ENSURING ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

TARA STEKEL
The most important issue facing the world today is maintaining environmental sustainability. Non-
renewable resources will eventually deplete and ensuring that we sustain our earth is extremely
important for financial, ecological and intergenerational purposes. Environmental sustainability can be
considered a strong basis to ensure sustainable development and the importance should be on
environmental and social well being along with economic growth. Economic and population growth
present opportunities and challenges for agriculture and the environment. Society plans and modifies
the environment with a strong focus on the needs and desires of people.
Human-kind is dependent on the environment to survive. If it were to drastically change it could quite
possibly mean the end for us. The environment is only one of three aspects of sustainability, the others
being economic and social. All living creatures have been given the chance to live life in an environment
conducive to living that it might be a good thing to leave the environment in decent condition so that
future generations might be able to have that chance as well. Sustainability increases the likelihood of
that chance being available. Humans are the most destructive out of all animals that live on the planet,
so we actually have the ability to take action and help maintain the environment.
(In this paragraph I would explain why the issue is important to me and personal connections/relevance,
but it is specifically outlined that I am not permitted to use any first person narration in my piece since it
is a formal essay. Just kidding here is my 3
rd
paragraph but I just felt that it was extremely necessary to
point this out.)
Everything on our earth affects our lifestyle. All our resources and everything involved in our daily life
comes from the earth. Everything that we do now and all the actions we make presently will affect the
future environment for next generations to have to live in. As citizens of the world, each of us is
responsible for the health of our planet. Our choices and our actions contribute to the welfare or
deterioration of the environment. Our natural environment becomes unbalanced and unsustainable
when it is polluted and stripped of its natural resources by over-consumption. Our lives are at stake as
we find our health being affected by environmental toxins in the air, water, and food we consume. Our
earth is a fragile planet with limited resources. The growing threat of climatic changes means everyone
from individuals to businesses must reassess their environmental impact and daily choices.
Nature should not be forced into a mould by humans. There have always been changes that cause
creatures to become extinct, only to be replaced by others. But the concept of humans someday passing
from history to be replaced is a fictional concept. We can only delay the end by trying to be more careful
in how we treat the environment. Presently there are too many people in the world using up resources
that we depend on and the modernization of large populations has increased our dependence on the
fossil fuels, which are now less than we need worldwide. To sustain the environment, reduce the human
population.
To conclude this essay, maintaining environmental sustainability would be the most important issue
facing the world today since it not only affects us on a short term but a long term as well. The ultimate
goal of sustainability is to achieve harmony with the environment, so that fewer resources are
consumed than are being created. Sustainability helps the economy and the social sphere, since people
are spending more and more money on resources that are not renewable. It allows people to recycle
and reuse that which would automatically be thrown out. Moreover, it allows for innovation and
creativity, from the smallest business to the biggest corporation, by prompting all people to move
toward greater efficiency and lower costs.