Selfishness
“Can Selfishness Save the Environment”Economists and Biologists have come to realize that people are really only motivated by self-interest. For economists this means economic incentives, and for biologists it means the pursuit of short-term goals that were once the means to reproduction. The two professions generally believe that people are not willing to pay for the long-term good of society or mother earth. For example in business, the selling of products that use CFC’s may be economically fruitful in the short-run, but over a long period of time technology shows there are better, more environmentally friendly chemicals that run the product more efficiently and also cost less. One would think that people would have the capability to realize that they are the on path to self destruction, but then again that is how man has gotten himself into this mess, ignorance. Man has come to believe that, “the world wasn’t made to produce frogs or katydids or sharks or grasshoppers. It was made to produ!ce man” (Quinn 102). He has no regard for nature and his surroundings, his only objective is to, “exterminate his competitors” for a profit (127). In the essay by Matt Ridley and Bobbi
Conquering nature has always been, and has only been man’s objective. Carpooling, walking instead of driving, and recycling are all easy things that everyone can do. 1993: 76-86“Save the Earth – Feed the World. Low, “Can Selfishness Save the Environment,” exposes the idea that in society today that the only way to a man’s heart is through his wallet. “Do We Really Want to Live This Way. In relation to the environment, this means that if you give me a tax break or an incentive, I will do my part to help the environment. But if 100 million people are doing the same thing all over the globe, what was once a small individual impact on Mother Nature has now become something that causes the major problem of global warming. But what economists and biologists have realized, in taking a closer look at this idea, is that people seem to solve the problems quite well on their own. Iceland has been “harvesting” whales for Krukowski 2Japan, and the whales are now nearly extinct. The only reason why they have not yet stopped killing whales is that whale is a, “gourmet luxury food that can sell for over $100 a pound” (McCarthy 24). Fortunately there has been a dramatic positive change for the Rhine in recent years.
Common topics in this essay:
Ridley Low,
Chief Seattle,
Mother Nature,
Economists Biologists,
Rhine River,
Save Environment”,
Iceland Japan,
CPB Collection,
Monthly September,
Rock” Walker,
roy scheider burlington,
narrator roy scheider,
save planet videotape,
scheider burlington,
burlington annenberg/,
save planet,
planet videotape,
narrator roy,
roy scheider,
ridley low,
planet videotape narrator,
videotape narrator roy,
annenberg/ cpb,
collection 1990,
cpb collection,
|
Acceptance Essays
