GMAT Essays (AWA)

The issue of who is responsible for conservation of natural resources has always been a controversial. While some say that its government's duty to ensure that natural resources are saved for future and used judicially. On the other hand some argue that each individual should contribute in saving the natural resources. I agree with the view that each human being is responsible for conserving the natural resources and not the government's around the world. Below mentioned are the reasons for my opinion.


Firstly, goverment has limited capability of saving natural resources. It can make plans to save natural resources. But the implementation and success of these plans lie in the hands of the people. For example, government of a country may decide to reduce the amount of electricty produced by natural resources such as coal, petroleum products etc. But if people of the country increase their electricty usage, government's plan may never succeed. On the other hand, if the citizens of the country try to minimize the wastage of electrity by using solar cells in day time for power or other such measures then this would surely help the government in its plan of reducing the use of natural resources for producing electricity.


Secondly, the government in any country can only make plans and give guidelines regarding the use of natural resources. The government has to cater to the needs of entire nation and thus can provide resources based on national average to its citizens. Since the end consumer of these resources are individual citizens, the responsibility lies on them in reducing the national average. For example, a government may decide that in order to reduce the consumption of LPG, each citizen would be allocated only two cylinder per month. People can actually reduce their consumption of LPG by using effecient cooking techniques that will such as cooking with lid closed or using pressure cookers etc to reduce the amount of LPG used for daily cooking purposes. If each citizen does this then the national average may even come down to one LPG cylinder per month which will help in conserving more resources.


Thirdly, if more people contribute and think about saving resources more ideas wiil be found. For example, the use of hybrid technology as fuel in automobiles , solar powered battries. The government has limited R&D capability say around fifty thousand people per year work on conservation of resources. But if the entire learned population contributes surely the number of ideas will be much more.


In sum, the responsibility of saving natural resources for the future lies with each individual. The government can at best can show direction and its the responsibilty of the citizens to follow the guidelines mentioned by the government. Afterall everyone uses the natural resources thus, everyone should contibute in conserving them.[/img]