According to Wikipedia Sustainability is the capacity to endure. It can be defined as the ability of an ecosystem to maintain ecological processes, functions, biodiversity and productivity into the future. In other words sustainability is the factors that play a role for a better world for the future. Problems such as Over-population, poverty, hunger, global warming and Air pollution all affect sustainability.
Over-population can be defined as the number of people in an area relative to its resources and the capacity of the environment and the capacity of the environment to sustain human activities. An area is over populated when the population cannot be maintained without rapidly depleting non renewable resources and the environment to support the population. There are many problems in an over-populated country or area; lack of water, food and land. Since the country or area is over populated the usage of natural resources becomes limited. These are may include fresh water and crops that are naturally grown. Fresh water that is being taken from the bodies of waters(rivers and lakes) have to now be distributed to a large number of people ,thus the distribution is shorten and in some countries or area, fresh water is not always distributed everywhere and this is a threat to the health and economics of these nations. Hunger and poverty also plays a factor in over-population. Every year more than 40 million men, women and children perish on our planet from hunger (lack of food), starvation, diseases and malnutrition. Since hungry people are trapped in severe poverty, they lack in the money to buy enough food to nourish their selves. Thus, being mal nourished causes them to become weak and sick. Becoming sick may mean they caught a disease and with catching a disease in an over- populated area, the disease is likely to spread to others. Solutions that are being taken to help fix this problem are the “Food for Work and the “Food for Education” programs. These programs are usually found in developing countries. In the “Food for Work” the adults are paid with food to build schools, dig wells, make roads, etc. I think this is a great solution because not only is the Hungry being feed but the community is being industrialized. If schools, wells, and roads are being built, maybe the less fortunate will have a possibility of being taken out of poverty and over-populated areas. For children there is the “Food for Education” program which allows children to be provided with food when they attend school. This is a great solution because the children are being given an education which allows them to have a higher chance of leaving poverty and they are being feed, which eliminates the hunger problem. This reminds me of the quote, “Killing two birds with one stone”. (Unknown)
Air pollution is another major problem that affects sustainability. Everyday, the average person inhales about 20,000 liters of air. Air pollution includes all contaminates found in the atmosphere. Air pollution includes all contaminates found in the atmosphere. Air pollution occurs both indoors and outdoors. The sources of Air pollution are natural and human -based. Forest Fires, volcanic eruptions, wind erosion and pollen dispersal are all among the natural causes of air pollution. Natural pollution is spread throughout the world, thus, becomes a threat to the health of people and ecosystems are destroyed. Many diseases could be caused by Air pollution such as bronchitis, lung cancer, and heart disease may all eventually appear in people exposed to air pollution. Air pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide also have an effect on natural ecosystems. They can kill plants and trees by destroying their leaves, and can kill animals especially fishes in highly polluted rivers.
The biggest cause of air pollution that humans contribute to is fossil fuels. Fossil fuels include coal, natural gases and oil. The burning of power plants and automobiles that combust fuel all contribute to air pollution and it also deletes the ozone layers, which can potential cause global warming. I think there are some positive steps being taken to control Air pollution. Two main types of pollution control are Input control and Output control. Input control involves preventing a problem before it occurs or limiting the effects the process will produce. Some of these solutions include using less energy, reducing waste, trying to restrict pollution growth and recycling. Recycling helps the world to reuse waste materials and turn them into reusable materials such as paper. By recycling paper we are saving trees. Output control, seeks to fix the problems caused by air pollution. For example, cleaning up an area that is damaged by pollution. In the United States, Air pollution control laws have been successful in stopping air pollution levels from rising. Unfortunately, in developing countries and countries where pollution is strictly regulated, much more needs to be done.
All in all, there are many things we can do to make sure our home (Earth) is sustainable. This needs to be done not only for us but for generations in the future.
Sources:
http://www.visionofhumanity.org/sustainability-peace/challenges-sustainability/overpopulation.php.
http://www.geocities.com/lionofjudah2021/poppov.html.
http://www.poverty.com/
http://library.thinkquest.org/26026/Environmental_Problems/air_pollution.html

Shanice Hines