Finally, the year two-thousand and eight has arrived. The arrival of this New Year brings a fresh start, a fresh look at all of the pressing issues that are demanding attention in the United States. With the presidential election just around the corner, these issues could possibly get the publicity they need in order to be recognized and tended to. Perhaps one of the most important of these issues is the preservation of the environment. The Earth’s natural resources are depleting quickly and, soon, we humans will run out of options that will allow us to continue our way of life, a way of life that depends on the environment that is fading faster than we realize.
The United States is home to only five percent of the entire world’s population. It would be safe to assume that we use a corresponding small amount of the Earth’s resources right? Sadly, that is not a safe assumption. The United States alone uses twenty-five percent of the Earth’s resources - that is one-fourth of all the natural resources in the world. Global warming is also an eminent problem. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton stated that she believes that “we face a daunting crisis in global warming” and that “we need to act as a nation” to try and prevent our climate from being further harmed by the steadily rising temperatures (http://www.presidentialprofiles2008.org/clinton/tab1.html).
Air pollution is one of the most harmful types of pollution, not only to the environment, but to the human population as well. Nearly one-hundred and thirty million Americans die prematurely each year due to reasons linked to air pollution. Every year, thousands of chemicals are released into the atmosphere; these chemicals do not just disappear overnight, they remain there for decades. People breathe in these chemicals, and therefore, the health level of society has gone down significantly. More and more children come down with sicknesses such as asthma and lead poisoning; something needs to be done about this. People deserve to have better living conditions - all we have to do is make a few small changes in our daily routines and it would make an incredible difference. Barack Obama, a candidate in the two-thousand and eight Presidential campaign, views this issue as “part and parcel of a number of other national priorities” and that this reason “elevates its stature even further”
(http://www.presidentialprofiles2008.org/obama/tab1.html).
There is only one planet Earth. Once we ruin what we have, there is no replacing it, nor is there any way to regain the resources that we have already lost or damaged. It is time that Americans begin playing their part in the conservation of the atmosphere. Every little effort counts for something - whether it is carpooling to a soccer game or engineering a solar powered car - our planet needs all the help it can get, and there is no denying that simple fact.
Caroline Howell
