Chayse O.

Feeback
Wilson
Honors ELA
6 May 2015
Recycling Old News
The idea of going green has taken the world by storm, and with that raises the idea that
the United States is not doing enough to protect our planet. Many critics of the government
suggest more money should be put into recycling foundations instead of using landfills and that
more go green campaigns should be introduced on television. Little do most people know the
US is already making huge strides to help care for our planet, and action is already being taken.
Most people would argue that the US uses the most natural resources and has the most
waste out of any other country, according to the Energy Information Administration, the United
States, China, Russia, Japan, and India together account for 54% of the worlds total carbon
dioxide emissions. this does sound like quite a huge number, but put into perspective those
listed countries have some of the highest populations in the world; so it makes sense (Rheault).
In 2007, Gallup Polls conducted a survey between those high carbon dioxide users, it asked
questions about if the respondents have taken any steps to conserve things like water, energy, ect.
Between those countries, the United states always had some of the highest amount of people
who said yes to conserving. As shown in the graph 85% of people polled have voluntarily
recycled newspapers, glass, aluminum, motor oil, or other items this shows the the US does
work to help the planet and does quite well at it (Rheault).

The commonly raised question is that can going green really be all good? In a
recent article by Sevastian Winters, going green puts a financial burden on many
companies. Going green also eats up time, the fact is that 3 minutes are used per
week with over 300 million citizens, that takes up 7,800,000,000 man-hours of time
per year lowering that amount of time taken can productively increase the
economy (Winters). Also a huge burden gets put on the job industry, when new
industries grab a foothold, old industries will fall by the wayside, causing an
avalanche of job loss, financial hardship, and in some cases catastrophic poverty
the idea of going green could really affect the companies who do not make green
products (Winters).
Many critics also argue to make more products green, stated by Amy Todisco
There is a lot of information, and a lot of it is conflicting. People are not sure what
to trust or what to use, its hard for consumers to figure out. Another critical
argument is that when consumers do buy green products it is mostly not in an effort
to help the planet, but more in an effort to save their wallets. As said by Kate Rogers
in recent years hybrid vehicles have become much more attractive to consumers
because they showed buyers their savings instantly when filling up at the pump.
They arent necessarily making the switch to save the economy. Already worried
about the economy, their jobs and their pay, adding going green could be too
much for consumers.
Overall, the United States has already taken huge steps to conserve the
Earths valuable resources. I believe that the government should not have to
forcefully put in Go Green laws, since the evidence has shown that the US is
already conserving, the consumers do not quite understand the green products, and

it isnt productive. Helping to conserve the World is an individuals own

responsibility; government funding should be put elsewhere in order to get a bigger
change.