Connecting Past and Present

March 24, 2022 By: Christopher Anyadubalu

Article #1: Science Daily. “When more women make decisions, the environment wins.” Science News 21st March 2019, Retrieved 18th March 2022: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190321152838.htm

The media item from the Science Daily is on the theme of conservationism. Based on what I learnt in this course and perceived from my past and present environment, it seems that there are many publications, seminars/workshops, and legislation aimed at conservation and protection of our environment but not much have been done about it. Thus, this media item attracts my attention because (living in a society dominated by men) more women need to be involved in the decision-making processes for the environment to win. The argument of the news item that women tend to have a greater affinity for the environment, support conservation measures more and are more concerned than men are about problems of inequality[1] seems plausible in that my grandma and my mother (as described in Exercise #2) were advocates of the environment. Also, the result of the study published in this news item proves their thesis.

Article #2: Amrita Sen and Harini Nagendra. “The differentiated impacts of urbanization on lake communities in Bengaluru, India.”  International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development, (Volume 13, Issue 1, 2021), Retrieved 19th March 2022: https://www.tandfonline.com/action/doSearch?AllField=Urbanization&SeriesKey=tjue20

The media item is about the theme of urbanization using India as a case study to reflect the social-ecological and environmental challenges urbanization posits to both the inhabitants and their agrarian and rural commons landscapes in many parts of the world. The findings of this study resonate with the lessons derived from this course that urbanization and urban transformation of once-rural agrarian landscapes into fast growing urban areas have diverse, and negative impacts on the social-ecological landscapes, and further disenfranchise the inhabitants from their environment.[2] Some of the impacts include the destruction and alteration of the natural environment by road and railway constructions, urban buildings and sewage disposal, industries and industrial wastes, electric power projects and other urban infrastructures as well as automobiles and the massive pollution from the different energy sources prevalent in urban areas. Thus, it might be necessary to protect our environmental and ecological system using clean and renewable energy sources like solar energy, proper recycling, and waste disposal, in the urban environment.

[1] Science Daily. “When more women make decisions, the environment wins.” Science News 21st March 2019, Retrieved 18th March 2022: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190321152838.htm

[2] Amrita Sen and Harini Nagendra. “The differentiated impacts of urbanization on lake communities in Bengaluru, India.”  International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development, (Volume 13, Issue 1, 2021), Retrieved 19th March 2022: https://www.tandfonline.com/action/doSearch?AllField=Urbanization&SeriesKey=tjue20