The Importance of Being Sustainable

Sustainability is a word that is thrown around a lot these days in respect to climate change and protecting the planet, but what does it really mean? Well, to me at least, sustainability is a long-term solution to several of the harmful effects of climate change. Despite the general term, sustainability involves many different facets in the way that it can be implemented into our everyday lives but can extend to things in the field of science we could have never dreamed of. The most obvious one would of course be recycling and reusing things. This is a relatively easy thing to do… well, one would think anyway, but it turns out many people usually don’t even think about it when they throw that plastic water bottle into the wrong bin.

Here's the main question on most busy people's minds: why should they care about this or even think it’s their problem? Well, because it’s everybody’s problem. The people who live on this planet have a responsibility to educate themselves about how to care for it.

Now, sustainability can be simple for some as with those who try to recycle every now and again, use less water, or always make sure to turn off the lights when they leave. However, sustainability largely relies on the honorable discipline of science. Sure, there are solar panels, windmills, hydroelectric dams, but where do the blueprints for them come from? These are concerned scientists who want to contribute their brainpower to new developments that will keep their homes healthy and sustainable.

Picture: Grand Coulee Dam in Washington used for hydroelectric power, irrigation, flood control, etc.

Picture Source: https://www.usbr.gov/pn/grandcoulee/about/index.html 

One of the issues almost everyone points out about these alternative energy methods is the steep cost. However, if one does a little research, they would find that in the grand scheme of things, it would be more beneficial to start using these alternative methods now and save on the damages of climate change in the future that will be much more costly - not just in the financial sense. In fact, a lot of  the methods we use now have gone down in cost according to IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency). This gives us less and less excuses to keep using harmful energy sources, not to mention that industries concerning sustainability create more jobs as well.

I know that all this is 'easier said than done' to be cliche, but millions of people pitching in would make an outstanding difference. Instead of causing more harm to our planet, I think we should try to be the cause of undoing that harm however we can.

Source for IRENA: 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dominicdudley/2018/01/13/renewable-energy-cost-effective-fossil-fuels-2020/#2786d0a44ff2 

Thanks for reading! :)