Go Green Initiative To Save The Environment: Factors, Benefits, And Disadvantages

Issue

The most important reason of go green is to create a sustainable earth and a better living place for each human being. Use of green energies is not only beneficial to develop the use of natural resources but also helpful to uplift economical value for different countries. Geothermal, hydroelectricity, solar, wind are part of this approach that helps to make necessary changes in the environment. Green initiative in Australia has conducted due to massive degradation of environmental sources in this country. This study has focused to assess the factors that are connected with the go green initiatives and benefits that can be extracted from this approach. Disadvantages have also mentioned evaluating the way in which support for go green can be a better help for human being.

Issue

The notable issue that is recently attracting most of the attention in Australia is the degrading status of Great Barrier Reef. Due to increasing environmental pressure as low quality water, climate change, mass bleaching of coral, overfishing, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is facing a threat of abolished. Imbalance of greenhouse gases has influenced the rising temperature and change in weather and climate. According to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, the climate temperature in Australia will rise between 0.4°C to 2.0°C by 2030 (australia.isidewith.com, 2018). Highly polluted air is the reason behind several air and water pollution diseases such as asthma attacks, respiratory problem, heartache, and several other decisions.

As shown in the above graph Brisbane has the highest percentage of Polluted particles in its air. This disparity is highly effective for human health and also reduces the proportionate amount of fresh air in the climate of the Country. In the year 2014, the pollution perception quality in the air is 83.68% and transport CO2 emissions index has reached 4192.63 (greenpeace.org.au, 2018).   

Factors contributing to go green initiative

Incorporating of ‘Go Green living’ in education level is the most accomplished state that helps to access the learning on environment from a very early stage of life. According to the present trends, Students are more interested to access hands-on method in order to learn with proper activity. As suggested by Arthington et al. (2015), this initiative is helpful enough to access ecological experience from the beginning. A complete change cannot be accessed from the early stage unless they are aware of it.

Programming and arrangement of campaign are some beneficiary approaches that help to access a slow transformation on people’s psychology about environmental concern. On the other hand, Carrick et al. (2015) have suggested that showcasing the after effect will be helpful to make people thought about it.

In industrial sector, ‘Go green Members’ are influencing the companies to access the process of recycling. Reduce; reuse and recycling are helpful to manage the cost of production in a business venture. Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 has indulged the rule to use the least carbon emission and implement the highly efficient waste management system in the business process.    

Factors contributing to go green initiative

Benefits of go green   initiative

Australian states have the law to mandate environmental compliance in different ways and forms. As suggested by Clements and Kotalik (2016), the agenda to maintain the green initiatives are helping to manage carbon emission planning, promote sustainability. In addition to this, the saving of money has been influenced by several agencies in order to reuse existing substances rather than accessing new products. Australia has made partnership with several agencies in order to start the use of sustainable biojet fuel. Purchasing low carbon, renewable fuel does not only help to manage the carbon emissions but also extend price competitiveness with other ventures.

Awareness of green marketing is helpful to manage the sustainable sources and protect environment against rapid degradation. As suggested by Kagan et al. (2017), verbal expression is not valuable to advertise green initiative whereas, the same approach can access better result from the green business and marketing policy. In order to access this support, Australia is favoring to the give attention to the infrastructure development in an eco-friendly way.

Veolia, a leading environment solution that provides a better waste management policy in Australia and New Zealand in order decrease the pollution level of water and energy service industry.

In Australian Business award sustainability, Veolia has utilized a power generator and an outstanding solution for alternate food production. Kristensen (2015) explained that aims to access advantage in turning waste into the source are helpful enough to reduce the huge waste disposal issue in this country. As the country is going to develop its green initiative, it is better to access more eco-friendly steps in terms of environmental sustainability in this country. With a planned approach towards the environmental sustainability it can be benefitted from the go green initiative. Based on the recent issues the study has enhanced to create an approach that can help the state to access a green revolution. The factors of green initiative have referred that the initiatives must be accessed from earlier life of human being as they can absorb it in their thoughts.

Disadvantages of go green initiative

There are many disadvantages of going green and are listed as follows;

Cost of going green is considerably high

As per the view of A Daniell and Kay, (2018), going green initiatives are expensive though many are of the opinion that it is a cost saving process. The technologies that are required to be installed in order to save the environment from harmful effects of fuels are available in the market at high prices. Some of these technologies include Solar panels, green construction materials and many others. As argued by Rechcigl and Rechcigl, (2016), energy efficient technologies are costly though it needs fewer amounts of electricity and water. The cost to develop such technologies is very high and thus these are available at high prices.

It is a time consuming process

As opined by Kroon et al. (2016), going green initiative takes a lot of time at initial stages and the time factor is the main issue of going green. Firstly the adoption of green technologies and green living takes a lot of time as time is required to choose the type of green lifestyle to be adopted. A proper plan needs to lay out with the available amount of funds reviewed. Secondly the payback period of the investments done in the green initiatives is very lengthy. To observe the final outcome of the green projects an organization or a person who has invested needs to wait for long. As per the view of Laidlaw et al. (2018), the return on investments done in green projects takes a lot of time to mature.

Benefits of go green initiative

Has an impact on environment

As opined by Miller et al. (2015), going green is also not free from harmful effects on the environment. There are many negative impacts of going green totally. The development or innovation of alternative fuels for reducing the dependency on non renewable resources, have harmful effects too. As per the view of Pettit et al. (2015), one of the alternative fuels that were developed to reduce the usage of non renewable resources is E85. E85 releases ozone into the environment and releases comparatively higher ozone than ordinary fuels. This in turn increases the air pollution making smog a concern for the people in nearby areas.

Analysis

The issues as discussed in the study focus on the protection of great barrier reefs and much of the coastal region of the Australia. As per the viewpoint of Sugiyama et al. (2013), both environmental and social science methods must be adopted to face the growing challenges of pollution in Australia. The loss of biodiversity and the harmful effects on the coastal areas can be solved by incorporating green projects in the region. The formation of methodologies and modelling can lead to effective planning.

The local peoples should also be made a part of the projects because they know the area better than anyone. As per the opinion of A Daniell and Kay, (2018), use of scientific methods can reduce the pollution considerably. Some of the green initiatives taken by Australian Government are Leighton Contractors and Veolin which looks after energy consumption. There are many eco friendly techniques that have been adopted in Australia to make the heritage sites like Great Barrier Reefs, Kakadu National park and Whitsunday Island pollution free.

How it Helps

Going green initiative has both positive and negative impacts on the environment and these are discussed below;

Reduces pollution

As concerned for go green initiatives, use of bio fuels or electricity for powering the vehicles can be a major help. These would be effective for the reduction of harmful smokes emitted from the vehicles so as to prevent the air from having poisonous chemical combinations (Rechcigl and Rechcigl, 2016).

Conserves resources

Factual energy consumption such as through use of light bulbs or using the sunlight for drying of clothes are an effective strategy for the reduction of energy consumptions. Apart from such, use of nature’s gift such as fresh air or sunlight for catering the daily need can also sustain the fact of resources conservation (Kroon et al. (2016).

Creates less waste

The strategy of using the 3R’s theory complying to Recycle, reuse and reduce can cater to the creation of lesser wastes. Some tactics including use of paper cups instead of plastic can be a great step. Banning of plastic bottles and using water purifying systems can reduce contaminated waste generation. Also the fact of compiling vegetable wastes and producing manure out of it for catering the plants can be taken into consideration (Arthington et al. 2015).

Preserves the wildlife

The primary requirement of preserving wildlife is the planting of more and more greener environment over which the sustainability of wildlife can be considered. Apart from such, banning of plastic materials in wildlife premises can also be catered. Signing petitions are also taken to a fact for prese45ving the wildlife favouring go green initiatives (Clements et al. 2016).

Disadvantages of go green initiative

Emission of less greenhouse gas

Mainly the emission from that of transportation account for 45%, while the other amenities such as air conditioners and  cooling devices are accounted for having 20% emission towards the atmosphere (Kristensen et al. 2015). Against such, as mentioned above, use of eco friendly electric vehicles along with compelling to natural air more than using AC’s can be a favourable step against green house gas emission.  

Conclusion

The study focused and analysed the effects of going green initiatives. Green projects are essential to be adopted by each and every country to reduce the harmful effects of gases. Benefits of the green initiatives have been discussed and these are mainly conservation of plants, wildlife, and marine life. By adopting green projects, less amount of waste are created. Number of landfills is reduced. Emission of fewer amounts of greenhouse gases is another benefit of green initiatives. However, there are many disadvantages of it too. Like it takes enough time and may technologies that are part of it are expensive.  Some of the alternative fuels release ozone in the atmosphere and this is big concern for the environment as a whole. Analysis has been done in respect to Australia’s coastal region and the challenges it faces. Green projects thus are essential for the environment as it reduces pollution.

Reference list

Books:

A Daniell, K. and Kay, A., 2018. Multi-level Governance: Conceptual challenges and case studies from Australia. Australia: ANU Press.

Rechcigl, J. E., and Rechcigl, N. A. (Eds.). 2016. Insect pest management: techniques for environmental protection. US: CRC Press.

Journals:

Arthington, A.H., Godfrey, P.C., Pearson, R.G., Karim, F. and Wallace, J., 2015. Biodiversity values of remnant freshwater floodplain lagoons in agricultural catchments: evidence for fish of the Wet Tropics bioregion, northern Australia. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 25(3), pp.336-352.

Carrick, P.J., Erickson, T.E., Becker, C.H., Mayence, C.E. and Bourne, A.R., 2015. Comparing ecological restoration in South Africa and Western Australia: the benefits of a ‘travelling workshop’. Ecological management & restoration, 16(2), pp.86-94.

Clements, W.H. and Kotalik, C., 2016. Effects of major ions on natural benthic communities: an experimental assessment of the US Environmental Protection Agency aquatic life benchmark for conductivity. Freshwater Science, 35(1), pp.126-138.

Kagan, R.A., Thornton, D. and Cunningham, N.A., 2017. Motivating management: Corporate compliance in environmental protection. In Crime and Regulation, 2(1), pp. 203-230.

Kristensen, L.J., 2015. Quantification of atmospheric lead emissions from 70 years of leaded petrol consumption in Australia. Atmospheric Environment, 111, pp.195-201.

Kroon, F.J., Thorburn, P., Schaffelke, B. and Whitten, S., 2016. Towards protecting the Great Barrier Reef from land?based pollution. Global change biology, 22(6), pp.1985-2002.

Laidlaw, M.A., Gordon, C., Taylor, M.P. and Ball, A.S., 2018. Estimates of potential childhood lead exposure from contaminated soil using the USEPA IEUBK model in Melbourne, Australia. Environmental geochemistry and health, pp.1-9.

Miller, K.L., Trezise, J.A., Kraus, S., Dripps, K., Evans, M.C., Gibbons, P., Possingham, H.P. and Maron, M., 2015. The development of the Australian environmental offsets policy: from theory to practice. Environmental conservation, 42(4), pp.306-314.

Pettit, C.J., Klosterman, R.E., Delaney, P., Whitehead, A.L., Kujala, H., Bromage, A. and Nino-Ruiz, M., 2015. The online what if? Planning support system: A land suitability application in Western Australia. Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy, 8(2), pp.93-112.

Sugiyama, T., Giles-Corti, B., Summers, J., du Toit, L., Leslie, E. and Owen, N., 2013. Initiating and maintaining recreational walking: a longitudinal study on the influence of neighborhood green space. Preventive medicine, 57(3), pp.178-182.

Websites:

australia.isidewith.com (2018). Australia.Isidewith.Com Available at: https://australia.isidewith.com/poll/768057760 [Accessed at 10th September 2018]

greenpeace.org.au (2018). Greenpeace.Org.Au Available at: https://www.greenpeace.org.au/what-we-do/[Accessed at 10th September 2018]

mondaq.com (2018). Mondaq.Com Available at: https://www.mondaq.com/australia/x/713772/Environmental+Law/The+Environment+Protection+Amendment+Bill+2018[Accessed at 10th September 2018]