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.39

Protecting the environment is a controversial issue leading to an argument whether people or the authority and large companies should do something to maintain a clean surrounding. Some believe that people lack the ability to do so and that only the ministry and organizations have the influence to do so. I disagree since I believe that individuals equally should be responsible, as well as the government and industries to improve their surroundings. Firstly, individuals should avoid throwing garbage, especially, those that are non-degradable products, in particular, plastic, glass and metal, in areas they find convenient instead of the proper trash bins. Otherwise, it could harm the environment, as well as the animals dwelling there. For example, an elephant, who died last year for unknown reason, underwent an autopsy and discovered that its stomach was filled with plastic bags and glass pieces. Unfortunately, the reason was due to careless hurling of food to the elephant in plastic bags by tourists. Secondly, people should start buying recyclable and degradable materials like, paper or cloth bags, in order to store their food and other goods. Thus, people cause an important change. On the other hand, the ministry and many large companies should be responsible too. The government should allow and encourage people to join certain groups, which are concerned about the ecosystem and try their best to clean and maintain litter filled areas. Moreover, industries should avoid throwing their debris into oceans, and other areas, rather than disposing their waste in the proper way. For instance, the Nuwara wewa, which is a large lake in Srilanka, attracted a lot of negative responses in 2015, when shoals of fish started dying. It was found out that, a nearby oil industry, is responsible for this due to the dumping of crude oil into the lake. In conclusion, governments and companies may have a greater influence than people to maintain the environment. In my opinion, they both have an equal responsibility, with people making better and more environmentally friendly decisions such as, using reusable and degradable items and disposing their waste properly into trash cans, while, the larger organizations avoid using convenient locations like, the sea to dump their waste and by encouraging the formation of more ecosystem-concerned campaigns.