EAP 5 ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

Name: Tran Kim Ngan I.D. WSU21000228

Class: EAP5-0222WSB-2
Assignment: (please circle) Res. Report Lit. Review Res. Essay

Assignment Question: (write out in full)

THE ENVIRONMENT CAN ONLY BE SAVED IF INDIVIDUALS TAKE 

RESPONSIBILITY. CRITICALLY EVALUATE THIS STATEMENT. IN YOUR
ANSWER, YOU SHOULD REFER TO SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES.  

YouTube/ Google Drive link:

............................................................................................................................................................
Due date: 26/04/2022 Date submitted: 26/04/

ü I hold a copy of this assignment if the original is lost or damaged.

ü I certify that no part of this assignment or product has been copied from any
other student’s work or from any other source except where due acknowledgement
is made in the assignment.
ü I affirm that no part of this assignment/product has been written/produced for
me by any other person except where collaboration has been authorised by the
teacher concerned.
ü I am aware that this work may be reproduced and submitted to plagiarism
detection software programs for the purpose of detecting possible
plagiarism(which may retain a copy on its database for future plagiarism
checking).

Note: An examiner or teacher has the right to NOT mark this assignment if
the above declaration has not been signed.

Student’s Signature: ngannn Date: 26/04/2022

EXTENSION – To be approved BEFORE original submission date

Supporting
1 evidence sighted: Yes / No Extension approved / Extension not approved

If approved, new submission date ____/____/_____ Teacher’s Signature :___________________

Tran Kim Ngan_EAP5-0222WSB-2

 RESEARCH ESSAY

Tran Kim Ngan – WSU21000228

EAP5-0222WSB-2

26/04/2022

Ms. Thy Nguyen & Mr. Enzo Smith

Tran Kim Ngan_EAP5-0222WSB-2

It is difficult to dispute that the environment is vital to life on Earth. However, a variety of

challenges are putting people's lives and the environment at risk. Pollution, global warming, waste

disposal, and biodiversity loss are just a few of the problems the planet is dealing with. The

environmental problem is getting worse by the day, and the concern for the environment is at its

peak. As a result, specific steps must be taken to conserve ecosystems and make the earth habitable.

It is normally believed that the environment can only be saved if individuals take responsibility.

This might not be true, regarding the individual's abilities' limitations. Thus, the goal of this paper is

to show that humans play a little part in environmental protection and that other variables are

required. The following essay will firstly explain why an individual's duty is not enough to

safeguard and maintain the environment, secondly, show the need for governments as well as

organizations in resolving environmental issues. 

The first reason is that individuals cannot make material or political contributions to the cause of

environmental preservation since it spans multiple areas where individual efforts are fruitless. For

instance, industries leak toxic gasses into the air or dump hazardous materials into rivers. In this

case, an individual cannot be expected to be able to prevent this from happening. Similarly, the

overwhelming number of environmental threats people confront, such as greenhouse effects, mass

extinction of species, water pollution, soil erosion, global warming, and others, are the

repercussions of the global industrialization revolution, which are too vast for humans to tackle. On

the other hand, steps taken at an individual level can be an approach to solving threats to the

environment. To put it another way, if people make simple changes to daily routines, they can

probably eliminate the adverse impacts on the environment. For instance, humans may carry
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recycling bags with them at all times in order to limit the quantity of plastic bags used, which

results in reduced air pollution caused by the burning of plastic bags in landfills. Moreover,

according to Eom et al. ( 2018 ), even though many college students come from low SBS families,

they are still willing to make donations to local campus environmental organizations. However, in

fact, everyone has a different perspective; not everyone is concerned about the environment, and

many people refuse to act in favor of the environment or even do actions that damage it.

Particularly, the damaging hypothetical group is defined as "a collection of individuals who act in

such a way that the aggregate consequences of their activities include global climate change,

biodiversity loss, marine pollution, and all other global environmental issues" (VogetKleschin et al

2019). In brief, Individuals’ capacities are still restricted, thus they cannot make a substantial

contribution to environmental conservation. 

Another explanation is that the role of organizations is essential to address environmental problems

of a large scale and complexity that individuals cannot solve. In society, not only individuals but

also groups of people live, each person may have a separate concept or a way of thinking, there is

no discipline or unity, and they cannot potentially do anything significant. But when millions or

billions of individuals band together, they contribute to supporting all life on the planet.

Organizations are a type of societal collective that can lead many groups of people and plan large-

scale events. In terms of tourism, the Tourism Authority of Thailand launched the 7 Greens strategy

to show how to perform activities that are environmentally beneficial and do not have a negative

influence on the community. They also helped enterprises, people, clubs, and public and private

organizations participate in environmental conservation and restoration of tourism destinations. The

Tran Kim Ngan_EAP5-0222WSB-2

fundamental goal of this strategy was to demonstrate environmentally friendly practices ( Jirojku

2021 ). Without a doubt, organizations are platforms where macro-scale activities may be structured

and linked with public, private, and local community organizations, allowing them to have global

influence and draw people's attention, even the government and the authorities. Furthermore,

because organizations are located all over the world, they are able to gather and disseminate

information on a wide scale, attracting investment resources from other areas in order to carry out

larger campaigns. There are those that claim that organizations are not fully trustworthy and that

they somehow take advantage of the community's trust to make a profit. While it might be true, it

must be admitted that before joining an organization, citizens have the right to examine and assess

it. They would not lose faith or be befuddled if they appreciate environmental preservation and have

an interest in the opportunities that the organization offers. After all, it has become easier to handle

environmental challenges thanks to organizations. 

It is undeniably true that environmental issues can be overcome without government assistance. It

can be explained by the fact that governments have more power in dealing with environmental

issues than individuals. People living both inside and outside the country, for example, are

concerned about the detrimental effects of tourism on the environment. According to Azizov et al.

(2019), as the tourism industry expands, the consumption of energy in tourism activities such as

catering, lodging, and transportation tends to increase, leading to higher CO2 emissions into the

environment, which either causes significant environmental damage in the form of air pollution or

natural habitat loss, soil erosion, and other issues.  To reduce the adverse effects of tourism on the

environment, strict rules or environmental protection legislation must be enacted in a variety of

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areas, which can only be set up by the government. As a consequence, citizens' health is

safeguarded by diminished air and water pollution. By doing this, citizens might be healthier and

they may be able to live in a nation that is pollution-free. Some opponents of this view claim that

the laws enacted to protect the environment are ineffectual and even harmful to the ecosystem. The

government, in particular, depletes the country's natural resources, and local governments

frequently use their discretionary power to prioritize economic growth over environmental

conservation, eroding public support for key environmental initiatives (Wijen 2018). This is,

however, only a minor flaw in the governance. In recent years, government policies have played a

cardinal part in a process of eliminating negative repercussions that harm the environment. Zhou et

al. ( 2019 ) also reveal that environmental regulation can play a vital impact in improving

environmental quality, as evidenced by occurrences such as the "Olympic Blue" and the "APEC

Blue," which allude to the rare blue sky in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games and the 2014

APEC China. In this respect, the government has a strong influence in motivating environmental

behavior.

In conclusion, environmental degradation is accelerating at an alarming rate. Because these issues

are inevitable and should be addressed on a global scale, individual responsibility is insufficient,

and solving environmental problems requires the assistance of both government and organizations.

Since the environment is the bedrock of all civilizations and the lifeblood of economies, everyone

must participate in reducing the world's susceptible consequences.

Tran Kim Ngan_EAP5-0222WSB-2

 REFERENCES LIST

Eom, K, Papadakis, V, Sherman, D. K & Kim, H. S 2019, ‘The Psychology of Proenvironmental

Support: In Search of Global Solutions for a Global Problem ’, Current Directions in Psychological

Science, vol.28, no.5, pp.490-495.

Jirojkul, S, Pongsakornrungsilp, S, Pianroj, N, Chaiyakot, P, Buakhwan, N, Mia, M.S & Techato, K

2021, ‘ Responsibility and Mindset of Tourist and Community-Based Tourism Enterprise to

Conserve the Environment and Energy ’, TEM Journal, vol.10, no.4, pp. 1838-1848.

Mikhailov, J.I, Mukhtarov, S, Mammadov, J & Azizov, M 2019, ‘ Re-evaluating the environmental

impacts of tourism: does EKC exist? ’, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol.26, pp.

19389-19402.

Voget-Kleschin, L, Baatz, C & Garcia-Portela, L 2019, ‘Introduction to the Special Issue on

Individual Environmental Responsibility, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, vol.32,

no.4, pp. 493–504.

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Wang, R, Wijen, F & Heugens, P.P.M.A.R 2018, ‘Government's green grip: Multifaceted state

influence on corporate environmental actions in China’, Strategic Management Journal, vol.39,

no.2, pp. 403-428.

Zhi, X, Zhou, Y, Wu, H & Li, Y 2018. ‘The role of Chinese people’s political consultative

conference in environmental governance Evidence from environmental proposals’, Sustainability

Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, vol. 11, no.5, pp. 963-982

Tran Kim Ngan_EAP5-0222WSB-2