Earth Science Week: City Impacts Earth

For Earth Science Week, I submitted the photograph shown above. I captured this photograph in Honolulu, Oahu. I chose to submit this photograph because for a few reasons. I liked how it captured both the ocean and the city of Honolulu. My purpose in showing these two completely different environments was to explain how the city may impact the wildlife in the ocean.  

A few years ago, Pope Francis released his encyclical “Laudato Si”, with headlines that called attention not just to human-caused climate change, but also called attention to the oceans of our world. He stated the vital role that oceans play to our “common home”, and mentioned a few of the negative ways in which humans threaten marine environments.  Regardless of background or religion, Pope Francis wants to ensure that our planet is being cared for by everyone.

Pope Francis Stated in his encyclical, “Detergents and chemical products, commonly used in many places of the world, continue to pour into our rivers, lakes and seas.” He called the people of this world to take action in preventing a multitude of environmentally damaging effects from taking place, and specifically mentioned, that humans need to watch out for chemical and dangerous products entering our ocean, and harming our wildlife.

Connecting this back to my photograph, though Hawaiians are very cautious of the way they care for their environment, tourists make a big impact on the environment since there are visitors during all times of the year in the gorgeous Hawaiian Islands. Tourists aren’t as caring for the environment in Hawaii since they are typically  there for a short stay. In addition, city areas like Honolulu (though not as bad as other big cities) usually have more littering and pollution than rural areas. Hawaiians make a concerted effort to clean up the waterways so that storms don’t wash our existing plastic and other litter especially from the cities, into the ocean. Because Hawaii consists of so much wildlife, plastic and other forms of litter can be incredibly damaging to an area like Hawaii. Thousands of animals, both on land, but especially in the ocean, die from eating or getting caught in plastic. Additionally, the toxins from plastic and other litter which may enter the ocean can very easily affect us through the food web. We humans are eating other animals which may very well spread diseases and toxins into our bodies! It is an issue which needs to be addressed because doing so will not only benefit the marine environment, but also improve aspects of human life.

Pope Francis is correct in the way we should be caring for our environment, especially making sure that our oceans, lakes, and rivers, are not deteriorating due to pollution or chemicals and toxins that harm our animals. We all need to look out for each other because in a way, we all need one another, whether we are a cow a fish, or a human. We all play different parts in this world, and are a vital part of our Earth

 

Pope Francis. 2015. Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home [Encyclical].