Suatainability

Sustainability is the ability of the earth's natural systems, along with human cultural systems, to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions (Miller, Living in the Environment). To sum it up, sustainability is earth bearing the weight of all living things. Every living thing has an affect on its ecosystem, and for the past 3.54 billion years most of earth's million species have been able to sustain themselves cleanly and seamlessly.

Ever since humans showed up 200,000 years ago, we have been determined to find new, improved, and easier ways to live. These solutions to every day problems, while effective, are not always the most delicate processes. One major problem that humans face today is finding energy sources. We as a species are dependant on devices like cars and cell phones that run on external energy sources like gasoline and other fossil fuels. These nonrenewable resources release harmful and even toxic gasses that destroy our atmosphere and create the greenhouse effect. This is "a process by which thermal radiation from a planetary surface is absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gasses, and is re-radiated in all directions...energy is [then] transferred to the surface and the lower atmosphere" resulting in abormally high temperatures (wikipedia.org). In recent years, scientists have discovered and embraced a series of alternative and environmentally friendly energy sources, appropiately called "green" energy. These include wind, hydroelectric, solar, geothermal, and tidal energies. While effective and healthy for the earth, they are not as popular as fossil fules mainly because they are expensive, and difficult to use on a smaller scale. These problems are being addressed as a major concern (hyperlink A).

In 1970, the government created the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. They formally established a national goal to create and maintain conditions in which humans and nauture can live in productive harmony (epa.gov). Over the past 30 years, it has become a point for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to contribute to our earth by means of public education and renewable resources. They focus on pollution prevention rather than pollution control. Advances in renewable energy and solutions to pollution are being made every day, and the best thing the public can do help is to educate themselves (hyperlink B).

Hyperlink A:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_development#Fossil_fuels

Hyperlink B:
http://www.epa.gov/sustainability/basicinfo.htm

Jennifer J.