MY EYES!!

Sometimes defined as visual clutter or aesthetic pollution, the term 'visual pollution' encapsulates its subjective nature – it refers to unattractive and man-made visual elements of a vista, a landscape, or any other feature that we may feel uncomfortable looking at. It can be caused not only by (giant) billboards, business signs, street signs, telephone and utility poles, electricity wires but also garbage: littered beaches, rivers, roadsides, or overflowing garbage containers, plastic stuck in fences or trees, a pile of cigarette butts, outside bars, clubs or on beaches, open-pit mines, dog poo, rubbish dumps, mobile phone towers, or basically anything that takes away from the city view (World Environment Magazine and TV). Although the former aspects of the phenomenon may not have direct impacts to human health or environmental degradation, the latter aspects most definitely do, and are both still eyesores.

While walking through the streets of Port of Spain and environs, the hardest thing for me to do was to NOT see the aspects of visual pollution which literally leapt out at you, flaunting its negative aesthetics in all shapes and forms.

Old buildings such as this one pictured to the left as well as the extremely dilapidated line of condominiums used to house the elderly along the majority of Nelson Street are only some examples of visual pollution at work. 

Among the other types of visual pollution spotted in the city was the intricate maze of wires obscuring the view of the sky when one dazed at the sky - electric power lines.

But wait! There's more! Almost everywhere I turned i saw garbage strewn all over the road, sometimes, even boldly in front of signs that beg and plead with citizens not to litter in the specified area, like at this spot in Freetown.I did say they were jumping out at you did I? In some cases there were even lumber material spotted tossed at the side of the road. Goes to show how much we care about our surroundings right?

Visual pollution has several effects, some more pervasive than others. As it pertains purely to the visual aspect, it may cause depression in some persons and communities, especially if nothing is being done to rectify the problem, as well as an accompanied lower standard of life. The greater the amount of old and dilapidated structures in the area the more property values will be expected to drop, resulting in a lowered curb appeal. Since the area is an eyesore, it will also be non-conducive to businessmen and investors who potentially targeted the area for economic activity, thus leaving the residents without access to equal opportunities for growth and employment.

If urbanization continues to increase, then the rate of inappropriate garbage disposal on sidewalks and in drains and waterways will consequently increase, which would lead to contamination of rivers and seas and an entrenchment of the visual pollution problem.

The presence of telephone and power lines I believe is something we just have to live with, since they are necessary for human communication and power transmission that help drive human economic activity; a crucial aspect of life. Their problem isn't something that is experienced countrywide, unlike the general ubiquity of physical pollution and its effects. Placing a handicap on our ability to communicate and our economy just for the sake of 'visual appeal' would set us back quite a bit in our drive to sustainable development as a nation.

However, unless we learn to clean up our act by cleaning up our urban streets and clearing our public spaces of these old, mal-utilized structures, our city-dwelling friends and commuters alike will continue to cry the following exclamation in agony:

References:

Love to Know. "Types of Pollution". Accessed May 16 

    2014. http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Types_of_Pollution

World Environment Magazine and TV. "Visual Pollution". Accessed May 16 

    2014. http://www.worldenvironment.tv/green-news/88-topics/sustainable-
    development/1696-visual-pollution