It is one monumental task to just simply acknowledge that there are environmental consequences for our actions. It is another task to address these consequences with full faith and effort. After reading the EPA testimony, I have effectively lost a lot of faith in our ability to respond to environmental consequences and situations. The EPA was established by the federal government in order to implement more environmental regulations and preserve what ecological integrity remains in the United States. The EPA was created with high standards and high goals. Of course no one is perfect, especially the American government, but the EPA’s performance after 9/11 was inexcusable.
Americans count on the government to protect them; this notion extends to the EPA. With two skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan, it could have easily been foreseen that the air and ground around the site would have been filled with toxic chemicals and harmful debris. The EPA, in summary, executed a minimal response to the disaster by only testing a limited street area for a limited amount of known toxic substances that were prevalent in the air.
In the wake of an environmental turning point in our lifespan, we cannot afford for our government to take the easy way out of these issues. If the people are not going to change their habits, and the corporations are not going to stop over harvesting resources, then it comes down on the back of the government to preserve some form of environmental integrity. Organizations, such as the EPA, should set an example for responsibility and foresight, not an example for lackadaisical and bureaucratic behavior. This testimony presented an example that we need to observe and analyze. Oftentimes, we might think that the government does its best to protect its citizens. Ultimately, when we find out that organizations dedicated to environmental duty like the EPA let us down, it does not bide well with the citizens who are actively concerned. Those respective citizens are concerned because the response to environmental harm is not nearly as serious as it needs to be in order to foster a continuously prosperous future for our species.
