Individuals can do nothing to improve the environment; only governments and large companies can make a difference. To what extent do you agree or disagree? v.23

When in comes to the environment, each and every person living in it contributes to it. Living in a civilized society, one has to adhere to certian morals, values and laws in order for a society to function normally. That means one should dispose off his/her own trash regularly and also segregate individual components into recyclables and non-recyclables. But beyond that it also means one should be mindful of others' needs and look out for one another while taking others' perspective into account. For example, if an individual's neighbour has certain disabilities, instead of dismissing them, one should be proportionately mindful of them and be helpful. One can only grow when there is mutual trust and respect with one another. While every individual has to play his own part in society and imporving his/her own environment, an individual can only do so much. Governments on the other hand, have a lot more power. Governments act as regulatory bodies that can shape the path for new advances in various different fields, including but not limited to- science, technology, economic growth and finiancial growth. Governments have a lot of macro level decision making power based on the amount of data they have at their disposal. And unlike private companies, which mostly care about financial growth, governments regularly decide on policies which are for the greater benefit of the people and which may not necessarily make financial sense at first. Introducing new policies and institutions can shape the way a certain country can progress in various fields. One example I can recall is a 'carbox tax' for companies which emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. In order to avoid increased overheads based on this additional tax, companies might seek alternate ways of manufacturing their products which in turn pave way for increased competition and innovation. Something like this can give rise to a mass adoption of renewable energy sources which in turn help the environment by decreasing carbon emissions, thus reducing the carbon footprint of companies, and in turn households and the individuals too. After looking at the issue at hand from both angles, one can see that the problems at the individual level and organisational level are very different. But both of them need to be addressed appropriately using creative solutions, and only then one can hope to achieve the intended end result.