The document discusses several key challenges related to environmental sustainability and climate change. It notes that population growth is a major factor, as more people require more resources from the Earth. Industries like fossil fuel use, agriculture, and land use change are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, ecosystems can be slow to respond to environmental changes, so the impacts of actions may not be seen for many years. Finally, the document outlines the international stalemate around climate agreements, as countries disagree on emission targets and priorities around economic development versus environmental protection. Overall, the document advocates for individual lifestyle changes like using public transportation, reducing consumption, and increasing sustainable practices to help address these global challenges.

1. Environmental Sustainability
Professor: William Sullivan
Paper # 1
Changes today
There is no doubt whatsoever that climate change is a big issue when it comes to
sustainability discussions. The earth climate has changed, and is changing very fast. That’s what
we read in newspapers, learn at school and see specialists talking about. The idea of climate
change have been spread all over the world, we even see people walking streets saying “This
summer was hotter than it used to be.”, or “This year rained much more than the regular average.
That’s a global warming effect”. In our everyday life we are quite used to this relative new
concept.But, what causes these changes? How can we play a role helping society to overcome
this new scenario? The main challenges when it comes to climate changes are population
growth, slow environmental response and international stalemate.
Human activities produce a great impact on earth, so population growth means more
people depending on earth resources. The global increases in carbon dioxide, methane and
nitrous oxide concentrations (greenhouse gases) are due primarily to fossil fuel use, land use
change and agriculture, main activities of countries today. Scenario that might get worse as
population grows. Not only population has increased, but also wehavea bigger product demand
as our life quality has changed. Although some nations are presenting decreasing birth rates,
many others are in fast increase, and that is a trend to persist for some decades.

2. Another very important issueis thatecosystems usually have a slow response to
environmental changes. Not all changes that we have made in the environment are being felt by
earth’s ecosystems. Some of these changes will only have visible impact many years from now.
Oceans are a great example of that slow response. In the past years oceans temperature have
increased less than other ecosystems, but twice as much warming is expected for the future. This
slow response is also seen when corrective actions are implemented, the environment take some
time to show a positive impact of these actions. That fact makessolutions planning very difficult
to policy makers, as their actions may only have an impact several generations from now.
The last great challenge to be overcome is the international stalemate when discussing
alternatives to climate change. Climate conferences, seeking global cooperation to minimize the
effects of environmental pollution, did not generate effective results yet. Usually, they only
reproduce the economic confrontation between world powers for greater production and
consumption. One example is the relationship between the U.S. and China. China stands out as
the U.S. effort should be higher because it is a developed country and the economic foundation
has stabilized. In the other hand, the U.S. claims that China is a competitor by unfair trade goods
with quite currency devalued against the U.S. dollar. The stalemate continues when developing
nations claim for solutions. Countries like Brazil, India and Russia insist that agreements of the
Kyoto Protocol, which sets targets for reducing carbon emissions, should be renewed. Developed
countries refuse to renew until new agreements are made that include developing nations in
carbon emission targets. Therefore, already established agreements may be lost and new
solutions end up being harmed by individual commercial interests.
Finally, although many doubts about climate changesstill remain, there is much evidence
that it is real. Wealready got used to this new concept, but now weneed to get used to new

3. attitudes in our daily lifethat can be solutions for many current problems, especially when it
comes to our living standards. As population has grown we have to change how we live so earth
can give us what we need without disrupting.Transportation is one main cause of global
warming, as many transports use fossil fuel.One way of reducing emissions is using public
transportation, because busses and subways can transport many people with lessenergy than cars
or motorcycles. Another action is topay attention in what we consume and how much of it,
simple as it may sound, we need to stop and think what we really need, as everything we
buydirectly or indirectly produce an environmental impact. This impact is mainly due to how
goods are produced and shipped to the consumer. One way to solve this is financially responsible
companies and producers for the impact they cause to the environment and induce them to use
more sustainable practices within the supply chain, this action may reduce the impact of many
people consuming products.And, most important of all, we have to change the consciousness that
climate changes are a bad issue but nothing can be done. Many things can be solute on the future
with a simple efforttoday.