Trashing the Planet

"A man pours excess water on to the street after filling up his barrel with water from a spout near the construction site of a building in São Paulo, Feb. 3, 2015. Builders opened a water well by drilling into one of the numerous rivers running underneath the city, according to local media. Residents and small businesses took advantage of the water as São Paulo, Brazil's largest city, has nearly run out.” Source: International Business Times http://www.ibtimes.com/sao-paulo-drought-2015-photos-historic-water-crisis-brazil-show-city-brink-collapse-1912767

We are trashing the planet! We are wasteful, and we pollute. At the rate we are going we are going to need 4-5 planets to sustain our current lifestyle.  (Story of Stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM) The truth is we are just wasteful. We have a moral obligation to protect our planet.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Brazil is in a recession. (http://globalatmusa.blogspot.com/2015/09/brazil-is-officially-in-recession.html) Drought related water shortages are partially to blame.

Since only 15% of the original water supply remains in the Cantareria, which is the main drinking water supply for Brazil, they are going to have to find a new source (http://www.wsj.com/articles/to-fix-water-crisis-brazil-turns-to-big-projects-1428356501). The next best source is the Billings reservoir. The problem is there has been so much pollution; it is mostly unsafe to drink. Somehow or another, they found an unpolluted partition of the reservoir that they will extract water from.

Rio is getting the Olympics in the summer of 2016. As athletes are currently doing trials, it has been found that the water quality of the water athletes will be competing in, is so low, athletes are becoming gravely ill. (http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/dirty-water-blamed-sick-rowers-brazil-olympic-trial-n407456).  The water problems are a result of years of garbage and sewage pollution (some of which is illegal). They are sending out boats to actually remove some of the trash, which may help a little, but it won’t kill the viruses in the water.

Despite finding water of Mars this past week (http://www.cnet.com/news/water-on-mars-flowing-salt-water-discovered-on-the-red-planet/ ) , we are still years from sending humans there . Also, we still are unsure if Mars can support life, or if humans can make it support life. For the foreseeable future, Earth is our planet we can live on.  Even if we could just move to another planet, Earth is our home and we need to protect it.

We have an obligation to protect our planet. Brazil is doing more the hurt the planet than to help it. There is a group called Clímax Brasil. This organization focuses on educating the youth on Brazil on climate and sustainability issues. This is s step in the right direction since the environment isn’t a high priority for people there, but is this enough?  The clean water in Brazil is in short supply, and a lot of that water is polluted. It will take years to clean it up. Additionally, it will cost money, which due to recession, is in short supply.