How much should we regulate?

coastalcare.org

The concern for environmental health in the US has decreased significantly. Environmental health was a big concern in earlier generations, with the government passing the Clean Air Act in 1963 and the Clean Water Act in 1972. However, according to a document from the US House of Representatives, current political figures agree that our environmental regulations are negatively affecting the economy.

A big argument of these politicians is that our current environmental regulations are causing small businesses to cut back on hiring workers because the costs employers have to make towards environmental regulatory laws are too expensive. It says that "the effort required to follow these regulations prevent small business owners from growing and creating new jobs." They also place more importance on saving government money for more urgent needs, such as education, Medicare, etc., rather than using it to take care of our environment. The lack of proper regulation has caused major damage to the world around us.

                One example of how our environment is suffering is litter. Littering has served as a major environmental problem and has even been described as an “epidemic”. About 1.9 billion tons of litter ends up in the ocean every year, causing a huge depletion in marine life. Many of the endangered animals in the oceans are losing their homes and food resources because of the extreme amount of litter we produce. To clean up the careless littering of others, it costs the government about $11.5 billion each year. This money could have been used in more pressing services such as housing and health care, but instead the government is forced to use it to clean up after others.

 The government has already taken action to this problem by creating an anti-littering law in which violators will have to pay a heavy fine. However, this is still not efficient enough considering people rarely get caught for littering, and litter amounts have hardly gone down. This shows that our current regulations are not sufficient enough to maintain a healthy environment, and we need to take more steps to work towards fixing our environmental problems. Politicians cannot brush it aside anymore- this IS a pressing issue, whether they admit it or not. Other government funds are very important, but the stability and health of our world should take priority in order to make the Earth sustainable for future generations.

For this particular issue, a good step to take towards reducing litter is to raise more awareness. The government should fund more campaigns to raise awareness about the detriments of littering, as well as raising the fine on the anti-littering law. Both of these actions are completely doable and would result in a lot less litter generated in the United States. These among many other examples show that the US government needs to create more regulations to keep our environment clean. The economy is very important, but the health of our environment should have a higher priority. Creating more regulations is the only way we can work towards fixing this issue so our Earth will be sustainable in the future.