Analysis Of Going To Extremes By Aaron Kong

It was on the unforgettable day of March 11, 2011 that nineteen thousand people perished in a catastrophic event known as the Japanese tsunami. The assertion made by Aaron Kong, "It is human action and not nature that should be blamed for the destruction of our world and the suffering and death of so many people everywhere," is partly correct in the sense that humans are indeed responsible for the misery of many people. However, humans are not completely to blame because nature also plays a considerable role in causing carnage to our society. Over time, society has released detrimental substances such as fossil fuels into the atmosphere, which have provoked natural disasters to occur more frequently. Contrarily, in "Going to Extremes" Linda …show more content…
In the article "Going to Extremes", Marsa complicates the situation raised by Kong by indicating that the people of Australia are partly to blame for natural disasters. It is because Australia depends too heavily on coal for electricity, and expends more CO2 per person than any other country in the world. To show the immense amount of pollution in Australia, Marsa states: "Australia 's agriculture emissions are among the highest per capita in the world" (Marsa, 123). Australia releases more emissions than any other country because Australia has an over abundance of coal, as well as agricultural resources such as sheep and cattle. As a result, people tend to use the resources that are readily available without knowing that it is causing irreparable damage to the environment. In the article Marsa makes reference to James Cook, who states: " 'We have an economy that is deeply reliant on fossil fuel resources such as coal, but we are getting religion. With the right amount of will and leadership we can certainly avoid the worst ' ' ' (Marsa 124). Australia has started to work on reforms to change their nasty habits such as putting a tax on carbon, which has provided an incentive to lower the usage of fossil