Assignment: Stewardship & Sustainability
Overview
This assignment asks you to formulate a definition of environmental sustainability based on research and how it can apply to environmental stewardship both on a personal and national level. I will start you off by telling you that scientists working on environmental sustainability (ES) consider there to be 3 major principles to ES: reliance on solar energy for photosynthesis and other alternative energy sources; nutrient cycling of chemicals through soil, water, and air; and protection and restoration of biological diversity. These are the 3 legs of our environmental sustainability stool and it will collapse if any one of them is negatively impacted in a substantial way.
Instructions
You may already have an opinion on what is meant by environmental sustainability. The topic is in the news frequently and it is difficult not to form an opinion when you hear a lot about a subject, even when you do not know how accurate the material is that you are confronted with. Follow the following steps to prepare yourself for this assignment:
o Read the article at this website: Environmental Sustainability. Note in particular the information in the sidebar about the Three Pillars of Sustainability: Social, Environmental and Economic.
o Next, conduct an internet search on environmental sustainability. You can use Wikipedia to get a quick head start; and also look for articles in the web magazine ScienceDaily. Read enough information to have a good basis for an informed opinion on the subject.
Task
o What does environmentally sustainable mean to you personally?
o What do you think the major challenges are to achieving environmental sustainability for our species?
o What should Americans and the world be encouraged to do to foster sustainability? Name at least 2-3 ideas and discuss how they promote sustainability.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
o The answer should be typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides.
o The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
o Also include a reference page. The Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.