This is an essay written by Terri Irigoyen for a scholarship competition. The topic assigned was “What is the most important thing your generation can do for the world?” The essay was limited to 300 words or less.

“The Sustainable Age”

by Terri Irigoyen

My generation must follow the Industrial Age, the Atomic Age, and the Information Age with the creation of the Sustainable Age. To continue human progress, we must create a sustainable civilization. The Sustainable Age will require our use of key resources in a way that will allow them to last forever.

By maintaining our forests sustainably, we can prevent our forests and rangelands from deteriorating into desert. More than nine million hectares of forests are disappearing every year. Trees are being cut for timber or burned for land faster than they can rejuvenate or be re-planted.

The disappearance of forests is also destroying the biological diversity that depends on them. Species are being eradicated faster than new ones can evolve. This is caused by habitat destruction, pollution, and climate alteration. The result is that over one fourth of the birds, mammals and fish species are in danger of extinction.

We live in a water challenged world, and the challenge is increasing. By the year 2050, the population will grow by over 600 million in countries already short of water. As it grows, many more countries will lack water, which will lead millions to suffer hunger, disease and death. One of the clearest signs of this water deficiency is the drying of world’s rivers. Several of the world’s major rivers either run dry most of the year, or fail to reach the seas.

How can we enter the Sustainable Age? We must act quickly; there is no time to waste. We must educate ourselves about sustainability then use what we have learned to educate others. For what person, educated about the consequences, could spend even one more day knowing that by living unsustainably they are contributing to the certain destruction of our planet and with it our way of life.