deal with changing climates. Global warming advocates call for measures that would seriously hamper worldwide economic growth. Here and abroad, economic growth, and not an absolutely pristine environment, is the key to improved quality of life for most people. Industrial societies inevitably affect the environment. That's always been the case, and people have always adjusted. The important thing is to prevent clear and present dangers to the environment.
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