Protecting your Environment

Our planet is changing.  We need to help it change for the better and we're asking for your help to do that!  There are a lot of things that affect our planet in a bad way but the good news is that everyone can help to reduce them and do their bit for the environment.

Electricity

Energy is everywhere.  We use energy to move the mouse for a computer, to jump and shout and walk and run.  It takes energy to power a light bulb, and the light that the bulb gives off is also a form of energy called radiant energy.  Radiant energy from the sun enables vegetables, plants, trees and us to live and grow!  Other forms of energy include heat, chemical energy, kinetic (motion) energy, gravitational energy and nuclear power.

Electricity is a form of energy and this is what powers the TV, the kettle, dishwasher, hairdryer, toaster, remote control, mobile phone, fridge, stereo, electric toothbrush, mp3 player and more!  

Detectives - Can you guess how many things need electricity in your house?  Take a guess, then go on a detective mission and write down all the things you find.  Set up a competition in your family and see who's guess is the closest!

How to help
When you’re using electricity think about where it comes from and how you can use less to take the strain off of the environment - here are some simple ways to make a big difference:

• On or Off?  Leaving televisions, stereos and computers on standby with the little red light showing still uses up electricity, even though they might look like they're turned off.  To stop this you can turn them off at the wall. Simple!
• Lights out!  Turning lights off when you're not in the room (make sure no-one else is too!) can save a lot of energy.
• Putting the kettle on  Britons drink an amazing 60.2 billion cups of tea a day according to The Tea Council.  That's a lot of tea, and a lot of electricity too!  That's why it's important to only boil as much water as you need in your kettle.  It's best to boil enough water for one cup, not three or five - plus you won't have to wait as long, which is a bonus!
• Brrrr  The fridge is an important part of the kitchen, it keeps food fresh, cool and healthy!  But it takes a lot of energy to keep cool, so help it by not leaving the fridge door open or putting hot things inside.
• Shopping  Many products are now helping you to reduce your energy use and your parents’ energy bills!  Check new products for their efficiency grade and rating and keep an eye out for the Energy Efficiency Recommended logo.
• Harness the sun’s energy - An increasing number of people are fitting solar panels to their houses.  Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels create electricity from sunlight, which can then be used to power their homes.  Solar heating panels make hot water, reducing the need for electricity or gas to heat water or run the central heating system.

Environmental Benefit of Trees

The greenery around us, provided by trees, makes us live a healthy and pleasant life. Planting trees is vital to maintain a balance in the ecosystem. All the living beings are dependent on trees in some way or the other. The strength, structure and endurance of trees make them beneficial for the environment, in numerous ways. In this increasing concrete jungle of cities, planting more and more trees in the surroundings has become a vital need. This is because trees not only support life, but also remove various kinds of impurities from the atmosphere. In this article, we have listed the environmental benefits of planting trees. Go through them and increase your knowledge.

 

Environmental Benefits Of Planting Trees 

• Trees serve as a natural habitat, which provides support to a wide variety of flora and fauna. They provide a sense of privacy and security to the wildlife, seeking shelter in the woods, apart from providing them with food and nutrients.
• Trees remove excess amount of carbon dioxide and air pollutants present in the atmosphere, including sulfur dioxide, ozone and nitrogen oxide. In return, they give us oxygen required for living life.
• Planting trees is very important to improve the quality of air and reduce its pollution.
• The visual quality of a landscape is improved by planting trees, which, in turn, improves the quality of life.
• Planting trees help reduce ozone levels in urban cities. Even the biodiversity gets enriched in turn.
• Trees control the climate by moderating the effects of sun, wind, and rain. While they moderate summer temperature by providing shade, in winters, they act as windbreaks for your home, thereby helping you save on heating cost.
• Trees reduce soil erosion, because they bind the soil through their roots, which would otherwise have been washed away in rainstorms and flood. Trees also help improve the fertility of soil. Rich soil transfers nutrients to food, which contributes to human health.
• The greenery of trees adds color to the landscape and enhances the picturesque beauty of the environment.
• According to a recent study, houses and properties on tree-lined streets are found to be attractive places to live in. Apart from this, trees and shrubs planted around homes also provide evaporative cooling benefits.
• Trees are great absorbers of noise. Noise pollution can be reduced, to a great extent, by planting more and more trees.
• Planting of trees facilitates better management of flood water. Trees also moderate flood hazards, by allowing the rainwater to percolate into the soil, instead of running over it.
• The demand for clean drinking water can be met by planting new trees. Forests and plant cover naturally slows the runoff of rainwater, thereby filtering it. Once slowed, rainwater seeps down to refill underground storage tanks or aquifers. Also, they prevent water from mixing with the salt water of oceans. This is of immense help, as salty water takes much longer to re-enter the fresh water portion of the hydrological cycle.

Environmental Concerns

Introduction

In the Caribbean and other developing regions, urban areas and populations are growing. Cities
are both engines for growth and sources of concentrated environmental problems. People flock to
urban areas to seek employment, entertainment, shopping, and a generally higher standard of
living. At the same time environmental infrastructure of works and services are inadequate to
serve the resulting increases in population and population densities. The inevitable congestion
causes environmental hazards and degradation until strategies for reversing environmental
deterioration can be implemented.
The magnitude of urban population growth in developing countries is a direct indicator of the
degree of spatial concentration of people, industries, commerce, vehicles, energy consumption,
water use, waste generation, and other environmental stresses. Generally, most countries seek to
generate increasing economic development whic h tend to exacerbate such problems which may
exceed both the preventive and solution capacity of the government as well as the assimilative
capacity of nature.
Another determinant of the severity of environmental conditions within and around urban areas
is their regional ecosystem type, such as: coastal, humid-tropical, mountainous, riverine, …etc.
These urban ecological types are also critical factors in determining optimum environmental
strategies and plans for specific and sustainable urban development.
An important goal in the new millennium is to make existing and new urban areas more selfsufficient,
sustainable, and enjoyable places to live.

Physical Planning

Land-use planning is a complex process involving development of a land-use to include a

statement of land-use issues, goals, and objectives; summary of data collection and analysis;

land-classification map; and report describing and indicating appropriate development in areas of

special environmental concern.

Because land use decisions are critical determinants of environmental quality it is imperative that

land use controls be effectively practiced to combat such problems as pollution, the occupation

of hazard-prone areas, the degradation of wetlands and other coastal resources, and the loss of

open space and other cultural resources. The ways to accomplish these are:

· Land Use and Maintenance: Ecological land-use planning, building/area restoration, open space

preservation, tree planting, community gardens, ..etc.

· Energy Efficiency: Energy efficient buildings and energy conservation in general

· Water: Water conservation, and waste water reuse. · Food: Increased food growing using less

synthetic chemicals.

· Pollution Control: Recycling of food and other solid wastes, reduction of Indus trial wastes,

enforcing air/noise pollution control.

· Economic Development: Increases in investment and social services in rural areas to reduce the

move into urban areas.

· Population Growth: Reduction in national population growth rate.

Environmental Health Management

Environmental health engineering is a main feature of environmental health management and is

normally defined as "the branch of engineering that is concerned with protecting the environment

from the potentially deleterious effects of human activity, protecting human populations from the

effects of adverse environmental factors, and improving environmental quality for human health

and well-being." An inventory of such engineering responsibilities would include:

- Environmental planning of infrastructural works and services;

- Resource pollution/degradation prevention (Air, Water, Land, Energy)

- Waste management (liquid and solid)

- Public health aspects (food safety, vector control)

- Housing, institutions and the built environment

- Environmental emergencies (natural and man-made)

Thirteen features of modern environmental health engineering are at Box 1. Also included are

the synergistic demands of cross-sectoral activities.

The environmental health engineer adapts the principles of natural physical, chemical and

biological systems to engineered systems for water supply, waste disposal, pollution control,..etc.

His unique role is to utilize modern engineering techniques in copying the self-cleansing

mechanisms of nature while accommodating the constraints and limitations. The goal of this

engineering sub-discipline (of civil engineering) is to harmonize the powers of technology with

the potentialities of natural processes.

Sustainable Development

Development is about improving the well-being of people. Raising living standards and

improving education, health, and equality of opportunity are all desirable and are essential

components of economic development, which were fully practised in Trinidad and Tobago in the

sixties after independence was won - 31, August 1962. But 5-year development programmes and

the establishment of industrial development institutions (e.g. Industrial Development

Corporation) helped to promote economic growth which led to environmental deterioration in the

absence of an effective national environmental management programme. Also, such growth took

little notice of the social aspects of development, urban or otherwise; and the neglect of human

welfare was felt at all levels of society.

Sustainable development, on the other hand, is development that lasts, because in addition to an

economic component, there are social and environmental components. So that sustainable

development must be a pro-active strategy to develop sustainability. As it was proposed initially

by the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) sustainable development

must meet "the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to

meet their own needs." Sustainable development requires mobilizing governments, the private

sector, and the general public toward sustainable communities. And "sustainable urban

development is ultimately a cultural statement about ourselves, how we want to live, and our

ability to manage our needs, desires, and dreams in ways that are effective and caring." (See the

key Environmental Issues of the UN Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de

Janeiro, June 1992)