The New America Dream is Green (and Sustainable) Essay

What is the role of the individual in helping to solve some of the problems we face in our society today? What are some of the problems we face in our society today? In today’s society we are currently facing ten major issues according to toptenz.net and should these problems be considered as individual or social responsibilities? “Now that we are well into the new Millennium society has begun to recognize serious concerns with issues that kids have to deal with today. Some issues have always been there but are now coming to the eyes of the public to find solutions. Other issues are new trends as society begins to adapt to a faster pace of life (Standberry).” Here are some of the issues facing our youth today: single parent households, drug/alcohol abuse, growing up to fast, and violence in schools, materialism, obesity, education disparity, shifting economy, and loss of national pride. So how do we fix just one of these problems, do we come together for a common purpose or do we stand alone and try to make a difference.

Ted Steinberg’s book American Green gives a detailed description of lawn and its role in America. He gives a history of lawn starting from the origin of the word “lawn” itself in the 16th century and gives wide-ranging anecdotes throughout the book that attempt to show the reader how obsessed Americans are with their lawns. His anecdotes are often meant to represent people all over America, but when you take a step back you realize that they are actually rare stories that provide little broader meaning. Steinberg fails to prove that American’s are obsessed with their lawns because of the poor assumptions he makes and examples he uses.

The greatest component to a successful small town is citizens working together. As a result of our cohesive citizens, our town displays a stellar community within itself. A small town lives and dies by citizenship, the people who work hard, who donate their time to local works, or who hold the door for elders. Growing up, I have become more grateful towards the environment I have been raised in. Fortunately, I feel as though the small-town citizenship has rubbed off on me. Like a pig rolling in the county fair sawdust, I am grateful for the ability to learn the acts of being a good citizen.

Dreamworld’s owners, Ardent Leisure has developed a park that has accounted for all difficulties of sustainability despite the location and size of the amusement park. Dreamworld is a theme park situated in Coomera, near the east coast of Queensland. Due to its isolation, it is imperative to have effective sustainability methods to reserve the resources expended by the park’s energy demanding attractions. Sustainability will be the issue brought to light in this report, and a new ride will be implemented with all of the characteristics of being economically, environmentally and socially responsible. The management of the ride will be investigated in the report, including the legislations that govern sustainability.

If we ask most Americans what is American Dream? the common answers are to become successful, rich, owning house, cars and etc. In other countries, many people see America as a land of opportunities for a better life and that is the reason why they come here. Every individual who comes to America has their goals or dreams that they want to fulfill in life that they could not fulfill in their own country. In another word, their American dream is to have a better life for themselves and their children, better education, more rights, and freedoms. For instance, my parents came to America so we could have a better life and better education that we could not have in our country. That was their definition of American Dream, to have a better life for their children. Like most Americans and my parents' definition of the American dream, my meaning of American dream is to have a better education, having rights and freedoms as American citizens, and to become successful.

Given all we’ve discussed about the ecologic condition of the planet now and if current consumption patterns continue tell me your views on whether you think Americans as a whole are moving toward a sustainable society. If not what are your views on one or two changes to these patterns that could improve potential for achieving a sustainable society.

The work ABS 497 Week 1 Assignment Community Change Applied Behavioral Science Capstone has the review of this problem: "Solving Community Problems ".

     To help young Americans become effective young productive adults in service to something that has been defined as a way of life.

How often do we pass by someone on the side of the highway holding a sign asking for money so they can buy themselves something to eat? We see representatives from The Salvation Army at our local grocery store with bins collecting money for their organization, but instead of donating money we keep walking as if they’re invisible. Often times we talk about change within our community, but we don’t put those words into action. Fostering change within the community is necessary because without it how else do we expect to see a difference within our area. Promoting change is also necessary because you always want to see positive things happening in your community. When positive changes are happening in your community, it can attract people and

I agree with Margaret’s perspective for the most part. Often, people tend not to speak up because of the fear of being rejected or wrong. It takes a certain individual to speak up. Much like her example of Joe, in the end he found a way to raise his concerns and it turned out he wasn’t the only one thinking that way. He then had allies and they were then able to think together, allowing creativity, problem solving, and in the end there was a change.

The community has a hard time changing because there is no cohesion between the individuals within the community. Things that middle-class communities take for granted such as working schools, useable playgrounds, decent housing, support from religious institutions, function civic organizations, and safe streets are all but nonexistent within these poor neighborhoods. If there are an existence of these things, their effectiveness is marginalized by persistent dysfunction within these neighborhoods. Under these circumstances, the gravitational pull of negative forces is so strong on already fragile families that only a small fraction of the children in these neighborhoods can escape and thrive. Most poor children lack the means to overcome these

The United States and its population pride themselves on setting the trend. Whether it’s the newest clothing line, the best recording artist, or a slightly more important issue, Americans pride themselves in setting the pace on issues for the rest of the world. One issue that has caught our attention is the term “urban greening”. This is defined as taking an urban area and making it more “green” by adding parks, building green roofs on apartments, or closing power plants and other harmful industrial areas to create a more environmentally safe area (Brasuell, 2014). When a low-income area, with many undesirable environmental qualities, starts becoming greener, it causes a negative effect on that population (Regan, n.d). While their housing is now better, the neighborhood becomes increasingly desirable, causing a spike in cost of living and other expenses. Now that the rent has increased, the original tenants cannot afford the new prices, and they are forced to move out. This process is called “environmental gentrification”. This term has sparked numerous debates due to it’s two polar opposite sides. While environmental justice strives to provide equal development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws and quality, these qualities are what makes low-income areas desirable. Imagine a low-income area in New York City, where a neighborhood is next to several production plants and is not near any

According to Mintzberg, the environmental school of thought is a strategy dealing with the forces outside the organization. Unlike the other schools in his book, Strategy Safari, the environment plays a central role in the strategy formation process alongside leadership and the organization where the organization becomes subordinate to the external environment. The environmental school assumptions are that during the formative period of the organization the company shapes itself in response to the environment, but after that period is increasingly unable to respond to the environment. Moreover, the organization long term survival depends on the early choices made during its formative period. Over time, Mintzberg states, leadership becomes

In the United States, we consume more energy from oil than from any other energy source. In 2014 the total amount of petroleum consumed in the United States was about 19 million barrels per day. As we look into making the world a more eco friendly environment, I ask the question; what are some alternatives of oil and the effects of the alternative.

The concept of sustainable development has become a major topic among intellectuals from various fields. Sustainable development has gone through various changes in its definitions and at present does not have a commonly accepted definition. The origination of the concept of sustainable development is debatable. In 1974 at a conference on Science and Technology for Human Development by the World Council of Churches the concept of a “sustainable society” is believed to have been first noted. This early concept focused on equitable distribution of scarce resources and the need for democratic decision making. In 1980 the currently used term of sustainable development emerged in the