Practices Vital to Enhancing Citizen's Participation in Creating Healthy Environment - Essay Example

? Some key values and practices vital to enhancing citizen's participation in creating sustainable and healthy environment Some key values and practices vital to enhancing citizen's participation in creating sustainable and healthy environment One of the greatest challenges in creating a just and sustainable environmental policy is to establish as an active principle and practice, the right and responsibility of citizens to participate in meaningful and effective ways in the process of environmental policy development. This can be accomplished in several ways: i) by personal commitment and practice; ii) by challenging and participating in governmental bodies; iii) by holding corporations accountable for how they approach and use environment. This paper analyses two values and practices from each of the above mentioned three areas of focus. Personal commitment & practices No environmental protection activity would taste success unless it gets public attention and cooperation. Since people are responsible for majority of the environmental destruction activities, educating the public about the necessities of environmental protection and sustainable development is a must. A slight change in the public behaviour can bring dividends in protecting the environment. For example, billions of plastic carry bags have been used daily by the people all over the world while they conduct shopping. Plastic is the number one villain in destroying environment since it is not a biodegradable material. Instead of using plastic carry bags for shopping, if public started to use paper carry bags or other environmental friendly carry bags, the use of plastic can be reduced considerably. Each person should make a conscious effort to reduce his plastic consumption as much as possible so that the environment will be benefitted immensely. In short, individuals can contribute heavily to the environmental protection activities by avoiding plastic material. Avoidance or reduction of fertilizers, pesticides and chemicals in agricultural fields can contribute heavily to the protection of the environment. Farmers should make sure that they are using only bio fertilizers for improving agricultural yields instead of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It should be noted that the powerful fertilizers and pesticides used in the agricultural lands are capable of polluting not only the land, but also the water and the air. So, farmers should try to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers as much as possible and they should use bio fertilizers as much as possible even if the yields are slightly less. Participating governmental bodies Environmental impacts cannot be confined to the political boundaries of nation states. Pollutants from one country often travel to others, activities within a country can affect the environment of another, and the depletion of the ozone layer or changes in climate due to the release of green house gases affect us all(Singh and Singh, 2006, p.9). Participation of the governmental bodies is important for the success of environmental protection activities. Since individuals have limitations in controlling the group activities, the intervention of governmental bodies is necessary to execute the environmental protection laws in a society. For example, it is difficult for an individual to check or control the emission of greenhouse gases from vehicles. Only the governmental agencies can check the smokes coming out from the vehicles and ask the drivers or vehicle owners to do the needful. Governmental bodies can play a vital role in reducing the usage of plastic materials. As mentioned earlier, governmental bodies can ask the retailers to provide only environmental friendly carry bags to the shoppers. Consumers or shoppers have limitations in compelling or insisting the shop owners to provide paper bags or other bags manufactured from environmental friendly materials. “In most countries there are laws that regulate point pollution from specific sources, and making emission statistics public. This practice would not only help in identifying the violating units but would also build up public pressure, and even market pressure, against them” (Singh and Singh, 2006, p.8). Governmental agencies can educate the public about the environmental protection laws existing in a particular country so that the public will get more awareness about their rights. Recently, Coca Cola forced to stop its operation in Kerala, one of the southernmost states of India because of the protection from the public. Coke tried to exploit the underwater resources beyond the prescribed limits. Since Keralites had enough awareness about the existing laws about the underwater utilization, they brought this matter into the notice of the authorities and Coke forced to stop its operation in Plachimada, Kerala. The following example clearly explains what governmental agencies can do to promote environmental protection. In 2005, Black River First Nation added the EMAN Coordinating Office as a project partner and utilized EMAN protocols for establishing and monitoring new study plots. Black River First Nation is responsible for all plot establishment and data collection. A unique aspect of the project is that Black River has also partnered with three high schools in the region. Students from Grades 10-12 participate in field trips in the spring and fall, in which Black River staff provide training on the collection of field data. The students therefore learn about environmental monitoring through hands-on experience and collect their own data (Kotak, 2006, p.83). Participation of youths in environmental protection activities is extremely important. Since students are the upcoming generation, it is necessary to empower them about the needs of environmental protection. Governmental agencies can play vital role in empowering teenagers about environmental protection as explained in the above example. Holding corporations accountable for how they approach and use environment There are plenty of MNC’s which talk loudly about environmental protection and does little. This is because of the weaker environmental protection laws persisting all over the world. “Traditional environmentalism has focused on protecting the natural environment using legislative and regulatory strategies; however efforts needed to protect public health through building power at the local and state levels to influence federal policies” (Gibbs, 2002, p.97). All the manufacturing units in this world are producing wastes in one way or another. Industrial wastes can cause huge damage to the land, water and air. Industrial units should not be allowed to establish near heavily populated areas. Moreover, the authorities should make waste processing as a liability of the MNC’s rather than a requirement written on papers. The authorities should inspect industrial sites time to time and make sure that the waste produced by such units are recycled or processed in the proper manner. The license of the industrial units which violate waste processing laws should be cancelled. Consumers should make sure that they purchase goods and commodities only from the companies which have good track record of environmental protection. In other words, the activities of organizations, which practice sustainable development, should be encouraged. It is the duty of every organization to spend a substantial portion of its profit to the betterment of the communities in which it operates. Same way, all organizations should make sure that a substantial portion of their profits for the rebuilding process of the environment. Government should implement laws which make a certain amount of contribution from every organization mandatory for the environmental protection activities. Conclusions The coordination of individuals, groups, corporate world, and governmental agencies is necessary to implement environmental protection activities meaningfully. Individuals should make sure that they stay away from environmental destruction activities. They should promote the use of only the environmental friendly materials. Corporate world should make sure that they are processing and disposing all the waste produced in their premises properly. They should contribute a portion of their profit for the rebuilding process of the environment. Governmental agencies should make sure that individuals, groups and the corporate world are not violating environmental protection laws. References Kotak, B.G. (2006). Engaging First nation Communities in Environmental Monitoring: The Experience of Black River First Nation, Manitoba. Environments 34(1): 81-83. Gibbs, L. (2002). Citizen Activism for Environmental Health: A Growth of a Powerful New Grassroots Health Movement. ANNALS American Academy of Political and Social Science. 584: 97-109. Singh, M and Singh, S (2006). Transparency and the Natural Environment. Economic and Political Weekly. April: 15, 2006. Retrieved from http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/programs/ai/rti/articles/intl_trans_&_env_misha_singh.pdf Read More