What Can we to Deal with the Zika Virus (Long Term)?
When posed with the question of how to stop the spread of the Zika Virus the solution seems straightforward. We need to stop deforestation, but if we look at the situation a bit closer it is not as straightforward as it seems. Not all solutions are available to everyone around the world due to several factors such as whether they can afford them or whether they can apply them to their specific lifestyles. For example we know that human interaction with animals is the reason why zoonotic diseases are becoming more common and so the straightforward solution would be to set up barrier zones between human residential areas and forests but what about people who rely on the forest to get food to feed their families or if they live in the forest? We can’t just leave them with no source of food or nowhere to live. This, however, doesn't mean that we can’t do anything, if you ask me it just means that we have a complex equation that we need to tackle with different methods in order to disentangle it and solve it and don’t we all like a good challenge?
Climate Action
Most countries have already intiated plans to reduce their carbon footprint. Countries like China have pledged to make their economies carbon neutral by 2060 and countries like the USA by 2050. However, even with all these promises we are still to far from making a significant impact. We need to find ways to support poor nations and help them join the global fight. While carrying out all these actions we need to make sure to watch out for the wellbeing and health of animals and the environment
Tackling the Problem
Inorder to tackle the problem and come up with effective yet feasible solutions we need to first look at the reasons for deforestation. These include food production not meeting the world's demands, not enough housing, firewood, paper production and so many other reasons.
Working Together in Communities, Clubs, Neighbourhoods etc.
Most of the solutions to deforestation seem impractical due to the cost or manpower needed to implement but if we work in communities or clubs we can not only male the costs more managable we can also increase the effeciency of the projects.
Solution 1: Vertical Farming
What exactly is vertical farming?
Vertical farming is exactly what it sounds like: crops are grown in vertically stacked layers rather than on a single horizontal surface. Although the concept is simple, vertical farming is a relatively recent technological advancement in modern farming and is not widely used yet.
Most vertical farms currently in operation are housed within large warehouses, but one day they could be integrated into buildings such as skyscrapers! The abiotic conditions within these warehouses are carefully controlled to provide the stacked layers of crops with the optimum levels of carbon dioxide, temperature, light intensity and humidity they require for photosynthesis and growth. (Information taken from Save My Exams)
Picture Credit: Jones Food Company
Solution 2: Making use derelict land
Insteadnof expanding into forests we should make use of already available land. Goverments should renovate derelict cities and provide cheaper housing for people all around the world.
Solution 4: Afforestation
Instead of all planting trees on one day a year why not plant trees every week? This translates to 260+ trees per year!
Solution 5: Biofuels
Biofuels are fuels that are derived from biomass. They not only decrease our usage of fossil fuels they release less harmful gases than most fossil fuels.
Solutions are Infinite!
We can't exhaust all the solutions and so we challenge you to investigate. Each area produces its own carbon footprint in different ways and so we are challenging you to investigate how your community is contributing to climate change and come up with solutions. In her TED Talk about How to Be Happy Everyday, Jaqueline Way describes the story of how she and her son decided to find a way to give back to the world everyday, be it picking litter or even helping a stranger. She said that not only did it make her happier, it made others happy, so lets give back to the planet that has provided us with so many things!