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| Vehicular congestion found in the city of San Fernando. |
At first
sight of this image of San Fernando, one thing comes to mind, TRAFFIC!! Then you
remember the stresses of the agonizingly long waits, the constant checking of
time, the noise of the other car's horn honking and the despair at the realization
that you're going to be late. However, vehicular congestion in these urban
areas poses another quite significant problem which we may not readily think
about. Influxes in vehicle use can and is causing harm to our environment.
This
scene has become a regular occurrence in Trinidad's urban centers and their
surrounding environs. Commuting to destinations in urban hubs is a daily practice
carried out by most Trinidadians. Located in these areas are our schools, jobs,
services and markets; thus the need for transport is necessitated. In addition Trinidad's
gasoline and diesel prices are subsidized, since it is a producer of oil and
gas. Thereby creating a coupling effect between these two factors which has
encouraged the ownership of vehicles in the country.
As a
consequence pollution due to vehicular emissions is quite apparent in Trinidad.
On a daily, as seen in the image, lines of virtually stagnant traffic can be observed
in the country's urban areas. This has caused increasing amounts of greenhouse
gases and toxic pollutants to become airborne in Trinidad's cities. These
greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide that traps solar radiation which in
turn aids global warming and climate change. Apart from this the emissions
contain solid particulates along with volatile organic compounds and nitrous
oxide which form ozone in sunlight, all of which affects human health mainly
breathing. Furthermore toxic gases such as lead is released into the
environment (Harrington
and Mcconnell 2003).
For more information on these negative effects of
vehicular emissions visit:
What
is more interesting is solutions to the problem of traffic is also hurting the
environment. As stated in the article 'Mobile Chimneys' (2013), the government
of Trinidad and Tobago is implementing several
measures to curb the emissions. One of these is to create new roadway to lessen
"congestion and travel time of vehicles." Although this new
infrastructure may lower emissions by cutting the operating times of vehicles
it may however, degrade our natural landscape as new territories would need to
be cleared in order to build these roadways.
To read the article mentioned above visit:
In
summation urban centers of Trinidad has created the need for transportation. This
need along with low fuel cost have increased the vehicular congestion in the
country's cities. This in turn has had detrimental effects on the environment both
atmospheric and terrestrial.
References
Harrington, Winston and Virginia Mcconnell. 2003."Motor Vehicles and the Environment." Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future.
Unknown. 2013."Mobile
Chimneys." Newsday,18th April. Accessed 15 Feb 2014.
Can you include your thoughts on "growth poles". Great photo.
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