My thoughts on the environment

A writing sample im working on:
To truly be environmentally friendly we as people need to change our ways. The cars we have built and factories we run are polluting the environment; chemicals we have used and made are poisoning the waters and grounds. All these processes were designed to aid our survival and are something that we as humans use and some would argue are necessary for a civilized life. However, changing our ways in order to positively impact our environment involves giving some of these things up entirely if not severely cutting down. The sooner this strategy is widely understood and considered even partially we then may finally be heading towards an eco-friendly lifestyle.
There are too many of us who claim to be environmentalists that go home in our SUV’s, throw out recyclables, and leave lights on unnecessarily. The issue is simply that even though technology is becoming more environmentally minded the complete abolition of these activities would be the best solution. The problem with this is practicality, how are we to expect people to change their lives so drastically when it is so impractical even with such beneficial effects. The average human is more concerned in everyday life with completing their tasks in the simplest and most efficient way than with their impact on the environment. It may seem to be overkill to state these facts over and over but without this repetitious chanting these ideas would be quickly forgotten.
With new technology, we are entering an uncertain world but with the removal of the activity altogether we know exactly the effects. An example of this is electric cars such as the Toyota Prius and others. There is no doubt about the benefits of these vehicles as they cut down fossil fuel dependency. However, the flip side of this coin is that the batteries required to make this mileage possible may be doing more harm to the environment than good. The nickel in the batteries has to be mined in great quantities an extremely harmful activity which produces an enormous negative effect on the surrounding lands as well as the pollution produced by the equipment. Natural habitats of animals and plant life are being destroyed and the ozone layer is being destroyed to produce a car that gets slightly better miles per gallon. These sticker numbers seem to be the only ones that the public sees but beyond those numbers there are always some impacts hidden behind those numbers. Some articles go so far as to say that a Hummer does less impact over its lifetime than a Prius.
Another example of uncertain technological advances is those of renewable energy. This hotly debated topic has drawbacks that may not be considered intrinsic at first. Wind energy for example, is possibly the cleanest resource out of those proposed as it is harvested from the natural power of the earth. It is one of the most perfectly renewable sources of energy out there as long as the wind keeps blowing. One problem is the fact that once the energy is converted into the power lines its transmission to homes reduces the power output by many percent. Most areas that are rich in wind energy are far from the homes and cities that use the power which means a longer distance that this power needs to travel losing much of its original beneficial electricity. Furthermore, the placement of the turbines can effect bird populations because of the dangerous spinning blades and in turn cause unknown other habitat related problems for neighboring animal populations who rely on these bird populations.
The general knowledge on most environmental subjects is that any step in the right direction is a good one. However, there has been a recent movement to find alternative technologies that will replace current practices. This movement while well intentioned is somewhat misguided because of the problems associated with each of these solutions. It is unknown the long term ramifications of these activities which breeds insecurity when faced with the task of replacing an environmentally unsound technology with one whose effects are not known. Simply knowing the environmental impact of something is not an easy task no matter the subject. That is why erasing that activity altogether from our lifestyle is almost always the best choice, but not always the most realistic. Realistically, there has to be an alternative most of the time, out of necessity for the most part. The things we are trying to replace are those which we have built our societal norms upon. So instead of changing these things to fit our society the only other option is work backwards changing societal norms to work with our choices of deletion. This task is much greater than any technological advance or alternative energy solution and stands to reverse many years of human progress in one direction. Although there is no foreseen movement towards this idea nor is it very feasible, it is one of simplicity and fact in a world clouded with half-truths and complicated plans to resuscitate the quickly declining gasps our world is taking.