Environmental Sustainability as a Global Cooperative Effort
This paper argues that environmental sustainability cannot be achieved through isolated, compartmentalized efforts but requires genuine cooperation among businesses, governments, and international organizations. Drawing on examples such as the EPA Region 2 Green Team's work with the New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey, the author illustrates how large-scale development projects can incorporate sustainable construction, energy efficiency, and waste reduction. The paper further examines the United Nations' recognition that trade and technology transfer are essential tools for transitioning developing nations to green economies. Finally, the paper discusses corruption as a barrier to sustainability in Africa, citing research by Ernest Kadembo and referencing the frameworks of Transparency International as potential remedies.
- Introduction: The Case for Collective Action: Thesis that sustainability requires cooperative, not compartmentalized, effort
- EPA Green Team and Sustainable Development: EPA Region 2 Green Team promotes sustainable large-scale construction
- The New Meadowlands Stadium: A Model for Green Construction: Stadium project details specific green construction goals and materials
- Global Dimensions of Environmental Sustainability: Local lessons must scale to global sustainability planning
- Trade, Poverty, and the UN's Role in a Green Economy: UN links trade, technology transfer, and climate finance for developing nations
- Corruption as a Barrier: Lessons from Africa: African corruption undermines sustainability; Kadembo proposes reform tools
- Conclusion: Cooperation as the Path Forward: Global cooperation remains the essential key to sustainability success
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- Uses concrete, real-world examples — the New Meadowlands Stadium and EPA Region 2 Green Team — to ground the abstract concept of environmental sustainability in tangible practice.
- Scales the argument logically from a local (New Jersey) case study to national policy and then to international development challenges, giving the essay a clear sense of progression.
- Engages counterarguments (private property rights, government overreach) briefly but directly before advancing the central thesis, which strengthens the essay's rhetorical credibility.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates the technique of using multiple levels of evidence — a news release, government agency documentation, a UN official statement, and a peer-reviewed journal article — to support a single overarching thesis. This multi-source synthesis shows how writers can build a persuasive argument by triangulating across primary, institutional, and scholarly sources rather than relying on any single type of evidence.
Structure breakdown
The essay opens with a thesis statement and acknowledgment of counterarguments, then pivots to an EPA case study for local evidence. It expands outward to global policy via the UN, and finally examines Africa as a cautionary case study where corruption undermines sustainability goals. The conclusion restates the thesis with renewed emphasis, creating a clear circular structure that reinforces the central claim throughout.
Introduction: The Case for Collective Action
In this author's opinion, environmental sustainability needs to be a group effort. The problem with past efforts to address environmental sustainability is that those efforts have been too compartmentalized. Recent experience shows that cooperation among business, government, and international organizations has produced real progress in mitigating the environmental sustainability problems that contribute so much to global environmental change.
The counterargument to environmental sustainability is that it is not government's responsibility, or that whatever is done on private property is the owner's business. The simple counter to this is that the water is rising. Global climate change is here and undeniable, and unless we come together and cooperate, the consequences will be severe.
EPA Green Team and Sustainable Development
Environmental sustainability is a pressing news issue, as this author discovered when reading a news release from the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Green Team regarding the new Meadowlands Stadium and its green construction design. The EPA is promoting green construction and operations projects and educating stakeholders about major development projects — such as shopping malls and sports stadiums — due to the sheer scale of their environmental impact. Indeed, every component of the projects' design, construction, operation, and maintenance, as well as waste generation, dwarfs the environmental concerns of smaller construction projects such as homes and businesses ("The 'Green Team,'" 2010).
The EPA Region 2 Green Team is helping developers incorporate more sustainable construction, operation, and maintenance practices. The Green Team tailors its guidance specifically for each project, covering technologies and practices that can help project sponsors improve energy and water efficiency, reduce waste, increase recycling, incorporate the use of clean fuels and vehicles, and use environmentally friendly building materials, landscaping products, and landscaping practices — all while saving money in the process. In addition to the Meadowlands, other major northern New Jersey and New York City development projects that signed agreements with the EPA included DestinyUSA, the New York Mets, Montclair State University, St. John's University, Cushman and Wakefield, Monmouth University, Raritan Valley Community College, Stony Brook University Hospital, Rutgers University, Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc., and the North Shore–Long Island Jewish Health System (ibid.).
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.