this is my shitty essay about the environment so far. the teacher just said to write 2-3 pages about the negative and positive effectso have on the environment. im almost done but i cant think of anything else to write! shit
The term “environment” is so broad that it is difficult to find a common theme. There are many different things that affect the environment in our daily lives including the government, our way of living and of course, the media. The media can have a positive effect on the environment but it is less sought after by writers. The articles that will intrigue the reader the most are those that are negative. With the age of newsprint slowly coming to a demise, newspaper companies like The Montreal Gazette and La Presse are finding it increasingly difficult to keep its readers. I chose articles that were relevant to the restoration of our environment. In order to do this I was forced to look past the continuous headlines associated with negative outlooks on the environment such as the tragic Haiti earthquake and venture into the lesser read sections of the newspaper in order to find what I was looking for. The result was a collection of articles that pin pointed various problems in our environment and suggested solutions or alternative ways of doing things. Even though most of the articles that I chose are related to local topics, they still have a large effect globally. For example, the article “Our drinking water at stake” mentions that the Great Lakes, a mass of water that represents a fifth of the worlds drinking water, is in danger due to our neglect in revising the agreement set in 1972. It is our (both the USA and Cananda’s) responsibility not only as property owners of the Great Lakes, but also as leaders of the world to ensure that a fifth of the worlds water does not go to waste.
The public thrives on the negative things in life. Ever notice how traffic seems to slow down when there’s an accident? Even the traffic coming in the opposite direction slows down because people are curious. It is not a normal occurance in their daily lives and they want to know what happened more than they actually care about who was harmed. The same thing can be applied to the media. The media uses natural disasters to create drama and lure readers in. Another way that the media benefits from the negative impacts on the environment is by creating a false image. It’s no one’s fault that thousands of people died in Haiti and Mother Nature is blamed. Some readers then make the connection that nothing humans do have an effect on the environment and begin to doubt things like global warming simply because they do not completely understand how the environment works. People who research the environment and potential ways in which individuals can make a difference do not gain as much exposure as the headlines portraying natural disasters. The fear if newspapers were to show articles similar to the ones I’ve presented, they’ve would lose viewers and as a result, lose money. There is no hiding the fact that our planet is in danger. Regardless of what happens, our style of living will change in the near future. People don’t take the time to do their part because they either figure someone else will do it for them, they’re too discouraged to commit to simple things such as recycling or they are desensitized by the media. We continuously hear about the negative impacts that our actions have on our planet. If it were anything new then we would be shocked and maybe feel the need to do something. Instead, we do nothing because we’ve gotten used to the fact that we are harming the environment. If we saw a car accident on the side of the road every single day, the flow of traffic would stay the same because people would be desensitized.
