El Paso, Texas is home to a large population of people who are enriched within a diverse and bicultural community. Since El Paso is surrounded by a harsh desert environment, the city faces many challenges that include drought and flooding. Even though many low income families live in El Paso, El Paso still strives to increase its resiliency and make the city more environmentally friendly. I chose El Paso because it shows how you do not have to be rich to make a positive impact on the environment.
Over the past years more people are starting to recognize climate change as a significantly rising environmental and public health concern. Changes in the environment over the upcoming years can result in increased heat, precipitation changes and worsen …show more content…
Unsustainable transportation affects the health of the community due to the increase in air pollution given off by many vehicles. To increase resiliency in El Paso, the city must support and fund their public transportation services. The City of El Paso current bus system is the Sun Metro which operates with over 2,200 vehicles which travel over 23 millions miles a year, using over 3 million gallons of diesel and unleaded gasoline ( "The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability”).For El Paso to improve its fleet the Sun Metro must include more hybrid and fuel efficient vehicles to cut down on unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions and to also save money on fuel. Upgrading the bus fleet to diesel, electric or biodiesel will not only reduce CO2 emissions and also reduce the dependency on imported oil. For buses to break even on CO2 emissions of a car, buses only need to carry 3-8 people ("10 Reasons Why You Should Use Public Transport”). Furthermore, the transportation systems needs to cut down the amount of fleet vehicles on the road and develop more sustainable bus routes to ensure that the citizens can get where they need while minimizing its ecological footprint. Increasing the amount of people using a sustainable public transportation system is a major step towards …show more content…
In 2011 El Paso went 119 days without rain causing The Rio Grande to shrink up. Many feared the long term problems of this drought, but according to an article in The Guardian El Paso is going to be “just fine” in present and future droughts. The article reports how El Paso has a different approach to water conservation than the rest of Texas. When Archuleta, the head of El Paso Water Utilities, came to town over 20 years ago the town was on the edge of exhausting all of its water. Archuleta had to come up with a plan or the city would die. Residents of El Paso were encouraged to conserve water and were paid $1 a foot of sod to remove from their lawns are replace it with sand or grass that was less dependent on water. Many neighborhood associations promoted replacing plants that needed a great amount of water to surve to trees that do not need much water. The water conservation does not stop there, homeowners who installed more efficient air conditioning systems, newer low-water model washing machines and toilets were rewarded by being offered rebates. The city also started to invest in treatment plants to recycle wastewater and now El Paso recycles and sells about 12% of wastewater. El Paso even has the biggest desalination plant in the US, this plant treats the brackish water and pumps the new fresh water back into the aquifer. Because of the steps taken,
Over the past years more people are starting to recognize climate change as a significantly rising environmental and public health concern. Changes in the environment over the upcoming years can result in increased heat, precipitation changes and worsen …show more content…
Unsustainable transportation affects the health of the community due to the increase in air pollution given off by many vehicles. To increase resiliency in El Paso, the city must support and fund their public transportation services. The City of El Paso current bus system is the Sun Metro which operates with over 2,200 vehicles which travel over 23 millions miles a year, using over 3 million gallons of diesel and unleaded gasoline ( "The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability”).For El Paso to improve its fleet the Sun Metro must include more hybrid and fuel efficient vehicles to cut down on unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions and to also save money on fuel. Upgrading the bus fleet to diesel, electric or biodiesel will not only reduce CO2 emissions and also reduce the dependency on imported oil. For buses to break even on CO2 emissions of a car, buses only need to carry 3-8 people ("10 Reasons Why You Should Use Public Transport”). Furthermore, the transportation systems needs to cut down the amount of fleet vehicles on the road and develop more sustainable bus routes to ensure that the citizens can get where they need while minimizing its ecological footprint. Increasing the amount of people using a sustainable public transportation system is a major step towards …show more content…
In 2011 El Paso went 119 days without rain causing The Rio Grande to shrink up. Many feared the long term problems of this drought, but according to an article in The Guardian El Paso is going to be “just fine” in present and future droughts. The article reports how El Paso has a different approach to water conservation than the rest of Texas. When Archuleta, the head of El Paso Water Utilities, came to town over 20 years ago the town was on the edge of exhausting all of its water. Archuleta had to come up with a plan or the city would die. Residents of El Paso were encouraged to conserve water and were paid $1 a foot of sod to remove from their lawns are replace it with sand or grass that was less dependent on water. Many neighborhood associations promoted replacing plants that needed a great amount of water to surve to trees that do not need much water. The water conservation does not stop there, homeowners who installed more efficient air conditioning systems, newer low-water model washing machines and toilets were rewarded by being offered rebates. The city also started to invest in treatment plants to recycle wastewater and now El Paso recycles and sells about 12% of wastewater. El Paso even has the biggest desalination plant in the US, this plant treats the brackish water and pumps the new fresh water back into the aquifer. Because of the steps taken,