The government should be extremely involved in enforcing required conservation of energy for its citizens and businesses. No other institution in a country has the manpower, financial and human resources, regulatory systems and power to enforce conservation. The United States government has the capability to enforce policy, which businesses, due to self-interest, fail to regulate themselves. Individual citizens may have good intentions, but the success of a conservation program needs the collective efforts of individuals working together: isolated pockets of communities cannot compete against the indifference of the uneducated masses. In order for society to evolve, and become more environmentally conscious, the government must oversee the people’s energy usages to …show more content…
One reason is that Americans and Japanese people are more environmentally conscious is because the citizens experience more education than those of other countries. Early on, citizens became exposed to the importance of protecting our land via signs, literature, incentives, and even social media. The children’s movie Pocahontas devotes an entire song to the earth and how it does not belong to man; social media has even helped spread the word about Earth Day. Our awareness is also important because laws alone may not be enough of an incentive to protect the land; we need to be educated on how our behavior is adversely impacting the environment. Self- awareness is an important key to changing bad habits. However, we also need to be realistic. Governments are in the best position to level the playing field between business interests and citizen interests. But there has to be a balance. Societal economies are closely tied to their productivity and regardless of how effective we want to be, humans will always use environmental