POLLUTION, AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM"

ADVANCED ENGLISH II

TASK 4 - COLLABORATIVE ACTIVITY 3

PARTICIPANTS:

JEFFERSON DAVID MELO GUERRERO

CODE: 1’057.892.569

M. JIMENA LINARES M

CODE: 1’049.608.123

CESAR AUGUSTO MOLINA

CODE: 18’516.333

NELFY CAROLINA VEGA

CODE: 1’049.633.087

COURSE CODE: 551014_5

TUTOR: MILLY ANDREA MUÑOZ

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OPEN AND DISTANCE (UNAD)

PROGRAM OF DEGREE IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

CEAD – TUNJA
04/2018

04/2018

POLLUTION, AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM"

By: Jefferson David Melo G.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM

In November 2017, the director of IDEAM, Omar Franco, announced that the most polluted places in the country are Bogotá, the Metropolitan Area of Medellin and the municipality of Ráquira in Boyacá; I have no doubt that authorities have worked hand in hand to counteract this problem in said jurisdiction of the Ricaurte province.

The municipality in which I live is Ráquira-Boyacá, from my point of view the main problem of my town is the atmospheric pollution generated by furnaces that work with coal and firewood and mining activity. It goes without saying that Ráquira is based on its craftsmanship since 75% of the Ráquireña economy belongs to these, whose activity is an indigenous legacy that has prevailed and emerged thanks to the efforts of its inhabitants, who have made them famous not only at a national level, but also international.

I dare say that our Municipality is rich in clays, which in certain occasions are mixed with other raw materials for the elaboration of the objects of decoration, gardening and domestic use. I would say that this makes that Ráquira is visited by great number of tourists constituting this one in another economic source. For the cooking of these crafts, nowadays wood, coal and electric ovens are used. To be honest, these furnaces of coal and firewood are the big pollution problem of this municipality since these furnaces produce large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon monoxide (CO), which greatly affects the environment causing the global warming, landscape devastation, water pollution and the formation of smog, also the health of its inhabitants my impression is that the Raquireños is really affected more than anything in their respiratory system, others maintain that there is a significant deterioration in the quality of life.

Coal mining in Ráquira is a sustainable means for the families of this population. I really think the great problem of this activity is that these mines release pollutants that are discharged into the environment and that result in harmful effects such as acid rain, the greenhouse effect, two of the major environmental problems. I would like to draw attention to the institutions in charge of public health, so that they can make decisions that help resolve this problem soon. Unfortunately it seems that not enough is being done to find a solution to this problem, there is no doubt that the greatest threat to world, is the global warming.

By: M. Jimena Linares

AIR’S CONDITION, MIRACLE CHANGES IN BOGOTÁ

On March 23rd of 2018, the district environment secretary’s office and the district health secretary have announced the yellow alert state in Bogotá, they argued that the contaminating residues are not able to scatter, focusing in specific areas of the city and being dangerous for people; but then, and as a miracle, seven days later, they made a new publication, announcing that the yellow alert was over, because of the strong rains and the wind direction change, thus, I personally, questioned myself this, is the earth planet trying even yet to defend itself from the continuous human attacks? it seems to me, that it stills fighting to survive, as far as I’m concerned, most of the Bogota’s citizens do not realize the importance of taking care of earth planet or the consequences of the environmental damage they cause.

 Even though these two secretaries gave some advices to reduce the air conditions damage, I consider as necessary that people must cooperatively work to sow plants or trees, reinforce recycling campaigns, and change the consumer habits, it would be easier to handle if for instance, students of 9th or 10th grade of schools that have to accomplish with a specific number of literacy hours help to do these jobs; another option is really applying the environmental penalty by two options, money or by doing this labor, with the collected money of those penalties, government may employ people to do it, then we generate job and make our own contribution to reduce the earth planet’s damage; as Chai Jing (1976) said “Environmental protection and economic development are not in conflict; environmental protection is not a burden but a source for innovation, it can increase competition, create jobs, and lifts economy”.

Undoubtedly, not only Bogotá but the whole Colombian cities or towns need to adopt new customs, we need to realize the importance of changing and the impact our actions have, each one of us must be a guardian of our natural resources, earth planet has demonstrated that it keeps fighting to survive, it needs our help to do it, Richard Rogers (1933) stated “the only one way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment is to get everybody involved”.

In any case, to be honest with you, every single year since I remember, there are apocalypses theories about the ending of the world, I’m afraid of all of them, and I think all of us must be afraid of. If you do your own analysis, all these theories start with the ending of natural sources and the earth revenge through volcano eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes, etc.; either way, if you ask me if I already did changes in my life to contribute to the earth's reparation, I must tell you yes! and I hope you to do it also, we are the generation in charge of that.

By: Carolina Vega

INDISCRIMINATE USE OF PESTICIDES AGAINST POLLINATION.

A flowering abundant in a coffee crop besides being a beautiful landscape, is for the coffee farmer a good indication that there will be a good production month ahead, and probably his income will be increased. But this increase in profits may also be the increase in the death of thousands of bees that are attracted by the soft smell of the flower with the great flowering of the coffee tree, but which also keeps pesticide residues that in some crops indiscriminately, the coffee grower has used to control the main enemy of coffee, the bit.

"Chlorpyrifus", the main active ingredient of some pesticides sold to fight the small insect of the drill, has been found in a high percentage in samples of thousands of dead bees, as well as "dimethoate", used in blooms of citrus. (www.levanteemv / comunitat-valenciana / 2016/02/21).

The indiscriminate and misguided use of pesticides is leading to numerous beehives being destroyed and with them the pollination is disappearing, a task that bees do with much curia. It must be remembered that 70 percent of the viability of a crop depends on insect pollination (www.agroinformacion.com - Feb 23, 2018). And is that bees are the fundamental basis of the ecosystem, because without them there could be a chain of resources that allow the survival of living beings.

But not only manual applications in crops cause problems to hives, massive fumigations against viruses that affect human health such as Zika, are also attacking the life and function of bees, which if not kill them, leaves them in a state that they cannot do their honey production work well.

Aerial fumigations are affecting the business of beekeepers, which occurs in the Atlantic Coast and Huila, where 80 and 60 hives were lost respectively. Says a beekeeper ... we know that farmers need to fumigate their crops, but if they let us know at least 8 days before, we could look at how to cover the hives during the fumigation, so that the bees do not die. (The Chronicle of Quindío).

This lack of awareness, perhaps due to poor information and / or training in the application of pesticides, is causing environmental chaos in the environment of bees, since we must first resort to complying with the principles of good practices integrated in the pest management, which promotes the priority use of nonchemical methods by organic methods.

"If bees disappear now, in four years humanity will be extinct", a premonition attributed to Albert Einstein and although at the time it seemed somewhat exaggerated, as things go with uncontrolled fumigations, it is very likely that this will be fulfilled. Entities such as the ICA, the Sena and the National Federation of Coffee Growers, among others, must take charge in this serious environmental problem that is the disappearance of pollination by the death of thousands of bees, generating standards in the rational use of pesticides, besides initiating a national campaign of instruction in the handling of equipment and techniques for an adequate application of pesticides.

By: Cesar Augusto Molina

WATER SOURCES OF NEIVA

The authorities of Neiva is making ecological tours of ravines and other water sources that surround the city, taking into account the strong threat of pollution, climate change and the level of growth of the communities in their areas of influence, led to the determination of the Ministry of the Environment that several of them present a worrying state. As Gustavo Galvis Hernández (2017) says: "the outlook in Colombia is regrettable in terms of decontamination of its water sources. Only 30% of the landfills generated in our cities have some type of treatment that is to say that the remaining 70% goes directly to these sources, with the respective consequences on the environment”.

I reckon that the lack of citizen culture and the ineffectiveness of institutional actions are worsening the outlook, this added to another latent danger, Since agreement with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers and hazardous chemicals that are used daily can enter the water sources and, in this way, constitute a health hazard of both people like for animals and plants, this situation is taking the Neiva ecosystems to a point of no return, for which I personally think that it should be addressed more effectively.

In the city of Neiva they want to reduce the negative impact with the ecological routes accompanied by the Police, environmental promoters and environmental engineers, in order to diagnose these water sources and ensure their preservation and care. To tell you the truth to prevent pollution in rivers is something that should have begun a long time ago, because it is shameful the state of many of the rivers in the city, especially the most useful and necessary. However It seems to me that something helps to solve the problem, But if you ask me I would believe that citizen awareness is the most important thing to improve in pollution issues and in general in many other issues.

REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAPHIC

Aloy, (2013). English Advanced 2.  Speakout Advanced p 27. Expressing Opinions. Extra Vocabulary. Retrieved from: http://englishadvanced2.blogspot.com.co/2013/10/speakout-advanced-p-27-expressing.html

El Tiempo, (2008). Ráquira y Sogamoso en el 'top 5' de los más contaminados de Colombia. Retrieved from: http://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/CMS-3995750

 CAR, (2014). Caso de interés - OPCH-Arcilla en Ráquira. CAR. Retrieved from: www.observatorioambientalcar.co/vercaso.php?id=39

El Diario, (2018). Trabajan para disminuir la contaminación del aire en Ráquira. Retrieved from: http://www.periodicoeldiario.com/2018/02/24/trabajan-para-disminuir-la-contaminacion-del-aire-en-raquira/

Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente. (23 de March de 2018). Debido a condiciones meteorológicas se anuncia alerta amarilla en Bogotá por calidad del aire . Obtenido de http://www.ambientebogota.gov.co/web/sda/historial-denoticias/ /asset_publisher/1RkX/content/distrito-levanta-alerta-amarilla-porcalidad-del-aire-en-lacapital?redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ambientebogota.gov.co%2Fweb%2 Fsda%2Fhistorial-de-noticias%3Fp_p_id%

Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente. (30 de March de 2018). Distrito levanta alerta amarilla por calidad del aire en la Capital. Obtenido de http://www.ambientebogota.gov.co/web/sda/historial-de-noticias/- /asset_publisher/1RkX/content/distrito-levanta-alerta-amarilla-por-calidaddel-aire-en-lacapital?redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ambientebogota.gov.co%2Fweb%2 Fsda%2Fhistorial-de-noticias%3Fp_p_id% TEFL & TESOL Courses. (16 de May de 2017).

How To Talk About The Present Using (Present Perfect Continuous) Grammar In English. Obtenido de https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7rbGYUy0Qg&feature=youtu.be

La voz de la región (2018, February 20) Monitoreo a fuentes hídricas de Neiva, devela preocupante problemática ambiental, retrieved of: http://lavozdelaregion.co/monitoreo-a-fuentes-hidricas-de-neiva-develapreocupante-problematica-ambiental/

 Portafolio (2017, January 12) Contaminación de nuestros ríos, ¿hasta cuándo? Retrieved of: http://www.portafolio.co/opinion/gustavo-galvis-hernandez/contaminacion-denuestros-rios-hasta-cuando-columna-gustavo-galvis-enero-13-de-2017-502713

 Univisión noticias. Cómo evitar la contaminación del agua. Retrieved of: https://www.univision.com/noticias/medio-ambiente/como-evitar-la-contaminaciondel-agua