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Juan Medina
Period: 1
Senior Capstone
Ms. Frank

Sustainable Development
Within this solar system there are eight planets and only one which is capable of
sustaining life; but resources within this planet are limited. The human race has been
using these sources without thinking of the consequences. In order for future races to
have clean and sustainable way of life, things need to change. Sustainable development
is a plan for humans to achieve the desired state of human society where living conditions
and resource-use meet human needs without taking the sustainability of the natural
system and the environment for granted. ("Sustainable Development, UN Documents:
Gathering a Body of Global Agreements). In order to achieve that society, needs to fix
three pillars of sustainable development within society. These pillars are social inclusion,
environmental stewardship and economic development. Although these pillars seem to
contradict each other there are ways that they can work and fix help each one another.
The first problem with society on earth is the economic instability of developing
nations and those living under the poverty line. This creates extremely low standards for
living and starvation according to GlobalIssues.org at least 80% humanity lives under
$10 a day ("Poverty Facts and Stats." - Global Issues). In order for the other two pillars to
be addressed a country needs to have a healthy economy. That way it can help solve
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issues of infrastructure, education, health technology and environmental problems as well
as contribute to the rest of the worlds development. Countries like Africa and India as
well as other third world countries do not have a well organized government thus leaving
them to a bad economy. This creates unemployment and poverty as well as raising the
chances of crime. In order to fix other problems a nation must first address its economy.
Technology will also play a big role in the development of a countries economy, the more
technologically advanced a country is the easier it will be for it to export and import good
s and services from other nations as well as other forms of financial trade. With a healthy
economy a country can help provide money to its people, fund schools, businesses
programs to help the environment and many other needs to society.
Once a nations economy is addressed they can focus on the second pillar of
sustainable development. Social inclusion means to help communities, groups and
individuals who are economically and or socially disadvantaged. There are approximately
7 billion people living on earth according to the World Bank Group ("Population) and 2.2
billion are children ("Poverty Facts and Stats."). There are many people living under the
poverty line even more without an education. The largest amounts of uneducated people
are in developing countries. Based on enrollment data, about 72 million children of
primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57% of them
were girls. These are regarded as optimistic numbers ("Poverty Facts and Stats."). Within
these countries, people without jobs turn to the only option left: crime. Crime rate in
developing countries is extremely high and with no way of fighting the high crime it is
left to affect the rest of society. People need to be educated in order to make a proper
living; those who are not educated cannot find a job and benefit their communities.
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Infrastructure can also play a big role in the social development of a nation. Countries
like Brazil have areas called shanty towns where people living under the poverty line
"Urban Problems in LEDCs. (Urban Problems in LEDCs). These places are bad for
society since criminals can use them to extend drug operations or any other criminal
activity. Starvation is another social problem that is active all around the world even in
more developed countries. People also need to be more united and work together to solve
problems like pollution that affect everyone in the population. When people contribute to
solve a problem it will take less time and effort because the work will be divided amongst
everyone. Informing people of the way things are in society is another way to get
everyone involved inside a community. With more people aware of their surroundings
they are more willing to understand and take action.
Once society is united and the economy is stabilized, a country can begin with the
third pillars of sustainability which is environmental stewardship. As it is known the
amount of resources on earth are limited and if the human population continues to use
these resources wastefully they will eventually run out. Even after exhausting earths
resources the environmental scars left by humanity will take hundreds of years to go
away ("Oceans: Plastic Pollution." TakePart). People need to understand that taking care
of the environment is important that is why they need to be educated and informed on
what is happening to earth environment. The increase in carbon emission has heated up
the atmosphere causing climate change and may be a factor that may be causing the
melting of the polar ice caps (McKie, Robin. The Observer). The increase in gas prices
can also mean that humans are exhausting their number one resource which is fossil fuels
("The End Of Fossil Fuels." - Our Green Energy). There are even people who lack the
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basic necessities like food water and shelter. Seven hundred and eighty million people
lack access to water and 3.4 million die each year due to water related disease according
to Water.org ("Water.org." Waterorg). Human society needs to begin applying greener
and cleaner energy forms while also focusing on ways to limit their impact on nature.
There are many clean energy sources at human disposal with the proper technology they
can be easily harnessed to fit human need. The energy forms can be solar, wind, water
and even thermal. These energy forms produce no contamination or further hurt the
environment; they even have the potential of making fossil fuels obsolete. There are still
many things that are derived from fossil fuels like plastic that make living possible that is
why further research of alternative materials is needed. Plastic bottles are a petroleum
product and use 151 billion liters of oil to produce each year. Approximately 1500 bottles
end up in landfills and the ocean. Every second, it takes 700 years before plastic bottles
start to decompose, and can take up to 1000 years to fully decompose ("Plastics and the
Environment."). Society must move to the point where resource a greener, cleaner and
are not used wastefully.

There are people who argue that obtaining sustainability will be time consuming.
There will never be any progress unless the chance is taken. If society waits until our
resources are nearly exhausted or our environment can no longer sustain us there will be
more chaos and anarchy within society itself and the damage will be irreversible
("Natural Resources." the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics). Fossil fuels make up an
extremely large portion of human society, when these resources are terminated, society
will no longer be able to function properly. Transportation wont be available, even
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defense will be impossible with the extreme dependence on fossil fuels. Some argue that
sustainable development focuses too much on the economic side of development, but
without a good economy, projects cannot be funded. Projects such as sending food to
starving countries, development of technology, infrastructure, recycling and reforestation
projects ("Benefits for Economic Development."). Without a healthy environment,
producing food to sell will be difficult. Even living will be difficult if the air is not
breathable or water becomes toxic. Others are concerned that the three pillars of
sustainable development contradict each other. One cannot have a healthy economy if
there is nothing to grow and sell. People cannot be focused on moving forward and
developing their societies if there is no food and an economy cannot function without
healthy workers and consumers. In order to become a fully developed and sustainable
society, people must take risks, if nothing is done to change things it will be too late
when the time comes.
The human race must get to a stage to where they are using their resources wisely
and their economies are balanced and poverty is not an issue. A state where starvation
and other social problems are no more, where global warming and lack of energy are
longer a problem ("What Is Sustainable Development?"). Earths resources will run out
and if people are not ready for drastic changes in the earths environment and within
society there will be panic and confusion. Society as everyone knows it will come to a
standstill since our main source of power has been depleted. Becoming a sustainable
society, will take time and there will be problems along the way. These problems are
expected but in the long-run it will be worth it to make every effort and develop a better
cleaner future.
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People should pay more attention to what is happening around them. What
happens on the other side of the world does affect every single person in the world.
Climate changes affect every person in the world. Problems with other countries
economy may not deal directly with you but it affects many others. In order to solve any
type of problem, worldwide or even local, people need to be reminded and informed of
the reality of the world.
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Work cited page


("Sustainable Development Key Word - UN Documents: Gathering a Body of Global Agreements."
Sustainable Development Key Word - UN Documents: Gathering a Body of Global Agreements.
N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.).
"Poverty Facts and Stats." - Global Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
"Population (Total)." Data. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
"Poverty Facts and Stats." - Global Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
McKie, Robin. "Rate of Arctic Summer Sea Ice Loss Is 50% Higher than Predicted." The Observer.
Guardian News and Media, 12 Aug. 2012. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.
"The End Of Fossil Fuels." - Our Green Energy. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.
"Water.org." Waterorg. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
"Plastics and the Environment." Plastics and the Environment. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.)
"Urban Problems in LEDCs." Urban Problems in LEDCs. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014
"Oceans: Plastic Pollution." TakePart. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
"Benefits for Economic Development." N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
"What Is Sustainable Development?" What Is Sustainable Development? N.p., 28 Apr. 2014. Web. 28
Apr. 2014.
"Natural Resources." : The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.