As economies develop and populations grow, certain areas become heavily polluted, which creates problems for the surrounding ecosystem in general and for human health in particular. While most agree that this is a serious problem, there are many arguments about who is responsible for dealing with pollution: governments or private companies.
First, it is true that governments are – in theory – supposed to represent the people and are responsible for upholding the law. As most places do have anti-pollution laws, such as “clean air” legislation, it is up to the government to make sure these laws are enforced. If the government is ineffective or corrupt, then private companies will take advantage of this and continue to pollute the environment in the pursuit of profit.
In contrast, because private companies are the main source of pollution, it seems that they should be the ones required to fix it. Factories often pump toxic waste into rivers with complete disregard for relevant environmental laws because they can get away with it and it helps their bottom line. We often say to children “if you make the mess, you clean it up” to show that they are responsible for their actions, so why should private companies be able to avoid responsibility?
Overall, it would appear that those responsible for polluting the environment should be charged with returning it to a natural state, but companies will not do this unless they are forced by a central power – the government. It is a government’s role to ensure that laws are enforced and individuals who damage and destroy the environment for personal gain are forced to correct their mistakes or are severely punished for it. 
As economies develop and populations grow, certain areas become  
heavily
 polluted, which creates problems for the surrounding ecosystem  
in general
 and for human health  
in particular
. While most  
agree
 that this is a serious problem, there are  
many
 arguments about who is  
responsible
 for dealing with pollution:  
governments
 or  
private
  companies
. 
First
, it is true that  
governments
 are  
–
 in theory  
–
 supposed to represent the  
people
 and are  
responsible
 for upholding the  
law
. As most places do have anti-pollution  
laws
, such as “clean air” legislation, it is up to the  
government
 to  
make
 sure these  
laws
  are enforced
. If the  
government
 is ineffective or corrupt, then  
private
  companies
 will take advantage of this and continue to pollute the environment in the pursuit of profit. 
In contrast
,  
because
  private
  companies
 are the main source of pollution, it seems that they should be the ones required to  
fix
 it. Factories  
often
 pump toxic waste into rivers with complete disregard for relevant environmental  
laws
  because
 they can  
get
 away with  
it and
 it  
helps
 their bottom line. We  
often
 say to children “if you  
make
 the mess, you clean it up” to  
show
 that they are  
responsible
 for their actions,  
so
 why should  
private
  companies
 be able to avoid responsibility? 
Overall
, it would appear that those  
responsible
 for polluting the environment should  
be charged
 with returning it to a natural state,  
but
  companies
 will not do this unless they  
are forced
 by a central power  
–
 the  
government
. It is a  
government’s
 role to ensure that  
laws
  are enforced
 and individuals who damage and  
destroy
 the environment for personal gain  
are forced
 to correct their mistakes or are  
severely
 punished for it.