What should be the role of government in conservation practices - Essay Example

[Your full May 22, Government is very much responsible for the conservation of air, water, land, and the wildlife (Leopold), which means that the role of the government in conservation practices cannot be denied (Environmental Law Institute). Common people have the fundamental right to live in such surroundings that offer them clean air, purified water, and good residence. Governments should take measures so that people are entertained with these basic. To control energy supplies, energy production and production, and to manage and implement energy conservation policies, is also another conservation practice that the governments are responsible for (Chiras 345).

I do not agree with Leopold when he suggests that governments are given unmanageable jobs to handle, because according to me, what else are governments for then. People cast votes and elect their leaders with the expectation that they will solve their problems (Euston-Brown, Dartnell and Heese 55). People usually are not aware of how to manage land wisely unless government devises such policies and measures that help them manage their properties. Government’s power gets limited when it itself does not want to perform its duties or when the leaders themselves get corrupt.

Leopold was, however, correct when he stated that “if education does not connect thought, words, and deeds with our obligations as citizens of the land community, the…what is education for?” (qtd. in Meine and Knight 257). This is what I stated about the role of government, that is if government thinks of its obligations as unmanageable, then what are governments for? Likewise, education is not only about educating people to do what needs to be done but about educating them how to interlink their thoughts and obligations.

Works Cited Chiras, Daniel D. “Promoting Energy Efficiency.” Environmental Science: Creating a Sustainable Future. USA: Jones & Barlett Learning, 2004. Environmental Law Institute. Air and Water Pollution Control Law, 1981: A Comprehensive Examination of the Law Pertaining to the Control of Air and Water Pollution. USA: Environmental Law Institute, 1981. Euston-Brown, Kim, Dartnell, Sue, and Sue Heese. “Democratic participation.” Life Orientation Gr11 L/b. South Africa: New Africa Books.

Leopold, Aldo. “Substitutes for a Land Ethic.” The Land Ethic. N.p., 1948. Web. 22 May 2011. . Meine, Curt D., and Richard L. Knight. The Essential Aldo Leopold: Quotations and Commentaries. USA: Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2006.