Locavore-ism rather than Vegetarianism to Prevent Global Warming

Locavore-ism rather than Vegetarianism to Prevent Global Warming

Most people may get the wrong idea about being a vegetarian. Some says that vegetarianism helps global warming by reducing the number of plants that provide oxygen. However, some people say that being a vegetarian can effectively prevent global warming. Actually none of those statements is wrong. What makes a difference is the proportion of the benefits and the harm that it might result.

Being a vegetarian means increasing the demand of vegetables consumptions. It also means that there will be less plant that can provide oxygen and reduce greenhouse gases. In addition, in terms of health, it is confirmed that humans’ body need essential elements from animal. On the other hand, according to World Resources Institute, more than half of all the grains grown in America go to feed animals, not people. The raising of cattle is very energy intensive. Yet, that is not the main reason why people being vegetarian to prevent global warming. It is because the emitted gases from ruminants’ digestion process contribute to the greenhouse effect. Methane and nitrous oxide that was emitted from the burping and flatulence of ruminants can trap the heat more powerfully than the carbon dioxide does.

Hence, in order to maintain the balance of essential and non-essential elements in our body while preventing global warming, being either a vegetarian or an extreme consumer of meat will not be the best way. Being a locavore may help us to find the “balance”. The idea of locavore is about consuming local products or being a seasonal vegetarian. Locavores eat certain types of fruit and vegetable which comes to the season and limit their consumption of meet. When the season ends, they get back to their regular diet.

Since locavores mostly get their needs locally, they directly reduce the pollution in water, air, and soil that may occur from the food distribution such as shipping process. Finally, locavore-ism also benefits local people by supporting small businesses in the local area. 

Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development

Sustainable development is an effort that helps the resources to exist not only in present, but also in the upcoming generation.  This effort occurs when people realize that the need of resource consumption is extremely increasing as the population of the world explodes. Countries all over the world contribute in making use of the remaining recourses efficiently.                                              One of the former country of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), Indonesia, have the same issue. In 2004, the oil domestic consumption is 1,182,900 barrels a day and the raw oil we have and ready to be processed is 509,400 barrels (Chadidjah & Wiyoto, 2011). The deficit of this demand and supply number will be covered by importing from foreign companies (such as Saudi Aramco, Petronas PPT, Petral) and the government will cover this deficit from the spot tender as well. It showed that Indonesian government cannot cover the whole consumption of oil with the oil supply. A better strategy in managing the resources might be needed.

In my opinion, instead of doing research to find a better way to make use of the resource, Indonesian government had better allocate the money on developing the use of sustainable energy such as solar energy; considering that sooner or later, the oil will start being used up. Some starting actions have been taken lately by the government to do so. The government economically and morally supported researches in solar energy car, and electrical car done by Universities. 

Household Pollutant

Pollutant is anything that can disrupt the balance of the environment. Major problems have mentioned as kinds of pollutant such as sound, water pollutant, heap of trash, and dangerous gases in the air. These kinds of pollutant can be easily found in some exposed places like urban area, river, and industry area. But are they the only places where pollutants are spread?

Unfortunately, every day we live with pollutants, called the household pollutant. Household pollutant is anything that is released from the use of daily products. Daily products such as deodorizers, paints, detergents, fertilizers can release chemicals when they are used up. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is one of the most common contain that is released by those household products. On the other hand, Formaldehyde can be occurred from wood furniture and other wood-made product, foam, textiles product, and glues. Another useful yet harmful household product is waxes, antifreeze, nail polish, wet cell batteries, and rat poison. The intensive presences of those chemicals lead us to various health issues and death.

Nowadays, people prefer high isolated building and using the air conditioner to avoid outside pollutant. The fact is that the outdoor air quality is way better than the indoor air quality. In the closed area, the place becomes more air tight and hence, the pollutants are trapped. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, at least a dozen organic pollutants occur in concentrations two to five times higher in the home than outdoors, with concentrations of VOCs up to 10 times higher.

There are several ways to reduce the exposure of the household pollutants. Using the green or low-emission products can reduce the release of pollutant. In addition, some products have been tested and collected Greenguard Certification from GEI (Greenguide Environmental Institute) as eco-friendly products. Those products include daily basis such as detergents, cleaning fluids, cosmetics, sprays, and pesticides that do not contain chemicals that cause environmental issues. Using low-environmental-impact materials or recycled materials for furniture can be another way to reduce the exposure of pollutant. Since chemicals can be most released during the building process, we need to use the proper method and materials. Applying wet method for suppressing dust, using high-efficiency filter, and sealing the construction area must be done during the building process to prevent the release of pollutant. In addition, it is also important to avoid the use of materials that are made from toxic or hazardous chemicals.

Sanitation Issues in Developing Era

In terms of the needs compliance, there are basic or primary needs; secondary needs; and complimentary needs. Basically, the primary and secondary needs should be fulfilled first before the complimentary. Yet, in many countries, even in the developed one, people is prefer to prioritize their complimentary needs such as smart phone, and entertainments, rather than the primary needs like foods, and health.

For example, the statistic of India shows that 56% of 18,9 million families in Bihar own smart phones or line phones. On the other hand, 1 of 6 people still does not have any access for basic sanitary like toilet. This is actually quite concern remembering that this sanitary issue cause a problem to the country and individual.

               

Imagine that there is a community that does not have any access to sanitary. They will easily make use of any watering systems such as river, beach or canals nearby. This may be harmful because it can release unsanitary water which contains microorganism or chemical contains to the environment. Moreover, this unhealthy environment causes more dangerous water-related diseases such as diarrhoea, hepatitis, polio, cholera, typhoid dysentery, etc. In addition, the increase of unsanitary water will lack the clean water for living. However, people’s need in water like drinking and sanitary cannot be tolerated.

                

In this case, so many people think that the excess of population seems to be the major trigger of the problem since India is the third most populated country in the world. But for me, I think level of education, level of income in a country does affect the quality of sanitation on that country. Countries with higher level of education, level of income, (as general, can be seen by the Human Development Index), seems likely have better quality of sanitation. As the opposite, developing countries, usually have a low HDI, and countries with a low HDI, usually have a bad sanitation.


At the end of the day, some effective actions must be taken to solve the sanitation issues. For the instant action, It can be done both by managing the water supply system better and increasing people’s awareness toward their environment. But for the real action, a country has to try its best to increase the variables in the Human Development Index such as level of education, level of income, GDP, etc. It's true that government can provide a good sanitation system for their citizens, but it's better when the citizens themselves realize the importance of having a good sanitation, and it's best when a country having both of them.

               

Tsunami: The Aftermath

Tsunami in Thailand on December 26, 2004, is one of the evidences of the natural disaster. It kills thousands of people and indirectly affects the whole Thailand as well. The massiveness of this natural disaster has been filmed and titled “Tsunami: The Aftermath”. From the movie, we can actually learn about a lot of things that should and shouldn’t happen in a natural disaster.

Most people believe that a natural disaster like tsunami is something unpredictable. Actually it is not. As we know that there are disaster factors beyond and within the control of human. The exact place and time are grouped into the factors beyond the human’s control. Meteorologist might be able to predict the hazard area based on the geographical characters or the animals’ behaviour, but it will be hard to predict the location of the epicentre, where the energy will come from. It also happens when people try to predict the timing of the disaster through the activity of the volcanos, or the plate slides.

On the other hand, the factors within humans’ control such as population, accessibility, scientific monitoring, and emergency rescues can effectively minimized the number of the damages. These things should be well controlled before a disaster comes. Firstly, a Hazard and crowed place like beach with tourists should be near the hospital since it will be the closest area to the water. Secondly, the accessibility of a place is really important in order to get some emergency helps or to get a way to escape to the saver place. Thirdly, the emergency rescues such as medical sources, foods, money, and rescuers have to be prepared well before a disaster comes. Last, the scientific monitoring take an important role to predict when a disaster will happens. It helps the government to be ready for the disaster. The lacks of one of those factors will double the number of the damage.

It is also shown in the movie about how Thailand got the bodies away. They burned them without any evacuations. Basically, it is important to get rid of the bodies really quickly in order to avoid other health issues. And the reason to burn the bodies is because there is no more space and time to bury them. Yet, there are some disadvantages on using this kind of method. Firstly, not every culture can accept this cremation way. The western people for example, they want to pray and bury the bodies properly to show some respects. Secondly, burning the bodies without any evacuation will leave ignorance about who survived and who doesn't. They should at least take a picture of each body so that their relatives won’t look for them.

Finally, a natural disaster like tsunami can’t be avoided but there are ways to minimize the damages.

("Tsunami: The Aftermath" Trailer-A Movie by Bharat Nalluri)

The Forest Fires

The forest fire seems like a very common problem, especially for tropical countries. It becomes more and more common since it happens more frequently every year. People also take this easily because every year they hear more forest fire cases from the media. In fact, the forest fire can be really harmful not only for the forest itself, but also for the entire condition of the earth.

Basically, there are three things that can cause a forest fires. They are: disturbance of weather patterns, on purpose firing, and the accidental factors.  Disturbance of weather can be a very long summer that can increase temperature and reduce the water availability of the forest. That situation creates such a dry condition in the environments that it becomes easily burnt.  This kind of situation can’t be avoided.

Accidental factors can also be one of the most common things causing the forest fires. This is usually called “the human’s error”. One of the most popular issues is when People throwing the cigarette stub in the bushes and start a small fire. That small fire then becomes a bigger flames and burn the whole forest.

Finally, the most dangerous and influential cause is on purpose firing. This kind of firing is obviously created by human in order to reach a certain goal such as industrial and business purpose. In order to avoid is cruel action, the government usually make the law of forestry.

Those factors above can actually cause harmful things directly to the forest, and indirectly to the environments. Firstly, when the forest is burnt, the animals will lose their habitat and food sources.  Then, the animals go down to the people’s residence to get food. Secondly, forests have the most important roles to take control on the earth’s air cycles. When forests begin to burnt, they won’t be able to produce O₂ and reduce CO₂ which will definitely disrupt the balance of the cycles.

(Kendra Okonski discusses the Australian forest fires in February 2009-Recorded by BBC)

Japanese Whaling

Japanese whaling sounds more like a tradition rather than a need. It has almost been a habit and a promising occupation in Taiji, Japan.  They even have private places where they secretly kill dolphins and whales every day.

In the meeting of International Whaling Commission (IWC), Japan came up with some specific reasons which encourage them to keep the whaling activities against the opposite countries. From some historical evidence, Japanese have been consuming whales since long time ago. Yet, it may not be the only one reason why Japanese keep whaling.  Economically, whaling provides large number of employment in some parts of Japan. They are paid $15,000 for living whales and $600 for dead whales. The living whales are distributed to theme parks while the dead whales are sold to the market and school’s canteens.

Biologically, the government believes that killing the whales and dolphins is the best way to do the pest control. According to the government, whales and dolphins eat smaller fishes so that it decreases the fishermen’s catch.

On the other hand, other countries do not take whaling as the righteous thing. Firstly, as a compliance of food, whales and dolphins are actually forbidden because it can contain large number of mercury. Several cases about the mercury effect have been exposed. One of the most popular cases is called “Minamata Disease”.

Secondly, whaling as the effort of pest control might not be the best way since the biological cycles should be done naturally. When thousands of whales are killed, the life cycles are slightly disturbed daily and become unbalance over the time.

Finally, even though the Japanese have improved their whaling method, the result is still the same. The population of whales and dolphins are still decreasing, the balance of biomes is disturbed, and the level of mercury contamination is increasing.

I think all those consequences above should not be happening. That is why, people, especially the government should be more aware about making a policy related to the nature’s activities.

 (The report about Japanese Whaling issues-Recorded by CNN)