ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

INTRODUCTION

One of our providers in able to live is the environment. The life of Earth
depends upon how we took care the environment. We, as one of the consumer of this
must be responsible to preserve and take a good care of it. It is our duty to improve
and protect our environment. Decision-making is connected with our environmental
responsibility in a way that we should practice the precautionary principle to ensure
that are actions do not have negative effects on our environment. An environmentally
responsible individual assesses their environmental sustainability and applies this
knowledge to their decision-making.

Individual, community, industry, government are the beneficiaries of

environment. The level of each beneficiary is different from each other. As an
individual, our responsibility is to reduce waste, conserve energy and water, dispose
properly of items, join an environmental clubs or organizations and be aware about
the environmental issue and spread a word about it. On the other hand, community
leaders have the power to influence the people in their community to be responsible
with the environment. As part of it, we should agree and support waste management,
water conservation, community greening projects and educational programs provided
to help the environment’s improvement and preservation. For the industry, which has
the ability to manage operation sustainably, meet or even exceed government
environmental regulations and standards, and promote positive environmental
changes must be part of International Organization for Standardization (ISO), develop
a green procurement policy, provide financial and in-kind support to local
environmental initiatives and practice the precautionary principles for harvesting of
timber, marine and other resources. Lastly, the government which create and enforce
environmental legislation and influence all levels must reduce environmental impact
through protecting the habitats and species, managing the natural resources,
developing, implementing, and enforcing policies and regulations on waste
management and conservation of energy and water, supporting communities,
businesses and NGO’s or the non-governmental organizations, implementing
programs to harness wind and solar energy and participating and supporting
researches and education, conferences, communicating the environmental agendas
and information to staff, working with Government departments and publishing
researches and its results.

The improvement and preservation of environment starts with the us. We

should know our duties with our surroundings. This paper will spread awareness on
the significance of the environment to us, our responsibilities to protect environment,
and the relationship of environment to our decision-making.
APPLICATION AND ANALYSIS

The natural world has the power to inspire. In the article of Karen Ellis, a chief
advisor in economics and development, “If we start to understand the value of nature
to our society and economy, we will recognize the importance of living in harmony
with nature, rather than destroying it for short term gain. So many governments and
businesses around the world are now realizing this, and starting to act – it gives me
real hope for the future." In the Philippines, we are now experiencing a sudden change
of temperature. Students and school administrators are affected with this. According
to Benar News (2024), reported by Maitem and Riñoza, with temperature’s rising to
between 30 and 40 degrees Celsius (86 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many parts of
the Philippine archipelago, the education department called off classes at all levels,
saying it would be dangerous for students to troop to school. The heat index measures
what a temperature feels like to the human body, factoring in air temperature and
humidity. Many parts of the Philippines are currently suffering from extreme heat
caused by the El Niño phenomenon. Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and
Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) stated, there are thirty-six areas
across the country were in possible danger from extreme heat. The suspension of face-
to-face classes highlights the growing challenges posed by climate change in the
Philippines, one of the most vulnerable countries to its effects. In 2023, the World
Risk Index ranked the Philippines as among the countries with the highest disaster
risk due to extreme natural events and climate change’s negative impacts. It shows
that if we continue disregarding the issues in the environment, Philippines would face
a serious environment phenomenon. So, it is important to know the value of
environment to human being.

In the article of European Environment Agency (2023), nature is the

foundation of our health and well-being. It gives us clean air, water, food, materials
and space for recreation. Spending time in nature is good for our mental health. And if
we do not take care of the planet, its climate and ecosystems, we undermine how our
societies function, worsen our lives and, perhaps most directly, harm our own well-
being. It simply shows that one of our providers in order for us to survive is the
nature. If we failed to take a good care of it, we will suffer.

Human activities can attribute either good or bad in our environment. We

should be mindful of what we can contribute to our nature. According to Moss and
Means (2021) in their article, there are 10 environmental disasters caused by humans.
From air pollution to oil spills, human-caused disasters can easily grow out
of control. Sometimes, these accidents cause irreparable damage to Earth
and its organisms. First disaster is The Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone. For years,
humans have polluted the Mississippi River with pesticides, industrial waste, and
toxic chemicals. As the river drains into the Gulf, it dumps excess nutrients including
nitrogen and phosphorous into the water and causes algal blooms. These blooms
create a hypoxic zone in the Gulf as they decay and take oxygen with them. Another
disaster is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is an
environmental disaster caused by human waste. This mass of marine debris located in
the North Pacific Ocean is made up of barely visible pieces of plastic brought together
by the North Pacific Gyre (NPG). The NPG is a vortex caused by four different ocean
currents—California, North Equatorial, Kuroshio, and North Pacific—that converge
and send water and debris clockwise. This creates a "patch" of garbage and
microplastics that get caught in these currents often end up here. Third disaster is the
Dust bowl. Much of this region’s land had been over-farmed and most farmers had
not been practicing soil conservation. As a result, the earth was dry and barren, and
severe drought only made matters worse. Topsoil was picked up by strong winds and
this created a heavy dust storm that spanned an area of 10 million acres and destroyed
farms and buildings.3 When the drought ended in 1940 and the dust settled, 400,000
people had migrated from their homes. The Three Mile Island Accident is also
human-caused environment disaster. This caused the system to lose coolant and the
reactor’s core partially melted as a result. The unit was damaged beyond repair and
released radioactive material into the environment. Also, the Love Canal Disaster
which it dumped approximately 21,000 tons of toxic chemicals and compounds into
the canal before selling the land for development. The Tennessee Valley Authority
Coal Ash Spill which wave of ash contained arsenic, selenium, lead, and various
radioactive materials. As it spread, it contaminated over 300 acres of land and spilled
into the Emory River. Removing the ash from the Emory River and the surrounding
area took about six years. The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill and The BP Deepwater Oil
Spill which can kill a hundred of marine species. Another human-caused disaster is
California Wildfires which resulted from fossil fuel burning, deforestation, and
livestock farming that steadily increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere and raised the planet's overall temperature. Lastly is the Flint Water
Crisis, which resulted to suffer adverse health effects caused by lead poisoning and
some still do not have access to clean water. These are some of the effects pf human’s
decision-making to the environment.

People are the only living thing that is accountable to the preservation of our
nature. Bandura (2007) points three loci where people may absolve themselves of a
sense of personal accountability: by displacing responsibility onto others, by
minimizing the harmful effects, and by ignoring or marginalizing recipients of those
harmful effects. Concerning displacement and diffusion of responsibility, rather than
be accountable or think of themselves as agents of change, individuals may decide
that science, technology, or government will fix the problem. He also added, two
other loci where moral disengagement from environmental responsibility occurs. At
the outcome locus, people may disregard or minimize the harmful effects and at the
recipient locus, they may ignore or marginalize the victims.

According to Van der Linden, Maibach, & Leiserowitz (2015) a sizable

body of research stated that most people underestimate the risks of climate change,
believing that the threats are distant—temporally, socially, and spatially. University of
Washington News takes an inside look into Peter Kahn’s research about
environmental generational amnesia. Kahn (2002) has coined the term,
“environmental generational amnesia” to reflect the psychological phenomenon of
each generation experiencing more environmental degradation than was experienced
by their parents’ generation and of that more degraded environment becoming the
new normal.

Environment is not just responsible to provide food and shelter but also has
something to do with person’s behavior. Reciprocal determinism is a central concept
of Albert Bandura's social learning theory. Also known as triadic reciprocality,
reciprocal determinism is a model composed of three factors that influence behavior:
the individual (including how they th ink and feel), their environment, and the behavior itself.
According to Albert Bandura in his Social learning theory, Individuals are neither powerless
objects controlled by environmental forces nor entirely free agents who can do
whatever they choose. A person’s physical and social environment influences the
intensity and frequency of the behavior, just as the behavior itself can have an impact
on the environment. On the other hand, B.F. Skinner argued on his behavioral
analysis of values judgement that people’s behavior was always controlled by the
environment. That people were nothing more than passive recipients of environmental
influences. Environment has said to be our greatest influencer for it has contributed
with child’s knowledge, language and behavior.

Environment matters when it comes to decision-making. According to

Maser (2013) on his book entitled Decision Making for a Sustainable Environment,
social-environmental sustainability demands that decision makers go beyond the
immediate human valuation of a given resource to examine and disclose the
fundamental issue of how its uses will affect the long-term, biophysical sustainability
of the ecosystem of which it is a component. One must also recognize and disclose the
long-term, social-environmental issues that need to be dealt with concerning the
method by which a resource is extracted. This is necessary because the overall
integrity of an ecosystem, its productive capacity, and the sustainability of its
resources will determine the array of options passed forward to future generations.
This book simply implies to readers that we should maximize the human valuation
towards the environment in a way that we should also study its effects, issues,
methods and etc. and integrate the ecosystem in every decision and action we made
for it may contribute an effect to the environment. Future generations and future
world depends on the people living today. According to the poem of Lori Boulard
(2008), entitled Natural Disasters, “I believe our buildings will outlast us, that our
great felling blow will start small, and with us, igniting like a match in a mouse hole.”
The author is hoping for a preserved nature in which there are still species present for
future generations. A good questions were asked in the song of Michael Jackson
(1995) entitled Earth Song. “Did you ever stop to notice all the blood we’ve shed
before? Did you ever stop to notice this crying Earth, these weeping shores?” This
questions reminds the listeners to take a look on what is happening in their
surroundings. It was also associated with the song Mother Earth is Crying by The
Baron (2009), “Mother Earth is dying, we got to stop the polluting. Whole attitude got
to change, and priorities rearrange. We got to become more competent. The way we
protect the environment.” This song reminds us to prioritize our environment for it is
also getting weaker as time flies.

According to Kant, individuals have a duty to act in accordance of moral

principles. Moreover, God gave us nature in order for us to survive. Our duty is to
take good care of it for we will also gain benefits on it. It is also a must to have
universalizability for it needs the unity of all, having the same goal to protect,
improve and preserve our environment. Environment is the connection of our lives. If
we cannot take good care of it and it gets weaker and weaker as time goes by, we will
absolutely feel the same. Taking good care of environment is part of humanity for it
consists of discipline, value, appreciation and love, and a “good will” must be
implemented to our environment by simply supporting, participating and cooperating
with the programs, organizations, rules and regulations that would help it to be
preserved and beautiful up to our future generations.
CONCLUSION

We have witnessed the changes in our environment. Everything has changed

same with our nature. Many species became endangered, many diseases arises, and
many natural disasters experienced because of some environmental issues. These
issues would affect all humans so we need to take an action and be accountable with
it.

I have realized that environment is our life. I learned that its life would depend
always on the hands of human. Without us, environment is nothing. However, without
environment, we are nothing. Environment is the most influencer in someone’s life.
If we have positive energy that surrounds us in which it consists no negativities, we
will have a peaceful life. As a person who has the ability to think and make decisions,
we must create a good environment for our families and for future generations for us
to have a peaceful life.

As an individual, part of community and industry and under the supervision

and management of our government, we must be participative on every programs they
have prepared for us especially when it is connected with the cleanliness and
preservation of environment. We should plant trees, conserve water and energy, and
be aware on the environmental issues that the environment might face. We must be
responsible to our environment because it relies on our hands.
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Why it's important that we value nature | WWF

Extreme heat, transport strike force Philippines to call off in-person classes —
BenarNews

Editorial — Caring for the environment is caring for ourselves | European

Environment Agency's home page (europa.eu)

https://www.treehugger.com/americas-worst-man-made-environmental-disasters-
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https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/environmental-responsibility

https://psych.uw.edu/news/2632#:~:text=That’s%20what%20University%20of
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Decision-Making for a Sustainable Environment

A Systemic Approach
By Chris Maser
Copyright 2013

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