A Much Broader Issue

The world at this very moment is enduring many environmental problems that we as a species have the ability to stop but choose not too because of a lack of education and in some cases just plain laziness. Some of the largest problems now affecting the world are air pollution, global warming, overpopulation, acid rain, forest deforestation and many others but to me the key to resolving all of these issues and other similar one’s is sustainability. To me sustainability is the most important environmental issue that Earth faces, seeing that it encompasses all of the above issues. Sustainability is the ability to maintain, support, or in some cases endure a certain level of living and I believe that living in a sustainable Earth would mean being able to support rich, diverse ecosystems such as in the case of a rainforest, maintain clean, usable water sources, and endure all other impacts we humans have on Earth without switching the healthy course Earth should be on.

Since sustainability is such a broad issue allocating funds would not be easy. You would not be able to allocate all the funds to just one problem, you would first need to outline all the issues concerning the environment and divide the amount necessary for each area. For example think about the state of Florida. We face many water issues such as pollution, droughts and flooding. We also face overpopulation, which has lead to the destruction of the Florida Everglades. These are just two of the many problems we face in regard to the environment, therefore clearly if given $100 billion we could not just say here you go Florida water system and all our problems would be fixed. We would have to give a portion to each section and also include education as part of the program because this is a huge factor in the success of sustainability. Like stated earlier many people are not educated enough in order to take the first step towards living in a sustainable environment. Take something as small as the usage of plastic. Looking back a couple of years the act of recycling was not as popular, but through education we have been able to inform the people that Earth cannot biodegrade many materials such as plastic instead we must take the extra step to ensure we dispose of it properly in order for us to break it down and reuse it and not abuse it.

Therefore we can say that through education we are able to address many environmental issues that Earth is facing and in order to resolve all of them we must focus on the term of sustainability. We must not focus on just one particular issue and say that solving one will cure the rest instead we must see all of them as a whole and understand that all are as important as the other. Once we are able to give all the issues equal importance, we are able to say we are taking the first step towards sustainability.