Creating A Sustainable World?

Creating A Sustainable World

One small planet is all mankind has to sustain the whole of humanity. With over a million chances to ruin it everyday and only one Earth, a simple mistake could potentially ruin everything. Since Earth is a closed system, there are no second chances for the human race to fix the mistakes already made. Every choice the humanity makes impacts not only the population of humans living now, but also future generations. As Johan Rockstrom says in his Ted Talk “the planetary risks we are facing are so large that business as usual is no longer an option” (Rockstrom). The rate humanity is using up the resources available is not maintainable in any way. Sustainability is a problem that in Rockstrom’s opinion is the “most challenging and exciting decade of humankind” (Rockstrom). In order to save the Earth and the sum of the lives it holds, all of mankind must come together to identify how to fix the mistakes made and find solutions to prevent new mistakes from coming into fruition. In order to create a sustainable way to live, this current generation needs to adapt to be more efficient with land, nonrenewable resources and energy.

Living a sustainable life is not a new idea for mankind. Before the new age of technology and the industrial revolution, humans were not capable of living outside of their wants and needs. With new technology sparked new demands for more effective and efficient inventions which resulted in creating new job opportunities. This has meant great leaps in food production, distribution, healthcare, education, communication and many more; however, it this has come at a great cost. As Hennig states, “humanity 's demand for goods and services created from our planet 's resources have for a ...

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...and error will ultimately lead to a better and healthier world. Beginning with local sustainability will eventually grow into sustainability in different cities then states until entire nations are self reliant. To begin with small local sustainability, we need to focus on more sustainable food sources, community owned energy companies and renewable energy. An example of this is when Eleanor Roosevelt converted the White House’s south lawn into a garden, named a victory garden. This sparked Americans across the nation to create victory gardens which was the beginning of urban farming and an attempt to live a more sustainable life. This generation needs to find something to spark a new age of sustainability, whether that be through a public figure or someone locally in a hometown. Change will only happen when people inspire themselves and others to make a difference.