The Conservation of Our World

This was a piece I wrote for the Charles Labatiuk Scholarship for Nature Canada in 2019. The prompt was to write about why conservation is important to me and how I contribute to it personally and academically. Though I did not win the award, I still believe this article accurately reflects my thoughts and view on our planet.

Every morning I wake up and draw the blinds to look into my garden, and I am treated with a brand new scene. Every day is different and yet beautiful. I am so lucky to be in Canada where the beauty of nature is in abundance. However, I have travelled to many countries and seen the fast disappearance or negligence of this stunning nature. It saddens me and makes me realize the importance of conservation. This reminds me of a quote of Dalai Lama who once said, “It is our collective and individual responsibility to preserve and tend to the environment in which we all live.” As the quote explains, conservation is everyone’s concern, and as society has evolved it has become an emergency. The conservation of nature is crucial in this world as it impacts the future of humans directly as a whole. This is why I have decided to dedicate my life to preserving our environment.

Conserving nature is ensuring our future. If we wish for our society to be successful in the future we need the Earth to continue to graciously provide us with its resources. As humans become more careless, the earth is starting to degrade at an alarming rate. This is seen as air quality has become the number one cause of child hospitalization in most countries. As forests continue to be cut down, cities continue to be built upon arid land, and water pollution continues to be ignored, and the future of the youth is steadily being killed. The earth’s gifts permit us to have so much happiness as it provides everything we use every single day. We, humans need to conserve these essential resources; we cannot continue to ignorantly use them as if they were unlimited. We fight over land, water and resources, but don’t realize that we are losing our home in the process. We’ve become so competitive, so greedy for the resources around the world that we seem to have forgotten that they all come from the same planet. If we continue acting the way we are, our future will be nonexistent.

Conserving nature is preserving our humanity. Our population has become selfish as we destroy our home for moments of our own pleasure. Rainforests are being wiped out, animals are being killed in seconds and soon our own human race will disappear. This is not humane, we should be caring for our cohabitants and the planet. If we took the time, we would realize that our natural connection with the earth brings us together. As I walk in forest trails, I see families, friends and coworkers conversing while in awe of our planet. The one thing which every human being agrees on is the stunning beauty of nature of the single planet we live on. In order to preserve our humanity, our world needs unity. If we don’t conserve nature, we will lose the unique human connection which makes us such a powerful species.

Conserving nature is conserving ourselves. Through our occupied lives, I and many others rarely find time for our own personal growth with nature. However, whenever I find myself in nature, whether it be surrounded by trees, standing on a beach facing the ocean or just the smelling cow manure in the fields, I feel at peace. Nature engenders a calmness within us allowing us to take a break and appreciate what we have in our lives. Destroying it would cause us to lose so many feelings and experiences we are granted every day. This earth has provided me with so many opportunities and daily favours which have shaped my life. Seeing it being destroyed and imagining that it could come to an end in a few years haunts me. This is why I want to make a change and conserve our environment. I want to be a world influencer who aids countries make the right decisions for the earth, whether that be choosing renewable energy generators or constructing an efficient public transportation system in all cities. My goal is to travel internationally to countries such as China and India, to help them use these sustainable choices for a solution to pollution. To do so I plan on pursuing environmental engineering, where I will learn how to conserve our nature while still evolving. Becoming an engineer, will give me the power to control how our world innovates, and guide countries to take sustainable actions in building their society. I want to implement new environmental technologies which are created every day, this includes finding methods to reduce our waste, preserve resources and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, I am also using my impact to aid our planet in hopes to encourage others to do the same. I have stopped my meat consumption, lessened my plastic use and volunteer with ecological companies. I believe that humans need to stop ignoring what the earth is telling us and understand that sacrifices must be made in order to save the environment and ourselves. 

 

The earth was created 4.54 billion years ago, plants, animals, humans, and much more sprouted within those years. It would be a shame if this were to be the decade in which we destroy it all because of our human selfishness and arrogance. Conservation of nature is not a choice, it is a necessity which I plan to have a strong role in.