Day 13: We left our Quito hotel at 9 am to go on a city tour. The city is within a huge area with growing, undefined borders. Citizens of Ecuador and refugees from surrounding countries travel to the city looking for work. Yet as the city grows, the lives of such individuals are being threatened as poor infrastructure and the lack of water is becoming a major concern. As citizens continue to sprawl, they risk causing landslides as their septic waste is being pumped underground precariously.
Another environmental issue in Quito is photo-chemical smog that is polluting the air. As the city sits in a valley, excess VOCs and carbon monoxide get trapped in an air bubble in the city and when the sun hits it, troposphere ozone is produced. Socially, many poor are traveling to the area in hopes for job opportunities but what they are finding is a lack of clean water or access to energy. Without the money to afford their own access, citizens are forced to pay even more for access by finding personal connections in the city. Due to the sprawl and pollution of the city, the river that runs through Quito is the most polluted in all of South America. In an area where population is unknown, citizens are susceptible to disease and the uncontrolled spreading of such diseases. Urban Planners are not able to properly strategies the amount of school and doctor facilities. Continuing with the tour, we visited the main square which include the bishop house, governmental house, the cathedral and a conquistador’s home. The cathedral is the largest church in all of South America and is currently under construction. We also visited the Virgin Mary statue and rode up the cable car to see the entire city.
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Day 12: We left our hotel early at 5 AM to be the first ones at Quilotoa, a dormant crater lake. In 1280 when the volcano last went off, it let off a power explosion that completely blew the top off that formed the crater that is visible to day. Since then, the crater has filled with water from the accumulation of precipitation. Although the beautiful lake is 3 km wide, little life is able to be supported due to the high sulfuric acid content. The hike down was difficult to maneuver as the path is warn and sandy. I myself, slipped and twisted my ankle several times. On the way up, I learned from my mistakes and took a mule back. After Quilota, we made our way to Cotopaxi. Cotopaxi is an active volcano that threatens several towns in the vicinity. When it erupted in April of 2015, thousands fled in fear from the intense earthquakes and ash flow. Once we got to the site, we walked around a nearby lake where our guide discussed the current issues the national park was now facing. The introduction of escaped horses and bulls to the park has degraded the quantity of vegetation and polluted the lake from their fecal matter. Since their introduction, the water has become highly eutrophic. However, the carrions of these animals after they die provide nutrients for endangered vultures in the area. Our short excursion of Cotopaxi brought us to the city of Quito, the capitol of Ecuador. Sources: http://www.volcanolive.com/quilotoa.html https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/03/living-in-fear-of-disaster-in-ecuador-cotopaxi/519684/ As our morning in Chimborazo was relatively short, we met with our professor to discuss energy in the United States as well as Ecuador. New Jersey relies on 47% of its energy to come from Nuclear Power; Whereas the United States as a whole only relies on 19% of nuclear power for energy. Most of Americas energy sources are from petroleum and natural gas at 63%. Only 10% of Americas energy stems from renewable resources, the highest being hydropower.
In the Galapagos Islands, San Cristobal uses a third of renewable wind resources as an energy source. The wind resource was given to the island by the country of Denmark. However, wind power is extremely variable and is subject to change with a changing climate. Due to bird migrations and land use, wind power has low support for expansion. In many areas we visited, there were solar panels that were either being constructed or already in place. On Isabela Island, an entire field of solar panels was being constructed to replace the diesel generator that powered the town. The benefit of Solar Panels is that they are less variable than wind turbines and easier to measure over time. As China is interested in using Ecuador's oil reserves, Ecuador is looking to expand their diversity in renewable resources, such as hydropower. As the use of hydropower resources are cheaper and easier than using coal, the promotion of the resource has been greatly pushed by Ecuador. However, by damming rivers such as in coca codo sinclair, many residence in the area are angered as it blocks fresh water from their villages. Sources: http://www.newsweek.com/2016/06/10/wind-turbines-saving-galapagos-islands-464423.html http://www.power-technology.com/projects/coca-codo-sinclair-hydroelectric-project/
Deforestation is the largest contributor to climate change as agriculture, logging, drilling colonization, forest fires and overgrazing have taken over the natural world. Ecuador is known as a biological hot spot but is also in critical danger from loosing such biodiversity due to deforestation. There are four major regions in Ecuador: la oriente, la sierra, la costa and the Galapagos. The Oriente or Eastern part of Ecuador makes up the Amazon basin and its many national parks and reserves. The Oriente area suffers from biodiversity loss due to the extraction of oil in the area. The Sierra region of Ecuador focuses on the Andes Mountain range that runs down the middle of the country. The area is mainly used for agricultural and ranching purposes. La Costa, which borders the Pacific Ocean has many large ports and cites that have removed many mangrove land area for their sprawl. The Galapagos Islands are volcanic land masses 1,000 km from the Ecuadorian mainland. The area contains many indigenous species, plant and animal alike. Sources: https://www.chimuadventures.com/blog/2016/12/geography-of-ecuador/ |
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ExperienceThrough Stockton University, I traveled to Ecuador where I studied Biodiversity, |