Traffic Congestion-The main cause of the low efficiency of life

Traffic Congestion-The main cause of the low efficiency of life

  Traffic congestion is a kind of sustainable problem in the urbanisation. It can be seen as the result of high speed development of a city both from the economic and social aspects. However it is a problem may have adverse impacts on sustainable development of the city.  

  The reasons cause this phenomenon can be divided into three different categories which are exceeding the capacity of the road, the design aspect, and other causes.

Traffic congestion in Sydney

• Exceeding the capacity of the road

         -A large number of social cars

  The increasing of private cars is a major cause which contributes to this  problem. To be more specific, the number of car increases constantly without the increasing the capacity of the road, the vehicle flow exceeds this capacity, then the congestion occurs.

         -Enormous distinction of resources distribution

  For example, during the holiday, the majority of  highways become crowded. This is led by the unbalanced distribution of traffic resources causing the load over the capacity of the traffic system.

• The design aspect

         -Insufficient road capacity or inappropriate design

  This can be elaborated as the planners or designers of the road do not consider the future condition of the traffic flow and irrational road design . Such as the emanative road network in the historic city like Roman, the cars moves from the suburbs to the central city causing the congestion of arterial road.

         -Redundant intersections

  The road intersection is another reason responsible for traffic congestion. Because of the traffic signals, the flow will be obstructed which in turn leads to the phenomenon.

• Other causes

  The other reasons include road construction, weather factors and traffic jam causing by traffic accidents and so on.

  This issue can contribute many adverse impacts, especially reduce the efficiency of the life. If a commuter work at 9 am., the traffic jam may make the commuter is late for the work and waste much more time which can be save for creating benefits for the company. Serious traffic congestion even can lead death to human beings. You can imagine that if there is a ambulance which carries a patient who need emergency treatment obstructed by the traffic jam, the patient may lose his or her life.

  I hope that government could implement policy or take other measures to mitigate this issue and improve the quality of life.

Pictures from the following websites:

http://econews.com.au/news-to-sustain-our-world/congestion-charge-would-cut-sydney-traffic/

Rich or Air Pollution?

Rich or Air Pollution?

  Air pollution is a global issue which is the introduction of particulates, biological molecules, or other harmful gases into Earth's atmosphere, leading to disease, death to humans, damage to other living organisms such as food crops, or the natural or built environment.

Air pollution from the industry

  In the majority of people's perspective, this kind of pollution comes from the mankind activities such as burning or car exhaust. However, the truth is that the air pollution result from both anthropogenic or natural sources.

volcanic explosion

  The air pollution can be divided into two different categories which are chemical pollution and biological contamination. The pollutants in the air also can be classified into anthropogenic and natural aspects. The form of the substance can be solid particles, liquid droplets, and gases.

  In Australia, the mining is a promising industry, and the export ranks the front of the world. And because of the air pollution, there is ozone hole in the air above the Australia. The ozone layer prevents most harmful UVB wavelengths of ultraviolet light form passing through the Earth's atmosphere, observed and projected decreases in ozone generated worldwide concern, leading to adoption of the Montreal Protocol that bans the production of CFCs, halons, and other ozone-depleting chemicals such as carbon tetrachloride and trichloroethane.

  The solutions for the ozone hole, there is no specific solutions for this issue, the most effective method is mitigate the emission of the CFCs substances which may destroy the ozone layer, and wait for the natural repair.

  I appeal that our human beings should care more about our earth and try our best to do less harmful activities to protect our habitat.

Pictures from the following websites:

http://www.nrdc.org/air/

http://iceagenow.info/2014/05/magma-rising-mount-st-helens-volcano-usgs/

Could it be more easy for us to throw the rubbish?

Could it be more easy for us to throw the rubbish?

  The last  blog I just wrote about the dustbin in Sydney and raise the problem that I think will impact the quality of life in Sydney. And this blog, I just want to recommend some solutions for that issue.

  As I mentioned before, this problem may not attract the attention of the residents who live there for many years. However, we cannot ignore the issue and just leave it there. What we need to do is to find the solutions for this problem and improve the life quality.

  Here are some solutions that I want to recommend;

• Raise the recognition on the problem; 

  The aim of this solution is to attract residents and the government to attentions on this problem, and make them aware that this would impact our life quality.  So there will be increasing people concerning this problem and willing to find solutions to improve their quality of life.

• Building more dustbins in suburbs;

  According to my feeling on this situation, I just recommend that the government or the planners could implement the policy to regulate the distance between the garbage bins. Installing more dustbins on the road to help those people who want to throw their garbage.

• Improve the management of the waste system.

  This method is a kind of long-term solution that I think can mitigate the problem. The core of the problem is the management. Just like my hometown that I mentioned last blog, the distribution of the dust bins in my hometown is appropriate and reasonable. Of course, the management of waste includes many different parts or procedures. A good management can help to improve the waste system, thereby improve the quality of life. For this blog, I just want to talk about the distance between two garbage bins. Curtailing the distance between two public dust bins around 50 metres would be appropriate.

  Garbage bins on roads may not attract people's attention. However, I want to help to raise the recognition of the importance of those things. They really can affect our lives, and in Sydney, such a metropolitan and tourist city, this aspect is very important that the local government should consider carefully.

Pictures from the following websites:
http://melissaagnes.com/issue-crisis-whats-difference-important/
http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2015/03/13/yes-toronto-big-savings-come-in-smaller-trash-bins-james.html

Is it hard to find a dustbin in your countries?

Is it hard to find a dustbin in your countries?

  I have been in Sydney for almost half a year, and in my point of view, Sydney is a place where the life is very easygoing and the pace of life is very slow. Inevitably, Sydney is a modern city with so many high technology facilities. However, I just notice one interesting thing in many areas in Sydney which is the garbage on the street. I found that  dustbins on some streets are hard to find and this may make me feel inconvenient to throw my garbage.
  

  The pictures above present the dustbins in the Sydney. From the picture, we can see that all the garbage bins are placed in a mess, and some of them even are the obstacles on roads. So I think the public waste system in Sydney is not good, especially in the suburbs of the Sydney.

  I am living on the Bunnerong Road now, and it takes me around 30 minutes to get to the UNSW Kensington Campus by bus. According to my observation, I can tell that it is very hard to find a dustbin on the Bunnerong Road. From the screen shot from the Google Earth, it is obvious that there are not much garbage bins on this road, and these bins are often placed near the bus stop or retails.
  However, in the city, the situation is different. The reason that I speculate is about the economy and the density of population.
  While, comparing to my hometown, Wuhan, I think Wuhan does better than Sydney. Although China is a developing country, the environmental awareness is very strong. Especially around my home, the distance between two dustbins is often less than 50 metres, and are also assorted into recycled and normal rubbish.
  Maybe most of people have no feelings on this topic. But, this is the topic related to residents' lives closely, impacting the quality of life. I hope that the NSW government could consider more about this problem, and thus, life in Sydney could be better.

Pictures from the following websites:

http://www.walksydneystreets.net/surprises_rubbish06.htm

Can E-waste be solved?

Can E-waste be solved?

  We just talked about the a new pollution called E-waste. And this kind of waste isn't be recognized by the most of people, just only a few experts care about the disposition.

  However, if there are solutions for this kind of issue? The answer should be yes.

  Well, there is a figure said that nearly 70 percent of used computers and monitors in the United States will end up in landfills, and up to 75 percent of e-waste generated in the European Union is unaccounted for.

  So, who gets the trash?

  From the picture, we can see that most electronic waste eventually goes to the developing countries such as India, Ahmedabad, and China. This may contributes many social and health problems in those countries. There is another important thing is to seek solutions for the issue excepting the improvement of the technology.  

  According to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, they provide several experts opinions for the solutions of the e-waste, and each of the experts gives the best solution from their own perspectives.For more details click here

  From all solutions provided by those experts, the dominant point is technology and policy. E-waste is the outcome from the high technology, so as the improvement of the technology, this issue may ultimately be solved.

  And there are other several options to deal with the problem divided into three categories which are donate, recycle, and involve businesses.

Donate

  This means that we can give out our obsolete electronic devices which are also can be used to the charity or institution for educational use.

Recycle

  This  method is similar to the donation. However, I just want to mention some different points from the donation. For this part, we can use the obsolete electronics in a different way. For instance, we can use the old phone as a portable hard drive or electronic notepad.

Involve businesses

  For this category, I think this is the most promising method. That means if some companies can provide professional recycle way, that would be very helpful to deal with the problem. Besides it could mitigate the issue, this method would stimulate the economy of the country and provide a number of job opportunities for the unemployed people.

  There is no doubt that e-waste will be recognized by more and more people. And parents and teachers also should to teach the children how are serious results could be created by e-waste. I believe that someday, the e-waste could be solved completely.

The picture from the following website:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195925505000466

  

Whether the technology can help human live a sustainable life?

  Nowadays, the technology is a prevalent topic throughout the world. Especially the communication technology, the rapid development has made the people communicate with each other more easily.  So there are more and more people update their phones quickly.  like the very popular technology company, the Apple almost upgrades their Iphone series every year and improve some technologies every half a year.

Iphone 6 Plus, Iphone 6, Iphone 5s, Iphone 5c

However, have you ever thought that where  the old phones go?

  There are a new term called 'electronic waste' or 'e-waste' describing discarded electrical or electronic devices. Used electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling or disposal are also considered as e-waste. In many developing countries, this phenomenon is very prevalent and contributes to serious environmental and health problem. Most of the electronic scrap components, such as Cathode ray tube,  may contain contaminants such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, or brominated flame retardants.

e-waste in Africa

e-waste garbage

  As we know, there are not much people are familiar with this issue, and most of people do not concern about where these scrap electronic products go. So we human being should raise the recognition of how this issue is serious. 
  According to what I found, I don't think the rapid development of technology may help people to live a sustainable and environmental life, though it may contribute a convenient life. However, it may lead to many health and environmental pollution.

Photos from the following website:

http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/
https://adambemma.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/accra-e-waste-slum.jpg
http://ewasteguide.inf/images/4341