environmental laws!

Environmental Laws

Through the Environmental laws, people will develop awareness  deep concern and knowledge of our mother earth. There are many laws, decrees and acts with regards to environmental laws and policies here in the Philippines.

Laws are made to be strictly followed. But  people nowadays, are not concern of the acts we've done and its effect to our mother nature. Our negligence of the current situation of the environment make us the main culprit in destroying the environment. Pollution of course  is the major problem which destroys our environment, minimal pollution can be eliminated because of vast green leafy trees need this, but huge amount of pollution and less trees will led to air pollution.

The world's population has grown from 3 billion to 6.7 billion in the past 40 years. [source: peopleandplanet.net]. The Earth's population is projected to exceed 9 billion by the year 2050.

More people = more waste, more demand for food, more production of consumer goods, more need for electricity, cars, to be exact more exploitation of earth’s resources . Increasing the demand for food will force farmers and fisherman to exploit our resources and this may cause endangered species to be extinct.

We hurt the environment in more ways we could possibly imagine. Many of us keep our eyes close when speaking about our environment. Giant tsunamis, and enormous earthquakes happens because it’s part of the nature but humans activities greatly trigger the nature’s cycle. One scenario is that, when  Tsunami hit a country, and almost destroy all man made infrastructure, death of human beings as well as shelter for humans and animals. Residents in that country witnessed in their own eyes the nature’srevenge. Do you think that Nature wants this to happen? For me, it is a yes. We humans are reaching the limit of nature’s capacity to give our needs, we just continue to extract and abuse our environment for our pleasure and needs. Our environment is a living thing, and someday it will die, for it to be alive, it must be taken cared of and sustain its needs. Our environment  is sick and how we must cure it? PARTICIPATE in programs which really care for the environment and give back its needs to sustain life for the future generations, promote green technology (especially for innovators, engineers, architects), abide and promote the laws protecting the environment. Let us ALL save and PRESERVE our Environment!

hydroshpere! :)

Hydrologic Cycle and its effects (Water Utility and Water Balance)

Deforestation is one of the major impacts on water cycle. Due to this, there is less water to be evaporated in the atmosphere therefore less rain occurs. The land also becomes drier and less stable making this area prone to both droughts and floods which endangers animals and cause natural catastrophes on human.

Despite the abundant water resources in the Philippines, the allocation of this are unevenly distributed which results in water shortages in highly populated area, especially on dry areas. With the increase of population coupled with worsening pollution of water, lack of infrastructure and facilities result in distribution issues and conflicting rights over limited water supply here in the Philippines.

Lack of an appropriate institutional framework to address issues of development and management of water and related resources is one problem to address to our government.  Government is created for the people to seek and provide the people’s needs.  Government must put the proper agencies to help the people address their needs, especially the need for clean water. Inefficiency in water usage was exacerbated by the absence of regulations to promote water conservation and rational use of water. They must also promote strict rules and provides seminars to promote water conservation among its institutions. 

The high level of water loss due to leaking pipes and illegal connections, one example of this is what happened in our barangay recently, one of the major water providing ruled over our water system, due to their lapses in installing pipes, every night there is a water leakage in canals for couple of hours.

Being unaware of the things happening around us is the main cause of the destruction of resources. If this continues, our race will face the extinction sooner or later. We must change this paradigm, it is not too late to give back to our mother Earth what we extract from her. Let us be the instruments of change, and we must start within on ourselves. 

atmosphere!

Earth's Atmosphere

We discussed about the layers of the atmosphere from the innermost layer to the outermost, from troposphere  stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere. The ozone layer which is in the stratosphere region plays a major role in earth. Both oxygen and the ozone absorbs 95 to 99.9 % UV radiation from a source in the internet. If, there is no ozone layer, there would be no human existing on earth. Because of industrialization and human infinite ways of thinking, the ozone layer gets depleted. CFC's from the technology we made are speeding up the breakdown of the ozone. Now, there are holes in the ozone, and if we continue to be unaware of our ozone, death will await for the future generations.

Humans raised the effect and damage of the natural disasters leaves behind to our environment. Humans are the main culprits who made global warming. It is because of our dumping of chemical waste into water which results in the death of under-water wildlife. When the same water evaporates in the atmosphere, mixing with sulphur dioxide emitting from factories, it results in acid rain destroying vegetation of crops, infrastructures and buildings, and if mixed with rivers and lakes it can kill almost all the aquatic and marine life. Global warming has an advantage because it traps the excessive heat from the sun and carbon dioxide produced on earth but if it has reached the limit, it will cause a global destruction. Because of the enormous extraction of non-renewable resources like coal, oil and other liquids that produce methane, will increase the rate of global warming in the atmosphere, because methane stays in our atmosphere for decades before it escapes outside the atmosphere. We are seeking our own destruction because a decrease of 1 degree in temperature all over the world, will speed up the melting of glaciers and ice caps and cause early ice thaw on rivers and lakes and will also cause the current rates of sea level to rise that will make a greater risk of flooding to low lying areas, and sad to say it may cause a country to sink in the ocean, and therefore killing all the human race living in it. 

Lithosphere

Our Earth's Lithosphere

During our discussion in Environmental Engineering, I was recalled about the land portion of our earth.  30 percent of the Earth is composed of land. Land is very important to us, humans, because this serves as the foundation of our shelter. Our Earth composed of three main layers, the core or the inner layer, the mantle and the crust which includes the continents and the ocean floor.  Our Earth’s outer layer is broken into pieces and this is called tectonic plates.

From past to present, we experience and some witness volcanic eruptions earthquakes, and some are tsunamis. We know that this happens because this is a natural occurring phenomenon in our planet. Our activity interfered our nature, which cause a natural disaster or make the effects far worse. One example is, we do not cause earthquakes that are generated by tectonic movement and seismic activity, but underground mining can result instability that causes earthquakes.

We, humans are not just the cause of the rise in natural disasters but we also played the major role in destroying our environment and are continuing to do so. Our environment is being damaged more by us, humans, than by natural disasters. We can give back to Mother Nature what we have taken from her.  WE act NOW or pay the price soon.