Relmi Damiano

Building a Sustainable Future

College Project - Essay and Report Design/Layout
Below is an abstract from the booklet
View Part 1 | View Part 2

There is so much information, opinions and diagnosis on what is happening and what may happen in the near future that often a lot of these predictions contradict each other. What should we believe? Where can we seek our answers? 

I am sure you agree that sometimes all this “stuff” becomes overwhelming. Different segments of society are always pushing people to change in some way or another. Starting with our own families, friends, teachers, corporations and governments. 

SO WHY CHANGE? 

Without change, there is no evolution. Beginning with the building blocks of our planet, cells, the smallest structural and functional unit of an organism even changes. Some change very quickly and some over a period of time. Cells are always regenerating themselves to survive in their environment. 

There is no doubt that throughout history, big changes have taken place, many times after notorious events such as World War I and II, the industrial & technological revolutions, and many more. These events brought both negative and positive changes to several cultures, many times altering the way people live, behave and communicate. 

Let’s take global warming as an example of an issue we are currently facing. Many people dislike this notion and others support it vehemently. 

There is a constant battle between what people think is right or wrong, as well as activism and absentmindedness behaviour towards this subject. Regardless of this dispute, one thing is for certain: it is undeniable that air pollution is affecting our environment in a significant way. 

Dr Tom Beer from CSIRO Atmospheric Research states that “Mortality due to air pollution in Australia is higher than the road toll. Each year on average, 2400 of the 140,000 Australians deaths are linked to air quality and health issues – much more than the 1700 people who die on our roads. That’s an average of a death every four hours. This number increases if long-term effects of air toxics on cancer are included.”

The World Health Organization states that 2.4 million people die each year from causes directly attributable to air pollution, with 1.5 million of these deaths attributable to indoor air pollution. 

In addition, there has been many extreme cases of short term civilian pollution crisis due to the leaking of industrial vapours, biological man made warfare chemicals as well as sudden accumulated smog. 

Although this specific type of pollution may be affecting the temperature of our planet causing “global warming”, it is ultimately affecting our health and quality of life in a much more direct and immediate way.