Do environmentalists overstate their case?

OPINION ESSAY
Do Environmentalists Overstate Their Case? The very interesting article "Do Environmentalists Overstate Their Case?" is included in an academic book "Taking sides". In the article writer provides articles for and against the motion. Both the sides are well addressed and are very convincing. However, I personally think that, environmentalists do overstate their case. According to environmentalists the world is going to hell in a handbasket but I disagree with the statement because Various individuals organizations and nations are taking initiatives to improve the condition of the environment. Like for instance, according to the article published in Japan Times in Feb 23, 2013, Tokyo and Beijing are cooperating to decrease the air pollution and it 's menace. Similarly, according to article published in Delhi(India) government site various steps have been taken to reduce pollution like: ban of vehicles older than 15 years, ban in vehicles driven in conventional fuels etc. These rules are being effectively implemented though transportation enforcement team. These are few among many examples of initiatives taken to improve the environment thus world is definitely getting better and not worse in days to come. Furthermore, environmentalists are focusing too much on environmental degradation and totally ignoring about the improvement in environmental condition. They fail to address the cases of environmental improvement. For example: according to "The economist" in the article "The east is gray" America and Europe combined are cutting down their emissions by 60m tones a year in spite of increase in industrial activities.

The above shown chart as published by world bank clearly shows that sulphur-dioxide concentration in all the major places are in decreasing trend. These are some of the facts that environmentalists forget to mention. Most importantly environmentalists have to understand that environment is a dynamic and not static. If it 's degraded today, it can always get better tomorrow. We don’t really have to make a fuss out of it and exaggerate to the extent that it makes people panic. We can also notice it in our real lives that the environment is actually dynamic. For example: My father told me that "The Bagmati river" which is one of the most important river of my country Nepal was very clean when he was a child. However, as a child I saw only the polluted version the river. But, as the time passed by various measures were taken to clean up the river. At local level people started cleaning it up and at national level various policies were set up. Now, I can see it for myself that the river is cleaner than it used to be. Similarly, the western countries have followed the pattern of "grow first, clean up later". During the process of development and progress the environment is affected adversely. However, later they take the initiatives and clean up the environment. In this way, the environment is changing, sometimes for bad and sometimes for good. Thus, environmental degradation is not a big issue. To sum up, we don’t really need to worry much about the environment. It is certain that the environment is improving every passing day. The government policies and rules indicate that, the statistics proves that and our own experiences assures the point.

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REFERENCES:
Japantimes.co.jp
www.delhi.gov.in www.economist.com www.worldbank.com

References: Japantimes.co.jp www.delhi.gov.in www.economist.com www.worldbank.com