The environmental issues are becoming a major concern in the world today. We are slowly destroying earth by energy consumption, overpopulation, air, water and soil pollution, deforestation, biodiversity, overuse of transportation, global warming, etc.  This is exactly the reason humans’ need sustainability. Sustainability has many different meanings such as to maintain, support and endure. However, for us, sustainability is “everything we need for survival and the well being of the environment.”

            The Environmental Protection Agency, better known as the EPA, discusses what they are doing to maintain sustainability. The EPA has “began developing tools and practices that help prevent rather than control” environmental problems.

Take energy consumption as an example, an average human’s health is at risk from the burning of fuels, such as carcinogen benzene, a chemical, that are being released into the air. The pieces of ash are so small; they remain floating in the air and are often inhaled into the respiratory system. A short article in The Sustainability Report discusses a study in 1995 to 1996 where over 28,000 people were interviewed that ranged from the ages of 5 to 19 years old. The Student Health Lung Study was held in 9 different countries, all of which were asked to determine factors which provoked asthma attacks. There are many different contributions to the attacks, but a few were the indoor and outdoor air quality, national and local energy, and exposure to dust particles. The World Health Organization revealed that many of the components studied “link to the use of natural resources like fossil fuels to human health using the example of severe respiratory infections.”  Humans are not aware of how detrimental these chemicals are to our bodies. The EPA presents a manual called “Green Living” to show us day-to-day living techniques to protect earth. Therefore, we can decrease the abundance of unhealthy Americans by reducing the amount of fuel we have been using.

In a final thought, sustainability is about knowing “what meets the needs of the present without compromising the future.” One of the most important concerns in sustainability is earth’s carrying capacity. Thus, if the earth continues to be overcrowded, it will not last “indefinitely.” Overpopulation is a prime reason why the environmental issues have reached an all-time high, with so many resources being in demand. Therefore, if we follow the Environmental Protection Agency’s suggestions on Green Living, we will be on our way to living a more fulfilling, healthy life.