“Responsibility for preserving the environment ultimately belongs to each individual person and not to the government”. Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion expressed above. Support your point with of view with reasons and/or examples from your experience, observation or reading. We all are residents of this planet Earth and we all are responsible for preserving our environment or destroying it. I fully agree to the opinion stated above and believe that each and every individual is responsible for preserving the environment.
The government may place laws for the protection of environment but it is always the people who ultimately have to keep their surroundings clean and protect the environment. I live in a country where I see people carefree about their surroundings and it hurts me to see people throwing trash here and there. As a child in elementary school, I remember on a school trip, my whole class was assigned a task of cleaning all the trash in a local park we visited and disposing them properly. It was then that I realized the importance of keeping the environment clean. I saw then how irresponsible people are when they throw their wrappers and bottles on sideways and parks when there is a trashcan only a few yards from them. Perhaps it is because there is no penalty for littering in my country and people need some punishment to make them realize their duties. In countries where there is a penalty for littering, the people are indeed cautious but in the end it is the same people who responsible for their surroundings.
The government is there to make laws and enforce them and no country can run without laws. It is the government’s job to penalize the culprits and set examples for others. By setting examples they will make the people see their duties and limits. What is government but individuals selected by the people. And if they do not enforce laws to protect the environment then they too are not fulfilling their duties to the full extent. The government cannot stand over the people with a stick to enforce law. They can simply penalize the culprits who are caught. If the people are not willing to perform their duty, then they are solely to blame for their actions, not the government. People working in factories and plants that release harmful chemicals into the environment have their own responsibility for ensuring the proper disposal of those chemicals.
The government may penalize them for improper disposal and by the penalty the government has done its part. The rest is onto the factory workers. To conclude I would say that just as a company’s employees have a part to play to keep the company growth at maximum, we as residents of earth have a part to play to keep it clean. The government along with each and every individual who breathes the air has his or her moral duty to protecting the environment at their own levels. The government incharge of making sure that people abide by the laws but it is the citizens who are ultimately the ones responsible for preserving the environment.
