he environment today is economics. I think our priority has always been to stimulate the economy at all costs. For example, the clear-cutting of trees to make paper products are detrimental to our forests. (Ehrlich, 1990)Our constant demand for paper products from the paper companies causes them to clear-cut more forests (an economic decision, not an environmental one. We cannot leave the fate of our environment in the hands of companies who use only big profits as their motivation. We must all do our part. They can say the same for farming. Farmers, who I once believed were the loving caretakers of our land, are forced to use chemicals to enhance growth and productivity to make profits. Again, an economic decision and not an environment one. We should begin our cultural change now and include the environments safety when we make those economic decisions. (Fox, 1997)CHALLENGES-AWARENESS, RESEARCH, PROTECTION The most important factor in protecting our worlds topsoil is awareness. In our ever changing society, we encounter many problems. The first step in resolving any problem is first realizing that there is a problem. We must make the soil problem a worldwide topic. Our future depends on agriculture. Big business will continue to dump toxic wastes and chemicals so we must regulate and manage the process of putting the environment first. The costs for these businesses to dispose of these chemicals properly, is still far more expensive than the fines that they pay for dumping illegally. We must make stricter laws, have larger fines, and offer low cost waste disposal programs so that business will be willing to participate. (Nebel / Wright, 1998) Overall, most businesses are self serving. As a conscience society, we can help protect our world by forcing them to make economic decisions. In other words, if enough consumers demand organically grown foods, farming corporations would eventually change t...
