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Tottianna Powell
Professor Hamalian
English 115
8 December 2014
The Green Issue
The going green issue has been an ongoing issue that raises eye-brows and various
passionate opinions. I believe that going green will help the environment. However, societys
members are handling the issue in all of the wrong ways. In other words, recycling is a short
term fix that does not directly target the real issues. No longer are humans living in a world
where the environment is pleasant or stable but much rather becoming more and more
industrialized and diminishing before our eyes. The majority of the society believes that
recycling is a great action toward saving the environment. Though recycling can be beneficial by
conserving resources and saving energy. Our citizens make up for all of the good they have
done recycling through their everyday actions. Trees are also being cut down rapidly, which is a
primary source of oxygen. Fossil fuels are prevalent in todays air, and we (members of the
society) are constantly cutting trees down to obtain more resources.
To begin, many of societys members own homes, rent homes, or live in someones
home. All of which need power to function in everyday life. Most households if not all obtain
electronics anything ranging from a toaster to a television. According to Lawrence Livemore

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National Laboratory Report on Estimated United States residential energy, the estimated use of
energy a color television uses is four hundred-sixty kilowatt hours (unit of energy), and
estimated to be used twelve hours a day. This amount of energy can be used to operate ten
lamps with twenty-three bulbs. This is an example of how one household can waste an ample
amount of energy in a small amount of time. While everyone in one household may recycle, they
are defeating the purpose by simply continuing to have various energy consuming products in
their households. If energy is one of the most fundamental needs in life, why do we waste it?
Furthermore, the wastefulness in the United States is growing instead of decreasing.
Realistically, more energy is being used to condemn all of the particles recycled by societys
members. According to Lawrence Livemore National Laboratorys 2012 energy flow analysis,
suggest that 2012 was the most energy wasteful year in more than a decadethe amount of
energy wasted annually has hovered between 50%-58% during the last ten years, but in 2012
their waste calculation shot up to 61%. People are under the impression that recycling alone
will help save energy. Lifestyle changes must be made in order to truly save the environment.
Few environmentally friendly changes, such as using compact fluorescent light bulbs instead of
standard incandescent bulbs or saving plastic bottles and aluminum cans; will not make up for
the massive amount of energy wasted every single day, that then calculates to years of waste.
Lastly, in order for society to truly grown and become an environmentally safe place,
legal action must take place. As a United States citizen, our citizens abide by the rules of the
constitution. Environmental rules are not enforced in todays society nor was it enforced in the
past. To truly evoke change and solve these issues with wasting ample amount of energy and

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various other environmental issues, people must recognize the importance. Granted that, there
was a law passed stating that societys members are to limit how much energy they are using in
their households, significant changes would take place from one generation to the next.
Likewise, trees are constantly being cut down. According to, SavaTree Trees contribute
to their environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration,
conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife. Trees do an amazing job of recycling
all the polluting carbon in the air and returning the oxygen back into our atmosphere, creating a
stable cycle of carbon in our atmosphere. However, the tremendous rates which trees are being
cut down in our forests have grown to alarming rates. According to Textile Waste Diversion
Incorporated, three to six billion trees are cute down per year. Oxygen is a source of energy,
therefore we are not only wasting electricity, yet wasting sources of energy for the human body.
Trees are vital to our environment in order to maintain life. Provided that trees are cut down to
provide materials to societys members, indeed societys members should use these materials
sparingly, in order to prevent more trees from being cut down. Instead of valuing an item simple
as paper, paper is widely wasted across the globe, causing more trees to be cut down to generate
paper, ultimately making our source of oxygen scarce. According to the Recyclopedia, the
United States is only 5 percent of the world's population, but uses 30 percent of the world's
paperused paper and paper products make up the largest portion of our trash - about 40
percent. These facts validate that paper is being wasted at swift rates, especially in the United
States, which shows that specifically United States citizens are wasteful. These are the same

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citizens that promote recycling, yet fail to realize that ample amounts of other products are being
wasted each year. Trees are not valued as they once were decades ago, which is why our society
continues to decline in solving environmental issues. The majority of people are either not doing
enough to help the environment or truly are not doing anything at all.
In conclusion, the going green issue should be and needs to be handled in drastically
different angle. American citizens are under the false impression that saving a few plastic bottles
and aluminum cans are step toward changing our environment. In actuality, recycling is a very
small effort towards enormous environmental changes. Various wasteful activities happen
throughout peoples lives that no one can truly keep track. A change in lifestyle needs to be
promoted to societys members through congress, to make a substantial change. The question
now is, are people willing to make a total lifestyle change in order to save the environment?

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Works Cited
"10 FAST FACTS ON RECYCLING." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, 13 Dec. 2013. Web.
08 Dec. 2014.
"How Much Paper Do We Use?" Www.phillupdbag.com. N.p., n.d. Web.
"Tree Facts | Facts About Trees." Savatree.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.
"US Wastes 6186% Of Its Energy." CleanTechnica. N.p., 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.