REFLECTION:

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oing this blog gave us a great insight into the vast level or urban pollution within the country’s capital as well as along the east west corridor. Almost all the different types of urban pollution were examined running from unpleasant buildings all the way up to noise pollution. These blogs helped us understand the importance of keeping our space clean as we the people of this country have to live our everyday live in this same space. Urban Pollution in Trinidad and Tobago managed by Brett Lucas and Jameel Phillip posted a blog entitled “Little City Big Noise”, this gave a wider insight to noise pollution within urban spaces. Little city big noise explained the mechanics of the building structures of the clubs that allow noise to escape. This we thought was very valuable and knowledgeable as it shows the difference between the more advanced and less advanced buildings as well as it shows that clubs could function within urban spaces and reduce the level of noise. Another blog which related to ours was “organic waste disposal in Port of Spain” posted by POS waste: viewing the city through its waste which is managed by Safiiyah Hosein and Jesse Francis. This blog exaggerated the impact of dumping solid waste within the capital, this reiterates the fact made in our blogs that the dumping of solid wastes is a eyesore and is unpleasant both to commuters passing through the capital as well as residents within. “liquid Pollution and waste disposal’ also posted by POS Waste: viewing the city through its waste is another interesting post, this is because no one seemed to investigate the fact of the stench the capital has. That blog gave great insight into the stench as well as that there is no legislation regarding the dumping of liquid waste into the drains of the capital. All the blogs posted were very educating and portrayed very valuable information as well as they revealed interesting things about our country Trinidad and Tobago.

References:

1.      Urban Pollution in Trinidad and Tobago: “Little City Big Noise” , April 8^th 2015

http://pollutett.blogspot.com/2015/04/little-city-big-noise.html

1.      POS waste: viewing the city through its waste: “organic waste disposal in Port of Spain”, April 10^th, 2015.

http://poswaste.blogspot.com/2015/02/organic-waste-disposal-in-port-of-spain.html

1.      POS waste: viewing the city through its waste: “liquid Pollution and waste disposal’, April 9^th, 2015.

http://poswaste.blogspot.com/2015/04/liquid-waste.html

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 would like to divert a bit from the air, land and water pollution and mention an issue I think worthy of recognition in our generation. Within Port of Spain there are many old dilapidated buildings existing with what we call graffiti, or writing on the walls of the buildings. These present an eyesore for tourist and locals alike because it shows signs of underdevelopment and “ghetto-ism”. Graffiti is an offence because it is defacing of property and holds a penalty. In some regions of the world, London for instance it is deemed anti social behavior. In some places on the other hand it is considered contemporary art and encouraged as a way to get the youth population to stay away from criminal activity.

            In Trinidad however, it is not encouraged as it is seen as vagabond behavior and can lead to prosecution. As one passes along the Beetham area, the area is “decorated” or defaced with graffiti. As one walks along Nelson Street in Port of Spain, it is also observed on the walls of the building which appear in a severely run down state. In a city like Port of Spain, which is considered by some theorists to be post industrial, graffiti is like urban artwork. This urban artwork can be seen throughout Port of Spain and other cities in Trinidad.

This photo was previously used in another entry however it was
the only one that I have that showed graffiti. If you look to the far right
of the picture you can the writing on the wall

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ontinuing along, another unsightly scene in Port of Spain is vagrants and homeless street people. This just like a bottle strewn along the street is unpleasant and unsightly especially for a capital country. Vagrancy and homelessness in Trinidad is reportedly increasing at alarming rates and the government has vowed to invest in social development to remedy the problem. The issue of human pollution through vagrancy and homeless individuals wandering the street is one that needs a more sensitive approach because at times these people would cause a nuisance to everyday persons on the move.  These pictures below show vagrancy and homelessness in and around our nation’s capital and how unattractive it can look.

 

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any people when they hear urban pollution or pollution on the whole, they think about just garbage and unpleasant sites. We often surpass other types apart from the garbage which are as dangerous as the common ones. Noise pollution is one that is often overlooked, is very unpleasant to both humans and animals, noise is something that could be tolerated at a certain amount and level, but when it exceeds this threshold it becomes a nuisance to living thing. Most Trinbagonians have the party spirit which is in or culture, it is something we are proud, this urge to party gave rise to many nightclubs, bars and other famous destinations in Trinidad and Tobago. These bars and nightclubs play a lot of loud music to satisfy the patrons, this pleases the partygoers but to the surrounding population non partygoers as well as wildlife this is noise. Other than the clubs, there is another source of noise pollution that is of major concern that is noise from automobiles. Apart from the noise of the engine, there is a trend of inputting high wattage systems into cars, these systems play music way over the decibel limit set by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) of Trinidad and Tobago. These cars compared to the nightclubs are more dangerous as they are mobile and can move to different places; this means they can pollute the atmosphere with noise at any random area, all depending on the driver. Other than being a party nation, we are known for our natural environmental beauty, many tourist come her to get away from their busy city life, although some of them may like the loud music and noise other may not and this can affect their choice to return to our beautiful island. This would affect many locals as they own many small businesses that depend on tourists to survive.  The noise also affects the local residents, a person trying to get a good night rest after work may be disturbed, a child studying for an exam wouldn’t be able to concentrate and the ones affected the most is the elderly, the loud music from these cars can cause an elderly person to get sick, something which I’ve witnessed. Wildlife is also affected as they have increased senses compared to humans and the noise affects them drastically, this would cause them to migrate out of the area which would be a great loss as these animals is always a great sight.

TZAR night club, one of the many nightclubs in Trinidad and Tobago located in Woodbrook. This nightclub doesn’t produce much noise pollution as some of the others as it has insulated walls which reduces the amount of noise, however other clubs which are old, refurbished buildings don’t have this insulation and create a lot of noise.

Nightclub on Ariapita Avenue, Port of Spain

This is just of the many vehicles that contain a high wattage audio system, the owners and fans see it as something awesome whilst others just see it as plain old noise. These vehicles can travel to anywhere, especially to beaches and rivers where there is a vast amount of wildlife that are disturbed by the loud noise. The picture below shows a van containing music which can do a great deal of disturbing the peace 

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ontinuing from the previous entry on water pollution in Port of Spain and environs, more elucidation is necessary for such a sensitive topic. The focus of the previous entry was on Sea Lots and residents of the community polluting the area because of improper waste disposal, and brief mention was made to the industries in east Port of Spain; this entry zooms in further into industrial runoff and water pollution currently occurring in the area.

Based on a document released by the Environmental Management Authority (EMA), there are a number of industrial facilities operating in east Port of Spain including Berger Paints, Trinidad Juice Company Limited and National Petroleum Marketing Company Limited, which release waste material into the drains, Black River and East Dry River. The waste eventually makes its way into the Caroni Swamp and the neighboring coastal waters. This contributes to the foul smell that pervades Port of Spain from time to time. The EMA also reported high levels of degraded coastal and surfaces waters in the areas surrounding.

The EMA has now resorted to taking more stringent action regarding the matter and now has begun issuing water pollution permits to facilities operating in east Port of Spain including Vehicle Management Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago and House of Angostura Limited. This permit allows industries only a certain level and type of waste into the waterways. This measure is expected to control the toxicity level and reduce the amount of water pollutants entering the environment and bring relief to the affected communities. The document referred to in this entry is here: http://www.ema.co.tt/docs/Articles/Permits.pdf. 

The researchers weren't able to collect a picture regarding this entry however we were able to source one from online. This picture was taken by Suresh Cholai who is a reporter.

Residents stand behind mounds of garbage in Sea Lots.
this amount of garbage would definitely find its way into waterways .

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ort of Spain is located on the North Western coast the island and neighbors the Gulf of Paria. Before one enters the city, there is a tiny low income community known as Sea Lots (this community was mentioned in a previous post). Sea lots is a slum area that can be paralleled to other areas of the world such as “Favelas” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

            Slum areas as seen in India on the National Geographic Channel, significantly resembles that of Sea Lots and the residents face similar issues. For one sanitation is poor and this can be attributed to the inaccessibility to clean drinking water. Many are forced to rely on rainwater which can cause illnesses or truck borne water which can be irregular. As Sea Lots is located in such close proximity to the sea, many a time solid waste matter from the community unavoidably or intentionally escapes and enters the sea. Debris and garbage can be seen floating in the area neighboring the community. This is quite unpleasant since Trinidad is dependent on tourism. Additionally as one passes the area, there is a foul odor emanating. One can only assume what may be the cause or origins of the scent. The nearby river running through Sea Lots is also lined with garbage and empty bottles floating on the surface which is a typical eyesore for onlookers and the general public and terribly bad for business. http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/EMA_looks_into_pollution_in_East_Port_of_Spain-115271939.html

            East Port of Spain where Sea Lots is located is also the home to a number of light manufacturing factories that constantly produce waste material. According to the Environmental Management Authority (EMA), these factories have caused water pollution in the vicinity as their waste could have possibly gotten in the water ways and contaminated them.  

Waste in an area in the vicinity of Sea Lots

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ities contribute largely to environmental problems such as pollution and depletion of resources. These problems generated are photochemical smog, burning of garbage, contamination of soil and water ways as well as widespread littering. A lot of people living in the cities are not aware of the natural world; they have even been referred to as a new species “homo urbanus”. Trinidad as well as other developing countries needs to balance development and sustainability, to do this they have to follow the three R’s: reduce. Reuse and recycle. This blog highlights the problems of urban pollution in Trinidad, walking anywhere in Trinidad you must see garbage in a drain. These sites are just not an eye sore but pose a threat to community as well as wildlife. There are many that cherish the space they live in an try to clean up and dispose of the garbage properly but as in every population there are the reckless ones that contributes to the problem. Countless times I’ve seen people throw garbage out of their vehicles, dump garbage in street corners although there is a bin a few feet away. People from the southlands of Trinidad explain that the lifestyle of dumping garbage in the streets is mainly a ‘north people’ way, many locals say they are fed up of pollution. The reason being that Trinidad economy is partly dependent on tourism and these locals depend on tourists to make a living. Urban pollution would deter tourists from coming to the country therefore hampering these locals source of income. In conclusion polluting is not a proper practice and if we want to achieve developed country status we need to get rid of these pre historic ways and preserve and keep the space we live in clean.

Eutrophication in a drain along the priority bus route, this is caused from effluent runoff as well as untreated sewage released into the drain. This is a complete eyesore and any person whether it be a tourist or local would be disgusted when they see this.

A dirty drain located in our capital city.

This is another drain along the priority bus route, this one is filled with garbage, this causes the back up of water causing mosquitos which causes diseases such as dengue and chick V. apart from the diseases theses blocked drains would cause flooding as the water wouldn’t be able to flow easily, it is also an eyesore to everyone. The cleaning of these drains are the responsibilities of the municipal corporations but we as humans and living in this place must keep it clean. As the saying goes, “never poop where you eat”, that saying is plausible in this context as we dirty the same country where we live.

Drain along the Priority Bus Route just outside of the city.