Sustainability Goals 6, 13, 14, 15
Overview
This resource explains sustainiblilty goals to help allievate the climate crisis. It shows the destruction and consequences of urbanization along the hope that there is capability of change.
Why is urbanization a major reason for the extinction of living organisms?
New York City has always been a bright star in the night sky, it’s a place where people come for refuge or to start a new life. Just like the lyrics in the song “New York, New York” state... "If I can make it there, I'm gonna make it anywhere," success in this city can translate anywhere. New York inspires hope among its residents. For several decades New York was the world’s largest city, now among the world’s “big ten”. Manhattan is flourishing in finance, commerce and culture; New York started as a main port for ships and trade and only boomed from there, attracting urbanization and industrialization with it. However, living in such an urbanized area requires a responsibility to make sure that the home is sustainable. Clean water and sanitation, climate action, life that lives in water and land are all important necessities. It’s our job to take care of our home because it’s home to millions of others.
My team focused on the environmental aspects of the sustainability goals. I went to different places in Central Park and Fulton Pier in Brooklyn. In my Central Park strolls there is a stark contrast between the park and the atmosphere of the city. Central Park is quiet and peaceful and yet at the same time it isn’t. The trails are more muted as the forest is more dense allowing wildlife to spring up. The birds sang their songs and the rats and squirrels scurried along the forest floor. In the woody forest was where I spotted bird feeders high in the trees. I thought it was a very lovely touch promoting a healthy mutual relationship between humans and the birds. Of course, there was always someone sitting on a bench feeding the pigeons. In the more concentrated areas of human activity, the park was less muted as the air filled with chatter and laughter and the occasional fight over the phone. It did not make the park any less serene, but I did notice in some spots there was a lack of animals and in others spots it seemed that most of the wildlife concentrated there. For instance, when there were a lot of people, pigeons and squirrels enjoyed being fed by people and displayed no fear towards humans. The residents of New York City take very good care of Central Park with park services that help pick up any trash ensuring that the park stays clean. I remember when I was sitting on one of the boulders there was a family having a nice picnic and one of their trash bags blew away in a gust of wind. The woman stood up and chased after it, she could have just let it go but she didn’t. These are little instances in the big picture of the climate and pollution, but it brings hope that things can get better because these examples prove that people care and they care about how they take care of their home and environment they live in. The Fulton Ferry Pier was also spotless, besides the occasional ice cream spill, but food is biodegradable. On the pier, people enjoyed their afternoon in the presence of company, lots of dates, meeting friends, and quality family time. I expected the pier to have a lot more litter than it did. There are recycling and trash bins encouraging others to throw away their trash so as to not allow it to blow away into the East River. The pier did lack wildlife, there was only the occasional seagull landing on the railing. The river also lacked any fish or other marine life. However, this is probably because the pier is too close to the city with the cars honking, music being emitted by a cyclist from a speaker, and the ferry disrupting the water with pollution. In the heart of Manhattan, I did notice quite a bit of trash along the sidewalk more so on Tuesdays or Thursdays, assuming that those days are trash pick-up days. I also saw a lot of trash bins on street corners with stickers and motivating words about keeping New York clean. I asked myself a lot of questions about how we can continue promoting positive growth? Even though there are a lot of people living in the city, New York is quite green compared to other states. Stores and local businesses coax people to use reusable grocery bags by charging for bags if you did not bring one. How can we continue to promote this growth throughout the U.S? One of our team members took a trip to Puerto Rico and during the flight they observed a large amount of discolored liquids that looked like oil in the ocean. A question they asked myself after seeing this was how does this affect life in the water? They also passed by the highway and saw a sign on a billboard that said "Ban cars. Redorest the roads!" One question they had at the time was how could this goal be achieved? Another of the team members went to five different places in Queens, NY. Asking themselves questions as what was the point of having urbanization take over nature and its land? Why did we let urbanization take over a good percentage of trees and animals that were once there?
Any data shows the temperature rising, hurricane seasons lengthening, and the sea level rising. Urbanization is not only increasing in New York City but across the globe. I saw this photo when the hurricane hit New York late August, the streets looked like roaring rapids and subway stations underwater as the water cascades down the stairs like a waterfall. The rainwater deposits trash and debris onto sidewalks and parks. I have taken pictures of empty parks where there are no animals, not even birds up in the trees. Some of the images are similar to each other as one of them shows the urbanization in Long Island City, Queens; it exemplifies how wildlife is nowhere to be seen- no birds in sight. The main factor for climate change is industrialization. The industrialization and urbanization have affected the animals living within the city. They simply don’t have anywhere else to go, they only have Central Park and other little parks scattered across the city. Even then Central Park is only eight-hundred-forty acres which is about two and a half miles long. The noise pollution scares off any animal or makes them feel disoriented. Another picture shows roads and neighborhoods cutting through where there once used to be wildlife and trees. These are relevant to our project goals because the more urbanization and roads takes over, the more trees and life on land are going to be removed. The smog of factories affects how we all breathe. It is such an important responsibility to take care of the parks and the life in the parks and the lakes and the organisms within those lakes and ponds. Though it may not seem like it from an outside perspective, I’d say the people of New York take very good care of their parks. There are park services to keep the parks clean, there are plenty of trash and recycling bins that are dispersed throughout the city and parks. My photos and first-hand accounts provide a very positive outlook on climate action and providing sustainability in the city but we do have to create a more efficient ecosystem. Some data means there is hope restored for humanity. We are capable of change - we just have to be willing to do it. Other data shows that over time the temperature is increasing more and more. The main factor for climate change is industrialization.. We cannot wait around forever for change because there is a colossal climate crisis and we are inching towards the tipping point of no return. Yes, we can make small changes in our day such as using reusable grocery bags or not using the AC for a few hours. Those small changes are important because if everyone starts doing it, then that small little action that you started is now a lot bigger. But what needs to happen is people in power need to change their mindsets. They are greedy and selfish; only thinking about the present day, unconcerned about what their actions are doing for the generations after them. These industries have the means to change their ways. They have the power to not dump waste into rivers where that is a water supply or change to clean energy versus fossil fuels. These companies need to get money out of their head because it will not matter how much money they have if there is no world left. We are able to change, we just have to be brave enough to do it. The only limitation was the lack of time that I had to research. It was a good chunk of time, I just wished I had a little more. My assumptions were definitely challenged only because I thought that people just did not care. Climate action and protecting wildlife on land and water just seemed like a view the younger generation had. So, I was surprised to see that older adults did care and I’m glad that my assumptions were wrong. I also had the assumption that New York was just dirty and it is as with any city, but the number of resources to keep the city clean amazed me.
Why is urbanization a major reason for the extinction of living organisms? This question is an important question because humans are affecting innocent homes of organisms and other humans that had nothing to do with the mass pollution and the apathetic attitude towards the environment. We’re living at a time where urbanization is increasing rapidly across the planet, we have to figure out how we can prevent one of the major reasons for the extinctions of living organisms.What our research suggests for the public understanding of the subject is that industrialization plays a large part in climate change. Other data suggests reforesting in certain places and to block any roads or highways where deers are known to cross; to prevent deers to getting hit from any vehicles. Some research suggests that even though we are in a deep crisis there is still a desire to make a change. All ages of people, young and old want to make a change. They want to help because it is their future and their next generations' futures. What can be improved is who cares. It does not matter if every child in the world right now cares about the environment, it does not matter if everyone turns off the light or turns down the air conditioning, or uses less water. Yes, it can help but it would hardly make a dent. About seventy percent of the global emissions are from corporations. A new question that was raised for further research is how does human behavior and actions impact the environment and animals? What needs to change is who cares? The question that raises for me is how do we make corporations accountable for the damage that they are doing? And how can we change how they run so it is not ruining homes, polluting water and hurting people and animals?