The boy looks back from the loading ramp of the giant metal-alloy ship, his breath raising clouds of steam in the bitter air made cold by the now almost completely depleted ozone. He stares in disbelief at the endless pile of cars parked haphazardly back and forth like a child's worn jenga blocks dropped from a poor-quality tower in the vehicle owner's frantic rush to get their families to the evacuation ships in time. How did it come to this¬¬? The desperate boy asks himself. When did it all go wrong in humanity's ongoing quest to become bigger, faster and more powerful than everyone else? As the ship, nearly the size of a city, reaches the smoky horizon bound for humanity's new home called Kepler-22b, it looks one last time at the vast oceans, blazing as far as the eye can see a filthy orange fire from the final disaster that had sealed humanity's fate on earth. If only they had stopped drilling in the oceans, the boy thinks. And as the distance increases and the bright fires fade, he tearfully bids farewell to the dying planet his race has called home for millennia and slowly turns to go find his parents. Who are the parents of this distraught boy? It's you? Or maybe it's your children's children who are experiencing this probably unavoidable reality. While the scenario presented is sensationally far-fetched, it is entirely possible. Maybe not a mass exodus to a new planet capable of supporting life, and even if we were lucky enough to find such a planet it would probably not be accessible, nor needed in this generation's lifetime. But the simple truth remains that the Earth's sustainability is rapidly declining due to a variety of causes. Some of which are our societies, numerous recent technological advances in the last century,...... middle of paper...... tomorrow's leaders. References Carbone, N. (2011, December 5). NASA finds planet in 'habitable zone' that could support life. Temporal newsfeed. Retrieved from http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/12/05/nasa-finds-planet-in-habitable-zone-that-could-sustain-life/Fornos, Werner. "No vacancy." The Humanist July-August. 1998: 15+. Academic OneFile. Network. May 12, 2012. Global energy use: status and trends. (2004). In the Encyclopedia of Energy Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/estenergy/global_energy_use_status_and_trendsStoll, R. (2012). Green energy looks to hydrogen. Retrieved from http://www.2facts.com/article/s2000033Williams, C. (2011, July 28). Off-the-grid communities: 5 places charting a sustainable path. Retrieved from http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/responsible-living/stories/off-the-grid-communities-5-places-carving-a-sustainable-path