2022 Essay Contest Finalist

Entry by Sophia Altinok

Keeping the Earth Sustainable

The planet is becoming a destructive place for life due to humans’ unawareness. The Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals display everything that needs to be changed. Arguably, the most important objectives in this list are focused on pollution and climate change because completing them will benefit other goals as well. In order to accomplish goals eleven, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen, it is vital to understand how the earth operates.

It is apparent that goals eleven and thirteen, which revolve around combating climate change and creating sustainable communities, can be attained by reflecting on how human actions impact the earth and making smart decisions for the environment. To fulfill those goals we can diminish the use of fossil fuels and rely on more renewable and clean energy sources. As a result, we can keep the atmosphere clean and also assist the other systems.

Paying close attention to the interactions between Earth’s systems can help us achieve goals fourteen and fifteen. These two goals concentrate on the health of plants and animals and cleanliness in water and on land. Pollution can cause processes such as photosynthesis and weather to become irregular. Subsequently, it can lead to things like land degradation, desertification, and unhealthy organisms. If the amount of waste that humans release into the atmosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere is lowered, then eventually, the environment will flourish.

The best way to restore the earth is to understand how it functions in harmony within the hydrosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. Making a change in one area could dramatically affect the others. The Sustainable Development Goals are prompting humans to listen to the earth’s messages and reverse the mistakes made in the past. Thus, the only solution to all of these problems can be found when observing the patterns and connections within the environment.