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Generation ResponseGeneration Response

Fall 2014

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Letter from the Editors Dear Readers,

This is a call to “Generation Q”. The QUIET generation. Our generation.

In 2007, Thomas Friedman published an opinion in The New York Times that college students of our generation were optimists and idealists. We seek, as individuals, opportunities to aid others and proactively confront inequalities in the world. Participation in programs such as Teach for America, Peace Corps, Global Brigades and many more service-based organizations were then growing, and still are continuing to escalate in prominence today.

So what’s the issue?

Mr. Friedman claimed that “Generation Q,” as a larger entity, lacks the political engagement and activism required to demand change. Quietly aware, quietly outraged, quietly engaged in idealistic endeavors – we are the Quiet Generation. Silence allows political leaders to shy away from pressing issues with difficult answers, such as reducing carbon emissions, dealing with deficits and finding alternative sources for energy.

Generation Response was created as a means of confronting the silence. Our magazine is an avenue for students to discuss topics of importance regarding sustainability and humanitarian issues. We hope that individual passion for a social justice issue can command a larger audience, and consequently, catalyze discussion, participation, and change.

Sincerely,

Diane Ryu & Aubrey Tingler

Written Pieces: A Shift in the System: Pollinators, Colony Collapse Disorder, and What You Can Do to Help Sara Stavile............................................................................................................................................................ 4

Sustainability at Queen Mary University of London vs. Emory University: Some Cross-Cultural Observations of Sustainability InitiativesAubrey Tingler........................................................................................................................................................6

A Personal Reflection on the Jordanian Water CrisisAnna Koh...............................................................................................................................................................8

Manila’s Urban Gardens Ricardo Pagulayan...............................................................................................................................................10

Green ManagementMalika Shettar.....................................................................................................................................................12

Photography Pieces: United StatesJames Crissman....................................................................................................................................................14

IndiaTyler Sit................................................................................................................................................................16

JapanJasmine Hensley...................................................................................................................................................18

Namibia & BotswanaJessica Deere..........................................................................................................................................................20

MadagascarAshley Stumvoll...................................................................................................................................................22

GermanyJordan Kolpas.......................................................................................................................................................23

HaitiAndy Kim.............................................................................................................................................................24

BrazilClaire Carter.........................................................................................................................................................24

TanzaniaLeah Goldstein .....................................................................................................................................................25

SenegalDiane Ryu............................................................................................................................................................26

EXECUTIVE BOARDFall 2014

Editor-in-ChiefDiane Ryu

Aubrey Tingler

Layout Designer

Maggie Mang

TreasurerShachy Rivas

Contributing Writers &

PhotographersClaire Carter

James CrissmanJessica Deere

Leah GoldsteinJasmine Hensley

Andy KimAnna Koh

Jordan KolpasRicardo Pagulayan

Malika ShettarTyler Sit

Sara StavileAshley Stumvoll

Mount Blanca, Colorado- James Crissman

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover Photo: Bear Lake Rocky Mountain National Park - James Crissman

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When one thinks of saving a species, we often think of top predator species which are endangered. After all, how many times have you seen a rare beetle on the home page of the World Wildlife Fund? More often than not, we are called to donate money and stop the habitat destruction of “majestic” animals such as Siberian Tigers, Giant Pandas or White Rhinoceroses. And while the disappearance of these species is alarming and should be stopped, there are other organisms which are also under threat, some of which have an impact closer to home. One such set of species is native pollinators in North America, which are not only essential to our modern food

system, but are also disappearing at an alarming rate. Of the estimated 200,000 pollinator species on the planet, only 1,000 of them are vertebrate species such as bats or small birds. The vast majority of pollinators are insects, but despite their small size they have a huge impact on our world; approximately 75% of all flowering species of plants on the planet rely on a pollinator of some type in order to reproduce. Because of the large amount of work they do, pollinators are often seen as a “keystone species”, a term that the Encyclopedia Brittanica defines as “a species that has a disproportionately large effect on the communities in which it occurs.” Keystone species are seen as important because

A Shift in the System: Pollinators, Colony Collapse Disorder, and What You Can

Do to HelpBy Sara Stavile

without them, the ecosystems in which they live would be drastically different. Pollinators are critical since they are providing an important resource for a large amount of other organisms—humans included. Because insect pollinators are critical elements of our modern food system—without the pollinators, humans would not have access to such a wide variety of produce. Most estimates state that one third of all food products in the world, approximately 1,000 plant species, are produced with the help of pollinators. In the US food industry, the work that pollinators do for free is estimated to be worth $20 billion a year. To put it simply, without pollinators, our agricultural systems as well as the diversity of plant life on planet Earth, would not be the same. Which is why it is distressing, to say the very least, that our pollinator species in North America are threatened by Colony Collapse Disorder. As of 2006, honey beekeepers across the United States began to lose large amounts of their bee populations over the winter. While the US Department of Agriculture states that it is typical for some of the colonies to die off during this period, bees were now disappearing in record numbers, with some bee keepers reporting that 90% of their hives had simply disappeared. It wasn’t just that the bees were dying, but the fact that they were literally disappearing. Hives across the country were being found with abandoned queens, immature bees, and honey still inside, but with no worker bees in sight. In the winter of 2012-2013, it is estimated that bee keepers across the United States lost, on average, 45% of their bees. This number does not include the disappearance of “undomesticated” bee species, which includes all bee species native to North America. The cause of Colony Collapse Disorder is mysterious as the symptoms of the disorder itself. Studies point to several possible factors. Environmental stressors, such as climate change and habitat destruction, are one possibility. The arrival of new parasites, such as Varroa and trachal mites into the United States, could also be a cause. In addition, beekeepers today often place their insects under large amounts of stress in order to serve the needs of the United States’ large agricultural industry. Honeybees in particular are shipped around the country to act as pollinators for various produce industries;

it is estimated that 60% of all honeybees in the United States have spent time in California’s vast almond fields, for example. But many scientists have stated that neonicotinoids, a particular class of pesticides, as being linked to Colony Collapse Disorder. These pesticides were originally developed in the 1990s as an alternative to other pesticide types; neonicotinoids were described as less toxic to beneficial insect populations. But several scientific findings imply that neonicotinoids have “sublethal” effects on honey bees, even at approved doses and exposures. A study by the American Bird Conservatory concludes that even a small corn kernel with a neonicotinoid was enough to kill a songbird, much less cause damage to a bee colony. While the exact cause of Colony Collapse Disorder is still unclear, Emory University recently launched their Pollinator Protection Program in response to recent scientific literature. As detailed in an Emory Report article, Emory’s Office of Sustainability Initiatives and Campus Services and Procurement have partnered with the Turner Foundation and the grassroots organization Friends of the Earth to limit the use of neonicotinoids on campus. After a report by the Pesticide Research Institute discovered that many plants labeled as “bee friendly” were actually sprayed with neonicotinoids, the Pollinator Protection program aims to eliminate the use of neonicotinoids and neonicotinoid treated plants on campus whenever possible. In addition, the program will establish pollinator friendly habitats on campus while encouraging other universities to do the same. Many of the techniques that Emory’s Pollinator Protection program is using can also be applied on an individual level. Individuals can create pollinator friendly gardens near their own homes by planting local species known to attract insects, as well as providing homes in the form of bat boxes or artificial bee hives for pollinators to live. Citizens can also express their support for national legislative actions such as the “Saving America’s Pollinators Act of 2013” in order to change the way that neonicotinoids are used across the country. While these acts may seem small, it is clear that tiny actions can be beneficial, just as collective action of billions of pollinators affect the biosphere every day.

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Photo courtesy of Diane Ryu

Sustainability at Queen Mary University of London vs. Emory University: Some Cross-Cultural Observations of Sustainability InitiativesBy Aubrey Tingler Having been at Queen Mary University of London in the United Kingdom less than a week, I awoke one morning to see a 12-foot-tall robot made from purple recycling bins circling one of the main walks of campus from the window of my flat’s kitchen. This was certainly a different tactic to promote sustainability than I’d ever seen used at Emory. When I interned with the Office of Sustainability Initiatives, we usually organized trivia, polls,

and other sustainability related events to promote this important concept. We didn’t have “Swoop the Sustainability Eagle” roaming campus, but maybe that would be a good suggestion…All kidding aside, Queen Mary, like Emory, is a university that prides itself on its commitment to environmental sustainability and holds itself as an institution to specified sustainability goals and plans. However, I’ve certainly noticed that the presence of sustainability initiatives varies widely between the two campuses.

For example, at Emory we have a highly complex recycling and compost system with many bins for various types of refuse all over campus—in academic buildings, dining facilities and dorms. Queen

Mary offers single stream recycling, but does not compost. On the plus side of this, single stream recycling is much easier for people to use, since everything recyclable can be put in the same bin. However, these bins are not as prevalent as the ones on Emory’s campus. You can walk through most of an entire floor of building and not see any recycling bins. Those who aren’t necessarily dedicated to reducing their personal waste-footprint may understandably give up and toss a plastic bottle or Coke can into a trash bin.

While Emory may win extra green points for composting the paper towels used on campus, Queen Mary simply doesn’t use paper towels at all on campus. All bathrooms have either electric hand dryers or cloth rolls that rotate through a machine that looks similar to a paper towel dispenser. I’ve noticed a lack of paper towels is common not just on Queen Mary’s campus, but throughout the UK. Queen Mary’s restrooms also nearly all have dual-flush toilets, a technology just starting to take a more substantial grip on Emory’s facilities. This is another feature that is not exclusive to campus, but seems to be “the thing to do” throughout the country, and many dual flushes aren’t even new-fangled, green tech—they’ve been like that a long time.

Now that you’ve read my thrilling diatribe about waste and bathrooms, let’s talk about something a bit more exciting: food. Queen Mary has a few “sustainability partners” on the food front, such as FAIRTRADE, Sustainable Fish City, and Food for Life, the latter through which they have a bronze rating. Since Queen Mary’s campus is only residential for first years and study abroad students, they have far fewer dining facilities than Emory, and it would be much easier to conduct a complete sustainable food overhaul, and get that Food for Life Rating upped to silver or even gold. However, it doesn’t seem like there would be a lot of student backing for such an initiative.

In the UK, what we would call “clubs” they call “societies” and when I attended that Freshers Fair, at which all these societies were tabling and trying to convince new students to join, I noticed the closest thing they had to any environmental or sustainability club was a society for the Geography department that occasional did canal cleanup projects, and a few scattered environmentally related volunteer projects through the student union. Nothing akin to the Emory Environmental Alliance, Greeks Go Green, or Generation Response seemed to exist. I don’t mean to suggest that Queen Mary students couldn’t care less about the environment; it just struck me as an unusual hole in the society scene for a decently sized university. However, students do seem somewhat less aware of waste issues than many students at Emory. It’s common to see more single-use than reusable water bottles on students’ desks in your classes, and the campus bar serves every drink in plastic cups, which are not recycled. In all fairness, it’s not uncommon to see Emory students tossing something that is easily recycled on campus straight into the trash without a second thought. I challenge you to find me student on either campus that recycles 100% of the time. Overall, as an outside observer, it’s nearly impossible to say if one university is doing a “better” job with sustainability. Initiatives such as waste, water use reduction, and green buildings seem to have more of an obvious presence at Emory, but there are sustainable methods, such as the dual flush toilets, that seemed to be used all around Queen Mary without a second thought, and without feeling the need to make much fuss about it. At this point, I’d be interested to open the floor to our readers to contribute on this topic for the spring issue: Have you travelled abroad? Did you notice anything about sustainability there versus here? Have any observations you want to share? It can be a simply one liner. Let us know at generationresposne@gmail.com!

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Jordan is one of 10 most water-poor countries in the world, as reported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In Jordan, the annual per capita water availability is 120-145 m3/per capita/year. This is a striking scarcity considering that the international water poverty line is set at 500m3/per capita/year. The water stress is further exacerbated by the influx of refugees from conflict zones in neighboring countries. Right now, Jordan is hosting over 600,000 Syrian refugees and the number is constantly increasing every day.

However, as a student studying abroad in the capital city of Amman, I have noticed a discrepancy between the water crisis and attitudes of people regarding their water usage. Having grown up in Georgia, I remember frequent droughts where residents were not allowed to water their lawns and were encouraged to take shorter showers. However, in the wealthier cities of Amman, people have private swimming pools and water their plants with drinking water. Some people believe that since they are able to afford the higher water bills for their water consumption, they should not have to change their lifestyle. In contrast, cities and refugee camps in north Jordan go for days without water during the drier summer seasons.

While the water crisis should be a universal concern, only the poor have to suffer the consequences of the negligent wealthy population. Although this case study is not unique to Jordan, it is a simple example of the intimate relationship between environmental concerns and socioeconomic status. Properly addressing environmental issues require cooperation between the government and the entire community. I sincerely hope that the social conscientiousness of citizens in all regions of the world increase to encompass numerous perspectives since issues such as water security projects rely on the cooperation between varied groups but is essential to all members.

A Personal Reflection on the Jordanian Water CrisisBy Anna Koh

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Manila’s Urban GardensPhotos courtesy of Diane Ryu

By Ricardo Pagulayan Metro Manila, Philippines: one of the

most densely populated urban areas in the world, and the largest metropolitan area in the Philippines. Embellished by the country’s growing economic prosperity in the recent years, Manila is quickly becoming a global city, offering the many luxuries and the higher living standards of today’s modernizing world. Yet, Manila still bears the scars of economic hardship, dotted by communities of makeshift squatter housing, often residences for the city’s struggling poor. However, Manila’s poorer families have found a new source of profit and savings in recent years through urban gardening.

Vegetable gardens contrast the chaotic hustle and bustle of the most squalid of Manila’s neighborhoods. Purple Romero expresses that, “It’s a peculiar sight: Russet soil, vines with vegetables growing out of them, green Chinese cabbage and violet eggplants, planted a few meters away from a sea of garbage and houses that have burned down several times.” But they’re there!

In the neighborhood of Baseco, 600 members of the Kabalikat sa Pagpapaunlad ng Baseco (Allies for Improving Baseco) have worked to transform an 80-square-meter plot of city ground into a lush vegetable garden teeming with lady’s fingers, gumbo okra and vegetable seedlings. The garden generates both food and income; Allies make a decent profit selling the vegetables and seedlings, namely Chinese cabbage for 23 U.S.

cents per bundle, or mangrove tree saplings for 46 cents each.

The Allies also offer a savings and mutual aid program of sorts. Members entrust a portion of their profits at a minimum of 23 U.S. cents a week to the group, which puts the money in a common savings account eventually utilized for maintaining community gardens, buying additional city space for gardening, and helping members struggling with financial hardships. However, to be eligible for the savings program, members must first start their own private garden plots in their backyards and sell their surplus produce at the local market. Eventually, they will gain access to the higher economic opportunities tied to the larger Baseco community garden.

While the Allies advocate for communal efforts , many Manilans also opt for a more privatized operation, using any free space in their residences,. The couple Bernabe and Virgie Atenta, for example, began cultivating their own backyard garden in response to perpetually rising food prices. According to Bernabe Atenta, “You don’t need to buy vegetables in the market. If all people here in Manila planted vegetables even in pots, it will ease some expenses.” In their garden, the Atentas have successfully grown eggplant, spinach, Chinese cabbage, and onions, and through the years have harvested enough vegetables from their plantings to sell at the local market. In fact, the couple was able to pay for their kids’ college educations from

their market earnings. For Virgie, their garden has not only been financially beneficial, but also incredibly convenient, “For instance, you have nothing for lunch, but you’ve planted some vegetables, you can eat that, that’s enough.”

Manilan urban gardening has also been closely tied with recycling initiatives. In Muñoz, at the outskirts of Manila, a group of women led by Regina Bocato have reused plastic bottles, tin cans, and even old tires in their efforts to create a vegetable garden for their community. Regina and her friends use these old trash items as containers for planting anything from vegetables to medicinal herbs. Thanks to them, the Muñoz community always has something to harvest throughout the course of the year.

The people of Muñoz however, don’t sell the produce of their community garden. Rather, the garden is used as a sustainable food source, with the community’s savings stemming from the less amount of food they have to buy each year to support their families. Regina herself, with her knowledge in herbal medicine, has used the garden’s medicinal plants to offer alternative home remedies to the otherwise expensive, commercially bought medications.

It is clear that in recent years, the popularization of urban gardening in the cramped quarters of Manila has provided less fortunate families with the means for easing their financial hardships. Food prices in Manila continue to rise, and the poor, who often have the largest families

but the lowest income, are the first to experience the sharp end of the stick. While many families have indeed turned towards cultivating their own home gardens with whatever utilizable space they may have, they still remain in the minority, the lucky few in a sea of many who simply lack the time and resources to garden, preoccupied with the struggles and worries of providing for their families. Even the government has not yet realized the practicality of urban gardening, with otherwise fertile plots of land still blanketed by trash and pollution from the lack of government support and attention. But for now, as more and more people come to experience the financial and social benefits of private and communal city gardening, there’s hope nonetheless of a more fruitful future.

SourcesCabrera, Michaela. “Philippines – Residents in Poor Areas

in Manila Plant Vegetables in Their Backyards to save on Food Expenses.” City Farmer News. Reu-ters, 28 May 2008. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.

Philippines: Vegetable Production in Urban Areas. Perf. FAO Information Division. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2003.

Romero, Purple. “Growing a Nest Egg Through Urban Gardening.” The Informal City Dialogues. The Rockefeller Foundation, 03 July 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.

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IMAGES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

UNITED STATES. HAITI. BRAZIL. SENEGAL. GERMANY. NAMIBIA.

BOTSWANA. TANZANIA. MADAGASCAR. INDIA. JAPAN.

All photographs were taken by featured students, and reflect various natural landscapes, social justice issues and environmental issues from select regions around the world.

Green ManagementBy Malika Shettar“Green management” is a rapidly growing field in the business environment. Emory’s own Goizueta Business School has begun to embrace this concept through the creation of an undergraduate concentration in Environment and Sustainability Management to posit a stronger focus on social enterprise careers. However, Goizueta has brought to campus few, if any, career opportunities in specifically green industries.The career management center at Goizueta does a great job of linking current undergraduate BBAs with major consulting and accounting firms and investment banks. But gone is the time when environmentally-inclined business students were shuffled off into major consulting firms, placing sustainability on the backburner as a neglected subspecialty on a résumé. Goizueta needs an avenue to entice green companies to hire BBAs for business jobs across the board—in consulting, marketing, finance, and accounting.The MBA program at Goizueta has already cleared such a path: an active chapter of Net Impact, a global nonprofit community of students and professionals that “drive transformational change in the workplace and the world… for a sustainable future,” (“About Us”, netimpact.org). Recently, the Goizueta MBA Net Impact chapter was awarded the prestigious Gold standing (received by only 16% of chapters worldwide). Working alongside the Social Enterprise @ Goizueta program, Net Impact has drawn speakers to campus including Honest Tea TeaEO (CEO) Seth Goldman, and last fall hosted a Strategy and Sustainability Panel within a Doing Good with Your Career series featuring panelists from Accenture, Blue Earth Network, Georgia-Pacific, and Newell Rubbermaid, to name a few.The conclusion is crystal clear: build an undergraduate chapter of Net Impact at Goizueta in order to expand the career opportunities available to students pursuing the Environment and Sustainability Management Concentration.I intend to spearhead the effort of creating a chapter to encompass BBA undergraduates as well as Emory College undergraduates pursuing an Environmental Science major or minor, Sustainability minor, or those who simply have a strong vested career interest in this field.Please email mshetta@emory.edu if you are interested in general or executive membership in helping to get this new chapter off the ground or with any additional questions!

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The National Park Service preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. The

Park Service cooperates with partners to extend the benefits of natural and cultural resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout this country and the world.

-National Park Service Mission Statement

A

A BB

B

A

ABB C

B

CBC

BB

James CrissmanUnited States

A&B. Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

C&D.Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

C

D

A

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Tyler SitIndia

A. The Gandhi Memorial (or National Gandhi Museum) stands in New Delhi. The museum originally opened in Mumbai, shortly after Gandhi was assassinated in 1948. The museum relocated to New Delhi in 1961.

B. A march for Tibetan Uprising Day took place on March 10th. This is the anniversa-ry of a failed uprising in Tibet back in 1959, after which 80,000 to 100,000 Tibetans fled Tibet.

C. Artist painting a thangka, a traditional art form, which usually depicts a scene with buddhas/deities/practitioners. A thangka carries religious ideas and meaning.

D. Street art in New Delhi. Street art similar to this can be seen all over New Delhi and India. A

B

C

D

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Jasmine Hensley Japan

A. Osaka: Osaka has been making efforts in recent years to add green features like this around the city.

B. Kiyomizudera: The photo shoes the tran-sition between the mountains, the city, the line of trees, the shops, and the temple.

C. Kyoto: The Lake Biwa Canal Museum, was made to remember the creation of the Biwa Canal (Meiji Period) that saved every-one from drought. This is also where Japan’s first hydroelectric plant is.

D. Hiroshima: The Hiroshima Peace Memo-rial (Genbaku Dome) is the only building left standing after the atomic bombing, and it’s been preserved amongst the rest of the new city as remembrance. It’s also accompanied by a peace museum.

E. Kyoto: The city of Kyoto and its surround-ing environment intermixes nature and the city.

D

E

A

B

C D

E

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Jessica DeereNamibia & Botswana

The significant total contribution of tourism to Namibia’s (14.8%) and Botswana’s (8.4%) GDP has created a great incentive for each respective government to maintain the great diversity found within these neighboring countries. The issue with tourism is that increasing the number of visitors to remote regions and parks can often lead to the overuse and exploitation of those locations, as well as increased stress for animal populations.

Inarguably, these regions harbor incredible plants and animals, that can be especially inspiring when given the opportunity to see in person. For example, the Welwitschia plant (pictured left) is found only in Namibia and Angola. The pictured Welwitschia plant is extremely old, believed to have been growing for 2,000 years in the Namib Naukluft Desert. A species that has survived 200 million years, these plants are located in a remote region that can be difficult to access by car and require several hours for transportation. With increasing levels of visitors, roads and other infrastructures to support tourism activities may develop, leading to easier access to such prominent sites.

The pictured elephants are from the Okavango Delta, Botswana, where navigating the delta by boat allowed for closer observation of elephant populations. Elephants are viewed as pests to many locals since they often destroy crops. Therefore, ensuring the survival of elephant populations does not merely rely on increasing revenues from tourism, but also recognizing issues locals face .

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Ashley StumvollMadagascar

A

B C

A.A red-bellied lemur (Eulemur rubriventer) peers through the trees in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. Although the red-bellied population is doing well, other species are not so lucky: many face extinction due to rampant deforestation.

B. This was a shop outside my hotel in Antananarivo, Madagascar. That ad is for EaeVive, the country’s most popular bottled water brand. Poor sanitation and lack of infrastructure mean that even in areas of plentiful rainfall, the water isn’t safe to drink. In some of the drier regions of the country, children would follow me around just to have the last sip of my bottled water, and to turn in the container for a refund.

C. Pictured is a rice paddy in the center of Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital city. Rice is eaten three meals a day all across the country, creating a high demand for the clearing of forest land in favor of rice. This paddy in particular sits downhill from many of Antananarivo’s dwellings, meaning that it is full of tainted water and definitely not a healthy place for workers.

Jordan KolpasGermany

Freiburg im Breisgau, a small city in the Southeast of Germany, is considered by many to be one of the “Greenest” cities in the world. Located on the edge of the Black Forest (Schwartzwald in German), residents have easy access to the rolling hills and picturesque views of the surrounding landscape. Although Freiburg is one of the oldest cities in Germany, the city takes a very futuristic approach to preserving the environment. It is clear that the culture is very much focused on this issue. As a student at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, I was able to experience this first hand. I spent a significant amount of my free time outdoors, along with many of the cities residents. Hiking and mountain biking were extremely popular hobbies. The Freiburgers’ love for the outdoors matches up well with their passion for environmental sustainability. Wind turbines and solar panels are commonplace in Freiburg and it’s surrounding suburbs. Even the Freiburger Verkehrs AG (VAG), the local tram, was developed to minimize environmental impact. Apart from providing efficient and timely transportation throughout the city, the tram system runs fully on renewable energy coming from a nearby group of wind turbines. Freiburg really has earned its nickname: The Green City.

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Andy Kim Haiti

Claire CarterBrazil

Leah GoldsteinTanzania

The contrast between human infrastructure and nature is incredibly evident in Rio de Janeiro. With over 6 million people, Rio is the second most populous city in Brazil, and the sixth largest city in the Americas. As a coastal city, this translates to increasing water pollution as upstream urban runoff eventually contaminates larger bodies of water. With the tourism sector continually growing, Rio de Janeiro must find more efficient ways of reducing water pollution, particularly as a host city of the 2016 Olympics in order to meet water quality standards. This picture shows a water lock, which works to control the flow of water in and out of the lake, Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, in the center of the city.

Tanzania’s National Park system provides critical protection for wildlife including a number of endangered species. Many of these species would probably face extinction in the absence of these protected lands. At the same time, tourism, centered around safaris within these parks, represents a vital economic asset. However, within the country, public opinion of the parks is mixed, and these benefits come with serious costs. Locals are often forced out of their homes and ancestral lands with little or no compensation to make way for game reserves and protected land. The impact is perhaps most keenly felt by traditional pastoral groups such as the Maasai (pictured left), who are not only evicted from their ancestral lands, but are also denied access to grazing land and water resources that are vital for their livelihoods.

The first established infrastructure that I saw on my drive outside of the center of Port-au-Prince airport was this monotonous assortment of concrete structures. These establishments were the first houses built by the Haitian government for those afflicted and displaced by the 2010 earthquake that hit 7.0 on the Richter scale. USAID and the Clinton Foundation initially planned on erecting 15,000 relief houses to address the earthquake’s damage that displaced nearly 1.5 million people, though a 2014 GAO report revealed that only 900 of these homes had been built. Outsourcing construction and development efforts to international organizations, rather than to local organizations, increased the cost of each house to $33,000, a $25,000 increase from the initial estimated price. Bill Clinton commented on the failed state of this initiative:

“Are we helping [the Haitian people] to become more self-sufficient? Are we building

infrastructure in local development plans? Are we creating local jobs? Are we paying salaries for

teachers, doctors, nurses, police, civil servants? Are we giving money to support government

agencies that provide those services?”

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Sources for graphics:

Page 4(Bee) http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131104011254/trollpasta/images/3/34/Bee.jpg

(Sunflower) http://www.worldofstock.com/slides/NPF3879.jpg

Page 9(Jordan) http://stophavingaboringlife.com/images/july11/roman_theater_amman_jordan_view.jpg

Page 13 (World) http://www.cliffordchance.com/home.html

Page 15(United States map) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe-dia/commons/thumb/5/55/BlankMap-USA-states-Can-ada-provinces,_HI_closer.svg/2000px-Blank-Map-USA-states-Canada-provinces,_HI_closer.svg.png

Page 16(India map) http://www.flaktwoods.in/templates/local_in-dia_2012/images/in-map-background.png

Page 19(Japan map) http://carutwuna.com/map_japan1.png

Page 20(Namibia map) http://www.na.undp.org/content/dam/

undp/images/design_images/country_office_maps/light_blue/png/namibia.png

Page 21(Botswana map) http://www.bw.undp.org/content/dam/undp/images/design_images/country_office_maps/light_blue/png/botswana.png

Page 22(Madagascar Map) http://www.soccha.com/wp-content/themes/soccha-redesign/img/madagascar-map-green.png

Page 23(Germany map) http://www.24plus.de/images/partner/maps/map_d.png

Page 24(Haiti map) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Neotropic-Ecozone-Caribbean.svg/600px-Neotropic-Ecozone-Caribbean.svg.png

(Brazil map) http://www.state.gov/gm/brazil_teal_60.png

Page 25(Tanzania map) http://www.tz.undp.org/content/dam/undp/images/design_images/country_office_maps/dark_blue/png/tanzania.png

Page 26(Senegal map) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/com-mons/f/f0/BlankMap-Senegal2.92.png

This edition of Generation Response was printed on recycled paper.

If you are interested in contributing to Generation Response, please email generationresponse@gmail.com for more information!

Diane RyuSenegal

In one day, one international vessel utilizing trawling methods (a large fishing net pulled behind boats), can catch more fish than 50 local fishermen can catch in one year.

This has been detrimental to the 600,000 Senegalese people who depend on fisheries for their livelihoods. Ninety percent of all fishermen in Senegal are local fishermen, who mainly utilize small wooden boats called pirogues (pictured below) as their main means of catching fish. Consequently, the local fishermen have noted the drastic changes in the ecosystem and fish market. In the past ten years, the average fisherman went from earning ~17,000 CFA Francs (~$32) per day to 5,000 CFA Francs ($10) per day, even while working longer hours.

Approximately 40% of all fish caught in Western African wasters are illegally caught by international parties, translating to $300 million worth of illegal catch from Senegalese coastal waters alone. Ironically, according to the World Bank, Senegal, and many other Western coast African countries, are currently receiving development assistance aid and have been accumulating a greater debt each year.

Perhaps what is needed direly by these developing countries is not a financial handout, so much as an opportunity to regain control of their resources for economic independence. If developed countries pressured for better monitoring of where fish supplies in their own markets came from, the levels of illegal fishing activities may greatly decrease. By reallocating financial resources to create a stronger market for legally caught fish and better monitoring of illegal fishing, countries like Senegal would have the opportunity to manage their resources.