Conclusion and
Reflection
“One hundred and fifty
years ago, the monster began; this country had become a place of industry.
Factories grew on the landscape like weeds. Trees fell, fields were up-ended,
rivers blackened. The sky choked on the smoke and ash, and people did, too, spending
their days coughing and itching, their eyes turned forever toward the ground.
Villages grew into town, towns into cities. And people began to live on the earth rather than within it.” –
Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls.
View
of the City
The end is here, my
final post in my mission to unveil the Life of the Urban Monster-Pollution. The
series of blog entries was an assignment given by my Urban Geography lecture aimed
at promoting informative dialogue of urban geography issues, discussions and
factual information from the Caribbean and around the world. It has been an enlightening
learning experience for me, not only in capturing pictures that depicted
aspects of urban pollution, but to express and explore my thoughts through
writing. I believe reflective writing is an effective medium that can be use to
express one’s inner thoughts especially for introverts (like me). I am thankful to my lecture for this
opportunity to put my ideas in writing and to develop my research skills. This
inspiring experience spurred on my interest in urban pollution and passion to
care for my environment. It’s alarming to know how much we are at risk and
exposed to pollution problems across the country, yet we give it little
thought.
For instance, every day
we visit the city in our cars but little do we know the impacts of cars on the
city. Cars are major contributors to environmental problems such as air and
noise pollution, congestion and traffic. The emissions form cars exhaust pollute
the atmosphere and cause major health problems such as respiratory diseases,
lungs cancer and asthma. The harmful emissions also contribute to climate
change. In addition, cars cause economic impacts due to congestion, businesses
are forced to close down as costumers are discourage to visit the city having
spent long hours caught in traffic jams. Car pollution and congestion present
significant environmental problems within the city.
This assignment incorporated
my entire “GEOG 2016” class, and in concluding I’d like to draw reference to three of my
classmates’ blogs which have highlighted similar issues related to my
topic.
- My classmate Shelisa, highlighted the various aspects of congestion such as crowded streets with people, buildings and traffic in a series of informative post on this topic. In one of her post entitled “The City of Commerce- Banker’s Lane” she clearly expresses the fact that Port of Spain is the center of all activities and as such this creates the urban problem of congestion. This is due to the high densities of people and traffic concentrated within the city. The issue of congestion in the city stimulates several forms of pollution namely noise and air pollution.
The city is known for
busy Central Business District (CBD) filled with businesses, street vending and lots of customers. After store owners make “big blue dollars” on
a daily basis, they dispose their waste on the pavements and along the streets
contributing to land pollution in the city. But it’s not only store owners to
be blamed, the citizens of Trinidad also dispose of their waste until public
bins are filled to the brim. This is a displeasing site to see large volumes
of waste, food boxes, bottles and paper scatter on the ground.
- My classmate Faheem, in his post entitled “Urban Trashing of the Environment” pinpoints the norms of citizens in the Princes Town area disposing significant amount of solid waste in urban spaces. My classmate also recognized the fact that the Beetham Landfill would reach its capacity shortly and there is the need to reduce the amount of waste generated on a daily basis.
Angry
residents of the Beetham community often set fires to the landfill in attempts
to let their voices be heard. They also engage in fiery protest and dispose
their waste along the wall of their community leaving a displeasing sight for
anyone to see when entering the city.
Cities are not only
polluted by trash, or congestion but the often forgotten population of the city
the vagrants and homeless people. Many vagrants and homeless people are seen
hanging and sitting around in the parks, benches, lawns and at the side of
pavements especially in Port of Spain. Citizens are afraid of being attack,
beaten or harassed for money and food. This discourage lots citizen’s form
visiting the city as this neglected population utilize public spaces for
sleeping, relaxing and defecating. They pollute public spaces and after heavy
rainfall their waste are washed into the drains as surface runoff. Therefore,
Seelots slum community should not only be blamed for polluting water quality,
but also the homeless or vagrant population. A point to note is that vagrants
or the homeless are seen living on the streets due to their inability to afford
a basic home and the governments should do more to ensure basic housing for the
homeless.
- My classmate Kizzy-Ann wrote a very reflective post entitled “Offer me a house…. and then a job” as she expresses her true opinion of the way in which persons treat homeless people. She feels disheartening, distressing, disgusting and dissatisfying by the fact that many citizens are unaware and unconcerned for homeless people. They are part of our society and the population therefore, their voices are to be heard and their needs are to be fulfilled. Kizzy- Ann thinks that a lot more can be done to improve the lives and living conditions for homeless. She also recommend that rehabilitation centers and housing should be provided by the government as efforts to curb homelessness in the city.
In this blog, I did not mentioned measures taken to
reduce pollution in the city and promote healthier lifestyles as much I wanted
to. In order to reduce pollution in the city, consulting geographic planners
during decision making process can be implemented. Geographic planners would
strongly recommend the need for sustainable infrastructure in curbing pollution
in the city. These may include reducing automobile density in the city by travel
link and communication, modes- carpooling and public transport and travel of
peak hours to reduce congestion (Hall and Barrett 2012). For instance, people who car pool are allowed
to use the Priority Bus Route during certain hours and the Water Taxi Service
all help to lessen vehicular emissions and traffic.
These measures can be a
success through education awareness, managing road capacity by having one lane
going into the city and three lanes exiting the city. Further, if cities
practice the process of decentralization to reduce pollution, a system of mix
use development can be implemented. There is the establishment of service
within residential communities or small towns reducing the need of making long
journey’s to the city.
Jane Jacobs argues, “Spaces between places need to
be plan in order to have spaces within places need to be considered”.
Therefore, the government of Trinidad and Tobago
should ensure that proper Geographic planning is applied to urban spaces and
citizens should make every effect to reduce pollution in the city. This
assignment has impacted my way of thinking, broaden my understanding and spark
much appreciation for my natural environment. As the Greek philosopher Plato
said, “The city is what it is because our
citizens are what they are…”
References
Goodreaders. 2014. “Quotes About Pollution”.
Accessed April 9, 2014. http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/pollution
BrainyQuote. 2001.”City Quotes”. Accessed April 9,
2014. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/city.html
