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Abigail Bass
UWRT 1103
Elizabeth Caruso
23 February 2016
Should the environment be a big political topic?

The environment should be considered as an important political topic because it affects

every person in the planet. However, even though it is not entirely a big issue now, it was
even less of an issue until the early 1960s. In 1962, Rachel Carson published her book,
Silent Spring, which discussed the effects of chemical substances on insects and how
those problems followed all the way up the food chain. (Environmental Diplomacy:
Environment & US Foreign Policy, n.d.). This caused panic throughout the United States
that led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is an
organization that helps to enforce rules made by Congress that aim to protect the
environment and control pollution (Our Mission and What We Do, n.d.).
One reason the environment is not a big topic in politics is because there are many other
issues such as the economy and foreign affairs that some people believe should take
precedence over the environment.
In order to understand the sides to this argument, you must first understand why
individuals believe their side of it. There are many different reasons for why a person
would believe that the environment is more important than another topic, such as the
economy. An individuals age, gender, political affiliations, and income can all affect how

he/she feels about this debate. In a study done at YouGov, it was found that females were
slightly more likely than males to believe that the environment and the economy were
equally important (The Economist/YouGov Poll, n.d.). Also, individuals between the ages
of 18 to 24 were the most probable to believe that the environment was more important
than the economy (The Economist/YouGov Poll, n.d.). Other factors could influence how
younger people were more likely to believe this, such as a persons political affiliation.
People who are between 18 and 29 are more likely to be democrats (DeSilver, 2014).
Democrats are more likely to believe that the environment is more important than the
economy, so this may be the reason why the younger group believed this also (The
Economist/YouGov Poll, n.d.).
In a way, the environment could be considered foreign affairs. There are many problems
in the environment such as pollution that can affect many countries. Pollution can spread
throughout many different countries past borders because pollution cannot see the
imaginary lines that people call borders (Turin, 2014). One of the policies enforcing this
idea is the Kyoto Protocol. This policy was made in the 1990s to try to limit carbon
emissions coming from different countries (UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, n.d.).

Overall this is a great start to your paper, all of the ideas you are presenting, or going to
present are really good areas to explore. Just remember to include all of the MLA
formatting details. Also, your topic is very interesting to read about.

I altered a few things below. A great source for MLA format is the Purdue Owl site.
Works Cited:

Environmental Diplomacy: Environment & US Foreign Policy. (n.d.). Retrieved February

23, 2016, from http://www.state.gov/www/global/oes/earth.html
Our Mission and What We Do. (n.d.). Retrieved February 24, 2016, from
http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/our-mission-and-what-we-do
The Economist/YouGov Poll. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2016, from
https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/2i0856mn58/e
conTabReport.pdf
Turin, D. R. (2014). Environmental Problems and American Politics: Why is Protecting
the Environment so Difficult? Retrieved February 18, 2016, from
http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/943/environmental-problems-and-americanpolitics-why-is-protecting-the-environment-so-difficult
UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. (n.d.). Retrieved February 24, 2016, from
http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/climatechange/pages/gateway/thenegotiations/the-un-climate-change-convention-and-the-kyoto-protocol