Homework 2

Author: Paulo Arieu

Create a table illustrating at least five (5) ecological disasters and/or controversies

occurring from 1975 and 2010.

Make reference to Appendix F (page 46) for further instructions. Be ready to share your work

with the rest of the class.

Disasters can occur as a consequence of the impact of a natural or a human-caused hazard.

Natural hazards comprise phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanic activity, landslides,

tsunamis, tropical cyclones and other severe storms, tornadoes and high winds, river and coastal

flooding, wildfires and associated haze, drought, sand and dust storms, and infestations. Human-

caused hazards may be intentional, such as the illegal discharge of oil, or accidental such as toxic

spills or nuclear meltdown. All of these can expose people, ecosystems, flora and fauna to

threats. The poor are the most vulnerable to disasters because they have fewer resources and

capacity to prevent or cope with the impacts.

Recent disasters caused by extreme natural events

The year 2000

a) Mongolian herders had their hardest winter for 30 years — 2.4 million livestock died and 45

per cent of the country’s population was affected.

b) In February and March, floods killed 650 people and left more than half a million homeless in

Mozambique. Heavy rains also affected Botswana, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

c) Cyclones Eline (mid-February) and Gloria (early-March) left 184 000 people in need of

immediate relief support out of the total of 737 000 affected in Madagascar. In early April, a

third cyclone, Hudah, hit the north of the island.

Floods in September and October in Southeast Asia, especially Viet Nam and Thailand, killed

approximately 900 people and left 4 million homeless or with insufficient shelter. Losses

estimated at US$460 million.

d) Hurricane Keith in October killed eight and affected 62 000 people in Belize. Direct losses

estimated at US$520 million.

e) In mid-October, heavy rains caused floods in the Italian and Swiss Alps killing 38 people and

causing economic losses estimated at US$8.5 billion.

f) Similar floods killed six people and caused US$1.5 billion loss in the United Kingdom in

November.

The year 2001

In mid- to late January, heavy rains over Zambezia Province caused the Licungo River to flood

in Mozambique.

Nearly 500 000 people were affected by the floods.

In March, floods devastated a wide area of northeastern Hungary, northwestern Romania and

western Ukraine. Tens of thousands of people were forced to move.

Flash floods unexpectedly struck parts of Pakistan on 23 July. The cities of Islamabad and

Rawalpindi were the worst affected. 132 people were killed.

In mid-November, as many as 576 Vietnamese had been killed by natural disasters, mainly

floods and typhoons.

Material losses amounted to more than US$200 million.

A persistent multi-year drought in Central and Southwest Asia had affected about 60 million

people by November 2001.

After several months of drought, devastating floods tore through the Algerian capital Algiers on

10 November, killing 751 people.

Thousands were injured, and about 40 000 people were left homeless.

Source: ReliefWeb (2002), Munich Re 2001

Apartment block split in two by the 1999 earthquake in Izmit, Turkey Source: Alexander

Allmann, Munich Re.

Lothar, the first of two severe storms that passed over Western Europe on 26–27 December

1999, caused severe damage. This image shows the storm passing over Europe at 12.00 UTC on

26 December, with the northern African coast outlined below.

Source: copyright EUMETSAT 2002

Helicopter sprays water on one of the forest fires that periodically plague southern European

countries such as Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia and Spain; fires are also common in

the Siberian region of the Russian Federation. Source: UNEP, Rougier, Topham Picturepoint.

Some of the worst disasters in Africa, 1972–2000

Number Killed Number Affected

1972 famine Ethiopia 600 000 no data

1973 drought Ethiopia 100 000 no data

1974 drought Ethiopia 200 000 no data

1980 drought Mozambique no data 6 000 000

1982 famine Ghana no data 12 500 000

1983 drought Ethiopia no data 7 000.000

1984 drought Ethiopia 300 000 7 750 000

1984 drought Sudan 150 000 8 400 000

1985 drought Mozambique 100 000 2 466 000

1987 drought Ethiopia no data 7 000 000

1990 drought Ethiopia no data 6 500 000

1991 drought Ethiopia no data 6 160 000

1991 drought Sudan no data 8 600 000

1993 drought Malawi no data 7 000 000

1993 famine Ethiopia no data 6 700 000

1999 famine Ethiopia no data 7 767 594

2000 drought Ethiopia no data 10.500 000

Source: CRED-OFDA 2002

Bibliografía consultada

GEO: Global Environment Outlook 3. http://www.grida.no/geo/geo3/english/pdfs/chapter2-

9_disasters.pdf

Answer the following questions – in writing to be turned in to the facilitator:

a. What are the top three (3) challenges or threats of our environment today?

1. Disforestation

2. Climate change

3. Environmental pollution.

b. Name at least three (3) eco-friendly alternatives to those challenges or threats.

1. Planting trees

2. Implement policies of greenhouse gases

3. Recycling of waste

c. Is everyone following such alternate way of living? Why or why not?

Everyone cares for the environment?

No, not all countries caring for the environment or have laws in favour of the

environment. Environment means everything which affects to be alive and conditions especially

the circumstances of life of individuals or the society on his life. It comprises a set of natural,

social and cultural values existing in one place and one time, that influence the life of the human

being and the generations to come. I.e., it is not only the space where life develops but also

encompasses living beings, objects, water, soil, air and the relations between them as well as

intangibles like culture.

Leo Boff says that the Capitalism has now realized his dream, possibly the last of its

already long history. It has peaked. And after the roof? Nobody knows. But we can imagine the

answer come from other models of production and consumption, but own “Mother Earth” (Gaia),

which, finite, more does not support an infinite sleep. She is giving clear signs pre-emptive, in

the words of the prize Nobel of medicine Christian de Duve are similar to those that preceded the

great destruction that occurred in the long history of the land. We have to be vigilant because

extreme events which we are experiencing are running any social disasters, even in our

generation. The worst thing is that neither politicians nor much of the scientific community or

the population are realizing that dangerous reality. It is distorted or hidden, as it is too anti-

systemic. It would force us to change, something that few want to. Well said Donato Antonio

Nobre (2014) released study on the future climate of the Amazon: "Agriculture conscious, if he

knew what the scientific community knows (the big droughts that will come), would be in the

streets with posters demanding the Government protection of the forests and planting trees on

your property». We need one higher dream that galvanize people to save life on the planet and

secure the future of the human species. Die ideologies. They age philosophies. But the big

dreams remain. They guide us through new visions and stimulate us to develop new social

relationships with nature and mother earth.

Leo Boff says that “our current society, is a type of society that has opted to transform

everything into merchandise: the Earth, nature, water and life itself, and that puts winning money

and consume as supreme ideal above any other value, over human rights, democracy and the

respect to the environment”. So, he thinks that “this type of civilization do not deserve to have no

future” and “simply represents an insult to everything that humanity preached and tried to live

through all the centuries”. But Boff understands that “if for ten fair, according to the Bible, God

had forgiven to Sodom and Gomorrah, we also hope to be saved by the many fair that still bloom

on the face of the Earth”. The love of God in Jesucrist is our big dream and our really and unique

hope. And we have the hope that capitalist people can have a new reflection about ecology.

Bibliography

http://www.servicioskoinonia.org/boff/articulo.php?num=675

http://www.servicioskoinonia.org/boff/articulo.php?num=328