My First Thoughts on Sustainability

The issue on sustainability is a very interesting and compelling one. It is an issue that is very important to the future of our world and its people. The first time I really thought about sustainability was a couple years back when my family and I were driving through a rural part of Illinois. While we were driving, we passed by a landfill. The landfill was full of garbage. I was disgusted and saddened by this landfill. Seeing this landfill made me realize that there is so much trash in this world. This landfill that I passed was just a hole in the ground full of trash. Such landfills exist all over Illinois as well as in other states. After seeing this landfill, my family and I decided to try to make a difference in our household. We decided to start recycling, set up a compost in our yard, and try to reuse some products (that is, reuse some products instead of throwing them away). Even though my family and I became more “environmentally friendly,” we still had to put some garbage out in our alley to be collected. Not everything that we threw out was recyclable or decomposable. To this day, I still wonder about better ways for people to discard their garbage. I hope that in the future people will be able to think of more innovative and sustainable methods to get rid of trash and garbage.

Even though I have only attended one class so far, I have to say I am already excited to keep learning about the foundations of urban sustainability. I really hope that at the end of this class I will be a more educated and mindful human being. In relation to the story that I talked about above, I would like to learn whether there are better ways to get rid of trash. Not everything that people throw out can be recycled or decomposed, so at the end of the semester I would like to find out if there are other ways of discarding trash other than just throwing things into a landfill. I would also like to learn more about ways in which a regular person like myself can make a difference. I mean my family and I already try to be “environmentally friendly” with our recycling and the compost in our yard, but I would like to know if there is more that I could do to make the world a better place. I truly think if people were educated on sustainability, they would give their time and effort to improve some of the situations in the world. Whatever the case, I am extremely excited for this class and cannot wait to “dive into the waters” of learning about sustainability. Who knows maybe I will pass on the information that I learn in UP 199 to others so that they too can be educated about sustainability.