雅思写作真题（54）----
支付治理污染的费用
（2019年10月26日真题）
Some people think that companies and private individuals, not governments, should pay to clean up the pollution that they have produced. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?
参考范文：
（独立撰写，转载请注明出处）
【黑体部分为活学活用的雅思词伙】
Nowadays, pollution control is such a daunting task that no one can meet this great challenge alone. Therefore, I quite disapprove of the view that companies and individuals, not governments, should pay the bills for the contamination they have caused. In my opinion, every big company, every government and every citizen should join hands to take actions together.
First and foremost, for big corporations, especially polluting ones, it is time to invoke the “polluter pays” principle and make them responsible for the damage and destruction caused by their products to the environment. The polluter, who has directly or indirectly damaged the environment or created conditions leading to environmental damage, should bear the cost of implementing measures determined by public authorities to ensure that the environment is restored to an acceptable state after the occurrence of pollution incidents.
Furthermore, governments should explore the possibility of introducing a law to compel those who pollute to pay for the cleanup operations. It is generally believed that green taxes will reduce environmental harm in the least costly manner. Green taxes, which are also called environmental taxes, pollution taxes, or ecological taxes, are consumption taxes on environmental pollutants or commodities that produce contaminants. More importantly, the revenues generated by “green taxes” can also be used for other environmental preservation projects.
Besides, firms, organizations, communities, households and individuals should be encouraged to reduce emissions and seek out cleaner and sustainable alternatives. In fact, all aspects of a person's daily life will cause different degrees of environmental pollution: driving cars, using chemicals to clean clothes, buying seemingly endless plastic products both in the workplace and at home. Accordingly, each individual should also bear some of the corresponding costs of environmental pollution control.
In conclusion, companies and individuals have to pay their own costs to clean up the pollution they produce while governments need to collect green taxes to pay for pollution control.
（319 words）
