Sustainability and Its Impact by Rose

Sustainability and Its Impact by Rose - December 2019 Scholarship Essay

It is strange how the world may end in 11 years or less, all because of human actions to our environment. The Mayans believed that the world would be destroyed in 2012, of which never came to pass, but sometimes I still wonder if it is possible to avoid future destruction of humanity. With the current lack of attention, governments are giving, the environment will be reduced to virtually nothing, perhaps even faster than the 11 years given by climatologists and environmental experts. The ground-water catastrophe in Indonesia’s capital, the neglect that the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil is receiving, and heated debates about allocating resources to environmental projects. Even with these glaring issues at hand, international governments are still seeking to start projects in space, prioritizing capitalism and monetary value over the health of the planet. When the government neglects an important issue at hand, it is up to the future face of the Earth to help the cause.
Besides realizing that the planet is in crisis mode, I have personal reasons as to why I began this club. Growing up in a frugal household, I wore only hand-me-down clothes, given to my parents by my relatives. I grew up around various farm animals such as pheasants, chickens, and even a goat, of whom we collected animal products. I hated living in this lifestyle at first. I felt incredibly out of place when I was amongst my peers. People thought I was strange when I discussed my living situation, about how I had chickens and pheasants instead of the average cat or dog, or how my parents taught me the fundamentals of gardening instead of the piano. Many people also outcasted me for dressing in clothes that were in fashion ten years ago. While I hated this negative attention at first, I’ve learned that my parents’ actions supplemented our shared goals later in life.
As I grew older, I began to realize and experience different topics and issues within our world. And one of these common topics with a wide variety of issues was the environment. These problems have shown a trend in recent years. In the beginning, one of the only and most prominent issues was climate change. Over time, more issues arose. Wildfires from Smokey the Bear ads, plastic in the oceans, water contamination, and illegal dumping. As I progressed to high school, I’ve realized that all these issues were issues that I’ve been exposed to in my childhood. I felt responsible for taking charge of these issues at hand as I’ve had so much exposure to them. This was the start of Sustainability.
Every week the club has meeting slides that cover an issue, current event, or general topic that is related to the environment. It helps our members realize several issues with the environment and learn new ways of being sustainable and environmentally aware. Our club also offers volunteering hours, where we volunteer with the City of San Jose and Our City Forest. We also invite public speakers to present issues in Sustainability, who gave us presentations on different topics such as the meat industry. Alongside that, we also developed urban changes to Piedmont. We have been watering Piedmont’s trees in order to properly care for them and fit their needs. In front of our advisor’s class, we have a birdhouse for birds and other critters to reside in and eat from. For us, this is only the beginning of introducing urbanization to our community.
There are many reasons why I believe that I should encourage others to be sustainable. For one, I love the Earth with all my heart. Nature gives us many gifts, some small examples include animals, other people, food, water, and our lives. The Earth never stops giving but people keep on taking. As everything is in our universe, the Earth’s resources are limited and we are leaving her dry. Sustainability helps preserve the planet by encouraging a balance with new development and technology so that people could artificially produce resources rather than taking it from the Earth. This could secure Earth’s longevity and provides a home for our future children, grandchildren and so on.