Tuvalu is a nation that is hanging on the brink of extinction. The effects of global warming have had an enormous impact on the sustainability of life within the nation. Consisting of nine coral atolls, the highest point is five meters, and the average height is less than two meters above sea level. (UN) The lasting impacts that global warming has on Tuvalu include: rising sea levels, coral bleaching, ocean acidification and scarce amounts of fresh water. However while these factors are all directly environmental problems, global warming has the potential to destroy the rich cultural life in Tuvalu, where eleven thousand residents live. The land is disappearing and the lives of citizens are threatened. Realistic and radical approaches to these problems faced by Tuvalu include evacuation of all residents to a safe location (realistic), or the building of an Environmental Island known as Green Float (radical). Both solutions save the residents of Tuvalu, however there is no hope to save the land which has been doomed by the industrial endeavors that have caused global warming. Evacuation of the citizens of Tuvalu will save them from submerging with their nation, however the question of where they could evacuate comes to question. “After being rebuffed by Australia, the Tuvaluans asked New Zealand to accept its 11,000 citizens, but it has not agreed to do so.”(Brown) Tuvalu is “one-half of the way between Hawaii and Australia,” (CIA) which makes Australia a likely candidate for migration of Tuvaluans, likewise with New Zealand. However, both of these nations have denied Tuvalu accessible land for migration. “The idea of climate refugees is still something these Pacific islands are looking at, and the governments and organizations... ... middle of paper ... ...Tuvalu: Flooding, Global Warming, and Media Coverage." Tuvalu: Flooding, Global Warming, and Media Coverage. Web. 19 Apr. 2012. . Matau, Robert. "PACNEWS." PACNEWS - Regional News. Pacific Islands News Association. Web. 08 May 2012. . Shimizu Corporation. "The Botanical City Concept." TRY2025 The Environmental Island -GREEN FLOAT. Web. 08 May 2012. . UN. "Tuvalu’s Views on the Possible Security Implications of Climate Change to Be Included in the Report of the UN Secretary General to the UN General Assembly 64th Session." Web. 19 Apr. 2012. .
Growing from its humble beginnings as an ash dump in the late 1800's, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden has come to represent today the very best in urban gardening and horticultural display. The Brooklyn Botanical Garden blooms in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world. Each year more than 750,000 people visit the well-manicured formal and informal gardens that are a testament to nature's vitality amidst urban brick and concrete. More than 12,000 kinds of plants from around the globe are displayed on 52 acres and in the acclaimed Steinhardt Conservatory. There's always something new to see. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden offers a variety of public programs all year long. Tours, concerts, dance performances and symposia are always on the roster, as well as special one-time events that feature elements of the Garden at their peak. Each spring the Brooklyn Botanic Garden celebrates the flowering of the Japanese Cherry Trees with our annual Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival), and each fall is spiced up with our multicultural Chili Pepper FiestaA few of the "Many Gardens within a Garden" include the Children's Garden, tended each year by about 450 kids, ages 3 through 18; The Cranford Rose Garden, exhibiting more than 5,000 bushes of nearly 1,200 varieties; The Herb Garden, with more than 300 varieties -- "herbing" is apparently taking the country by storm as people rediscover medicinal, culinary, and other uses; and The Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, a beautiful creation featuring a Viewing Pavilion, Waiting House, Torri, shrines, bridges, stone lanterns, waterfalls, pond, and miniaturized landscape.
One of the remarkable Tim Flannery’s contributions to society is the fact that he raises an awareness of climate change so that people think climate change regards as clime catastrophe. In the book, The Weather Makers: The History and Future Impact of Climate Change, Tim Flannery warned carefully and rationally to skeptical people on climate change. These people believe that increase of temperature on the earth is simply natural phenomenon since temperature has not been constant in whole history of the earth. Tim describes that this belief has tended to put the earth severe stage. In accordance with Gaia theory, this planet is an organism to purify by itself, but human being is likely to force it to lead to disaster. Tim explains that humans have been living in glacial epoch that the average temperature is approximately 14 Celsius and even rise of 1 Celsius will bring us anomalous situation (Flannery 2006, p.11). He warns that the temperature change will make difficult environment to survive in the earth. As Tim Flannery has well-informed academic knowledge about zoology and sufficient field experience, especially in Papua New Guinea, he explains wide various
...t the guaranteed developmental boom following the completion of the project will also ensure an even greater and more damaging human impact as there will be more beachfront lighting, boats, and beach pollution. Unconcerned with the negative ramifications of the beach nourishment project, islanders on Topsail prove their allegiance to development, tourism, artificial beaches, the promise for a more booming economy and the selfish desire for hurricane protection even though they riskily built homes on one of the most hazardous and unprotected barrier islands in the United States. Topsail’s willingness to betray the environmental protection organizations it’s worked tirelessly to support makes me question whether the promotion of the Topsail Turtle Project and the Turtle Hospital was a noble cause to save endangered animals or a farce to attract the media and tourism.
In the essay Island Civilization: A Vision for Human Occupancy of Earth , Robert Frazier Nash discusses the past and present human impact on the environment and offers solutions for the distant fourth millennium.
The consequences as the result of the earth warming up cannot be ignored any longer. We need to stop wasting our time debating if climate change is man-made or a natural phenomenon. It is clear to me, and many scientists, that we are slowly killing our planet and all its inhabitants (human and non-human animals). We need to stand united and stand tall in this fight to save the ecosystems. We have become an over populated consumerist society, consuming far more natural resources and energy than the generations before the Industrial Revolution. Thus giving off substantial amounts of greenhouse gases that dramatically change the temperature of our planet. It is well documented in various reports how much the Earth’s temperature is rising and is predicted to rise at a rate of 2°C in the next two to three decades. With two-thirds of the world’s population living within two hundred miles of seacoast, and with most of the world’s economy concentrated in coastal cities, rising sea levels would cause immense devastation. Climate change is happening before our eyes with unpredictable storms and weather patterns, severe droughts, and melting polar caps. It is up to each of us to change our behavior to a more sustainable one, by utilizing renewable energy sources--humankind and the Earth are depending on it (Lovelock
...a, particularly among vulnerable populations in Bangladesh and Maldives. “The 1995 flooding of Bhola Island, Bangladesh provides a striking example of a social and environmental catastrophe in what was arguably a climate refugee crisis as many of those who fled from the island returned to nothing” (Riva, 20). Riva claims that populations that are vulnerable to environmental hazards face the real threat of displacement under climate change.
Some islands right in our backyards are slipping away before our eyes. According to Conservation International the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, as of 2016, is the highest in 3 million years. Global warming will melt many Glaciers that will affect sea level and the Islands around the world including the Chesapeake Bay. Many Islands will no longer exist due to sea level rise and flooding’s. Global warming is when the temperature gradually increases, generally accredited to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants. Pollutants will cause acid rain which will pollute the water and kill off the animals that drink the water.
Global warming is a problem that is often overlooked by many and is hindered among other problems that require immediate actions. Over the last 136 years the temperature in earth has increased 1.7°¬¬¬F. Although an increase of 1.7°¬¬¬F over 136 years may not seem like a lot but humans are destroying the earth at a faster rate than ever before. Human omissions are roughly equal to 4 Hiroshima atomic bombs exploding across the planet every second leaving future generations of human in jeopardy. With warmer climate comes with catastrophic outcomes like drought, which can destabilize the food sources on earth leaving millions of people hungry. Widespread extinction of most species on earth and the melting of polar ice caps can raise the sea level leaving most of the world’s coastal cities under water. This cannot happen overnight but if humans keep omitting at the current rate the outcome of climate change will become prominent
Climate change and Global Warming are out of control. This means that, no matter what policies, processes or actions are implemented, the Earth as we know it will never be the same again. There is significant evidence to support this hypothesis. The dilemma becomes whether we can limit the damage and adapt to a new status quo or not. Rising sea levels and the damage caused by this phenomenon has irreversible impacts on coastlines worldwide. Damage to sensitive reef systems cannot be fixed. This also has permanent impacts of the ecology not just of those immediate areas but also the ocean as a whole.
The country Maldives is a string of beautiful islands that can be found just southwest of India. The problem with this is that the islands are surrounded by the Indian Ocean and the sea level is rising because of global warming and the islands are no higher than eight feet above sea level. There is an overwhelming consensus amongst scientist that human activities from countries around the world are primarily responsible for global warming due to the use of fossil fuel, pollution, and deforestation. These activities contribute to excessive fluorinate, nitrous, methane, chlorofluorocarbon, and carbon dioxide gases being emitted into the atmosphere. These emissions contribute largely to the greenhouse gases which are the cause of global warming. The effects of global warming are; record high temperatures, glaciers melting, and sea levels rising. Even though the effects of global warming will eventually be felt by everyone, it will however be felt by low-lying islands like Maldives first, threating their very existence. As the ocean slowly consumes the islands the islanders will be subject to economic hardship, civil conflict, and displacement.
In the continent of Oceania, halfway between Australia and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, lies a group of 32 islands and a coral atoll straddling the equator. This country is named The Republic of Kiribati (pronounced kee-ree-bahs), or simply Kiribati. Kiribati is a unique country with intriguing customs and people. It comes from a European and Asian background but has developed a culture of its own with unique government, customs, history, religion, and more. Sadly, this country is one natural disaster away from losing everything and disappearing under the waves.
Bring, Mitchell, and Wayembergh, Josse. Japanese Gardens—Design and Meaning. McGraw-Hill series in Landscape and Landscape Architecture. McGraw-Hill, 1981.
One concept that became apparent in this unit was how climate change has had such a dramatic effect on the island of Kiribati and its people. Climate change in Kiribati is allegedly associated with the environmental pollution and chemical by-products of other nations such as Australia, England, China, and the United States. Evidence has been presented showing the Kiribati Island is at risk of vanishing as a result of the monstrous waves in the South Pacific Ocean. However, even though the United States is one of the largest known sources of extreme gas emissions, we cannot only blame it and the other developed countries. We must look also to the government of the Kiribati itself, which has done little to decrease their
"Welcome to the Maui Forest Bird Recovery."Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project. MFBRP, n.d. Web. 27 Sep 2011. .
Lovgren, Stefan. "NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC NEWS - REPORTING YOUR WORLD DAILY." Warming to Cause Catastrophic Rise in Sea Level? National Geographic News, 26 April 2004. Web. 10 Sept. 2011. .