All About: Developing cities and Pollution
If you fix the cities, do you fix the problem? With 50 percent of the entire human race currently living in cities and responsible for emitting up to 80 percent of all global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions every year, they certainly don't seem a bad place to start.
The Tyndall Centrer for Climate Change Research says "the fate of the Earth's climate" basically hinges on what we do with our cities from now on. But the fate of the world's cities largely hinge on what the developing world decides to do with their own growing metropolises in the next 20 years.
According to the World Resources Institute (WRI), urban populations in the developing world are growing at 3.5 percent per year, compared to less than 1 percent growth rates in developed world cities.
UN-Habitat says that a staggering 95 percent of the expected global population growth we will see over the next 2 decades will be absorbed by cities in the developing world.
What that means is by 2030 another 2 billion people from the developing world will be living in cities (only 100 million from the developed world meanwhile will be doing the same). Currently 75 percent of world's poorest people -- 1 billion -- live in cities.
Higher density, lower standards
Whether the new wave of migrants will find a better life in cities remains to be seen. More than 70 percent of city dwellers in the developing world (that's around 900 million people) live in slum-like conditions, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
And that number is predicted to more than double to reach 2 billion slum-dwellers by 2020.
The health risks for people living in slum-like conditions will come from every corner and will include increased mortality rates from heat waves; higher risk of exposure to flash floods, mudslides and landfalls; and more frequent exposure to waterborne and infectious diseases (notably dengue fever).
When it comes to poor cities, bigger is by no means always better. According to UN Habitat, the mega-cities of the future, (those with more than 10 million residents) will be "giant potential flood and disaster traps" if insufficient action is taken on behalf of their residents.
Already, 75 percent of the world's 21 mega-cities are based in the developing world, and by some estimates, 27 of the 33 mega-cities expected to exist by 2015 will be in developing countries.
Reflection and Opinion:
This article written by Rachel Oliver about overpopulation and the effects it will have over time was very informative. I was also unaware that all 21 mega cities hold seventy percent of the world's city dwellers that live in slum-like conditions. All of these people are prone to disease and increase the worlds mortality rate. These people are living in "giant potential flood and disaster traps." They are also emitting up to eighty percent of the earth's carbon dioxide each year. If more people were to move out of these mega cities and into more rural areas, it would make a surprisingly significant difference.
Questions:
1) Why do you think this major concern is not brought to closer attention?
2) How does that last sentence impact you personally? Why?
3) Do you agree that in this case, bigger is not better when it comes to mega cities?
4) Were you aware of the effect these cities and living conditions have on our Earth?
Question 1) Why do you think this major concern is not brought to closer attention?
ReplyDeleteAnswer 1) I think this issue has not received close attention because it is an issue most do not think about on a daily basis. I am sure experts are concerned with the problem now. We as everyday people just do not hear about it because it is not publicized, although it should be. I believe we all can be conscious of the issue of population. I also think it is not given much public attention because it is difficult for people to think of ways to immediately fix/help the issue.
Question 3) Do you agree that in this case, bigger is not better when it comes to mega cities?
Answer 3) I agree that when dealing with mega cities bigger is not always better. As Katie said, the statistics are alarming. Not only are people now being exposed to more natural disasters and disease, but the amount of people on Earth is a vast contributor to carbon dioxide emissions. We need to protect our Earth and its people.
Question 4) Were you aware of the effect these cities and living conditions have on our Earth?
Answer 4) I knew that there was a population problem, however I did not know the severity of the situation. I had no idea the living conditions people live under in mega cities. In thinking about it, the slum-like conditions do make sense, we need the space for all of these people. Putting the facts together, the environmental impact makes sense too. Sine human exhale carbon dioxide, more humans breathing means more carbon dioxide in the air. I never had thought about the population issue this deeply before.
Inviting a Professional:
ReplyDeleteI decided to invite Financial Times writer David Pilling, who recently wrote an article about megacities as well. I thought his perspective and researcher on the topic was quite similar to Katie's. It would be interesting to see what he thinks about this effect of population and megacities. Here is the E-Mail I sent to Mr. Pilling:
Hello Mr. Pilling,
My name is Catherine, and I am a freshman in high school. In my Environmental Sciences course, a major component of the semester is creating a blog with several other classmates based on science and what we are currently studying and learning in the class. A component of running this blog is inviting a professional to view our posts and our reflections on articles and science-related current events. A member of the blog I am in, The Golden Girls Science Blog, recently analyzed an article about megacities and their effects on the environment and population. I found your article, Megacities shift the world’s centre of gravity, to be very intriguing, and thought that it might be interesting to have your opinion and possible comments on my peer’s blog post and article. It would be quite helpful to hear a professional’s perspective on this post so far, and it would mean very much to my fellow group members and I to hear from you. The link to the blog is below:
http://goldengirlsscienceblog.blogspot.com/
Thank you so much for your time,
Catherine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VPXCoj4OFU
ReplyDeleteI was really surprised after watching this video how many pollutants are in cities. I used to think that New York was the most polluted city, however this video shows otherwise. This video shows the ten most polluted cities around the world based om how many Micrograms per cubic meter. To put this in perspective New York only has Micrograms per cubic meter, while number ten on this list has 209 micrograms in Kunpur India. Knowing this New York seems safe compared to Kunpur India.