2019 Sustainability Bar Essay Contest – Winning Essays!
We are pleased to share the winning essays from the 5th Annual Sustainability Contest sponsored by the NCBA’s Environment, Energy & Natural Resources Section. The contest is open to all North Carolina high school students. Students participating in the 2019 contest were asked to respond to the following prompt:
North Carolina relies on nuclear power, coal, natural gas and renewable energy generated by solar, geothermal, biofuel and wind to meet the state’s energy needs. Each of these energy sources have positive and negative attributes in terms of cost, feasibility, transmission, distribution, and managing the waste from energy production. Is the state’s current mix of energy sources sustainable? Why or why not? If not, how would you allocate the percentage of each energy resource the state relies upon and why? Please respond in an essay of 2000 words or fewer, citing all materials (laws, studies, websites, news articles, etc.) that you rely upon in your analysis.
The EENR council was thrilled to receive 44 applications from high school students from across the state! We have included links to the following top three winning essays for your reading pleasure:
- First Place: Renewable Energy: A Path Towards Sustainability by Ben Li from Chapel Hill East ($750 prize)
- Second Place: North Carolina Energy Source Diversity – Improvements Please! by Savannah Sparks from the Epiphany School of Global Studies ($500 prize)
- Third Place: The End of The World As We Know It by Bella Vandersall from The Franklin School of Innovation ($250 prize)
Stay tuned for the 2020 EENR Sustainability Contest question, to be announced soon!