URBANIZATION – BLESSING
or CURSE
Urbanization refers to modernization. Modernization means upgrading both
the rural community and the vegetative land resources. It is nothing but
incorporating the modern means and technology to bring the rural and the
vegetative lands into the developmental mainstream. It is the process of
expanding the modern day facilities from the existing city to the peripheral
regions. This expansion will include construction of new architectural infrastructures
(buildings), laying of new roadway system and construction of huge factories. Increase
in vehicle population, migration of people from the rural areas to the cities,
expansion of existing city layout is some of the activities under urbanization.
Urbanization is considered to be a blessing only to some extent. People
living in cities get a wider exposure to modern day facilities. People either
buy good and luxurious homes or accommodate themselves in nice rented homes.
People get to drive nice luxurious cars. They have the opportunity to go to
exotic shopping malls. Entertainment sources like bars, pubs and cinema
theatres are extensively spread across the city. Children and teens have access
to good educational institutions. People work in all segments of employment. There
are people who have government jobs. There are others who work in big and small
corporate companies. The standard of living is based on the income of the bread
winner of the family. One who has more money has access to all the facilities
that the city has to offer him/ her. The lesser ones have access to some
facilities wherein the least of all have very fewer opportunities.
On one hand, the people get used to the city lifestyle. On the other
hand, urbanization has its own demerits and consequences. It is true that the
standard of living is very high in cities but at the same time, these comforts
come at the cost of losing something valuable. There a lot of things that we
tend to lose in cities without our knowledge. The first thing is our health. We
seem to feel that we are living a life full of good health and strength. But it
is not so. The real fact is that we are losing our health each passing day. The
longevity of the people living in cities is less than those living in rural
areas. The major factor affecting our health is pollution. Pollution is a
silent killer in urban towns. Huge profitable factories are giving enormous job
opportunities for the working community in cities but the pollutants, smoke and
the residual waste from these factories are ruining our lives. They are ruining
not only our lives but also the lives of the birds and animals living in
cities. The residual wastes from the factories seep their way into the ground
water making it useless for drinking. Recycling of the residual waste is a good
method of keeping our environment free of pollutants. But it
does not happen at all times. Some establishments do violate the rules laid by
the pollution control boards of the city. The question is,” who is the loser”? It
is we who are losing a lot our valuables in terms of health. The other danger
that always lurks is the life taking disasters in the factories. It is
unpredictable. No one knows when it strikes. It may or it may not strike. The
second question is, “why do we still embrace urbanization”? Urbanization is
welcome but not at the cost of losing many innocent lives. The air in the
cities contains a lot of toxic chemicals in them. This lays the foundation for
all kinds of respiratory diseases. Not only respiratory diseases, the residents
of the city are subject to a lot of strange diseases caused by toxic chemical
waste. The results are not only seen on the earth, it affects the celestial
sphere also. The depletion of ozone layer is the major result of factory
gaseous toxins affecting the atmosphere.
The question that is being frequently asked is,” how
do we dispose off with the industrial wastes”? This question is very difficult
to answer. Most of the countries are facing this menace for a long time. Some
countries recycle the wastes. On the other hand, some countries convert the
toxic wastes into lesser toxic products and then release them into the environment. On the contrary,
there are many countries that are dumping their toxic wastes into the rivers
and oceans. These countries under estimate the consequences of toxic poisoning.
Some countries are well aware of their surrounding environment. But some
countries ignore these factors and keep progressing in their acts. The disposal
of radioactive wastes has become one of the most challenging issues that the
world is facing today. Some solution has been formulated to curb this issue but
it is not a permanent solution. Radioactive contamination, if not checked,
transcends into the genetic makeup of both humans and animals. Maximum care has
to be taken to get rid of the radioactive residues otherwise it may lead to
very catastrophic results. An entire species or an entire race may be wiped out
from the face of the earth.
Urbanization has
rendered the agricultural land not usable for farming. The soil has been
contaminated to a greater extent. The farmers have no other choice but to
switch to alternate methods of income earning. Globally, when the farmers and
agriculture is affected, then the food production takes a direct hit. There is
considerable decrease in food production. The quality of the produce is often
not up to global standards. Extensive cropping is not practiced in some
countries due to depletion of natural resources. Most of the farmers in both
developed and developing countries depend on rain for their farming. Due to
industrialization and green gas effects, the rains get affected. There are less
or no rains to support the farmers. Lesser rains lead to drought and in turn
human and cattle casualties. A chain reaction starts. For lack of farming, the
rural population starts migrating to cities. Urbanization and industrialization
have already played havoc on the economic infrastructure of the country.
Migration to these cities causes accommodation and sustenance problems.
The other factor that arises due to urbanization is constant saturation
of toxic chemicals in the air we breathe. People tend to compete for better
standards of living. Each one of them wants to live in a better home, drive a
better car, have a better job and the most important of all be 1% superior to
others in social status. More and more cars tend to hit the road each passing
day. Though, there are greener cars plying on the state highways, there are
cars that contribute equally to the gas pollution in the city. The personal
vehicles increase the toxic chemicals in the air in addition to the gaseous
toxin already spewed by the factories. There arises traffic congestion. People
find it difficult to commute from one place to another place. Not only the
private vehicles, the public transport system faces the same problems as well. The
amount of polluted air that we inhale all the day is very high when compared to
people who live in rural areas. The amount of oxygen in the air is more in the
rural areas than in cities. The toxic wastes in the water and in the air are so
high that it ultimately becomes a death trap in disguise. Urbanization has
considerable impact on the environment as well. It directly or indirectly
affects the entire ecosystem. In the process of urbanization, the forests and
other vegetation belts are destroyed thus creating an imbalance in the
ecosystem. Trees in the forests are the homes to many birds and animals. Man is
at the top of the food chain system. When the trees are cut and the forests
cleared, the homes of end number of animal species are destroyed. The birds and
animals find it very difficult to translocate to another region for food and
shelter. Because of this, many a species
have become extinct. When the forest
vegetation is disturbed, the entire ecosystem is disturbed. When the ecosystem
is disturbed, the urban infrastructure is disturbed as well. When the trees are removed from their
habitation, the soil in that place tends to lose its water holding capacity.
Roots are the soil
binders in a vegetation belt. But when trees are felled extensively, there arises imbalance in the topography. In
the event of rain, the absence of trees will no longer support the process of
water holding and slow releasing. It paves the way for the water to run down
the soil without any check. This water gets accumulated from all sides and
culminates into a flash flood. The flash flood has no way to drain themselves
out. They direct their flow directly towards the urban settlements. The waters
hit the cities with catastrophic consequences. Loss of
numerous lives is a result of urbanization. The loss of life applies to animals
also. Urbanization dumps its wastes in the seas and ocean. It results in the
death of exotic sea creatures. Apart from the sea creatures, the well nature
preserved coral reefs too get affected. Coral reefs are the home for a vast
variety of fishes. When coral reefs deplete, the fish population also gets
affected. Sea food harvest gets affected as a result of this condition. For no fault of theirs, the birds and animals
are facing death and extinction. Mass deaths of birds and animals in the wild
create a new fear of epidemics. The spread of animal epidemics pose a threat to
the entire urban infrastructure. However cautious the health departments are,
some human casualties do occur as a result of these epidemics. Urbanization
causes a lot of geographical changes in a particular country. The entire
topography of a particular area will be changed without any trace.
Urbanization is good as long as the ecological balance
is maintained. Huge price is being paid by countries which have joined hands in
the process of modernization. Natural resources are very limited across the
globe. The renewable resources are depleting each and every day. A city may
look Porsche under urbanization but the city may or may not be healthy. There
is very less scope for oxygen regeneration in cities when compared to the rural
areas. Planting new trees is the only way of increasing the saturation of
oxygen in the air. But it is impossible to do it in a successful way as most of
the land resources come under construction. Rather than planting saplings, the
bare lands are taken into consideration for architectural construction. Money,
both in terms of earning and spending is the basic requirement for everyone
residing in towns and cities. In case of metro cities, the requirement is on
the higher side. We tend to compromise with a lot of safety standards in cities.
Laws and rules are overlooked in every segment of the society. We look only for
better facilities without thinking the after consequences. On the other hand,
if we look for remedies and solutions to solve the problem arising out of
modernization, one will have utmost satisfaction and enjoy life in an urbanized
community.
Maintaining equilibrium between nature and manmade is
good. We take a lot from the nature and it is our duty to return the same to
the nature. Looking into the past with respect to the entire process of
modernization, we have not done justice to nature. Our natural resources have either
been robbed of or meddled with. We owe a lot to our future generation. Our kids
need the natural resources as well as the comforts of modernization. We should
be aware of the fact that the entire human community survives on the lap of the
nature. Creating awareness among the public about the good and bad effects of
modernization should be our top priority. It is advisable to join hands with
such environment groups who put all their efforts to save the planet and make
the world a better place to live.
