Nowadays, global environmental problems affect negatively on both governments and individuals. While some people believe that these issues should be tackled primarily globally, others argue that local changes would contribute more. Even though both points of view have reasonable arguments, I think it is a responsibility of both communities and countries to protect the environment for a variety of reasons.
It is true that developed countries have a lot of influence on the global ecological problems. For example, they have more than enough of financial means to prevent global warming, which affects all nations around the world. Furthermore, a recent study showed that about 80% of toxic waste is produced by large international businesses. Therefore, air and water pollution could be reduced by introducing new laws that restrict and conrol big companies more.
Nevertheless, individuals have a huge impact as well. For instance, statistics show that nearly 40% of U.S. citizens participated in International Car Free Day, vastly reducing the traffic emissions. Moreover, people should recycle their plastic, paper and glass trash, as well as be aware of what they consume. For example, most of the new products can be replaced by the second-hand ones, such as books, clothes and furniture.
In conclusion, global environmental issues affect both countries and citizens. Personally, I believe that these problems can be solved effectively both internationally and domestically.