Being the first to get a new pair of shoes, the fastest car, new purse, or a big fancy house has a cost. Not only is it putting a dent in your wallet, but it is putting a dent in our planet by decreasing the amount of time we must live on Earth. Humans have taken everything we have been given and taken it for granted by deciding to be stingy. Every day we hear about global warming, pollution, and other disastrous threats on Earth. These threats toward our planet that have no desirable solutions to society, are known as wicked problems. Wicked problems that are present in our society today are deforestation, floods, air pollution, diseases, over consumption, over population, changes in weather patterns, and more. What is causing these wicked problems and why can’t we find a solution to save our planet? The short answer is us; we are the reason we cannot find a solution and stop all these things that are killing where we live.

Since the beginning of time humans have acted superior to nature, I believe this not to be the right way for us humans to act. Animals are just the same as humans, but they just can’t communicate with us, like we can’t them. Plant lives can last longer than human lives, this is another reason humans are not greater than nature. If whales were killing our planet, we would be upset and would probably try to stop or kill the whales. We also do not harm children we cannot communicate with or adults that speak a different language, why should we treat nature differently? We would not kill or “cut down” our neighbors for personal gain. There is no reasonable reason we should kill nature or animals for our own benefit, because in the end it is all coming back to haunt us.

What I believe to be the biggest wicked problem in our society is the act over consumption and over production. This is a cycle that seems to become bigger and bigger. The cycle: companies manufacture things, produce more options of those different things, producing more because of demand. Many businesses have created this market where everything is cheap and does not last long. Because it is a Free-Market Economy many other businesses have tagged along and have started a cheaper and faster way of production. This amount of production leads to a lot of waste and harms the place we live. The food industry plays a big role in over production numbers. Humans are very wasteful when it comes to food, unlike other species.

Because these businesses are growing so fast it is also making other wicked problems a bigger problem. Factories being built means; trees being cut down. Trees are the air we breathe, one thing that has stuck with me that I have heard is that trees are the lungs of our planet. The technology and equipment used in factories has also not been kind to the environment. Factories let dangerous chemicals into the air, water, and land we and other species live on. Because fish live in water, and we eat the fish we are ultimately hurting ourselves. These machines also need power and with all the power we are using is not efferent for the earth. In order to make the earth sustainable, we must get rid of this vicious cycle of demand.

 We cannot end this cycle of demand because of one vicious barrier society cannot get enough of: money. Money is the biggest barrier to mankind and is only present in a human’s life. Money is a barrier because everything costs money. Everyone needs money not only to survive, but to thrive in their lifetime. Industrial businesses when they are making the most money, that is when they are thriving. When you get the biggest paycheck, you are thriving. The hardest part of this cycle is industrial companies are in denial of our environmental crisis because humans are so dependent on money and believe it is so important. If these money makers were mindful and only made enough money to spend on necessities, they would be able to avoid over/under consumption. Knowing what you really need will benefit you and your community, instead of buying things to make yourself more desirable. Another barrier is the way humans respond to change, although this is not as big as money, humans do not respond well when they are not in control. There are also culture and material barrier, and population barriers, because people are not just going to stop having kids.

As each day passes, each hour passes, our planet begins to pass away. This is mostly because of how selfish humans are. If we were to live the same way we did when earth first came to existence, the earth still would not be able to survive and come to be the same healthy planet it was 2000 years ago. Where does that leave us now? Cleaning up the mess our own species brought upon us. We must be more careful with the footprints we leave behind for the next generation, for the one after that might not exist. We cannot remake what has been given to us and what we have created. We must find a way to challenge our peers to create a healthier environment to live in. We must ration what we eat, to decrease the amount of wasted food. We are to challenge our neighbors to give away access money, clothes, and items to friends. Not buy the biggest house on the block and buy a house that is the right size for how many people will be living there. We will recycle anything that can be recycled. We are to do everything in our power to reshape the earths health. We have taken a blue and green planet and have started to turn it black. Lets come together as a society for the good of future generations to come.