It is often argued that environmental problems are too much for people to tackle with and should be the responsibility of authorities, while others maintain that each person can make a huge difference. In my view, although the latter view has some merit, governments play a bigger role in protecting the environment, as they have funds to allocate.
Advocates of individual solutions for environmental issues maintain that if every single person took small steps those steps would eventually add up over time. In their view, those steps could gradually become more significant especially with reducing carbon footprint. Consequently, total carbon emissions drop sharply across the globe. A case in point is using only public transports instead of private vehicles drop each person’s carbon emission rate over 20% according to recent studies. From this perspective, it is reasonable to believe that individuals play a big role with environmental problems.
However, I would argue that this approach is not enough and eventually government officials are required to solve these problems their own. The most compelling reason is that authorities have financial resources and legislative force. While it is true that people’s steps get bigger and bigger, this overlooks the fact that it cannot compete with unregulated factories which contribute the most amount of carbon emissions . For instance, authorities could transfer funds to forest plantations and force a stricter regulations on factories. It is therefore clear that government is needed to protect the environment from such problems.
Overall, while each individual’s effort has its benefits, I believe that government should take responsibility, since they have the power to provide solutions.