Political agendas sacrifice environment

By: Paolo Ramos / Staff Writer

As the proliferation of industrial development and pollution continues at a rapid pace, necessities such as an environment with clean air and water are becoming more of a scarce privilege rather than a universal right.

In the race for the Republican presidential nomination, a new platform has emerged: the dissolution of the Environmental Protection Agency and deregulating environmentally destructive activity.

As citizens of the United States, we have less to fear from breathing in toxic fumes or drinking water laced with industrial waste. For any person living on this planet, these needs are non-negotiable, and to disrupt efforts to maintain them is comparable to self-destruction.

The EPA is the branch of the government dedicated to regulating industrial activity to ensure that the most eco-friendly measures are taken.  Developed during Richard Nixon’s presidency, the EPA has been greatly responsible for the passing of environmental legislation that has kept most of the U.S. clean and safe for the last 40 years.

Their activity involves regulating land, water, air and hazardous wastes among other aspects of the environment.

Their function is an invaluable aspect to our society, and it is disappointing that there are those within our own government who fail to see that.

In a New York Times article concerning the prominent Republican candidates, there is a general consensus among them that the EPA is responsible for stunting job growth, and as a result should be dissolved.

Republican candidates Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry have not been subtle about their desire to do away with the EPA, much less their intention to strengthen the fossil fuel industry. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum, also Republicans, too have expressed desire to reduce restrictions upon oil and coal harvesting. The majority of the Republican Party as a whole has refused to acknowledge global warming as an actual fact.

It is disappointing to observe that those in political office continue to ignore what has been proven factual over and over again by scientists to be damaging to the environment. The 2010 United Nations International Panel on Climate Change provided evidence that humans have directly impacted the environment in terms of climate change.

The dangers of oil drilling were exposed last year during the BP Oil Spill, which brought havoc upon the ecosystems of the Gulf Coast. To disregard such findings and occurrences that prove how much of a negative influence human activity has on the environment is nothing less than shooting one’s self in the foot.

Even President Barack Obama has succumbed by this anti-environmental trend, reversing the emissions standard proposals he put into motion last year that would have saved over 12,000 lives by reducing toxic fumes. The standards would have placed stricter regulations on emissions by manufacturers in an effort to curb the level of smog, which has greatly contributed to lung disease and asthma, among several respiratory problems.

Republicans have lambasted the standards, citing them as job killers and evidential of a too powerful government. This fear mongering has caused Obama to yet again compromise with the right wing, inevitably sacrificing civilian lives for an unsure economic benefit.

The environment does not deserve to be politicized. It is not simply a pawn to be used in an attempt to secure a position or to increase riches. It is an inalienable necessity of our nature and should be taken into consideration when making any decision, political or personal.

We risk digging our own graves when we choose to ignore the rapid changes that are occurring in our world. The plan to dissolve the EPA is not just improbable, but a direct insult to our own nature.