Forest Smith is a member of Green First, an environmental group. Our future on Earth looks very bad. We are dumping waste on our land. We can't breathe the air. The sea is polluted too. I visited some relatives recently in a small village. They grow their own food and cycle everywhere. They are not wealthy, but they are happy and healthy. We must close the factories producing useless products. That would reduce rubbish and air pollution. We must recycle more, give up all cars, and improve public transport. A big problem is overpopulation in big cities. We must give up big cities and factories, and get back to a simple way of life. |
John Green is a scientist at a university. Things are not as bad as Forest says. We'll have a bright future. We don't need to give up cars but we need to invent better, cleaner engines. This won't stop the problem of traffic jams. So we need better public transport. We should also recycle more. But some things are getting better. My sister returned last month after living abroad for five years. She said, "Our old neighbourhood doesn't look the same as before-it is cleaner and greener now." Science has brought many improvements. A hundred years ago, most people died in their 40s. We can't go back to a life like that. |