Semester Project

The idea of sustainability can trigger a different train of thought in every person’s mind that hears the word. In my own mind, I lean towards a sociological and political approach to the idea and the problem that it entails. Sustainability as a social movement to “save the Earth” has been required due to the overpopulation of the Earth. As a species, we are approaching the carrying capacity of this habitat and are exhausting the resources available for our disposal. Therefore, the issue of creating a sustainable society takes a different form in my mind that it does for someone who sees the sustainability movement as a strictly agricultural and/or environmental issue.

In my view of sustainability, people are the root cause of our current environmental issues. Due to overpopulation and population stresses on our resources, we are beginning to overuse our resources and create pollution and other damaging byproducts of existing as a modern society. To create a sustainable society, we must work on reducing the amount of overpopulation through the use of contraceptives and education.

For this project, my plan is to create an educational program for the “underprivileged” areas of downtown Madison. Essentially, I will be developing educational materials (pamphlets, handouts, signs, etc.) and a means of distributing them (areas of interest to leave them, places to pass them out, etc.) for the homeless population of Madison. Along with the educational materials, I will also concentrate on providing condoms and other contraceptive materials (Planned Parenthood contact information) for the same population.
It is my goal with these small initiatives to create and understanding among the less informed that overpopulation is a major issue for the sustainability of our planet. In order to combat this, we must become conscious of our reproductive activities and attempt to limit these activities, if and when possible. Additionally, this plan can serve as a model of environmentally conscious reproductive practices for other underprivileged areas (like the third world). Although this program will be extremely broad and on an extremely long-term scale, it could contribute to creating a sustainable population, contributing to reaching a state of equilibrium with the environment.