The website, www.epa.gov and archived documents retrieved from that site, describes regulations that support the facts about pre-1991 landfills and establishes credibility. Peer-review sources are used to support the logical argument that continuing and even strengthening regulations of pre-1991 landfills is a priority. Scientific journals are used to explain the dangers of pre-regulation landfills. Internet sites such as www.cancer.org and www.hazardouswasteexperts.com are used to educate and appeal to the emotions of the
“For the first time in American history, we have a law authorizing the worldwide and indefinite military detention of people captured far from any battlefield. The NDAA has no temporal or geographic limitations. It is completely at odds with our values, violates the Constitution, and corrodes our Nation’s commitment to the rule of law.” “For the first time in American history, we have a law authorizing the worldwide and indefinite military detention of people captured far from any battlefield. The NDAA has no temporal or geographic limitations.
The Sierra Club is a nonprofit environmental organization. It was founded in 1892 by John Muir. The Club’s mission statement is, To explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth; To practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources; To educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out these objectives. (Sierra Club, n.d.-a) The Club promotes environment preservation by encouraging green energy, mitigating global warming, and opposing the use of fossil fuels.
In this case, regarding the legal validity of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforcing an order on Betty’s land, they are within full scope of authority. The EPA issued its order in reference to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The pond located on Betty Blackacre’s property was deemed as a major migratory location for many birds, including endangered species. Section 9 of the ESA bars the taking of a species. In this instance, the term “take” encompasses any harm of an endangered species or its habitat (Laschever, 2012).
Policies like the Water Quality Act of 1965, the Clean Air Act of 1963, the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, and the Wilderness Act of 1964 were all done under the Great Society plan. Johnson’s environmental focus led to the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) under Richard Nixon and the subsequent creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Rachele Liba Professor Whitehead POSC 100 22 July 2016 Placing a Price on a Green Nation Having lived a nomadic lifestyle across the United States, I have had the opportunity to witness the wonders of our flourishing society and the everyday turmoils that we face. Rigorous innovation has helped Americans fulfill countless dreams, however with every gift there is a usually a price-tag or opportunity cost. Now in the midst of the general presidential election, platforms that represent our beliefs can undergo much needed reform to address the opportunity costs that were surpassed in the process of success. Among the various problems found in our society, a key movement that has raised necessary controversy has to do with environmental policy.
The purpose of environmental justice is fair treatment for everyone. Everyone should have respect to environmental practice and regulations, regardless of the their nationality, income, religion, and ethnicity. “The environmental justice movement has the idea that poor people are more exposed to a greater pollution, hazards, and environmental degradation than richer people.” (Withgott & Laposata, 2012). For example, during 1989 Exxon Valdez, a disaster struck causing an oil tanker with 38-million gallons of oil to wreck at Prince William Sound’s Bligh Reef offshore of Alaska.
Following the Clean Air Act of 1970, air pollution had significantly decreased in statistical levels, even corroborating the fact that Americans experience longer and healthier lives, with better visibility due to diminished smog and fog levels. On a broader note, even crops and farm animals saw a benefit in this Act, with cleaner and fresher air to use in many processes, like respiration and photosynthesis. In response to the Clean Water Act of 1972, the loss of wetlands have significantly decreased, and the bodies of water used for leisurely activities, such as fishing and swimming, have seen an increase. More impactfully, billions of pollutants have been eradicated from national waters, purifying and cleansing it for public use. Furthermore, public advocacy efforts such as the protests seen in the New York Times post in Document 3, and the speech given by Hansen in Document 5, have set the stage for global climate change activism.
Our environment had been endangered of becoming unsafe, threatening, and even deadly. “The water we drink, the food we eat, the very air that we breathe, are threatened with pollution. Our parks are overcrowded, our seashores overburdened. Green fields and dense forests are disappearing.” Johnson stresses that the health of people and environment is at risk because Americans have allowed for the destruction of nature to get out of hand, and causing both the Earth and human health at risk of becoming an ugly America, due to –as Johnson references- the “Ugly American” (“Great Society”).
Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, states that, “The EPA’s water quality study confirms what millions of Americans already know—that dirty oil and gas fracking contaminates drinking water” and that “the EPA chose to leave many critical questions unanswered” (Malewitz). It is critical that the EPA works with the general public to answer every question so that we can begin to work together to understand the complexity of this
This will not be a quick or easy process, but it is doable. Carson reflects, “It took hundreds of millions of years to produce the life that now inhabits the earth … life reached a state of adjustment and balance with its surrounding” (890). Just because this process of protecting and eventually rebuilding our ecosystem may not ever be complete, does not mean that we can give up. We must be willing to take the first step and allow eminent domain to continue. As Fredrick Douglas once said, “If there is no struggle, there is no
It 's job is to control air emissions from both mobile and immobile sources. Since the Clean Air Act was implemented, not only has the emission of six different types of pollutants dropped 69 percent in the time between 1970 and 2014, but the Act has also helped prevent thousands of people from becoming ill with serious health effects during these years. In order for there to be any action taken by the government, the Act asks for the state and the EPA to help solve these problems by using programs that are based on the newest technological and scientific information. However, we still face problems with air pollution today, and it still threatens the health and welfare of all
In Rachel Carson’s book which was published in 1962, it made a powerful case for the idea that if humankind poisoned nature, nature would in turn poison humankind. Throughout the book, she went on about the detrimental affects that human’s bad habits would have on Mother Earth. Her main argument was that society as a whole would have to change their previous ways of living in order to maintain good health for the Earth and in return the Earth would continue taking care of us, providing land and good weather. One of the actions that was a result of her begging for change was the Clean Air act and the Clean Water act. The Clean Air Act was a law which was designed to control air pollution.
This landmark symposium made the introduction of the federal government involvement in environmental regulation. In 1955 congress passed its first environmental legislation which was upheld and supported strongly by the public and improved science. After this huge merge the United States environmental protection Agency and the effective public policy toward the environmental were instituted. (Usepa,
Wildlife Conservation is often seen as a bad thing, but if you look at it from my perspective, then it is actually a good thing. People think of it as holding wild animals captive, but we are actually protecting them from poachers. The purpose of Wildlife Conservation is to protect the animals in danger, which I am in agreement 110%. Other people argue that we shouldn’t have conservations, but they don’t know the harm that can happen to unprotected animals.