Rebecca Njoroge
Professor A. Porter
ENGL 1413
30th November 2012

Current to save the environment In these current times, there has been great effort to educate people about the dangers of global warming. The arctic shift, the increases of hurricanes and other natural disasters can be cited as a sign of a decayed environment. The current trend to save the environment can be unrealistic to most people when it involves hydroelectric power, nuclear power, pollution and recycling. Hydroelectric power stations use the force of water rushing downhill or the release of water trapped behind dams to make power. However, these kinds of power stations take a lot of labor and money to build; just the resources themselves will be very costly let alone paying for the labor. In addition, some dams are very large and the space they take up can destroy habitats. This is an alternate source of power but costly to implement. In most places, people do not believe hydropower can sustain energy; its natural energy but there is not enough rivers running down hill in the world to provide power to the ever-growing population. In the effort to save the environment nuclear energy is another power source that does not give off carbon dioxide or other harmful gases. It is made using substances such as uranium. nuclear energy does not produce harmful gases; however there are some problems with it. Nuclear power stations are expensive to build and run. They also produce dangerous wastes that can make living things sick or even kill them. The wastes stay dangerous for thousands of years and must be buried in leak-proof containers deep underground. Scientists are working on new, safer types of nuclear power that may solve some of these problems. It is unrealistic for most countries to be able to use nuclear energy and sustain a clean save environment. Ozone layer is at danger because fumes from cars cause serious pollution. Some people think electric cars may be the best way to reduce pollution produced by gasoline. However, the electricity to charge the cars' batteries usually comes from power stations that burn fossil fuels which creates air pollution. Even so, electric cars produce less pollution than regular automobiles. Most people cannot afford electric cars the are high priced, so it is unrealistic for people to try to save the environment while they cannot afford the means to do it. Used gas cars are cheaper and that option makes it cheaper option than electric cars, which are environmental friendly, either way saving the environment, becomes a nightmare. Recycling is said to be another way of saving the environment, it involves collecting and separating things like plastic, paper, aluminum etcetera from regular trash and putting them in appropriate recycling bins. After these plastics, and aluminum cans are collected, they are melted into their reusable form. The breaking down of these materials requires heat and harmful gases are emitted into the environment. “ According to The Aluminum Association, creating an aluminum can out of recycled materials requires on 5% as much energy as creating a brand new can”(Kazmeyer). This quote shows that the process still uses energy, Kazmeyer then goes on to say, “The EPA estimates that recycling one ton of aluminum saves the equivalent of almost 32 barrels of oil.” The break down of aluminum use oil as and energy source, oil emits green house gases into the environment. To recycle or not