Waverton Peninsula Reserve

Last weekend we went to take a walk to the Waverton Peninsula Reserve. This place was an oil storage facility owned by the company BP until 2002 when they shut it down and reconverted it into a park. This park connects with the other side of the peninsula where a coal loader has been closed down and abandoned.

Where the big oil deposits were

New landscape

All this area is within the Waverton Peninsula Strategic Masterplan, but so far only the park has been done.

Coal loader wharf now abandoned

 

Coal loaded area with not present use

During the walk I was thinking in the lecture we had weeks ago about contaminated sites and how industrial areas that have been absorbed by the city have to be decontaminated. These areas, because their industrial past use, have high quantities of very toxic materials and products. Usually all the complex, from the soil to the building roof, is contaminated (depending on the industry type) and needs to be cleaned before any further use can be implemented there.

When these kind of areas are reconverted in green areas or parks it is possible to use plants to absorb this harmful materials naturally and transform them into common vegetable material.

The problem arises when the site has to be built and there is not time for a natural absorption. Then, usually, the entire site is dug and the soil is disposed in a landfill.

This is the worst solution at many levels: bad for the site because this solution is very aggressive with it; bad for the landfill because usually the soil is not cleaned before the disposal.

Some history of the place.

Great views from these industrial facilities

*All the pictures owned by the author.

Poo2Loo

Behind this bizarre video there is a great UNICEF campaign in India supporting poo-free streets. Here their web and Facebook. In addition, UNICEF has an international campaign to provide toilets not only in India. Here.

2.5 billion people around the world do not have access to a safe and clean toilet. In India, half of the population has to do it in streets and surroundings. This is not only a huge health issue,  but a security issue as well. Every year, thousands of girls (women and children) are raped, and sometimes murdered after, when they were going to the ´toilet´. Here one of the latest cases.

In developed countries the sustainability is now focused on how to consume or need less energy, and sometimes materials, but in other countries there are bigger issues, issues that involve health and security. Big developing countries, such as India or Brazil, where big cities are growing rapidly but where simple actions can have a life-changing result should be the main objective of international programs.

If we want a sustainable and democratic world we should start being democratic with the people living in it.

 

Image from facebook.com/poo2loo

Climate Change

Some people argue that Climate Change does not exist, they are called Climate Deniers and there are some interesting webs that list the most famous or important of them. Here and here for instance.

The problem is that these deniers are generally supported by big companies and industry lobbies that are directly related to great CO2 emissions. So it is in their convenience to misinform the general public.

Even if this influential and powerful group of people is trying to present studies and data to prove their beliefs, the reality is that all the new studies presented by the IPCC or the US Global Change Research Program, for instance, found that the Earth is warmer than before and that this will produce consequences in the global climate.

Global Change has released their findings in a report last month and some of their graphs just talk by themselves:

Global Temperatures and CO2 Concentration

Natural & Human influences on Climate Change

Past & Projected change in Global Sea Level Rise (1ft=33cm/4ft=1.20m approx)

Past & Projected Sea Ice Decline (RCP=Representative Concentration Pathways)

Acidification of Oceans

Its projected changes with a rapid emissions reduction:

Global Temperatures

Annual Precipitation

Its projected changes if the emissions increase in the actual trend:

Global Temperature

Annual Precipitation

I think that the findings are scary because I do not trust in a big change in a short-term and the consequences will transform our world, our life. We are going to live in a changing world full of challenges.

*All graphs and images from nca2014.globalchange.gov/report