Dear President-Elect Obama

Dear President-Elect Obama,

It is a known fact that today’s children grow to become tomorrow’s leaders. It is unsafe to say, however, that they will get the chance. The future of Earth is in grave danger. Our environment cannot sustain the extensive growth that has been occurring over the past decades. Unfortunately, we have to make a change now while there is still a chance to reverse our impacts on Earth. We need to save the world so that tomorrow’s leaders have a chance to see the world before is completely destroyed and uninhabitable.

Although the United States has been one of the leading promoters of a greener environment, and has contributed millions and millions of dollars to cleaning up the environment and protecting its people, it is not enough. The United Nations, which encompasses over 189 countries, is working to ensure that Millennium Development Goal Seven is reached by 2015. In order to ensure environmental sustainability by reversing the loss of environmental resources, improving access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, and by improving the lives of the unfortunate, the United States needs to step forward and accept more responsibility for improving future lives. It is not enough to follow everything that the UN is doing; we need to take matters into our own hands and do as much as we possibly can to ensure that life will be sustained on Earth for years to come.

The world is not full of dancing butterflies and singing flowers; it is a scary place where death, misfortune, and destruction rule. As of December 30, 2008, over 1,600 people from Zimbabwe have died from Cholera attacks. This disease is transmitted through contaminated water infected with the cholera bacterium. The US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, said that, “This is a situation that did not need to happen, but the government [was] unwilling to put the money into taking care of its own people.” It is so unfortunate that this many people had to die because nobody took the time to help and give them the money and supplies they needed to combat the disease.

In order to attack this deadly disease and anything that comes in the future, the United States needs an attack strategy. The first and foremost way to ensure environmental sustainability is through education. Children are the future of tomorrow. It just so happens that they spend a good seven hours in school everyday. What better way to improve awareness than through education at schools? It would be best to teach children at a young age to respect the earth and all the treasures that are found in it. This basic education in schools will lead students to be more environmentally aware in the future. These young people will then want to reverse the loss of environmental resources and make more clean water available to third world countries. It will also improve sanitation across the world. Cholera outbreaks like the one in Zimbabwe will be a thing of the past.

Now that the people will be getting more involved with foreign affairs, the next step is to increase funding for projects. National fundraisers are a great way to raise awareness and money for ecologically sound projects.

A good example is the project that UNICEF holds every year. Each year UNICEF passes out trick or treat boxes to raise money for clean water and medical supplies for underprivileged children in Africa and other third world countries. More projects like these will significantly help the Earth to get on the road to recovery and improve the lives of millions of individuals.

The United States should also increase its monetary contributions to ensure environmental stability. With an increase of money, a lot more lives and trees could be saved everyday. More projects like one USAID is implementing right now will improve the lives of many people. USAID made an additional donation of $4 million dollars towards the water, sanitation, and hygiene emergency program already being implemented in Zimbabwe, one of the places the Cholera epidemic is raging. This brought the U.S. humanitarian assistance for Zimbabwe's food and health crisis to more than $226 million since October 2007. More contributions like the one mentioned will significantly help the world.

Through education, projects, and funding, America can help the world sustain the environment and the peace. It will not be easy and it might take many years to get it right, but with every penny and ounce of effort, America can make a difference. We
must join together and fight to keep the world around for many years to come so that our children and their children can thrive.

Sincerely,