International Journal of Sustainability for Young Scholars

It seems strange that food insecurity exists in wealthy societies. Grocery stores are full, restaurants throw away leftovers, and social media is crowded with food photos. Yet many families, students, elderly people, and workers still worry about whether they can afford enough nutritious food. The problem is not always lack of food. Often, it is lack of access. Food insecurity can be hidden. A student may skip breakfast to save money. A parent may eat less so children can eat more. A worker may rely on cheap instant meals because…

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Online learning promised to make education more accessible. In many ways, it has. A student can watch lectures from top universities, learn a language through an app, practice coding online, or join a virtual class from another country. For students who live far from strong schools or cannot attend in person, online learning can open doors. But access to a link is not the same as access to education. Online learning depends on stable internet, a quiet place to study, a working device, time, motivation, and sometimes adult support. Students…

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Automation is often discussed as a problem for “the future,” but many workers already feel it. Self-checkout machines, warehouse robots, scheduling algorithms, automated customer service, and delivery apps have changed the way people work. The impact is especially serious for workers without college degrees, because many of the jobs most exposed to automation are the same jobs that have traditionally provided stable income without requiring advanced education. The issue is not that technology is evil. Machines can make work safer, faster, and less repetitive. Few people would object to automation…

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The Ecological Cost of Lawn Culture A neatly trimmed green lawn is often treated as a symbol of order, beauty, and success. In many neighborhoods, it is the default landscape: a smooth carpet of grass, carefully watered, fertilized, edged, and mowed. But from an environmental perspective, the modern lawn is one of the least efficient and least ecologically useful ways to use land. What looks tidy to the human eye can be surprisingly costly in terms of water, energy, biodiversity, and pollution. Lawns are environmental monocultures. They are usually made…

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Why do civilizations collapse? Is our civilization in danger? There are many reasons for the collapse of civilization: environmental destruction, natural disasters that humanity cannot handle, global warming, rising sea levels, deadly viruses, nuclear war, and oil depletion. Our current civilization is having a fatal impact on the Earth due to environmental destruction and waste since the Industrial Revolution. Or, just as the dinosaurs went extinct, we may perish due to a natural disaster that humanity cannot handle. So, is the current human civilization on the path to destruction? So…

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The Silent Spread of Microfibers When most people think about plastic pollution, they picture bottles, bags, or food wrappers floating in rivers and oceans. But some of the most widespread plastic pollution is nearly invisible. Every time we wash synthetic clothing such as fleece jackets, leggings, athletic shirts, or polyester sweaters, tiny plastic strands called microfibers are released into the water. These particles are so small that many slip through wastewater treatment systems and enter rivers, lakes, and seas. What looks like a clean load of laundry can quietly contribute…

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The Environmental Cost of Food Waste Most people think of food waste as a household budgeting problem or a sign of poor planning. We feel guilty when leftovers spoil in the refrigerator or when fruit goes soft before we eat it. But food waste is much more than a kitchen inconvenience. It is one of the most overlooked environmental problems in the modern world. When food is wasted, we are not just throwing away something edible. We are also wasting the land, water, energy, labor, fertilizer, fuel, and packaging that…

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Environmental Sustainability: Our Shared Responsibility Every day, we make choices that affect the world around us. From the food we eat to the way we travel, our actions leave a footprint on the planet. The concept of environmental sustainability is about recognizing that footprint and learning how to live in a way that meets our needs today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. It is both a challenge and an opportunity—one that affects everyone. At the heart of sustainability is the question of balance. Human activity…

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Rethinking Waste: Building a Sustainable Future Through the Circular Economy Every morning, we throw things away without a second thought: a coffee cup, a plastic wrapper, maybe an old phone that no longer works. But in nature, there is no “away.” Everything is reused, recycled, or returned to the ecosystem in some form. What if our economies worked the same way? That idea—called the circular economy—is at the heart of a new vision for environmental sustainability. The traditional “take-make-dispose” model of consumption has driven economic growth for decades, but it…

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