Our Crime on Environment

Nardos Yosef

Anlicker

English 1102

12 November 2016

Maya Lin’s “What is Missing?” project brought attention to our class about the environmental problems in America. Humans in this generation have committed a crime against humanity-environmental degradation. This crime is the result of the damage of species, future generations, and ecosystems. Some people who are guilty of this crime include business owners that have a big impact on the fossil fuel industry or any company with a large carbon footprint. These businesses have a massive impact on the world and how the environment can either be helped or harmed.

            Although there are laws against some of these environmental crimes, the punishment in itself is the human suffering and environmental destruction. We continue to annihilate the habitats in which we and millions of other species live in. If we continue on this path, we can hurt the possibility of a healthy, future life for our great grandchildren and the environment they live on.

            The question this article asks is “Should we confer greater existential importance upon present generations of human beings than future ones?” to which it answers that environmental degradation is something of dire importance right now. If we do not take action now, the world as we know it will be different for the future generations and will ultimately hurt us.

Some places that have been affected environmentally are the war stricken lands of Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. They are ‘burnt out’ and ‘battered’ as a result of the millions of refugees fleeing the country because of the violent war ground. Humanity is being hurt by the liberal state power that is always trying to innovate or change things, which ultimately harms the planet in terms of businesses and factories. Capitalism is also hard at work by exploiting and oppressing a routine that we all live by-we hurt the environment without thinking twice. Every second, the earth is dying.

The speakers in this article state that in order to fix this problem, we must strategically work with political platforms because they hold all the power in most issues involving land. Policies can be made to protect and give justice to the environment. Even small changes can hold a big effect in government. Blame cannot be given to any certain group ion this problem as well-social conflict is a distraction from things like climate change and species extinction. Giving climate or environmental degradation a name like criminal violence may serve justice for the environment.

The article calls the citizens of the world agents of history, and states that observing this change in the world is denying us of our humanity. I agree with this statement: as long as we stand back and watch the issues in this world go by without doing anything we have no right to complain. If we do not do anything to stop this then the future generations of the world will be left to deal with this problem except it may be ten times worse. In order to protect the future of the world, change must take place now.