Think Green

Today, one of the major causes of air pollution is the emission of carbon monoxide (CO) from passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks.

According to the State of Global Air 2018 report, ninety-five percent of the world’s population live in areas exceeding WHO guidelines for healthy air. This polluted air exposes people to health risks such as chest pain, cancer, asthma and bronchitis. With this problem at hand, policies have been put in place in several developed countries to curb air pollution, especially from cars and trucks. In the United States the effect of such policies is a 90% reduction in carbon monoxide emission since 1998.

An estimate of 500 million plastic straws are used every day in the United States. It has been recorded that 7.5% of plastic in the environment comes from straws, according to an analysis by a group of pollution research non-profit organizations. The excessive use of plastic straws is doing more harm to the environment, specifically the oceans.

The Problem with Plastic Straws.

• Single-use plastic straws do not last long. Once used, they are thrown away.
• Straws count as one of the most common items that are picked up during beach clean-ups.
• Plastic Straws do not biodegrade, and cannot break into compounds that can easily be recycled.
• Plastic straws are harmful to ocean wildlife due to their sizes and cylindrical shape. When taken in by these animals they can cause choking, suffocation, and eventual death.

Governments around the world are encouraging people to factor the environment into their everyday lives and purchases. The aim of this focus on environmental sustainability is the reduction of our environmental footprint.

The Ecological Footprint of an area is a measurement of how much land it takes to support one person in each country. The sustainable average is 2.2 hectares per person and according to Wikipedia, Nigeria’s ecological footprint/person is 1.16. This shows that Nigeria’s level of consumption is insufficient to it needs and this is because many Nigerians continue to burn fossil fuels in large quantities for energy by adding extra carbon CO2 to the atmosphere. The consequence of using of fossil fuels is worsened by deforestation over the years.

The concept of recycling has been around for a long time, and with the increase in awareness about environmental pollution and global warming due to poor waste management, the benefits of recycling have become more apparent, and the act of recycling is almost a moral responsibility.

Recycling not only reduces the amount of trash that ends up in landfills, it prevents excess use of natural resources and energy, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions too. Here are a few interesting facts about recycling that you may not have known before;

In the world that we live in today, the growing demand for finished goods and the resultant increase in industrial activity means that there is a steady increase in the amount of waste that we generate daily. According to the World Bank, 3.5 million tonnes of waste were generated per day in 2010, and it is estimated that the figure will increase to more than 6 million tonnes per day by 2025.

Unfortunately, we do not extract as much value from waste as is possible, and the bulk of waste in many countries ends up deposited in landfills or being disposed wrongly, leading to pollution.

When we consider the various components of solid waste and the potential uses of waste, it becomes a huge source of untapped value.

We will use Sweden as an example of how to extract value from waste.

It is no longer news that states, corporate entities and individuals are currently faced with harsh economic realities and are seeking effective innovate ways to increase profitability and diversify their economies, businesses and income respectively. New and existing businesses have now discovered that diversifying into waste management has not only ensure business continuity, job creations, protect the citizens from health and environmental hazards associated with waste disposal but also help conserve energy and much needed resources.

According to Columbia University Earth Institute, 2 out of 10 people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, and many countries around the world face water shortages and droughts.
As Robert Glennon reports in his book, ‘Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to Do About It’, Americans use 24 gallons of water each day to flush their toilets—approximately 5.8 billion gallons.

The above statistics expose two key facts; while there is a high level of wastage in some parts of the world, other parts of the world still suffer from a lack of access to safe drinking water.

Drainage systems are constructed to ensure that waste water and sewage is transported neatly to disposal points, thereby keeping the environment well drained and free of waste. Examples of components that make up a good drainage system includes; closed ditches having pipe drains, drainage pipes, channels and conduits.
Sustainable Drainage Systems are approaches put in place to manage the water quantity (flooding), water quality (pollution) and amenity issues in the environment. Sustainable drainage is a concept that includes long term environmental and social factors in decisions about drainage.