You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
An increase in production of consumer goods results in damage to the natural environment. What are the causes and possible solutions?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
You should write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer
With a sheer volume of the world population, the demand for consumer products has reached to the vertex. The factories and industries which are manufacturing these goods are often attributed to deteriorating the natural environment. The causes are many and there are some efficient solutions that can prevent this damage to a great extent and this essay deals with these issues and solutions.
To begin with, it is quite natural that the huge population has increased the demand for various consumer products and to meet the demands, new factories and industries are being established each day. To provide the spaces required for this overwhelming number of factories, trees and forests are being cut. Sometimes agricultural fields are being used to build such factories. This has a direct impact on the environment. Furthermore, almost every factory is contributing to the global warming and polluting the air. Factories often consume natural resources and emit chemical wastages to water. This is polluting the water and threatening the very existence of the natural ecosystem.
Again, the increasing demands for consumer products is a reason humans exploit the natural resources. Plastics and similar materials used for packaging are the reason the degradation of the land. The consumer products like cars, electronic devices and luxury items directly contribute to the temperature increase and greenhouse effect.
The solutions to this problem have to be very efficient and long term. One such solution could be educating people to be frugal while purchasing goods. Governments should strictly control the location of factories and the amount of wastages those factories emit. Then, establishing factories near rivers, lakes, fertile agricultural lands should be banned. On top of that, eco-friendly alternative fuels should be introduced and using solar power for offices and industries should be compulsory. Some other solutions like waste recycling, imposing heavy taxes on luxury items, use of disposable packaging materials and mass tree plantation projects should be in place. Finally, factories and consumer products selling organisations should be forced to participate in tree plantation.
In conclusion, the overuse of natural resources and the human luxury affect the natural environment very adversely. Effective solutions to prevent the damages caused by this should be immediately implemented to save the earth we live in.