Gamiing Nature Notes

Environmental news, stories, and information about issues affecting the Kawarthas, Canada, and The World. With a special focus on lakes, lakeshores, and water systems.

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China indeed attracts a lot of attention from around the world. A prove of this is the number of visitors that we received from our latest article on China. The country is fast emerging as a global economic power but is still failing in managing sustainable growth.

Our environment is constantly changing and we cannot deny the fact that we should be more aware of the problems that surround it. But being aware of the problems is not enough, we should come up with different ways to solve them. Whenever we think and talk about all the environmental problems that we are facing today, we usually refer to pollution, natural disasters, global warming, population, the depletion of natural resources, climate change, deforestation among others. We tend to overlook all the small problems that we create with our daily habits without even realizing. The way we live our life and do things can also affect the environment. But there is a simple way of avoiding these problems by doing small things and adapting some eco-friendly habits in our day to day life.

I have seen many people while walking on the street, in subway, sitting in a coffee shop, who don’t even care about what is going on around them. But it doesn’t mean that I have not seen people who do care. I decided to talk to them and find out their concern towards the environment. I asked the same question to many people, what was the last eco-friendly choice they have made recently.

Mamta Saxena, mother of a 3-year old says, “My son is very young but I still try to teach him the importance of healthy and clean environment. I always ask him to throw all his garbage in the bin and now he understands that. Even in my community I have seen many people who don’t follow the waste disposal and recycling guideline, so this time in community meeting I raised up the concern that everyone should follow the guideline to keep the surroundings better.”

Zahara Shami said, “Since we are having a rough winter in Toronto, where everything is dull and dry and we hardly see any greenery around us, I decided to get some greenery at home. Recently I brought two plants and planning to get more.”

“I bought an eco-friendly car which is 50 percent gas and 50 percent electric. You can switch the mode according to your preference and requirement. I love my car. It makes less sound, is very comfortable, easy to drive and also saves me some bucks” says Irina with excitement.

Nidhi Desai mentions, “In my work place most of my colleague drink coffee and when their mugs get empty they dump the mug in the bins near to them. They don’t even bother to look for the blue bins around them. When I noticed this I decided to raise the concern and in my next team meeting I asked everyone to place one small blue bin near to them and avoid to mix the trash.”

Rosa Yoon, mother of two kids says, “I always try to avoid using plastic bags for my grocery or for anything. I always carry my grocery bags with me. That way I also set an example for my kids to never use these plastic bags for shopping. Whenever my kids come with me for grocery I ask them to carry bags so next time they remember to do the same. Not only this, I always try to set a good example for them to make right decisions and lead a healthy life.”

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China Pollution

The lack of reliable information due to banned and controlled media and social networksavailable in the country can sometimes misinform the population and the global community. Nevertheless, this reality is changing. China’s new leaders, including President Xi Jinping, haven’t embraced environmental protection by choice. They’ve been compelled by a new political reality: an informed Chinese public. Throughout 2011 and 2012, American Embassy officials in Beijing measured and tweeted the true levels of hazardous pollutants in the capital.

Today I selected some organizations that are fighting for the environmental protection in China. It is no surprise that many of China’s NGOs try to avoid tackling sensitive issues: not only their legal status but also their channels for funding rely directly on authorization from the government. As long as it remains risky for NGOs to contradict the official stance on environmental problems, the amount of pressure they can put on the government to implement environment-friendly policies will be seriously limited.

China has rapidly emerged as a global super economic power. Nevertheless, the country’s environment is significantly suffering with this fast development. Without proper environmental policies and regulations, China has accumulated huge environmental debts that will have to be paid back.

Finally, I got a chance to explore The Thousand Islands this Canada Day. The place is magical and is one of the best spots to appreciate Canada’s natural beauty. The moment you reach there you get the feeling that you are living in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Splendid, exciting, relaxing are some of the words that describe this place.

The moment we reached there, the beauty of the Lawrence River blew me away. The view in front of our cottage was scenic; we got a beautiful view of the river and it was in the heart of The Thousand Islands. Every morning we could see and feel the pleasure of that place. We couldn’t stop ourselves from capturing every detail in our camera and we clicked many pictures.

Thousand Islands is located on the Upper St Lawrence River near Kingston, Ontario and has over 1800 islands. The St. Lawrence River is one of the largest rivers in the world, which links great lakes into the Atlantic Ocean; Great Lakes hold 20% of fresh drinking water. The river holds a unique position as it straddles the border of the US and Canada and provide fresh drinking water to local towns of both the sides. It is a most loved place of nature lovers.

One evening I was soaking in the beauty of the place. I could see that many ducks were floating around, which made me walk closer to the river. But as soon as I headed towards the water; my eyes got stuck on one corner of the river. The water which had me mesmerized a few minutes back suddenly made me feel gross. One whole corner of the water by a ferry way, was full of waste material which was polluting the water. There were a couple of ducks that were stuck in the waste, trying frantically to get out of the mess.

Where St. Lawrence River is a great source of drinking water, it also faces many other pollution related problems as well, as it is the only way for ships to enter the Great Lakes and these ships brings along many problems. All other countless stress such as development, transport, over harvesting and pollution are also a threat to rivers and lakes.

All our demands for food, goods, material, energy put so much pressure on our planet. We are so busy in fulfilling our own needs and demands that sometime knowingly or may be unknowingly we do things which harm our nature and spoil its beauty and charm. And water is the heart of all these problems. We think its not our responsibility to clean everything; there are appointed officials for those jobs and they are doing their jobs. There are many organizations like Save the River and Water Aid Canada that have been working to save and protect the rivers and lakes. But they aren’t the sole custodians of preserving the nature. If we want our loved ones to have a healthy life, we need to share the responsibilities; we cannot leave everything to others. We need to do whatever we can do to protect and save our home for the future generation.

Everything in my trip was completely amazing. Our cottage, parks, everything was clean and well maintained but that one corner stuck somewhere in my mind. We all love clean and tidy places and keep our home the same way, but sometime we forget about our surroundings, which also need to be clean and pollution free.

There are many small steps that each one of us can take at home and outside and by making them a part of our daily routine we can make our planet a healthy place to live.

Always recycle the waste material; never dump wastes into a storm drain. Storm sewers go directly to rivers and lakes
Reduce uses of pesticide and fertilizers; If you live near lake or river, plant a buffer strip of plants along the water
Maintain the healthy ecosystem by planting in or around your home; make sure when you water your plant the water doesn’t go on the street or sidewalks
Don’t pour chemicals down the sink or toilet
Reduce air pollution by using less gasoline into the water. So when you buy a boat motor, choose a 4-cycle, rather than 2-cycle, engine. You will cause less pollution
In the winter, use less salt on your sidewalks and driveway. Chloride from road salt is building up in lakes and aquifers that receive runoff from highways
If you fish, consider putting away your lead sinkers and jigs and switching to non-toxic tackle. Loons, trumpeter swans and some other waterfowl are susceptible to contracting lead poisoning from tackle they pick up off lake bottoms
Don’t use the lake as a bathtub. Soaps and shampoos contain nutrients and pollutants that are harmful to the lake and organisms living in it; even when you wash your car park it on the grass instead of on the street or driveway

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Fishermen row a boat in the algae-filled Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province

Lack of waste removal and proper processing has exacerbated the problem; almost 90% of underground water in cities and 70% of China’s rivers and lakes are now polluted. Combined with negligent farming practices, the water crisis has turned China’s arable land into desert, which today claims around 27.5% of China’s total land mass.

Some 400 million Chinese lives are affected by desertification, according to the government, and the World Bank estimates that the overall cost of water scarcity associated with pollution is around 147 billion RMB, or roughly 1 percent of GDP. exacerbated the problem; almost 90%of underground water in cities and 70% of China’s rivers and lakes are now polluted. Combined with negligent farming practices, the water crisis has turned China’s arable land into desert, which today claims around 27.5% of China’s total land mass.

Pond filled with dead fish on the outskirts of Wuhan, central China's Hubei provinceThe water pollution of rivers and lakes in China is critical and is severely affecting villagers that rely on these natural sources to survive. Just to have an idea, a recent report conducted by WHO (World Health Organization) estimated that nearly 100,000 people die annually from water pollution-related illnesses in China.

The lack of environmental regulations coupled with economic development of emerging countries is significantly impacting the nature. Increasing the awareness towards this topic is the first step to take the first action!

Last week, the Facebook page of Gamiing Nature Centre achieved over 200 fans! This is a milestone to celebrate. Through the effort of Gamiing’s staff and volunteers who are constantly posting news and relevant information, we reached a significant and loyal base of fans who are constantly following our posts. Social media platforms are key nowadays in order to communicate with communities and interact with other organizations.

Gamiing has already shared its social media content with global organizations such as WWF, David Suzuki Foundation, China Environmental Forum, among others. And we cannot forget to mention the great organizations that are always liking and following our posts such as Ontario Trails, Discover Play and Stay, The Green Party of Haliburton, and many many others!

We would like to thank all fans that already like and follow Gamiing’s Facebook page. Please share our page with your family and friends as well! Let’s spread our words and leverage a bigger and better community focused on a better future to our planet.
Source : gananoque.com