Are the Environmental Problems Too Big for Individuals to Solve?

Since our earth is faced with the unprecedented¹ environmental challenge, environmental protection has become an urgent issue for governments and ordinary people. Some people are of the opinion that no effort is too small in terms of environmental protection because it needs everyone’s help and participation² to optimize³ the living surroundings. However, there are different voices insisting that only governments and large companies can make a difference in solving the problem.

Personally I hold the perspective that the joint efforts of both governments and individuals are indispensable in settling environmental concerns fundamentally and neither can work effectively without the other. For one thing, governments’ regulations and supervision⁴ can make full use of the considerable manpower and material resources consistently devoted⁵ to tackling environmental contamination. For another, without the participation of common people, every green policy enacted⁶ by the authorities will end in failure because it is human activities that have the greatest influence on the environment through all recorded history.

All in all, individual support plays an important role in implementing⁷ governmental policies on environmental improvement and resisting the acts of destroying environment. In the meantime, the government should also shoulder its responsibility to make its people live in a safer and healthier environment.