What if you had only one pair of shoes for the rest of your life? You would probably protect them, keep them clean and safe and do everything in your power to make sure they stayed good as new. Without shoes, life would be a pretty bumpy ride.
Of course, you probably will own many pairs of shoes in your life, but we only have one Earth. And while you might be able to get by going barefoot, we won’t last long if the Earth’s in the can.
That’s why it’s so confusing to us when people express a disregard for the well-being of the environment. This planet is the only home we will ever have. When people say that they don’t care about the environment, they are essentially saying that they don’t care what happens to their home.
Yes, being sustainable is about reducing the consequences of climate change – about which the climate science community is more than 90 percent certain is man-made – but it’s also about so much more.
It’s about reducing electricity bills, lowering the cost of transportation and finding more efficient ways to provide goods and services to consumers. It’s about making our country energy independent without destroying our proud wilderness heritage, and it’s about ensuring that all people have clean water to drink, nutritious food to eat and safe places to live. Caring for the environment is not just a moral issue – it is an economic issue, a national security issue and a human issue.
We hope that you’ve had a great time participating in Sustainability Week, and we hope that it’s helped to shape your perspective on your environmental responsibilities as a student and as a world citizen.
No matter what we do, this rock will keep circling the sun. But will there always be humans inhabiting it? That’s up to us to decide.
