STEFFI DENISE Q. AQUINO CHAPTER 1: ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS, THEIR CAUSES, AND SUSTAINABILITY Natural resources are earth’s natural materials and processes that sustain all species. An environmentally sustainable society satisfies the basic needs of people for food, clean air, and clean water without depleting or degrading natural resources. Economic growth is the increase in the capacity of a country to provide goods and services to people. Economic development is the improvement of living standards by economic growth. Poverty is the lack of ability to meet basic needs for food, shelter, and clothing. Harmful environmental effects of poverty include depletion and de gradation of local forests, soil, grasslands, wildlife, and water resources. Earth’s resources are perpetual if they are renewed continuously, renewable if they can be replenished fairly rapidly through natural processes and non-renewable. Presently we are affecting negatively the earth’s supports system at an accelerating rate. We can live sustainably through pollution prevention, waste prevention, species protection, and environmental restoration. CHAPTER 17: SUSTAINING BIODIVERSITY: THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH Effects of human activities on earth’s biodiversity include degradation and destruction of natural ecosystems, alteration of natural chemical cycles and energy flows, changes in numbers and distribution of species, and pollution of air, water, and soil. Forest resources are important because they support energy flow and chemical cycling; reduce soil erosion; absorb, release, and purify water; purify air; influence climate; store carbon; and provide wildlife habitats. Tropical deforestation is a very serious problem. We can help sustain tropical forests through prevention and restoration. Prevention can be achieved through protection of endangered areas, education of settlers on sustainable agriculture and forestry, removal of subsidies that encourage unsustainable forest use, certification of sustainably grown timber, reduction of illegal cutting, reduction of poverty, and slowing of population growth. Restoration can be achieved through reforestation rehabilitation of degraded areas and concentration of farming and ranching in past cleared areas. Promoting concrete solutions to protect or ecosystem is a must tosave out mother earth. TYPHOON YOLANDA I cannot help the tears from falling each time, as I watched the news, saw the posts on FB, twitter and what i have read in the internet about the total devastation brought about by Super ‘Typhoon Yolanda’ in Tacloban, Leyte, Samar and neighbouring provinces. The aftermath of the storm surge is simply un-imaginable. No electricity, no shelter, no food, no water, dead bodies everywhere. It is heartbreaking to see survivors still in shock with a lost look in their eyes walking, looking for their missing loved ones, hoping and praying that they are still alive, others are scampering to get to the airport waiting in line for the C-130 to fly them to a safe place in order to escape what seems to be a hopeless situation. Almost 90% of the houses, buildings, hospitals, crops and animals have been destroyed by Super Typhoon Yolanda and the people are becoming desperate each day, getting hungry awaiting the relief goods from government and civic organizations to arrive, which is a long time in coming due mainly to the damaged roads and lack of transportation. An 8-day of Darkness for the people of Tacloban, Samar, Leyte and nearby provinces. But what is heart warming during the devastation is the concerted effort of the people in all walks of life all over the world with different nationalities preparing to lend a helping hand to the people in the Philippines most particularly to the Filipinos affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda by organizing concerts, shout out in social media, telethon to raise money and from savings in order to HELP these people survive, face a new day, a new hope. However, at the end of the day, after all the sufferings, when all the debris has been cleared and electricity have been restored and everything have been put back to normal in the Typhoon affected areas in Tacloban and in other provinces. We might as well face what seems to be inescapable which is Climate Change, the root cause of worsening natural calamities that people are experiencing not only in our country but all over the world. Each one of us should think of the lesson that we learned from the Super Typhoon Yolanda and the succeeding natural disasters that signals us that now is the time to conserve and change our bad activities that affects our mother nature. Climate Change is not just an imagination but a reality and now is the time to act before it is too late. IF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD CAN BE UNITED BY AN ACT OF GOD THEN WE CAN BE UNITED BY HELPING EACH OTHER SAVE THE WORLD THAT WE LIVE IN. THE STORY OF STUFFS The story of stuff is a documentary film that talks about the linear system of material goods: EXTRACTION-PRODUCTION-DISTRIBUTION-CONSUMPTION-DISPOSAL. How people abuse our natural resources, the negative effects of using and putting hazardous chemicals in production, consumerism, improper disposal of trash that leads to pollution and also solutions that could change the worsening problems in our materialistic world and obtain sustainability. The first process is Extraction. The key point about this extraction is “We’re running out of Resources”. I definitely agree with this. The reason why is simply because of using too much resources/stuff that is not necessary. That’s why many of our natural resources nowadays are scarce. Many of us are trashing the planets natural resources that lead to destruction. The second is Production. A high percentage of the production of goods nowadays are contaminated with chemicals that are not good to our health like what Annie Leonard mentioned, the BFR’s or Brominated Flame Retardants that are used in making products such as computers, pillows, etc. which are very dangerous especially to our brains. If using of toxic chemicals in production of materials still continuous, maybe in the future, the human life span would be shorter. The third is Distribution. Distribution talks about externalizing the costs. Externalizing the costs which means the company use someone else money to pay the cost of a product. It is not the product we are paying for but the labor. We pay for the workers who are near to death making contaminated products. The fourth is Consumption. The key point about this distribution is “we consume too much of the unnecessary things” over what we suppose to consume like health care, medicines, education, food. We have more stuff than the time we spent for the things that really makes us happy (family, friends, and leisure time). Another important point is the “Planned Obsolescence” and the “Perceived Obsolescence”. How advertisements destruct our priorities. The last process is the Disposal. Improper disposal of excessive stuff is the cause of pollution in land, air, and water. This pollution affects our climate that results to calamities. We have to do something to prevent climate change and that could be recycling. We have a problem with Stuff. We use too much, too much of it is toxic and we don’t share it very well. But that’s not the way things have to be. Together, we can build a society based on better not more, sharing not selfishness, community not division.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 16:14:54 +0000
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