Curitiba and Cuba's Environmental Awareness

As Cristina mentioned in the last blog, our carbon footprints highlight the fact that much of the world lives in a manner that is excessively wasteful. Recently we watched two videos in class that left our group thinking about they way we live. Both countries have undergone major changes in areas of housing, transportation, businesses, and social services in ways that have improved the quality of life for millions of their citizens. For example in Curbitia, Brazil they reorganized the entire downtown area to make it more functional for citizens and private businesses. Initially they had a problem with large amounts of traffic and the usual solution would be to build more roads but the mayor chose to develop the downtown area for the people not cars by eliminating cars on certain roads. He also prevented building new buildings in downtown rather created a linear system where buildings could be built and public transportation could reach them. Through those actions 60 percent of the people in Curbitia take public transportation even though one in three people have cars. 

Melanie- I thought it was really interesting how these countries we thought were worse then us, understand the ways to become more environmentally aware and have found different ways to incorporate it into their cities. It was cool how Curibitia was able to make it's flood zone area turn into parks for recreational use. Instead of putting in a concrete cannel that would just make the city look ugly and they were able to do something more for it. Even Cuba who has been through so much, was able to find ways to make their agriculture practices better. They were able to make due with what they had. They made trucks into buses and it was very cool.

Meredith- In the film about the city of Curitiba, I found it interesting that they placed such a strong focus on recycling. Busses are sent to locations throughout the city in order to collect people’s trash and recyclables in exchange for bus tokens. A “trash that is not trash” campaign developed and after just three months, 70 percent of Curitiba families began to separate trash and recyclables. In order to stimulate the growth of small businesses, programs were offered for citizens to learn skills for free and then move into the workforce or form their own business. Parks were created to beautify the city and use resources wisely. Sheep are used to eat the grass in the parks to maintain the appearance of it. By building parks in low-income areas, under privileged families enjoy a safer and more appealing environment.

 

Christian- The way the transportation in Curibitia worked really amazed me. Not only did they make public transportation the preferred method of travel, they also made it efficient, reliable and convenient. That is something we struggle with in the US. They designed the city so that buses have their own lanes and won't be caught in traffic. Also they had lots of bus stops so that the buses could serve everyone. They also started a program that gave away free bus tickets to people that recycled. This was a great program because it encouraged people to recycle and also gave those that otherwise could not afford it a chance to use the bus. The program did not cost the city anything because the bus companies get paid by the kilometer and not by the person. So not only does the bus program help keep the city from becoming congested with cars, lower carbon emissions, and is convenient to citizens, but it also helps clean up the city by making people recycle. I also liked in the Cuba video how they used to use tons of pesticides, but now they only use organic stuff. This is something the world is going to have to learn to do, however like it did in Cuba it will probably take the end of oil to bring this change about.