When we think of environmental pollution, the images that tend to pop into our minds are probably that of thousands of plastic bottles floating around in our rivers, or oil spills in our oceans. Have you ever wondered if national parks and nature reserves around the world are prone to pollution as well? Let’s take a look at the image below for example.
Photo of King’s Canyon National Park by Sebastien Burel, Shutterstock
Blue skies, rugged peaks, and lush greenery. Surely there isn’t much wrong going on there?
Well, believe it or not, the air pollution level in King’s Canyon National Park, is THREE TIMES higher than levels in densely populated cities such as Los Angeles and Houston. This seems pretty ironic, isn’t it? As an outdoor enthusiast myself, I’m always looking forward to breathing the crisp, mountain air again when I’m overseas for a hike.. but what if its air that is filled with ozone, which makes it harder to breathe, while inflaming and irritating our lungs? In reality, the National Parks Conservation Association has reported that 96% of the 417 national parks assessed in the U.S are plagued by significant air pollution problems in at least one of the four categories, as shown below.
Graphic taken from the NPCA Parks Report 2019
Besides air pollution, there are also other pollution issues in parks that should not be ignored. According to researchers at the National Park Service and Colorado State University in Fort Collins (CSU), noise pollution is pervasive in U.S protected areas, where anthropogenic noise doubled background sound levels in in 63% of protected areas, and caused a 10-fold increase in 21%. While excessive noise may annoy visitors, it could also disrupt communities of plants and animals and affect habitat suitability.
Looking closer to home, even Singapore has its fair share of environmental pollution in its parks. Take a look at this video that was taken in Potong Pasir, which is part of the Kallang River that is perhaps less frequented than other areas such as the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park.
Although this video was taken a few years back, specifically after an event of a large downpour, it is still a concern that even a country that prides itself as a clean and green city, experiences some form of environmental pollution in its parks.
From the examples above, we can see that national parks/reserves around the world are prone to many different types of environmental pollution. Therefore, through this blog, I hope to be able to raise more awareness about these issues and dive into the root of the problems. Only through a better understanding of these issues can we then think of possible solutions to tackle them and protect our beloved parks.
Till next time,
Irsyad
——————
References:
Buxton, R., McKenna, M., Mennitt, D., Fristrup, K., Crooks, K., Angeloni, L. and Wittemyer, G., 2017. Noise pollution is pervasive in U.S. protected areas. Science, [online] 356(6337), pp.531-533. Available at: <https://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6337/531?utm_source=SciPak%20%2528updated%204%252F28%252F2017%2529&utm_campaign=56b439ab60-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_04_28&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_10c5e799a3-56b439ab60-126516961>
National Parks Conservation Association, 2019. Polluted Parks: How America Is Failing To Protect Our National Parks, People And Planet From Air Pollution. [online] National Parks Conservation Association, pp.5-10. Available at: <https://npca.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/NPCAParksReport2019.pdf>
Tan San Tek, J., 2016. Don’t overlook rubbish in less-frequented areas. The Straits Times, [online] Available at: <https://www.straitstimes.com/forum/letters-on-the-web/dont-overlook-rubbish-in-less-frequented-areas>
Tan, J., 2016. Polluted River In Potong Pasir. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwn208Kde7U&feature=youtu.be>