My name is Nicolas Quitian, I am high school student at School for Advanced Studies taking Dual Enrollment courses at Miami Dade College. I was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia. I would spend most of my time surrounded by my family and friends, creating beautiful memories. I would also enjoy the delicious food that Colombia has, such as Ajiaco and Bandeja Paisa. From an early age I started playing soccer and I fell in love with the sport. I wouldn't miss a single game of my favorite team growing up. I would wear their jersey every week to school. 

When I was 12 years old, I was told that my family and I were given the opportunity of migrating to the United States. It was a rough adaptation process where I didn’t know how to speak the language nor understood this new culture. Even though it took me some time, I was able to get used to my new life.

5 years later, I can say that I am very happy of my adaptation journey; one in which I have tried to take advantage of all the opportunities that this new country has opened for me.

This video explains how our daily lifestyle is dependent on electronics “Designed for the dump”. Meaning that they are made to be thrown away quickly. As the video explains, today’s electronics are hard to upgrade, easy to break, and difficult to repair. The design of electronics to be dump is creating a lot of harm, not only in the consumer’s pocket, but also in the environment. The manufacturing and dumping cycle for electronics damage our planet. It all starts when the manufacturing companies get the natural resources needed to build the electronics from our planet, damaging it in the process. Then they are transported to other parts of the world which burns fuels that harm our environment. This electronics are manufactured with toxic chemicals, like PVC and mercury. This concerning because this materials stay on the devices while the consumers use them.

The other issue, is that the consumer gets tired of the electronic relatively fast and then dumps it. After the electronics are dumped, they are usually burned, releasing toxic gases into the environment.

All this issue occurs because the big companies want to increase profits and minimize costs by disregarding all the damage they incur in their employees and the environment. I believe the best way to address this situation and save our planet is to regulate this big companies and require them to comply with strict environmental regulations.

After I am a faced with a challenge, the first thing that comes to my mind is to look for a solution to that problem. After learning about all the environmental problems caused by the utilization of non-renewable fossil fuels, I ask myself the question "how can we find a solution". For that reason, I chose that very important question quoted previously. In order for us to find a solution to many of our environmental adversities, we need to find more sustainable energy sources. Using more sustainable sources would reduce the use of fossil fuels which are not beneficial for our planet. 

However, answering the question is not an easy task. There are many other options for more sustainable energy sources, the challenge comes when the solutions are not widely viable. For example, using solar panels is a great alternative for energy, the problem comes in zones where sunlight is not usual and the solar panels stop being functional.