I was applying for a summit today and one of the requirements was an essay on certain topics. I did mine on the importance of sustainability and having a livable planet for the youth of today. So i thought I’ll just upload it here as well, enjoy!

I believe every issue on the available four topics to choose from are very important, however in order to actually act on fixing these issues, we first have to make sure that our planet would still be livable in order for us to achieve this. Sustainability is the name of the game, but it is sadly something not much considered in today’s industrial economic climate. There is only one focus of major corporations and companies of the world today, profit. They only see things in the short-term, they either don’t think or don’t care about the major consequences that will have to be faced by the future generations.

These people in power see the beauty and richness of our planet as something to be taken advantage of. Every single available resource mined and stripped into nothing, forests flattened to make way for plantations, robbing the sea of its life and ecological balance, creating massive cattle farms that releases greenhouse gases into the air. This is the reality we live in since the industrial revolution. We as a society have been taught to endlessly consume, buy shiny new things and throw it out to the side of the road without any care in the world, ready to buy the next new thing on offer. We create an endless stream of waste that piles on higher every single day. To say that our world is being overexploited is an understatement. If we were to continue down this path, there won’t be anything left for us in a matter of decades.

There is only one choice left for humanity to take. Either we radically change our economy, our mindset and our way of life into something more sustainable and eco-friendlier, or we will have to inevitably face our species’ extinction, along with most of the life on planet Earth.

But there is still hope. The youth of today has been born into a harsh, challenging, and frankly confusing world. Imagine it; our planet is dying, everything is bought and paid for and everyone’s at each other’s throats. That’s quite the weight on our shoulders, all of these seemingly insurmountable challenges we have inherited. But thanks to the development of technology and the internet, the youth of today are more aware than ever of the unsustainable and self-destructive path we’re on. I’ve seen so many great movements started by young people, calling for action, hungry for change.

One of, if not the most important thing we need to change in order to start living a sustainable existence, is the economy. It’s the driving force in our lives that dictates everything. And right now, the current hyper-capitalist profit-oriented economy is detrimental to the future of our planet and the people who live on it. This linear system drains our planet of resources, and produces waste and toxic byproducts in the millions of tonnes. We need to shift in the direction of a sustainable, circular economy. One of my current projects is focused on building this type of eco-friendly, closed-loop circulation with minimal waste in my community.

More and more youth today are sick and tired of perpetuating this unjust economic system. We need to do our part to help with this movement. Be mindful, responsible consumers; do not mindlessly purchase products that are detrimental to the environment, do not support the companies that are actively destroying the planet because of their own greed. Remember that words are just words, we need to act quickly on a global scale, this is not only a problem for other countries to take care of, this is our fight, all of us.

Like with most things, awareness of the issue is paramount. There would be no movement if the masses are still unaware or apathetic towards this major issue. They need to understand that the go-green initiatives, stopping climate change and all the movements pushing for sustainability isn’t just a “take it or leave it” type of thing, it is essential to our survival. We can’t wait until it’s too late, even now we may be unable to reverse all of the damage done, but we have to try. We are still young now, but soon the weight of the world will fall to our shoulders, and with it comes the responsibility to do better. I don’t want us to be one of the last people who are still going to be able to enjoy the indescribable beauty of our planet.