The world is going through extreme changes. The natural environment is no longer the same as it once was decades to centuries ago. While these changes have been happening gradually over the centuries but the rate at which they are happening now has greatly accelerated. Human involvement is a big factor why the environment is deteriorating. International groups are concerned. Our neglect and abuse of Mother Nature hastened environmental deterioration but in the end, it is us who end up on the losing end.
Environmental problems we now face include climate change, global warming, rapid urbanization, improper waste disposal and all sorts of pollution have affected our lives negatively and are threatening us with more natural calamities looming in the horizon. While most of the damage has already been done and can no longer be reversed, you can still change your ways now and minimize the damage you are causing to the environment even in your own little ways.
"A cargo of concerns."
That sounds about right.
Left unchecked, President Donald Trump’s environmental policies could do a massive amount of damage to the mid-Hudson Valley, reversing hard-fought gains and spoiling efforts to protect waterways and clean up polluted places — often old industrial sites — that mar and scar the area.
Trump got off to a dreadful start by appointing former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt has been a frequent critic of the EPA, a litigant against the Obama administration's stricter rules to curb air pollution and protect water, and both he and Trump have questioned the science of climate change.
So it’s not surprising the administration is suggesting deep cuts be made to the agency, in addition to rolling back regulations aimed at protecting the people’s health and preserving our land and water.
Amid this ominous backdrop, an environmental group announced recently it would sail its iconic boat from the Hudson Valley to Washington D.C. this summer to raise awareness about the lurking policy changes.
There is a rising awareness about environmental concerns over the past few years and many Americans are doing their best in saving the world. However, the few who takes environmental deterioration seriously could not make up for the damaged caused by many.
Overall, Americans support protecting the environment, but there are deep partisan divides on the issue. In a Pew Research Center survey conducted last year, about three-quarters of U.S. adults (74%) said “the country should do whatever it takes to protect the environment,” compared with 23% who said “the country has gone too far in its efforts to protect the environment.”
Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have consistently been more likely than Republicans and Republican leaners to say the country should do whatever it takes to protect the environment. But as Republican support has decreased since 2004, the gap between the two groups has widened to 38 percentage points.
The U.S. also faces its fair share of calamities, both natural and manmade. However, the new administration has reduced funding on various government agencies including the environment and the arts. His focus is on national defense and trade and in strengthening or improving diplomatic ties with other nations.
Decades of hard fought advances against global warming may start to go up in smoke as US President Donald Trump, a climate change skeptic, signed a sweeping executive order aimed at lifting a moratorium on federal coal leasing. He will effectively be asking US agencies to stop worrying about carbon pollution and focus on creating jobs.
The move, the second attempted rollback of his predecessor President Obama's exertions (after the failed attempt to repeal Obamacare health law), is Trump's reward for America's coal country, which voted overwhelmingly for him in the hope that he will bring back lost coal mining jobs.
''He's made a pledge to the coal industry and he's going to do whatever he can to help those workers,'' a senior administration official who briefed reporters on background on the upcoming executive order told the media.
Whatever progress the U.S. has made so far in protecting and saving the environment can go all down the drain without the government’s support. It is ironic that President Trump does not give importance to issues of climate change considering America has one of the biggest carbon footprints in the world. In the end, struggling third-world countries suffer from extreme weather conditions and disturbances while more powerful nations like the U.S. suffer the least. They may extend financial aid when disaster strikes but we can’t deny the fact that their industries are mainly to blame for the continued deterioration of the environment.
However, it is not yet too late. We can still get our acts together and change our ways. We can live more responsibly and reduce our waste, which is the primary cause of pollution. All nations should work hand in hand to solve this problem. Trying to reduce our carbon footprint should be the goal of everyone because the earth is our home and we have nowhere else to go if things go from bad to worst in the future.
Save The Environment While You Still Can was originally published on https://www.semp.us/
source https://www.semp.us/save-the-environment-while-you-still-can/
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