The society and our world today are replete with overwhelming, yet resolvable issues. After immersing myself in research involving many of these issues, I narrowed my interests down to three: mental health, water, and the effect of tourism on marine life. After individually researching these issues, I feel like I have gained an understanding on their origins, why they are still pertinent, and exactly how they relate to the three P’s of sustainability.
Mental health and society’s outlook on it have always been topics of interest to me. As I grew older, I grew increasingly aware of the power mental health problems and disorders had on people, including myself. Everyone I knew suffered from a mental health issue in some form. However, I noticed that even with its evident commonality, society’s perception of people dealing with these obstacles was overwhelmingly derogatory. The heavy presence of mental health problems is the reason I chose this topic over others.
Mental health and society’s view on it is related to the three P’s of sustainability because it affects all aspects of it. The people dealing with the disorders are negatively affected because they have to deal with both their illness and society’s condescending point of view regarding it. The planet is also facing a negative outlook. Many of the problems on the planet can be resolved if people would learn to listen and respect eachother and the world they live in. The environment is suffering and today’s current political leaders seem to believe that nothing is wrong. This ties in with the profit aspect of this issue. Mental health problems add a huge profit to the government through the expensive and hard to attain doctors, medicines, and support systems that people who face these problems desperately need.
Water is another issue that needs to be talked about today. I have always been fortunate enough to grow up without having to worry about obtaining safe water because I was taught that water was a basic human right that everyone deserves. However, when I visited my family in India, I witnessed an intimidating amount of people who had to fight for it. When I talked to people about it, they told me that Indians were suffering because India was a developing nation. However, today, a similar problem is occurring here at home. The people who live in Flint, Michigan do not have safe water. The fact that this crisis was happening here in a country that is far from being considered a “developing nation”, was the reason I chose this issue.
Water and the inability to attain safe water is negatively impacting the three P’s of sustainability. The human body, on average, can only survive three days without water. With its decreasing availability, the people who don’t have it won’t be able to survive. The planet is suffering because people are wasting water and it’s clear that our ability to attain it is eventually going to come to an end. The profit is suffering because the government, which is already in debt, now has to put in money to support places like Flint because of something they did. The current situation the world is in where people cannot get to clean water is unbelievable.
Traveling the world is an amazing experience that all people should do. However, when tourists take advantage of their visit, those places will eventually disappear. The effect of tourism on marine life is a very important issue to me. The currently deteriorating status of marine life in places like Australia is why I chose this topic.
Life in the ocean is in grave danger. The coral reefs are dying and the animals are endangered. Tourism impacts all aspects of the three P’s of sustainability. The inhabitants of the ocean are not safe because the people who explore the ocean don’t want to protect it. Unfortunately, there won’t be much to enjoy if they keep destroying the habitats. This impacts the planet. When the habitats die, the animals die with them until the ecosystem itself disappears. This is bad for profit because the government and tourist companies will not be able to make any money if they don’t have oceans for the travelers to see. There are ways to help restore the planet, which is why I will be choosing this as my issue to explore for the semester. I intend to explore the topic by furthering my research to first discover where exactly society went wrong. There will be many challenges due to my location, but I can get around that by contacting the scientists who do and attaining their opinions. I am a believer that there are always solutions and I am determined to get closer to finding that this semester.