Why do we call planet Earth our mother but consistently fail to treat it as such? I came to this class knowing nothing about what it would revolve around or even what a wicked problem was but in the short two class periods I’ve sat through, I have learned so much more than I could have expected about the national problems that we are constantly causing. I knew that we as people are harming the planet every day but I learned quickly that I was in the dark about how massive the problems really are. I have never thought of sustainability as anything other than a word out of the dictionary until the first day of class but now it holds so much more meaning. These seemingly unsolvable mass issues plague our nations and I am now much more emotionally involved in the well-being of our home than I was only a few weeks ago. I want to make a change.

            When thinking in broader perspective of humanity and our lifestyles, we repeat ourselves often throughout the years. Sadly the same thing is happening today that happened during the time Easter Island was prevalent and populated. We are taking our planet for granted and sooner than later we are going to make it inhabitable by refusing to work on our mistakes before they are able to be reversed. These worldwide issues like climate change, overwhelming landfills, and ocean health are considered “wicked” because they don’t have one easily found solution but that in no way means that they can’t be fixed with time and hard work.

            The parts of the film 11^th Hour that were shown in class hit me with a huge wave of realization about all of these things and more. Actually seeing the state of the world in places I don’t usually and hearing the statistics of the future as we know it scared me as well as made me mad at the people who actually have the position to make the greatest change. The biggest problem with these things in my opinion is lack of exposure to the people. Loads of citizens have switched to metal straws as well as recycling as much as they can after learning what it was actually doing. This alone shows that enough people to matter care about Earth and its wellbeing. The people in power are obsessed with money and pride to change their ways and that is what is triggering the downfall of the wellbeing of the people and our home. Hopefully one day we can all come to the consensus that to actually positively impact the state of the world, we have to start slow and work together.