Environmental issues in Haiti have contributed to the country’s difficulties with poverty, quality of life, and economic instability. Due to unfortunate natural disasters, the topic of sustainability has been pushed aside in order to prioritize the issues of hunger, and homelessness. Pollution is becoming increasingly prominent due to the rise in deforestation, and the non-existence of proper sewage systems. Possible solutions include the improvement of sewer systems, and to encourage the use of recycled building materials. To fund the sewage restoration, the United Nations should be urged to become involved in the restoration of the sewers. Other relief effort groups can contribute by discouraging deforestation. Service learning for environmental …show more content…
The sewage is completely backed up; causing unpleasant smelling calamities among the areas it operates in. Poor sewage contributes to pollution by ending up in other bodies of water through runoff, in which the heavily contaminated water may introduce excess amounts of dangerous substances that can cause events, such as algal blooms, and render life impossible. Sewage is not the only problem, as deforestation, especially after the 2010 earthquake, has been on the rise since many people needed to rebuild their homes. As reported by Anup Shah (2010), deforestation makes the topsoil vulnerable to the harsh environment around it. While the deforestation helped with providing shelter for the people who had lost their homes from the earthquake, it caused – and still causes – an economic set back. The forest protects the topsoil, and without it, it makes agriculture very difficult. Difficulty growing crops leads to hunger and more …show more content…
The Citizen Scientist Project is a local project under the Key Biscayne Community Foundation, a non-profit. Through the project I was able to experience first hand how contributing locally to a cause can create a ripple effect and contribute to the greater good for the entire global. The Citizen Scientist Project aims to educate the local people about the environment around them, so that they may be aware of the issues that face our home. I have learned that educating people of issues works better than arguing these issues. Education is the core of understanding anything in life, and in this case it certainly helps people realize the environmental dangers that poses a threat to the society. We enlighten the community by providing citizen science lectures, and administering challenges to the community, challenges in which requires the participants to observe the local environment. People started noticing the trash that lines the beaches, or the excessive amount of nonnative species. The point of this project is to make people think about these environmental issues, and to act upon them. I realized that local projects like the Citizen Scientist Project could be started in countries like Haiti, in order to educate the people about the land around them. Through my United Nation Millennium Development Goal I was able to
The media in the United Sates is accustomed to portraying Haiti as a failed state without referring to the external influences of other countries on Haiti’s problems including the 1915 to 1934 occupation of Haiti by the United States. Haiti has suffered at the hands of numerous dictators who have robbed the country of its resources, but little is said of the U.S support of some of the dictatorial regimes that have ruled over Haiti and plundered its resources (Maus, 2015). The natural disasters that have wrought havoc in Haiti in the form of hurricanes and floods are solely blamed on Haitians who have decided to destroy their land using destructive agricultural methods. Little is said of the destruction of Haiti’s natural landscape
The two cultures that I identify myself with Haitian culture and American culture. The American culture is more dominant and I identify myself most with this culture. Although I was born in Haiti and Haitian culture was once my dominant culture, it is now my co-culture. Nonetheless, a combination of these two cultures would be Haitian-American culture.
Haiti as a rich history, filled with many peoples’ blood and countless hopes of freedom. With such a rich history, the country has yet to become financially stable because of their past. From the beginning of the French settlement where slaves were brought over from Africa to harvest crops, to the dictatorship of the Duvalier family. Haiti has yet to see a time when they are not in need of help. After the racial caste systems were set in place, many people would not see a truly independent country. When France finally gave independence to Haiti, they did it for a price. After they paid that price, the US occupied them because of their location and many resources. Every year in Haiti’s history as a nation and before has effects on the world today. These effects are not hidden in fine print, but blatantly found within Haiti and those who have been involved with Haiti.
Once Enlightenment philosophies created new views on individual’s natural rights and their place in society, resistance to oppressive government was inevitable. The core beliefs of freedom and equality above all served as a catalyst for the revolutions in America, France, and Haiti. Because of these shared ideals each revolution is interconnected with the revolution before it. However, the waves of this revolutionary movement that swept through the Atlantic World became increasingly radical with each new country it entered. By looking at the citizen involvement and causes of the American, French, and Haitian revolutions, the growing radicality of these insurrections can be better understood.
In what ways has the colonial history of Haiti contributed to the modern social, political, economic and environmental problems facing Haiti today?
Once Enlightenment philosophies created new views on individual’s natural rights and their place in society, resistance to oppressive government was inevitable. The core beliefs of freedom and equality above all served as a catalyst for the revolutions in America, France, and Haiti. Because of these shared ideals each revolution is interconnected with the revolution before it. However, the waves of this revolutionary movement that swept through the Atlantic World became increasingly radical with each new country it entered. By looking at the citizen involvement and causes of the American, French, and Haitian revolutions, the growing radicality of these insurrections can be better understood.
The Haitian Revolution makes for the most fascinating revolt in history. The black race, after many years of oppression, overcame the dominant white race, without the assistance of guns, and other technological warfare at that time. In its own words, the author states that the book makes clear that the roots of the revolution of Haiti consist of movements involving the "wisdom and common sense of the masses". Hordes of blacks reached a consensus that human sacrifice is a small price to pay for freedom. In the view of Carolyn E. Fick, no organization or political entity involved can be attributed as much credit than the masses for the popular revolution that unseated one of the longest dictatorships of mankind.
As with most group projects, I started out with a basic understanding of the issue; essentially pollution and environmental changes humans make impact the environment in very bad ways. I grew up with a family who believes in intelligent design, young earth theory, and they all vehemently deny that anything humans do cause damage to the planet- everything reported in the news or by scientists are part of a larger “Liberal Democrat conspiracy.” Thus, my views had become largely hazy and even though I pride myself on being a Liberal, educated, intelligent young person, sometimes I was unsure what was actually true or what had been dramatized or exaggerated by scientists or the media to actually get people to pay attention. In addition, I also
Haitian culture is a mixed native Indians, African slaves, and French and Spaniard settlers. After Haiti gained its independence there was much political and economical turmoil. When Haitian immigrated to the United States, many became doctors, teachers, social workers, and professionals. Although there was Haitian success stories there are more stories of failure and hopelessness because of the worry of being deported and the racism that they encounter. Through the field of social work would like to help these people get established in this country and as a Christian I would love to give them hope.
This persuasive speech was given in Rio de Janeiro, and was a plea to the individuals in attendance at the United Nations Earth Summit to recognize how they are contaminating the environment with hopes that these audience members will revise their future proposals.
The relationship between young people and nonprofits can be the start of a significant change in our community, and should be a reciprocal and powerful educational experience. An open-minded and encouraging flow of communication between organizations and community members can be the launchpad for the social and environmental change organizations talk about and try for every day. Together, we can make change – not just a semblance of idealism, but reality, as well.
One of my personal goals for the project was to learn as much as I could about the sustainability issue facing us. I did this by participating in all of the projects that were done throughout the semester. The main project that occurred during the semester was the personal sustainability goals that we each set for ourselves. While doing the actions that we pledged to do, we learned different things about sustainability that we never knew before. One of the things that I learned was that, at Clemson, it is hard for students who want to recycle to be able to recycle. There are not the necessary facilities nearby our student housing to place our recyclables. I also learned that some actions that should be done to be sustainable are hard to do in the society that we live in. One of these activities that we do is the needless driving that Americans do in general. Since we live in a moving society, it is sometimes hard to do. An easy thing that everyone can do is to recycle some of his or her wastes. This can be done for most people at little or no extra effort than just throwing your trash away.
Although more people are aware of the impacts we have on our environment, there are still people that choose to ignore scientific evidence, or do not fully understand the consequences. Further education and research are critical components in an effort to become more sustainable. Fortunately, younger generations are learning about the need to address environmental issues so that changes can be made to ensure our way of life is sustainable.
Many people assume that the environment is not in danger. They believe that as technology advances, we do not need to worry about renewing natural resources, recycling, and finding new ways to produce energy. They state that one person in the world does not make a large difference. In reality, each individual's contribution greatly affects our environment. Our natural resources are slowly disappearing, and we must work together to save them and the Earth from ruin.
There are lots of environmental issues going on globally. The earth faces problems such as pollution, global warming, waste disposal, and loss of biodiversity. These are just a small amount of issues out of the so many. These environmental problems pose an abundant amount of risk to the health of humans and animals. There needs to be a solution to all these problems and that is by informing others, so that way everyone can make the environment a better place.