Running Head: SUSTAINABILITY FOR EVERYONE 1

Sustainability for Everyone

Marissa Nudo
Portland State University







SUSTAINABILITY FOR EVERYONE 2

Abstract
People think that the planet has unlimited resources and that it should be okay to just use water,
trees and energy as they please. In reality this is false, because people have lived like this for so
long our resources have been dwindling. If people do not start changing their habits our planet
will not survive. Everyone needs to start living more sustainably. Three big ways of doing this
are in the aspects of energy, or transportation, recycling, and food and water.













SUSTAINABILITY FOR EVERYONE 3

Many people use the planets resources like they will never run out. People think that the
resources yield unlimited materials for everyone to use. In actuality the planets resources are
quickly being used up. If a way to save resources is not put into action the Earth might not make
it. Almost everyone living on the planet right now is helping to kill it. Luckily, there is a way to
turn this around, it is called, sustainability. Sustainability is a way to maintain the conditions that
humans and nature can live in, it also is a way to help protect the environment. Sustainability is
not hard to achieve, everyone can be sustainable in transportation, recycling, and where they get
their food and water. Living a sustainable life is not hard to do, it is easy enough that even the
kids can do it.
Although it sounds like many people are killing the planet, there are also people that
make sure they are always living sustainably. There are government run groups that make it their
job to inform the public of ways to live sustainably. The Environmental Protection Agency has
said, Sustainability is important to making sure that we have and will continue to have, the
water, materials, and resources to protect human health and our environment. The
Environmental Protection Agency works to develop theories and things that people can do to live
more sustainably. They went from controlling the pollution to preventing it. The Environmental
Protection Agency, EPA, is a source that anyone can use to learn how to live more sustainably.
One of the many causes of our diminishing resources is the amount of energy used on a
daily basis. This energy is used in houses and in transportation. A lot of homes use a lot more
SUSTAINABILITY FOR EVERYONE 4

energy than necessary. When things are plugged in, even if they are not being used, energy is
being used. Even though those electronics that are plugged in and not being used are not hurting
the environment it is an easy place to start practicing being sustainable. An energy source that is
hurting our environment is transportation. Anywhere a person goes anymore they are likely to
run into some traffic, they will get stuck behind the line up of cars that is polluting the air.
Sometimes finding sustainable alternatives is hard, but finding sustainable alternatives for
energy use is pretty easy. All the electronics that are plugged into the wall, not being used, can
be unplugged until they are in use. Even just unplugging a few more electronics than normal will
save a large amount of energy. Another way to save energy in a home is to invest in some newer
appliances and updating regular light bulbs to LED light bulbs. All new home appliances are
built to save energy, they may cost a little more initially but in the long run they will save a lot of
money and energy. LED light bulbs are also used in homes to save energy. These light bulbs
save a lot more energy and they also need to be changed less, making less garbage that takes up
space at a landfill. Along with saving energy use at home it can also be saved on the everyday
commute. Carpooling, taking the bus and biking places are some ways to save energy while
commuting. The more cars on the road the more CO2 emissions going into the atmosphere. If
people do not start saving energy in their homes and on their commute there will be too much
pollution for the environment to handle.
SUSTAINABILITY FOR EVERYONE 5

Another way the average person can live sustainably is by recycling. Many places in the
world do not recycle. Without recycling not only are landfills being filled up too fast, but natural
resources are being used faster than they can be made. This is one of the main causes of resource
depletion. For example when paper is not being recycled then to make more paper more trees
need to be cut down. This is a problem once all the trees have been cut down and they are not
growing fast enough. Trees are used for so much more than just paper to write on, so when there
are no more trees there will also be no more new shelter. There is a lot to lose if people cannot
start living more sustainably and recycling.
Recycling is easy to start doing depending on where you live, a lot of states in the United
States have garbage and recycling services when you live in a house. It is not too hard to separate
the recyclables from the garbage in the colored bins, then put them out on the street to be picked
up. Not everyone can have access to this method of recycling. For people that do not have curb
side pick-up there are often public recycling centers where anything can be recycled, from paper
to cardboard to batteries. These places are completely sustainable.
Recycling has turned into a regular thing in Portland, Oregon. On every corner you are
likely to find a recycling bin of some sort, it could be for bottles, paper or plastic. Portland is one
of the most sustainable cities and recycling and reusing is their main way of being sustainable.
Some may think that they are recycling for no reason but now there are a lot of stores that sell
recycled paper goods and recycled plastic items even. Being sustainable is as easy as throwing a
SUSTAINABILITY FOR EVERYONE 6

piece of paper in the recycling now. The more that people recycle the more resources that they
are saving.
A big industry that can either be really sustainable or not sustainable at all is the food
industry. It is so easy for food corporations to take the easy road and choose the options that are
the most inexpensive. When corporations are choosing these inexpensive ways of making and
preparing food they are cutting major health corners. The food they serve is not healthy and they
really do not even care. People who eat from these large food industries end up getting sick or
even more often their food gets recalled. When something is recalled it is because something is
wrong with it, most of the time this could be prevented if the corporations were taking the health
measures that they should have been in the first place.
If food corporations were more concerned with the publics health than they are with
making money it would be a lot easier to eat sustainably. Large corporations that deal with meat,
obviously, could care less about the people that will eat the meat. The cows that are brought in to
be slaughtered are fed a corn based diet. This would be okay if cows could digest corn, but they
do not. In the movies Kind Corn and Food Inc. there is video footage of a famer making a
hole in the cows side. They have to do this so they can scrape out all the corn product that
cannot be digested by the cow. Because of the diet that the cows are being fed and not being
allowed to move around very much these cows are very sick when they are brought in to be
slaughtered. If they were not being killed they would die soon anyway. Not only are the cows
SUSTAINABILITY FOR EVERYONE 7

sick when they come in, but the way that the meat is processed is now in factories, where meat is
sent through machines to be cleaned and packaged. This really is not a very clean process. Not
only is the machinery in the factory not the best way to process the meat, it also puts out a large
amount of pollution. The pollution from these factories is not good for anyone and is especially
bad for the environment. In the movie Food Inc. there are interviews with neighbors of one of
these large factories. These interviews show that a majority of the people that live by the factory
have many health problems.
In the movie Food Inc. the many problems of the food industry are shown. The food
industry had to keep up with the growing demands for cheaper and cheaper food. Because the
food is cheaper the corporation workers try and cut costs,
If we put glass walls on the food industry in North America we would have a different system
all together (Food Inc.)
This quote is saying that if we micro managed every process of the food industry in North
America the system would change completely. There would be no more short cuts and food
would be healthier.
When a person is grocery shopping at a Fred Myer or Safeway it is hard to find meat that
is not from one of these large food corporations, that does terrible things to their meat, and the
truth is you probably will not find meat from anywhere else. Even when the packages have
different brand names they look like they come from different places. In reality all of these
SUSTAINABILITY FOR EVERYONE 8

brands purchase their meat from the same place. The best way to be sure you are getting
healthily raised and processed meat is to go to a butcher store. Most of the time butchers get their
meat from local farmers who raise their cattle on grass, instead of corn. Other places that only
serve organic foods and meats are Whole Foods and New Seasons. Whole Foods butchers only
buy their meat from farmers that they know raise grass fed cattle. Although it is more expensive
to shop at grocery stores such as Whole Foods and New Seasons, it will be worth it to a persons
health in the long run. The more that people stop buying corn fed meat the less they will produce.
The last category to living more sustainably is water. Everyone thinks that the Earth has
an unlimited supply of water, this is far from true. In the movie Tapped it is said that less than
15% of the water on Earth is drinkable. Not only is our water supply decreasing but the amount
of plastic water bottles is increasing. Because of all the bottled water there is a point in the ocean
that is made up of mostly plastic. This is because of the oceans currents that push it all into one
spot. There are also some beaches that are made up of basically all plastic instead of sand. People
think that when you throw something into the ocean it is gone forever, but it is not. With all this
plastic in the ocean the ocean life is going to start struggling to survive. The plastic that humans
are putting into the environment is killing the resource that is food for a lot of people.
Being sustainable with our resource of water is one of the easiest things to do. Buying a
reusable water bottle is a great investment. Not only does is save tons of money on bottled water,
it also eliminates a ton of plastic waste. With a reusable water bottle a person can fill it up all day
SUSTAINABILITY FOR EVERYONE 9

long without ever needing to get a new one. This is the best option for drinking sustainably. Even
if people would eliminate one or two plastic water bottles a week there would be a huge decrease
in the amount of plastic waste.
One more way to reduce plastic waste is at the grocery store. When a person is buying
their organic groceries they can bring reusable bags. A lot of stores now sell these reusable bags
for very little money and they can be used over and over again, unlike the plastic bags that often
rip with just one use. Another alternative to plastic is paper, all stores offer paper and plastic.
Paper breaks down easier than plastic so it is the better option. But the best option would be to
invest in some reusable bags.
All of these are easy ways to start being sustainable. The best way to make sure the
pattern of sustainability keeps going is to get children involved with being sustainable. Children
make up 50% of the population and they are the future. If children are raised on sustainability
then it will be easier for them to maintain a sustainable life. Kids also are more likely to do
things even if others are not. A lot of adult choose not to live sustainably because they feel like it
will not help if it is only them. Kids do not have these thoughts, making them the best candidates
for starting the sustainability trend. When these children grow up they will teach their children to
live sustainably. It will start a sustainable life that will help the planet, environment and every
species living on Earth.
SUSTAINABILITY FOR EVERYONE 10

With children being the future they are the best group to start teaching about
sustainability. Children are also able to adapt easier. A change such as carpooling or taking the
bus will not make that big of a deal to them. When children are started on a healthy diet early it
is easier for them to live a long healthy life.
Living sustainably is the way to go. It helps the environment and everyone living in it.
When people start living sustainably they start saving resources. These resources need to be
saved if people want their grandchildren and great grandchildren to be able to live the life they
did.











SUSTAINABILITY FOR EVERYONE 11

Works Cited
Soechtig, S. (Producer & Director). Tapped. United States.
Ellis, C. (Producer). Cheney, I. (Producer). Woolf, A. (Producer). King Corn. 2007. United
States.
Pearlstein, E. (Producer). Kenner, R. (Producer). Food Inc.. United States.
What is Sustainability? Retrieved from: http://www.epa.gov/sustainability/basicinfo.htm













SUSTAINABILITY FOR EVERYONE 12



References
Vermeir, W. & Corten, F. Fall 2005. Sustainable and Responsible Performance. Retrieved from:
http://www.iijournals.com/doi/abs/10.3905/joi.2005.580555#sthash.fVujJZJc.dpbs
Bossinik, B. A. G.. 25 August, 2010. The Strategic Function of Quality in the Management of
Innovation. Retrieved from:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09544120120102432#.U34TursU-W8