My name is Laura Pepper and I am 24 years old. I grew up in an area known for its Amish and farming...

My name is Laura Pepper and I am 24 years old. I grew up in an area known for its Amish and farming communities--Lancaster County, PA. Wide-eyed and curious, I watched the green, rolling landscapes of the area transform: developments, stripmalls and three-story apartment communities sank into the land.

Its true, as more people move to an area, they will need places to live. But, I was shocked. For the first time I realized the ways in which society dominates and changes a landscape, despite possible and irreversable affects.

Aside from my personal experiences with conservation and the uses of environmental resources, I became familiar with the group Amnesty International while in high school. I also became aware of the societal contrasts throughout the world, and that not everyone lives like me, like an American. Similar to helping a family member or a neighbor, maybe Americans should at least become understanding and sensitively act upon the various contrasts between the United States and various nations: hunger, imprisonment, child soldiers, disease and so many more.

Perhaps it is most important for us to realize that issues like these are not about personal power, not us saving them, one people group knowing more than another people group or one country parading its economic privalege by showering gifts upon another country.

These issues should be tackled with the hope that we may all experience and live life with our needs met. It might just be the respnsibility of one that has more to sensitively understand their role in the giving process, doing this while recognizing the affects of using abundant resources---societal and environmental.
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