For this particular assignment, I had chosen two websites which I will make brief introduction about.
1, Sustainable Green Transport, Transport of London
Kind of Source: Website, Green Transport – Transport of London
Why this source: Public transportation carries millions of passengers each year. With the rise of awareness of using greener energies to save and improve our environment, the transports in London are also no exception to that. As a transportation enthusiast myself, I find it very interesting about the progression of how big establishment like Transport of London, shifting towards the more emission friendly direction.
Sustainability issue: Environment/emission free transportation
Subject: Article
Summary: The new draft Mayor’s Transport Strategy aims to change the way people choose to travel. By 2041, the Mayor aims for 80% of all Londoners’ trips to be made by foot, by cycle, or by public transport. Vehicle emissions can blight streets, harming health and contributing to climate change. London must meet legal air quality limits as soon as possible.Creating streets and routes that encourage walking, cycling and public transport use will play a major role in reaching this goal. Transport for London (TfL) will deliver on this goal by using the Healthy Streets Approach to guide all of its decision making.For those vehicles that remain, it is essential that we reduce emissions as soon as possible and switch them to zero emission technologies.
In-text citation: The success of London’s transport system in the future relies on the city becoming a place where people choose to walk and cycle. A total of £2.1 billion will be invested to 2021/22 to create Healthy Streets, focusing on increasing walking, cycling and public transport use, and improving road safety, public spaces and air quality.
Harvard reference: Green Transport is an article written on the website of the official Mayor of London Assembly: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/transport/green-transport#:~:text=The%20Mayor%20is%20working%20to,is%20zero%20emission%20by%202050.&text=In%20central%20London%2C%20all%20double,London%20will%20be%20zero%20emission.
2, Sustainable development and challenging deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: the good, the bad and the ugly
Kind of Source: Website
Why this source: The Amazon Rainforest holds a significant amount of plants and animals among all the places in the world. It produces the most oxygen in the world and is also known as the “lungs of the Earth”. However, massive modern development has caused huge deforestation very quickly, causing many animals and plants to go extinct and harming the homes of many aboriginals tribe. The topic deserved more attention hence that’s why I chose to select it as one of my subject under this criteria.
Sustainability Issue: Environment
Subject: Article
Summary: The Amazon rainforest is located in the north of South America, spanning an area of around 8 million km2 including parts of Brazil, Columbia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador Bolivia, Suriname, Guyana and French Guyana.In some areas of the Amazon rainforest, sustainable management strategies are in place to ensure people today can get the resources they need in a way that ensures future generations can also benefit from the ecosystem.Sustainable management strategies are affected by political and economic factors.
In text citation: In the past three decades, land use in the Brazilian Amazon has been characterized by the intense exploitation of natural resources which has resulted in a mosaic of human-altered habitats without effectively improving quality of life and income distribution for the local population. About 17 percent of the Amazon forest, or 60 million hectares – an area equivalent to France – has been converted to other land uses in the past 30 years (INPE, 2008). Most of this area has been transformed into low-productivity pastures. These changes were the result of former strong governmental incentives for forest conversion and population migration to the region, characterizing a development pattern at that time where forests were seen as barriers for economic growth.The trees in the Amazon forests contain 60 to 80 billion tonnes of carbon, more than the global emissions generated by humans in a decade. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon alone releases about 200 million tonnes of carbon annually, accounting for 3 percent of global net carbon emissions and 70 percent of national emissions (Houghton, 2005).Around 1.5 million hectares per year are harvested for timber (Asner et al., 2005), often using unsustainable practices that increase forest degradation and related biodiversity loss. Almost one-third of the Amazon forest has been degraded by the use of unsustainable practices. In addition, the summed effect of deforestation, degradation, and poor harvesting and slash-and-burn agricultural practices puts millions of hectares of forests at high fire risk. In El Niño years, forests are even more susceptible to fire because long periods of drought make forests drier and result in accumulation of fuel (dead leaves) on the ground (Nepstad et al., 2004).Forest exploitation and conversion have not brought true development, employment opportunities, better income distribution for local populations or environmental benefits to the region. Currently, about 45 percent of the population of the Brazilian Amazon has income below the poverty line.
Harvard Reference: Sustainable development and challenging deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: the good, the bad and the ugly: http://www.fao.org/3/i0440e03.htm
