Current Issues of 2017

      Francis Bacon once stated that “Knowledge is Power” and in regards to environmental issues, this statement is very true. The more you know about environmental issues the more you can do to correct them. It is people who create these environmental problems, and it is people who must fix them (Bell and Ashwood). Environmental issues face our society in a plethora of ways every day. In order to make a step in the right direction I believe it should be required that all high school students in the United States take a mandatory Environmental Issues class.

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     Many will argue that an Environmental Issues class is not a necessity because it doesn’t have a direct effect on high schoolers and they could care less about the environment. Others will argue that schools will not be able to afford another class, books for the class, or another teacher to teach the class. I believe an environmental issues class will help students start caring about the issues we are currently facing. It will also help students realize that environmental issues are not just affecting the older generations, they affect all generations. I also believe it will inspire some students to help make the environment a safer place for humanity.

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     Imagine that you have the perfect spouse and are getting ready to make the perfect family that you have always dreamed of. You go to the doctor for an ultrasound and find out your perfect child will be born with a birth defect because of environmental issues such as pesticides. This was not just a hypothetical situation for families in western Minnesota in 1996. Researchers studied, both statewide and nationally, a comparison between western Minnesota, where most of the state’s agriculture is, with the eastern side to see if there was correlation with time of pesticide application and birth defects (Bell and Ashwood). Families from western Minnesota had higher rates of birth defects- both farm families and nonfarming families (Bell and Ashwood). Plus, the defects on the western side of the state followed the seasonality of pesticide application (Bell and Ashwood). Most pesticides are applied in the spring, and birth defects were highest for western Minnesota babies conceived in springtime (Bell and Ashwood).

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     If we do not find a way to afford providing an Environmental Issues class now, we will end up paying for it in the future. If the future generations don’t know what environmental issues are and what causes them, there will be no way to find a solution to the situation until it is too late. The small county I have grown up in is sustainable for farming. Picture one of your family members or close friends getting diagnosed with an illness, such as cancer, because they used pesticides on their crops. Studies of people with high exposures to pesticides, such as farmers, pesticide applicators, crop duster pilots, and manufacturers, have found high rates of blood and lymphatic system cancers, cancers of the lip, stomach, lung, brain, and prostate, as well as melanoma and other skin cancers (What You Need to Know What You Can Do). Awareness and knowledge of environmental issues, that an environmental class will bring students, will inspire more work, research, and advocates to help prevent these types of situations from happening.

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      Because no one thought that teaching about environmental issues was worth the time, many human and animal lives have been shortened. Environmental issues are not just a rural issue. The urban society is affected just as much as rural areas by environmental issues. “As the world urbanizes and industrializes, and as the effects of climate change intensify, environmental crises will increasingly devastate the lives, health, and livelihoods of people around the globe” (Environment ). Those who are not located in the urban society will never truly be able to understand the effects environmental issues have in the inner city. Some current issues the urban society are facing is localized environmental health problems such as inadequate household water and sanitation and indoor air pollution, city-regional problems such as ambient air pollution, inadequate waste management and pollution of rivers, lakes and coastal areas, extra-urban impacts of urban activities such as ecological disruption and resource depletion in a city’s surroundings, and emissions of acid precursors and greenhouse gases, along with regional or global environmental burdens that arise from activities outside a city’s boundaries, but which will affect people living in the city (Understanding Issues). Therefore, both rural and urban schools would benefit from educating their students on environmental issues, and how they are affecting their lives.

 

     Many people think all environmental issues consist of being littering and pollution, or climate change and global warming. The harsh reality is, there’s much more to it than that. I thought the exact same thing until I dug a little deeper and found out environmental issues are more than just throwing garbage out your car windows. Some major environmental issues that are currently affecting our current generation, people like you and me, are pollution, global warming, overpopulation, natural resource depletion, waste disposal, climate change, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, ocean acidification, acid rain, water pollution, urban sprawl, public health issues, and genetic engineering (Rinkesh). Everything comes from the environment. You must realize that when you go to Walmart, Kroger, or any other store, those items you see on the shelf and purchase to provide for your family didn’t just appear out of thin air. In order for us to have the things we want and need in life something or someone must lose what they have, to give it to us. It is very important that we start teaching the younger generations about environmental issues and that they surround us every day no matter where we live. We must also make them realize that humanity is creating these environmental issues, and humanity must be the ones to fix them (Bell and Ashwood).

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      In order to improve the environmental problems our society faces, we must first know what they are and what we did to create them. Once we know that, we can begin to formulate a solution to improve the world that we live in. I talked with some of my peers, and many of them were just like me. They didn’t really know anything about environmental issues. Why is it that we know nothing about one of the most important things that is ever present in our world today? This is an important topic that we should be exposed beyond a single chapter in a book for a class that is likely to be skipped over. We only get one world, and we only have one chance to preserve our home. That’s why I believe it should be required that all high school students in the United States take a mandatory Environmental Issue class.

 

 

Works Cited

Bell, Michael, and Loka L. Ashwood. An Invitation to Environmental Sociology. Los Angeles, SAGE, 2016.

 

“Environment.” Human Rights Watch, www.hrw.org/topic/environment?ea.tracking.id=ED2017EVSCgg&gclid=CLz0pq-AndICFUMdgQodxHMOOA. Accessed 18 Feb. 2017.

 

Rinkesh. “15 Current Environmental Problems That Our World Is Facing.” Conserve Energy Future, 24 Dec. 2016, www.conserve-energy-future.com/15-current-environmental-problems.php. Accessed 18 Feb. 2017.

 

U.S Department of Health and Human Services, et al. “What You Need to Know What You Can Do.” Cancer and the Environment, Aug. 2003, www.niehs.nih.gov/health/materials/cancer_and_the_environment_508.pdf. Accessed 20 Feb. 2017.

 

“What Are Key Urban Environmental Problems?” What Are Key Urban Environmental Problems?, web.mit.edu/urbanupgrading/urbanenvironment/issues/key-UE-issues.html. Accessed 20 Feb. 2017.