How can we improve the environmental issues in Medellin?

     Many people are wondering in how to help with different strategies that encourage new generations to realize, understand and create a kind of sense belonging for the city and for the world in general. Many of the new era are so submerged in technology and digitalization that they forget about the essential aspects of life such as nature, and the importance of saving the planet from very serious problems (pollution, glaciers melting, temperature rising).  I chose this topic because it needs to have attention. and we cannot turn a blind eye with something like this. I will try to summarize the most important points of this problem and how it is affecting us, and of course make an invitation to all the people reading this, to save and contribute as well!

    I will start with the most important factor in our city, and that is global warming. This issue is for me the most important one because it is like one that surrounds every other "minor" issue, I mean, the other ones are related with this big one. The causes of global warming are very wide, however, I think that the most careful ones are burning fossil fuels, killing trees (deforestation), and agriculture. These three issues should be tackled NOW, I know that this story is not something new in our lives, but people do not become aware of all this different situations. Deforestation is something that really hurts me, because I am noticing that Medellin is suffering a lot of deforestation, and it is something that should change not only because of climate change but also because of beauty. There is nothing better than a city that knows how to implement and connect nature with the urban areas.

    Regarding farming and agriculture, all the different animals produce methane, that as we all know, is a greenhouse gas, and the large amount of this gas is very harmful to the planet, and it is an important contributor for global warming. The burning of fossil fuels is also a topic that has been discussed in the recent years, there are basically two points of view. The one that states that it is important to do this in order to take advantage of all the resources that the land of a country has, and the other people think that it is not safe and healthy for the planet to suffer such environmental damage. 

Here I am attaching a video that makes me feel very sad, the pollution issues that my city suffered a couple of years ago. Hopefully, things have changed a bit, but this is a reality.

    In my opinion, human race needs to understand as soon as possible all the consequences that they could face if global warming gets worse and worse. I think that the priority and first place will always be save for earth. If there are some acts and things that may become us richer, or will give us benefits, but they are not good for the environment, I think that they should be banned. As simple as that, nothing and nobody will be able to give us the beauty and the advantages that Earth provide us. I also wanted to highlight the excellent work that schools here in Medellin are having in order to educate children and let them know that earth is everything and that we should take care of it forever.

References:

• Volckhausen, T. (2014, January 27). Colombia’s climate change issues: 180,000 Medellin families in “high risk” of natural disaster. Colombia News | Colombia Reports. https://colombiareports.com/medellin-precarious-position-climate-change-increasing-natural-disasters/

• WWF-Australia. (2018). Causes of Global Warming. https://www.wwf.org.au/what-we-do/climate/causes-of-global-warming#gs.0rat5c