Emerging environmental issues have been threatening our lives, which are claimed to be the responsibility of politicians only, as individuals’ contribution is trivial. I totally disagree with this point of view. While the politicians play a crucial role in devising strategies to cope with the problem, citizens’ concerted effort is the main determiner of the success.
Politicians’ contribution is pivotal. Indeed, environmental problems are the result of major violations of the regulations, which partly stem from the authorities’ slack control and punishment. Upon this situation, politicians have the authority to revise those laws to make it stricter and more suitable for the society to raise public awareness. For instance, via raising the severity of punishments regarding lawbreakers, either by increasing the fine range or even put on probation if necessary, then putting cameras on every corners to supervise people, legislators can daunt the imminent lawbreakers of the repercussions of their actions, making them feel that they are under control, in which all their wrongdoings can be spotted by cameras. Gradually, individuals can be more cautious of their behaviors thus lessening chances to commit crimes.
Although the role of politicians in solving the environmental problem is inevitable, their measures will be ineffective without concerted efforts from the public. First, community members help to realize the power of legislators by conforming to it. Indeed, a human’s instinct is to follow the crowd, which means if the majority violates the laws, individuals can normalize that deviation and do the same thing without feeling morose and reluctant. For that reason, a single effort in doing so can be trivial, but if all members in the society join hands to follow the regulation in protecting the natural world, we can positively affect the mindset of lawbreakers. Second, the public with appropriate awareness of environmental problems can recognize the severity of wrongdoings, and thus can hardly let off violators. For example, righteous citizens can criticize the blamers on social media platforms, which pressurize the culprits with emotional attacks. Gradually, that constant excoriation can intimidate the lawbreakers, helping them to recognize the repercussions of not conforming to the regulations.
To reiterate, I totally disagree with the notion that only politicians need to take on responsibilities in tackling environmental issues, as while their role in devising measures to raise the public awareness is undeniable, the public is the determiner of the success of that campaign, as the crowd can have a positive effect on instilling righteous into lawbreakers.