There are many specific ways people can address global environmental issues. For one, people should look to trying to gain the government’s attention. People need to bring about awareness in the school, in the media, in the news, etc. Without talking about global environmental issues no one will even know it exists, let alone do something about it. Paul Wapner says “when it comes to such large categories of social analysis, it is a mistake to assume that one dimension of social change is definitively more significant than the other” (416). What he means here is that any act of social change, of bringing about awareness, is significant no matter how small or how large they may seem. Greenpeace works to try and change the government, while an AP Environmental science class in a high school aims to knowledge the individual.
It is important to realize how one nation’s environmental problem affects its neighboring nations. This is something I had never talked about prior to taking Global Studies. Although I have taken environmental science classes in high school, and have learned about the world’s environmental problems and different types of sustainable options out there, I had never thought about how one nation can harm another environmentally. There is so much stuff that has been “hushed up” by the government and other organizations. Enactors like Greenpeace, Peta, Sierra Club, or even the average global citizen can make a difference. Environmental problems, like mining seen in the article written by Abigail Abrash, show how environmental issues not only harm the environment but can damage whole communities. We can all find specific strategies to address environmental issues, from writing letters to congressmen, donating money to organizations, or just lighting a candle instead of turning on the lamp.
