I identify myself as an environmentalist because I support protecting the environment. More specifically, I claim to be a holist because I believe that everything - animals, plants, etc. - is interconnected, interrelated, and interdependent. The butterfly effect, which regards how a butterfly flapping its wings on one side of the world can cause natural disasters on another, demonstrates my beliefs how even the smallest actions can have large ripple effects. Because human kind's negative impact on nature surpasses that of any other species, I support limiting personal freedoms to deter harmful imprints in nature.
Our society is centered around the individual and is overly focused upon not taking away any one person's rights. Because of this overemphasis on the self, people put much effort into 'standing out', 'finding themselves', and becoming self-sufficient. Yet with these gains of independence, and a number of other reasons, we have lost the sense of community; we have lost the sense that we are apart of something bigger than ourselves. Few people feel responsible for anyone other than himself or herself. Without a second thought, people often do things which have detrimental effects upon both others and the environment.
I believe that the government must fill the role that community once played by ensuring the betterment of the whole. I support government action to work towards both the common good of people and the natural world. For the most part, I tend to support an increased government influence in economic matters and less influence in social matters. Through promoting equal opportunities, open mindedness, and understanding, a government can work to improve the community. It must hinder ignorance, prejudice, and actions which hurt the whole. With restrictions upon and freedoms for individual actions, a government can promote lasting change in bettering the country, environment, and world.
