Prompt #3: Influencing My Values- Ensuring Environmental Sustainability
While photographs like this often seem to exaggerate the severity of environmental problems, these scenes are real and detrimental to the environment. Classic shots of billowing smoke stacks no longer seem to trigger a response after years of naming dirty factories as the culprit of our environmental dilemma. But, the truth is that these same polluting factories still exist and cause irreparable damage to the ecosystem and I still cringe at the sight of pictures like this. Such a simple change by changing worldwide pollution regulations could end such irresponsible polluting similar to this. It is something that must be done and will be done but only after unbelievable damage has been incurred and the sooner something changes, the better off everyone will be.
“In 22 states parents can’t take kids fishing and eat the fish if they’re lucky enough to catch anything because of mercury. Think about that. In 44% of all river bodies and streams it’s not safe to fish or swim. And yet industrial polluters continue to block legislation that would prevent mercury and MTBE from polluting our water supplies and leaving children with debilitating diseases.� -Senator John Kerry
This quote of Senator John Kerry addressing the issue of pollution gets to the point and helps to explain and make clear the magnitude and prevalence of pollution related problems.
“Still, year after year strong mercury rules fail in Washington under pressure from corporate interests. Why? Not because the risks of mercury poisoning aren’t real. No, lobbyists for the big industries just say they can’t afford to make changes.� -Senator John Kerry
These issues are real and causing problems everyday while we enjoy comforts that unnecessarily cause more pollution. We can't keep ignoring the problems forever and sooner than later we will come to realize how large of a problem this is.
"America the Beautiful"
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
The environment can only deal with so many problems, each action causes some part of the worlds fragile ecosystem to be affected and changed. Many songs such as this stress the beauty of nature and the joy of beautiful parts of our world that are now under stress by increasing populations and inappropriate development or our worlds nations. Thinking about the scenes described through this song makes me realize how important it is to preserve our world for future generations and make sure they have an opportunity to see the same things and feel the same inspiration from the natural world as we and previous generations have had.