Renewable energy

The industrial world is constantly growing and developing whilst our ability to replenish fundamental resources is slowly diminishing. Consequently, in order to sustain our natural environment, it is imperative to protect and manage our resources carefully through biological and natural processes. As a result, should the level to sustain a certain resource decrease heavily; it may exceed the earth’s natural capacity to replenish it. Therefore, as human beings utilising such resources; it is in our best interest to avoid previously mentioned circumstances and manage and sustain our environment.

There are a number of methods that benefit the cause mentioned above, for example, energy.  For this reason, there is a list of the mainstream forms of renewable energy: Wind power, hydro power, solar energy, bio mass, bio fuel and geo thermal energy.

The stated example of wind power can be used to run wind turbines that generate electricity for the earth. In this instance, the wind speed increase shall ultimately lead to the power output increase. Thus, the idea to place wind turbines across the land, particular offshore wind locations that have higher wind resources, can contribute to the sustainability of energy whilst simultaneously increasing the global energy production.

Another resource that can be sustained through the use of human- made processes; is Hydropower. Accordingly, the energy in water can be controlled, maintained and used. Consequently, a number of hydroelectric gravity dams have been established across the world and contribute to a considerable amount of energy used globally. For example, the hydroelectric dam on the Columbia River, supplies four power stations and is the largest electric power-producing facility in the United States.

In conclusion, the final form of renewable energy to be mentioned is solar energy. The process behind solar energy relies on energy that is derived from the sun through the form of solar radiation. As a result, high temperature processes such as; ‘solar architecture’, ‘daylighting’, ‘solar hot water’ and ‘solar cooking’, can produce heat that is utilised for everyday industrial purposes.

Video 2

Here is a little video clip explaining the process of solar power generated energy

Apartheid

Apartheid as a cause of South Africa's scarcity of renewable resources

Studies have looked at environmental depletion and insufficiency of renewable resources and how this has    contributed to social instability in South Africa. The environmental issues have said to have been obscured by the negative social impacts of apartheid. The analysis focuses on how aspects of the apartheid era has     impacted agricultural productivity, soil erosion, and fuelwood availability within the former homelands and on migration rates to urban settings

British colonial rule gradually took land from Africans and in turn provided whites with 87 percent of the land, while blacks - almost 75 percent of the country's population - lived within the homelands, accounting for only 13 percent of the land. The black population in these areas sustained themselves through agriculture, local service industries, and as migrant labor in white-owned mines and industry.

The homelands became a dumping ground for the black South African population. From 1960 to 1980, the government forced 1.75 million people into the homelands to clear what it called "black spots" -squatter settlements in urban areas and rural villages consisting of blacks whose labor-tenant contracts on white farms had been canceled. The population density of the homelands increased dramatically as a result. Quasi-urban communities emerged on homeland borders as the labor force commuting to neighboring cities, mines, and industries grew rapidly in the 1970s. Other black workers lived in single-sex hostels near industries too far from the homelands for daily commuting. The remainder of the black population was restricted to legally defined "townships" lying outside white urban areas and was employed in industry and mines or as domestic laborers.  Rivers, steep valleys, and escarpments, or human-made barriers, such as industrial areas, commercial belts, and railways, separated racial groups. There was an over population on the lands that were assigned to the black South Africans. Poor land and the inadequacy of the infrastructure, such as sewage systems, water supplies, and energy sources, meant that the urban black population relied extensively for its day-to-day needs on the local environment - including small vegetable plots, local streams and trees. many of these communities are located in fragile environments close to hillsides and river valleys and the environment then quickly deteriorates.

Degradation and depletion of agricultural land, forests, water, and fish stocks threaten many societies around the world.

There are three  types of environmental scarcity:

(1)     Supply-induced scarcity is caused by the degradation and depletion of an environmental resource, for example, the erosion of cropland.

(2)     Demand-induced scarcity results from population growth within a region or increased per capita consumption of a resource, either of which increase the demand for the resource.

(3)     Structural scarcity arises from an unequal social distribution of a resource that concentrates it in the hands of relatively few people while the remaining population suffers from serious shortages.

According to the study, the depletion of agricultural resources results in civil violence and a troubled relation between state and society, resulting in falling agricultural production, migrations to urban areas, and economic decline in regions severely affected by resource depletion.

Our own personal example of violence affecting agriculture growth would be Zimbabwe. A country where farmers are forced to leave their lands, resulting in the lack of production and food supply.

http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pcs/eps/south/sa1.htm

The adventure of Earthboy story book

Story Book


As a group we decided to construct a simple children's story book in order to inform the new generation about how they as individuals can contribute to the replenishing of resources and ultimately sustaining our natural environment. This is a proposal demonstrating the effectiveness of conserving resources in a fun and interactive way whilst appealing to your children aesthetically.

Video 1

Welcome

Welcome to How to be an earth hero by saving our resources.

As a team we hope to inspire you to be or get involved with participating in the reduction of environmental issues. There are numerous environmental issues but we feel that the global village needs to be reminded, made more aware and thourally informed through creativity in order to be appealing. In doing so this will influence the issue to be directed to front-of-mind (dominant).

Master to Earthboy: Your mission is to promote, sell, inform and make the global village rethink about the crucial environmental issue:

RESOURCE DEPLETION

Unfortunately, if the media does not create hype about the environmental issue, society forgets and the importance disintegrates. There is vast amount of emphasis towards Global Warming and Climate Change. Societies are either directly or indirectly reminded constantly about this issue. For an example; Visuals (movie): 2012 and Inconvenient Truth. This is further highlighted through the animation movie Ice Age 1, 2, 3 and 4. The media played a role in distributing the idea that the world is going to end in 2012 to which some people believed. The bible is used for reference to these environmental issues for motive. Therefore, Global Warming and Climate change is positioned in the conscious minds of societies (children- adults).