Band 5+: Many people feel that urban environment are unhealthier than they have ever been. What do you think are the main causes of this problem? What measures can be effective in tackling this problem?

A lot of individuals believe that urban environments are more harmful to people than they were before. I consider that the environments of modern cities are unhealthy in most cases due to air pollution and lack of the green areas in urban environments, and the possible solutions to these problems are increasing the number of green areas and using renewable energy.

Over the last few years major cities has become attractive for many people, as a result now there is an incredibly high consumer demand in major cities, and city developers are trying to handle a high demand by building the apartment blocks without a proper design, for example, without green areas, which is harmful for people. Green areas are important because a population of a neighborhood can refresh their minds and enjoy fresh air by walking around them. Moreover, lack of such areas leads to poor air quality and as a result people can face health problems and less productivity during the day. To prevent this situation the government should spend more time on the project research before approving it and also, they should require green areas for neighborhoods by law to give people a chance to stay healthy.

Another major problem is that renewable energy is not common nowadays, people still use gas for their cars, factories still use coal, and it affects the air quality. The government should help companies and population with changing to renewable energy by subsidizing or, for instance, reducing the taxes for the companies which use at least 40% of the appropriate type of energy. It will help to reduce air pollution and as a result people’s health will be much better.

The third cause of the problem is that people use their own vehicles instead of using the public transport. The officials should invest more in the public transport infrastructure to make it more comfortable for people to use. This solution will significantly reduce air pollution and demand in the private transportation, which also leads to improving people’s health.

In conclusion, urban environments are harmful nowadays, and the government should think about implementing laws about green areas and renewable energy usage to tackle this problem.