Environmental Justice Chapter Reflections #1

A common thread I found in all of the chapters was the mistreatment of minorities. Whether they were latino or black, it was the same story; they were either living in terrible industrial areas, had poor food options, or suffered from general race issues. Admittedly I knew about this stuff for a while, and it will only get better if we work together. The people and the government need to step up and do something about this. I'm sure plenty of people want to live in a world where everyone is treated fairly.

NYC Master Plan: Transportation

In New York City, one of the main issues the city plans to tackle is transportation. NYC is a huge city with millions of people so improvements must be made to make it better. Among the many initiatives the city has, they plan to improve existing transit services, expand the city's bike network and transit network, improve roads, highways and bridges, make transportation safer for people of disabilities, etc. As NYC is a huge city, transportation and traffic is a huge problem. If these improvements are made, perhaps things will get better for the people living there.







#One NYC: The Plan for a Strong and Just City, 2015. http://www1.nyc.gov/html/onenyc/visions/growth/goal-6-growth.html#initiatives

NYC Environmental Justice Alliance

In NYC, there is a nonprofit organization called NYC Environmental Justice Alliance. Their job is to work with other organizations in NYC to improve environmental conditions and attack environmental  burdens. These goals are to help minorities in equal living conditions. A number of projects that try to   do in NYC is the Waterfront Justice Program, Solid Waste Management Plan, developing brownfield areas, and making the city more environmental friendly with various promotion (Climate March) and brining green jobs to the city. All of these things are very important to NYC. Since the city is one of the largest of the world, there are a lot of minorities in the city. Giving equality to those people will follow the city to move forward and be a better place.

Environmental Justice: What is it?

Environmental justice is giving people fair rights of living. These people in need of help are minorities that often get the short end of the stick when it comes to the standard of living. They deal with issues such as poverty, poor air quality, segregation, living in poor neighborhood, no access to a vehicle, and many more. For these reasons, countless people are trying to give minorities the rights they deserved since day one.

Reacting to An Inconvenient Truth

In all honesty, this film doesn't really surprise me. The information was nothing new; I had previously learned about everything discussed in the film from previous classes and experiences. However, the film did hammer the point of climate change and the need to do something to fix the situation. As a future environment scientist, I plan to convince others to change the world and protect the environment. This is certainly something we need to address and tackle in order to preserve the way of life. Things are changing way too quickly; we need do something about climate change now to make the world a better place.

Sources:

David, L., Bender, L., & Burns, S. Z. (Producers), & Guggenheim, D. (Director). (2006). An Inconvenient Truth [Motion Picture]. United States: Paramount Classics.

India and Cities: Mumbai

India is not a very urbanized nation, but India does contain a lot of huge cities. One such city is Mumbai. At 21 million immigrants, it is one of the most heavily populated cities in the world. In the future, the population will increase, according to the UN World Urbanization Prospect Report. Since Asia is one of the continents that will contribute to urbanization in the next few decades, Mumbai will certainly increase in density. This could pose terribly for their resources and sustainability in general; the more people are in the city, the more resources they use up. The more resources the city uses, the less sustainable the city is. The growing population will prove to be a big issue for sustainability.


United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Populations Division, 2014. World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/352).

Urbanized. Directed by Gary Hustwit. London: Swiss Dots.

India and Food

In India, the country suffers from food insecurity. One of the main reasons for this food insecurity is due to the climate and land use.  They consist of many different forces. Some of the major environmental issues India faces continue include erratic rainfall, low soil sustainability, severe land degradation and dry and cold areas with low production potential (FAO, map). These factors can limit the amount of land used for agriculture and, therefore, have less land to produce crops. In order to improve the amount of crops, farmers need to diversify the sources in rain-fed areas (FAO, Programmes and projects). Help is also needed to support farmers to better adjust to the changing weather.







FAO, 2016. "Programs and projects." Report.
http://www.fao.org/india/programmes-and-projects/en/ [Downloaded 31 October 2016]


FAO, 2016. "Major Environmental Constraints." Map. http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/maps/map/en/?iso3=IND&mapID=604 [Downloaded 31 October 2016]