Report on Sustainability Challenges in Tampa Bay Area, 2019

This report provides an overview of the sustainability challenges facing the Tampa Bay area. It identifies key issues such as stormwater pollution, water waste, land use and transportation problems, and greenhouse gas emissions. The report discusses the potential future environmental impacts, including rising sea levels and water scarcity. It highlights the threats posed by pollution and climate change, emphasizing the need for government action and citizen involvement to mitigate these issues. The report concludes by summarizing the major sustainability concerns and their potential global impact. It emphasizes the interconnectedness of environmental, economic, and social factors, and the importance of addressing these challenges to ensure a sustainable future for the Tampa Bay area and beyond. The report references several sources to support its findings and analysis of the current situation and future projections.

Running head: CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY
Concept of Sustainability
9/19/2019

CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY 1
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Current Sustainability Challenges in Tampa Bay Area.........................................................2
Future of Tampa Bay Area environment...............................................................................3
Major Future threats related to Pollution, Climate Change, etc.............................................3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY 2
Introduction
The aim of this report is to discuss about the present sustainability challenges in the
Tampa Bay area and the future of the environment of this area. In addition to this, the paper is
providing the discussion related to the future threats related to the climate change and
pollution in the area.
Current Sustainability Challenges in Tampa Bay Area
Stromwater pollution – This is considered to be the major polluter of the watershed of
Tampa Bay. This pollution is accounts for the around 63% in the total nitrogen loadings in
the area of Tampa Bay, and nitrogen is considered to be the Tampa bay’s primary pollutant.
The exceeding level of nitrogen can result in the adverse influence on the area, comprising
dangerous algal blooms, such as reduced oxygen, loss of essential fish habits, red tide, and
fish kills (Tampa Bay Waterkeeper, 2017).
Water waste – Sewage pollution has impacted the Tampa Bay area along with the
economy, citizens, and ecosystem that reside and depend on for years, in part due to failing
water waste infrastructure and aging in the cities that are placed at the nearer area. This
illegal patter of the sewage pollution raise number of risk not just related to the public health,
but also to the habitats and marine life in the bay (Tampa Bay Times, 2018).
Land use and transportation – Development boom in the Tampa Bay area came very
late in the region in comparison to other regions and its urban form as well as transportation
networks spins majorly around cars. This has allowed an extensive pattern of land use poorly
linked by the network of mostly congested roadways occupied with people traveling from
one place to another, incapable to depend on the mass transit options that are considered to be
common in the metropolitan areas of same size (Griffin, 2017).

CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY 3
Green House Gas emission – This issue is considered to be other major issues in the
region as it impacts the environment, public, as well as economy. The electricity and
Agriculture industry both are involved in the emission of GHG (Markolf, 2017).
Future of Tampa Bay Area environment
Considering the above sustainability issues in the Tampa Bay area, it could be said
that in the coming future the region will be majorly contributing in the global climate change.
Besides this, the illegal usage of water and wastage of water can result in water scarcity in the
region. This will not just impact human being but it will be considered to the extinction of the
water bodies and habitats from the region. This will not just impact the environment, but also
to the people and economy. In order to overcome these issues, the government of the region
has to focus on encouraging citizens to reduce the population and to implement different laws
related to environment security.
Major Future threats related to Pollution, Climate Change, etc.
Along with Tampa Bay, Miami, New York city, Los Angeles, etc. is dealing with the
threat of rising sea level. For every 1 degree Celsius, there is an increase in the average
temperature at global level. There will be rise of around 2.3 meters of long term (LaGrone,
2019).

CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY 4
Source [(Fin, 2013)]
The above image is the map of the region in which the area that is highlighted in tan
will be in the future underwater which will be considered to rise in the sea level to 5 foot
([(Fin, 2013). This also results in making challenging hunt of water because its prices in the
future will increase. In addition to this, importing some food will be also complicated for the
region due to rising sea level. A rise in the sea level not just impacts one city, or an industry,
or water rich properties. In fact, the economy will become constrict like ecosystems and any
change in one variable will certainly change another variable. This is certainly resulting in
climate change (Djinis, 2018).
Water pollution is also being considered as the major threat for the Tampa Bay area as
it is resulting in reducing the drinking water. The increasing development in the area is
resulting in unjustifiable use of water (Tampa Bay Times, 2014). Besides this, the disposal of
waste and extension of the water bodies will result in impacting the health of people,
economy of the region, and environment.

CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY 5
These challenges to the sustainability of the local water, energy, and food sector is
very sever because it is impacting the life of not just the citizens of Tampa Bay are but to the
entire population on earth. The excessive use of electricity is resulting in greenhouse gas
emission which is negatively contributing in climate change. Unjustifiable use of water and
waste disposal to water is resulting in impacting the health of the people living at different
regions. Besides this, the rising sea level is resulting in making expensive water which is
impacting the economic condition of the country. Besides this, the rising sea level is
enforcing the country to reduce the importing of some of the food products as they require
more water to cook.
Conclusion
The above report has provided in brief about the sustainability issues that are being
experienced by the Tampa Bay area. Besides this, the report has also discussed about the
future image of the region and the future threat related to environment. The analysis has
highlighted that Tampa Bay is dealing with number of sustainability issues such as
greenhouse gas emission, land and transportation use, stromwater pollution and water
wastage. Considering these issues, in the coming future there will be water scarcity in the
region and will have severe impact on people, environment, and economy. These issues are
not just impacting the sea life, environment citizens, and economy of Tampa Bay, but have
major impact on the environment and economy at global level.

CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY 6
References
Djinis, E. (2018). Will the Tampa Bay area be under water in 100 years? Rising seas tell a
frightening story. Retrieved from https://www.tampabay.com/florida/2019/03/18/will-
tampa-bay-be-under-water-in-100-years-rising-seas-tell-a-frightening-story/
Fin, S. (2013). Rising Sea Levels: How Much of Tampa Bay Would Be Under Water?
Retrieved from https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/post/rising-sea-levels-how-much-
tampa-bay-would-be-under-water
Griffin, J. (2017). Five big projects in Tampa; five big problems looming. Retrieved from
https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/economicdevelopment/five-big-projects-
in-tampa-five-big-problems-looming/2333417/
LaGrone, P. (2019). New projections show sea level rise accelerating in Tampa Bay.
Retrieved from https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/full-circle/new-projections-
show-sea-level-rise-accelerating-in-tampa-bay
Markolf, S.A. (2017). An integrated approach for estimating greenhouse gas emissions from
100 U.S. metropolitan areas. Retrieved from
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5731/pdf
Tampa Bay Times. (2014). UN: Environment is deadly, worsening mess, but not hopeless.
Retrieved from https://www.tampabay.com/environment/un-environment-is-deadly-
worsening-mess-but-not-hopeless-20190313/
Tampa Bay Times. (2018). Editorial: 5 Tampa Bay issues to watch for 2019. Retrieved from
https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-5-tampa-bay-issues-to-watch-
for-2019-20181228/

CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY 7
Tampa Bay Waterkeeper. (2017). Core Issues. Retrieved from
http://tampabaywaterkeeper.org/core-issues/