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![In 2018, most people in the United States are made aware of the state of the environment. One outcome has been to limit the use of straws or plastic coffee cups; however, a bigger problem is that large franchises and other companies are dumping excess waste into the ocean and emitting greenhouse gasses. So why does there seem to be so much blame put on people instead of corporations?
A recent study by The U.N. indicates that if the world does not act quickly to change the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the air, global temperatures could reach an irreversible point by 2030.
“In our study we show that there are strict deadlines for taking climate action. We conclude that very little time is left before the Paris targets [to limit global warming] become infeasible," said one of the study’s authors, Henk Dijkstra.
The planet needs to cut annual carbon dioxide emissions by about one billion tons in order to remain at safe levels. Some believe that this study will cause people to take action to better the environment, recycle more, and use less plastic waste. The problem with this mentality is that each individual person can only create so much waste, but large companies have the ability to create landfills that are dumped straight into the ocean.
According to a news reports by The Guardian, just one hundred large companies are responsible for 71 percent of carbon dioxide emissions since 1988. Some of these companies also have reserved fossil fuels, which if burned, could put the environment at an even higher risk. These large companies are in charge of producing coal, oil, natural gas, and cement. While companies producing harmful materials are at fault here, large companies in general are also at fault. Household names like Tyson Foods and Perdue Farms have been caught dumping an estimated 206 million pounds of waste into the ocean and other waterways. These companies have the ability to pollute the water supply by government loopholes found in court cases.
Company dumping is not a concerning issue for most people, due to the fact that it is so far removed from everyday life. What people are not realizing is that many large companies are dumping into our water supply and even areas closer to home. Houston, Texas has the largest petrochemical complex in the United states. A company called Wright Containers was in charge of holding 330 gallons of toxic waste, but is now facing charges for dumping these chemicals into a neighborhood storm drain. Among the waste was a chemical that scientists speculate causes cancer.
According to an article from Binyamin Appelbaum and Jim Tankersley of The New York Times, President Trump wants to allow some companies to self-regulate on environmental issues. His environment protection agency also suggested letting cars and trucks release up to an additional 930 tons of greenhouse gas. Some fear that after the United States withdrawal from the Paris Climate agreement, it will be hard for the country to work towards safer climate control techniques.
“By leaving the Paris climate agreement it shows how much our country really cared about global warming. Now that it’s a hot topic again our government is forced to do something, but how much can the United States do alone when large companies still run the country?” said junior Kelley Whitehouse.
While it is still an issue, limiting straw use is not the cause of global warming. Pollution and greenhouse gas emission can be taken into civilian hands, but at some point, companies must limit these as well or else environmental problems will be declared irreversible.](https://theadamskilt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/garbage-900x600.jpg)
