How is america environmentally responsible or irresponsible?

Question

like over the years starting from 1800 how are they environmetnally responsible or irresponsible? like the dust bowl, hurricane katrina, etc.

Answer 1

We are not the best, but we are getting better. China has now surpassed us as the most polluting nation in the world and other nations like India are prime to surpass us soon too. We as Americans are taking great steps, but the media refuses to acknowledge this because it would give them less to report.

Answer 2

The US is not perfect, but thank God for her, we are a better place now.  If without her, the Germans and Japanese will be ruling the world.

It was the US technological advances and her thirst of personal liberty and capitalistic lifestyle that defeated these two tyrannies.

One should always remember that nature will take care of itself.  If human population grows to an unmanageable number, nature has its own method to deal with it and it will be less painful than that of humans.  Some people are always thirsty for power.  If you loose track of that, the damage will be far greater than nature can ever do and the rage will be unstoppable.

Answer 3

Its not the question of 'environmentally 'responsible' or 'irresponsible'  because there are many other factors such as trading factors, economic factors and international factors that may affects them to cause a particular environmental change.  So even if they caused much damage in the environment, it is also due to many international factors as well.  For example, most people thinks that Japanese kill whales in Australia mainly for food.  But you will be quite astonished when you see what they make out of whales - that even we obliviously use today (like paint and cosmetics) So one should not blame another country for causing environmental damage.  NOt saying that there is no ground for moral responsiblity, we should be more aware to focus on 'how' we, as a unity on Earth, could improve our environment as well as fufilling our needs for economic, social, and political satisfaction and also importantly, our subsistence.

Answer 4

americans have been environmentally irresponsible since they first sailed in from england and settled on native american's land and spread small pox.

we are a wasteful nation. if something breaks, we buy a new one. we dump chemicals and raw sewage into the ocean. millions of people and companies don't recycle. we are greedy and don't like to be inconvenienced. our factories and vehicles emit harmful pollutants. we allow companies to make products made with known carcinogens. our government creates environmental disasters (google hanford or santa susana field lab to start) and doesn't clean them up.

i could go on and on... but the BIGGEST contribution to environmental IRRESPONSIBILITY that still plagues us to this day (and will always) is the invention of the atom bomb. i don't see how we still allow governments to test, create and deploy nuclear weapons. the radiation from the bombs, the tests and the plants making them significantly continues to destroy our environment and every one in it.