By: Anna Quinn and Ryan Smith
We have been here in Zhongdian for only a couple days now, and so far, we have seen and experienced many parts of the community through visiting a local Tibetan home, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, and most recently, the Napahai wetlands.
Dr. Bill, a biologist working with CERS, led us on a very insightful adventure to the wetlands to explore more of the local community and wildlife. The wetlands provide the community with a free source of grazing for livestock, including sheep, horses, and pigs. However, with the influx of visitors to the area, more and more of the wetlands have been set aside for tourism, taking away from the use of these natural resources. Though recent tourism has promoted economic growth, it has also increased the level of pollution in the area. Through clean ups and connecting with the community to build environmental awareness, CERS is working to counter the negative effects of outsider interactions.
As part of our trip, we were able to observe the diversity of small organisms living in the shallows of the wetlands. We found several different types of water beetles, snails, larva, and minnows.
Exploring the wetlands, we scouted out polluted sites to return to later this week for the environmental clean up that we will host with the local children during our summer camp. By encouraging the preservation of the local environment, we can help eliminate posing threats of non-degradable waste such as Styrofoam, plastic bottles and wrappers, and aluminum cans.
We have been here in Zhongdian for only a couple days now, and so far, we have seen and experienced many parts of the community through visiting a local Tibetan home, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, and most recently, the Napahai wetlands.
Dr. Bill, a biologist working with CERS, led us on a very insightful adventure to the wetlands to explore more of the local community and wildlife. The wetlands provide the community with a free source of grazing for livestock, including sheep, horses, and pigs. However, with the influx of visitors to the area, more and more of the wetlands have been set aside for tourism, taking away from the use of these natural resources. Though recent tourism has promoted economic growth, it has also increased the level of pollution in the area. Through clean ups and connecting with the community to build environmental awareness, CERS is working to counter the negative effects of outsider interactions.
As part of our trip, we were able to observe the diversity of small organisms living in the shallows of the wetlands. We found several different types of water beetles, snails, larva, and minnows.
Exploring the wetlands, we scouted out polluted sites to return to later this week for the environmental clean up that we will host with the local children during our summer camp. By encouraging the preservation of the local environment, we can help eliminate posing threats of non-degradable waste such as Styrofoam, plastic bottles and wrappers, and aluminum cans.