Essay 134 – Individuals don’t take responsibilities to protect the environment

GT Writing Task 2 / Essay Sample # 134

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

People generally know that the environment is important. However, most individuals still don’t take responsibilities to protect the environment.

Why is this? What should be done to encourage people to protect the environment?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Model Answer 1:

People, by and large, know the significance of the environment and how our existence is interconnected with it. Nevertheless, they seem least concerned about the environment and irresponsible when it comes to protecting it. Several factors lie in this phenomenon. This essay will investigate the root cause, and then come up with pragmatic solutions to this issue.

To commence with, public apathy toward environmental issues stem from the perception that governments should shoulder the responsibility to mitigate the environmental problems. For example, the pile of garbage is usually found in conventional markets held in the pavement and people think that the authority would clean it up. Another major cause lies in ineffective ways of communication to mass people about their responsibility to prevent environmental degradation. In simple words, the way environmentalists wage the campaigns fails to inculcate the climate values among the public. For instance, the dissemination of information on the extinction of the endangered species in the distant future causes nothing more than sympathy.

However, there is a silver bullet to motivate individuals so as to preserve the atmosphere. That is to say, the government ought to conduct campaigns to increase public awareness about the deteriorating condition of the planet and the grave threats posed by it to mankind. The masses should be educated using simple, daily terms with a relatable consequence so that they understand the catastrophic impact of environmental damage and respond better. To exemplify, if people are explained how individuals’ lifestyle is causing irreparable damage to our nature that leads devastating famines to their regions, then they are likely to instigate better actions to protect the environment.

To conclude, despite acknowledging the importance of the environment, people are indifferent when it comes to the pressing global environmental problems. This is primarily due to a poor attitude toward the environment. However, effective communication can be the answer to this problem.

Model Answer 2:

Humans have been damaging the environment ever since we realised our powers to harness nature. Global warming and air pollution are now frequent headlines on TV and in the newspapers all over the world, which keep reminding us of our obligation to protect the environment. However, few actions are actually being taken at the individual level, and I think there are two major reasons why people are being so indifferent.

The first reason is that many people consider environmental problems as a future concern. Environmental reports often warn us of the dire consequences of climate change or energy crisis 100 or 200 years later. As a result, many people feel that money and time are better spent on solving more immediate problems such as housing shortage and traffic congestion than on preventing a disaster that is only predicted to happen in the future.

Also, people feel that the environmental problems are too complex for individual people to cope with. Indeed, a combination of factors causes environmental problems, many of which are impossible to be controlled through individual actions. The above attitudes are understandable but are obviously mistaken, so the government needs to take proactive measures to make people more environmentally responsible. They can make more public service advertisements to encourage people to consume more green products instead of disposable goods that are harmful to the environment. They can also offer more incentives to people who have been active in cleaning up the neighbourhood or severely punish those who have been unfriendly to the environment.

In conclusion, there is always a dilemma between environment and development, but as an individual, we can do something to reduce the negative impact of human activities on the environment. Certainly, we do not want to see the Earth turn into an uninhabitable planet.