Urbanization- A Human's Control

Human beings have become increasing controlling and powerful over the Earth and its resources over that last 10,000 years. With the advent of agriculture, we began to change the land. Then came the time of the great Industrial Revolution, where the world began to see an increase in population and with that came major changes in the atmosphere.

Urban development causes a change in which we interact with the environment, such as: consumption of food, water, energy and the land itself. With an increase in population, an increase in food production has to happen. Thus, changing agricultural production methods that, in alternative ways, made it possible to generate surplus crops to feed a growing non-agricultural population. More crop production in fact means more use of fertilizer which increases run off pollution. Additionally, with soaring urbanization, energy consumption is much higher due to transportation development. According to Barbara Boyle Torrey (2004), today we have a car for every two people in the United States. If that became the norm, in 2050 there would be 5.3 billion cars in the world, all using energy.

Some Urban Environmental Threats are:

-Deforestation

-Inadequate water

-Flash flooding due to deforestation

-Water & Air Pollution

 

Solutions:

-Plant and incorporate green spaces

-Reduce air pollution by implementing effective transportation

-Involve local community in decision making

-Provide proper waste disposal methods

Let's do our part: 8 ways to conserve water

 1. Be mindful of running water- turn off faucet when brushing teeth; take shorter showers and turn off showers when soaping; turn off faucet when washing dishes

2. Fix leaks

3. Harvest rain water when you can and use it for outdoor watering

4. Wash full loads in the washing machine and dishwater. This saves both energy and water.

5.  Perform appliance maintenance to prevent potential leaks

6. Maintain sprinkler system- do not water lawn during peak periods, try using a rainwater system for watering your lawn.

7.  Consider buying a dual-flush toilet. It has two flush options: a half-flush for liquid waste and a full-flush for solid waste.

8. Share your knowledge about water conservation to others

"Blue Planet"

The global consumption of water has been increasing daily; an estimate of 1% per year since the 1980s due to population growth and an increase in demand in the industrial and domestic sector . Every day we use approximately 10 billion tons of freshwater worldwide. We've known to call earth the "Blue Planet" since it's covered by 75% water but little do we know is that only 2.5% is freshwater, while the other 97.5% is salt water.

Over the past decade, environmentalists has been saying that the supply of water is decreasing. However, several people and industries disregard these words since they see water all around us. Safe drinking water and sanitation is considered a basic human right such that ‘no one is left behind’ when it comes to enjoying the various benefits and opportunities that water provides. Yet,  several countries has been facing a water shortage and have little to no access to clean drinking water. According to the United Nations, by 2025 30% of the world’s population residing in 50 countries will face water shortage, thus making it a bigger problem now than before.  Not only are we using up our supply on a daily basis, our population continues to grow also causing global warming to add to the problem.

The only way to stop this water crisis from happening is to heed  those words by the environmentalists and change our actions otherwise, we will no longer be living in a "blue planet" .

Indigenous People & challenges

Conservation itself is a social and political and not a biological process, according to Alcorn (1994). One social aspect related to biodiversity and its management is the world’s indigenous peoples. They occupy and inhabit territories of high levels of biodiversity in which, their culture is associated with the maintenance of the natural ecosystem. These indigenous people are frequently categorized as impoverished and are treated as unseen.

Indigenous people play a key role in climate change mitigation and adaptation by making reference to a climate change agenda with the full involvement of indigenous peoples rather than involving only the government and private sectors. Indigenous peoples have the knowledge to many solutions. For instance, over years, indigenous peoples have developed landscape designs that can counterattack the negative effects of climate change as well as, they have developed several genetic varieties of medicinal and useful plants and animal varieties that is resistant to climate change and ecological variability. Indigenous values and beliefs have brought about livelihood strategies to provide essential input into understanding low carbon development schemes which are used and how they can be endorsed.

Over centuries the relationship between indigenous people and the environment have degraded because of forced removal of their traditional and sacred lands. This removal of indigenous people is caused by many challenges of social and economic wants from forestry activities, mining and development programs. For example, commercial plant varieties have replaced locally adapted varieties used in traditional farming systems thus leading to an increase in industrialized farming methods. These activities have cause severe environmental damage of flora and fauna species in which some have become extinct. They also face discrimination in terms of culture, language, religious beliefs and rights to land ownership where they lived for hundreds of years and thus has never been high on the list of priority by the global community.

Another is, economic challenges over their traditional knowledge. For example, many commercial products such as medicines which are derived from traditional knowledge have been developed and patented by big companies for commercial use in order to gain hefty economic earnings. Unfortunately, there is such no economical benefits for the indigenous peoples who have been developing and using the same products.

It has often been discussed that indigenous knowledge and their culture cannot survive this ever changing environment unless the government wants and has the political will to protect them, both locally and globally. Government along with private sectors need to work in cooperation to integrate indigenous persons and knowledge into policies to protect the current existing biodiversity . This will not only improve accountability and authority of approaches taken but also strengthen capacity building and managing of natural resources and the ecosystem.

Did you know..............

1) The largest nesting populations of the Leatherback Turtle in the Atlantic is Trinidad

2) The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago produces the second highest fossil CO₂ emissions per capita in Latin America and the Caribbean. Fossil CO₂ emissions in this country reached 26.2 metric tons per capita in 2018.

3)The Government of Trinidad and Tobago approved the ban of Styrofoam - however, proper implementation is essential.

4)Hunting is illegal between the months of October- February with fines up to $10,000tt- Trinidad and Tobago's Senate plans to increase fines up to 100,000tt.

5) The Piping-guan, also known as the Pawi is endemic to Trinidad and has been listed as a Critically endangered species according to IUCN Red List.

6) Trinidad and Tobago has three (3) Ramsar sites currently, totalling an area of 15,919 hectares. They are : (a) Buccoo Reef, (b) Caroni Swamp and (c) Nariva Swamp.

*Ramsar Covention-  is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.

7) The Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve is on record as the oldest legally protected forest reserve geared specifically towards a conservation purpose.

8) The Pitch Lake in Trinidad is the world’s largest natural deposit of asphalt. It covers about 99 acres and is 246 feet deep.

9) The world's largest brain coral colony is found at a dive site named Kelleston Drain. It is  located south of Little Tobago, and is 3 m (10ft) high and 5.3 m (16 ft) wide - physical damage, bleaching, ocean acidification and sea temperature rise are some threats to the brain coral.

10) Fines and penalties were doubled by Government for littering and illegal dumping in 2019 in an effort to crack down on polluters with fines increasing to $5,000tt.

A FLOURISHING EARTH..... Is this a dream?

Do you feel as if you are in a deep dream and you can't come out of it? it feels like this, doesn't it? What if I tell you No! You are in the present and ....YES! This really is 2020!

But isn't 2020 supposed to be the year for success and greatness? What if I tell you it is. IT may not be for you and I or even the rest of the human population (in terms of what you think success and greatness is) but it is for nature and the universe.

This year will go down in the books of history. We all never thought that we will ever experience a pandemic in our lives. Unfortunately we are all living it. We may see it as a disaster and how it is ruining many "lives" (which it is). However, have you ever thought how nature has flourished since this happened? Throughout our daily lives in the past, forests have been destroyed, animals have been hunted and nature altogether has been depleting at a rate faster than it can be replenished and recharged.

The lack of human activity during this year has drastically been decreased causing nature to replenish itself. We've seen clean canals of Venice, clear waters in the Ganges,  even blue skies over certain cities which were heavily once polluted and noise vibrations considerably being reduced by over 50%. Nature has a way of thriving once being treated with respect. This pandemic should be a lesson well learnt to everyone. Do your part in conserving and persevering the richest treasure you have. Remember one day our kids will have to live on this Earth. Make it a better place for them!

A losing battle

For the past decade the world has been losing a battle against deforestation. There have been several reports on the loss of biodiversity and the continuous impacts humans have on the environment. According to BBC News, on average, an area of tree cover the size of the United Kingdom was lost every year between 2014 and 2018 and this year, 2019 things did not improve. Instead, the Amazon rainforest has seen a high number of fires and was the burning spotlight in August.

Naturally, forest fires are common to occur during the dry season. However, according to reports most are caused by intentional human actions. With respect to the Amazon, many questions were raised….. “Was this deliberate deforestation?” Reports stated that since President Bolsonaro took Office in January 2019, there have been a hike in forest fires used as a way for clearing land to support ranching. These fires continue to emit large amounts of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide which is known to have adverse effects on human and animal life.

If the above statement is true regarding the clearing of land for crops and grazing, this will be detrimental for the future generations to come. According to FAO, total emissions from global livestock equates to 7.1 Gigatonnes of Co2-equiv per year, representing 14.5 percent of all anthropogenic GHG emissions.

With this being said, halting deforestation and restoring forests could aid in the mitigation process. However, this will not be possible if obligations and assurances are continuously being tainted.

 (Google Image)