CLEAN AND GREEN SAN JUAN
San Juan City is experiencing city-regional environmental problems such as ambient air pollution, inadequate waste management and pollution of rivers, lakes and coastal areas. To prove this is a line stated by Karl Aguilar which talks about San Juan River being polluted, “known as one of the tributaries of the Pasig River (Metro Manila’s main waterway) the San Juan River traverses all the way up north in Quezon City (marked by the purplish ink on the map above) It also serves as a natural boundary for a part of eastern Manila, northwest Mandaluyong, west San Juan, and part of southwestern Quezon
City. Sadly, it is one of Metro Manila’s most polluted rivers.” (Aguilar, 2009). This line is an example of one of the threats San Juan is experiencing which is pollution of San Juan river. The river is also located in barangay little baguio.t
The vision is to create an environment in San Juan where it is safe, unpolluted and clean to live in. San Juan has been getting worse and worse each day in terms of threats piling up together to ruin the environment. These threats can be pollution, untouched waste, uncontrolled waste management etc. So if this continues then San Juan’s environment will overall worsen and will not be a good place to live anymore, that is why the vision is to not let that happen.
The General Goals are to promote a healthy living environment within San Juan for people living in the city to have a safe and clean environment. Another one of the general goals is to discipline citizens of San Juan to contribute to a better living environment in S
an Juan and this has been one of the goals for a long time. A line that supports this is “Mayor Gomez said the implementation of “TAPAT KO LINIS KO”, under Ordinance No.
34-2001, aims to remind the residents of San Juan to maintain the cleanliness in and outside of their residences and its surroundings. The ordinance, authored by then councilor Clemente Bargas, imposes a 25-peso penalty for the first offenders.”(Velasquez, 2014). This shows how important this goal is that it is essential for everyone
to contribute for the better of the environment.
A strategy to be able to have a strong safe and sustainable San Juan is to make the citizens be able to contribute
, practicing waste management, riding a bicycle or walking to prevent pollution. These strategies can help on making San Juan cleaner bit by bit and to show everyone that it matters to have a safe, clean, sustainable environment to live in. Based on Dr. Michael Berry, we need to better understand the influence natural and manmade environments have on our health. Once we do, it becomes apparent that effective management, especially in the form of cleaning, is the key to removing unwanted by-products and reducing serious health risks. This shows the importance of cleaning the environment as it reduces health risks like stress and toxic substances to enter our bodies.
A specific strategy is to implement a rule to have a mini garden in each residential areas and plant trees there to further increase the diversity of species. According to green child magazine, Green living areas in our cities and suburbs are vital. Industrialization and suburban sprawl have taken away the trees – our main source of unadulterated oxygen. They’re also beautiful, and they do their part to keep our environment clean.
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References:
Velasquez, CT. (2014). Kalikasan. Retrieved from:
https://www.sanjuancity.gov.ph/index.php/5k-2k/kalikasan
Aguilar, KA. (2009). That (stinking) San Juan River. Retrieved from:
http://www.theurbanroamer.com/that-stinking-san-juan-river/
Berry, M. A. (2008). Introduction to Cleaning Science. Cleaning Industry Research Institute. Retrieved from:
https://www.ciriscience.org/a_269-Cleaning-and-the-Environment
Satterthwaite, David (1999), The Links between Poverty and the Environment in Urban Areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Commission (EC), New York. Retrieved from:
http://web.mit.edu/urbanupgrading/urbanenvironment/issues/key-UE-issues.html
GREEN LIFE SAVES LIVES 