Author: jessicabash

When my group and I were first assigned the Newtown Creek sewer shed, we were a bit unmotivated. We weren’t excited to have to go investigate how gross and polluted our environment is because we were already aware. However, I feel as though through the process of analyzing and investigating our assigned sewer shed, we as a group have learned a lot more about the environment as a whole as well as how exactly people and biodiversity is being affected with CSO’s (combined sewage overflow) and flooding. Being able to go to our location and have hands on experience was very beneficial to our group and it gave us more more information on what we should include in the ending of our project. Throughout this entire experience, I have become much more involved and conscious about the environment because I have come to the realization that as your environment gets worse, we are just as heavily affected if not more. I have also come to the realization that we need to take action before another natural disaster, like hurricane Sandy, happens because I do not think we will be able to withstand further damage if we do not make a change to infrastructure. In Rockaway Beach, where I live, there have been steps taken to prevent further damage in the event of another hurricane. For example, the once wooden boardwalk that did not withstand the power of Sandy has now been made into concrete, which would prevent the water from the ocean from hitting residents and their households harder. I think steps like these should be taken in Newtown Creek except with changes to internal infrastructures like pipes and etc. Im so grateful now for the experience I had in this class because it has made me more environmentally aware and conscious.

Many people have still not been able to reach an agreement with their insurers on flood claims… ever since Hurricane Sandy which happened about 5 years ago. In David Clutter’s case, the insurer happens to be the federal government. As the federal government resists Clutter’s claims, Mr. Clutter has been digging himself into a deeper and deeper hole, recently taking out a third mortgage so that him and his family have a home. For more than 5 million households, the National Flood Insurance Program is the only source of flood insurance and unfortunately, this program is broken and corrupt. “The program, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has been in the red since Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans in 2005. It still has more than a thousand disputed claims left over from Sandy. And in October, it exhausted its $30 billion borrowing capacity and had to get a bailout just to keep paying current claims (Mary Williams Walsh).” The decision to keep the program going has been put into question because it has done quite a lot more damage than good. The need for reform as it a high and if reform is not established, many families may go completely bankrupt. Not only does the program need a better financial advisement but it also needs to make permanent long term changes so that it doesn’t blow through billions of dollars without helping people. Additionally, the government is attempting to put high premiums on houses and replaces small house like Mr. Clutter’s with big ones. What happens to the forgotten?

Althouhg climate change has consistently been identified as an environmental issue, it has also been revealed to cause major health problems for people. Many medical journals, including the Lancet, have “reported that pollution of the air, water and soil is “the largest environmental cause of disease and death in the world today, responsible for an estimated nine million premature deaths (Nesbit).” Many outdoor labor carreers have found that employee capacity has fallen about 5.3 percent due to sickness from heat stress and many other conditions make the work environment much more difficult. Additionally, “Temperatures much higher than the rising global average are occurring in large urban areas, afflicting, in particular, the elderly, children under 12 months and people with chronic cardiovascular and renal disease (Nesbit).” Studies show that lower income countries have been taking big hits to resources and gross domestic products due to climate risks. Not only is the environment and human health affected but the economy is affected as well. Climate change has increased the risk of spreading infectious diseases and is affecting treatment as aid decreases rapidly. Citizens need to be alerted and changes need to be made to ensure a healthier and safer society.

Superstorm Sandy hit the east coast with such strength that many neighborhoods are still trying to get back on their feet five years later. Although some undated infrastructure has been repaired and improved, there are still way too many plans that haven’t gone anywhere passed the planning portion. Actions haven’t been taken to increase the safety of cities and neighborhoods and shield them from other natural disasters like Sandy, leaving many people defenseless and scared for the future. Some of the plans that are in place include: looking for every area in which water can come in and sealing it, “installing submarine doors, Kevlar curtains and mechanical gates to plug more than 3,000 openings into the subway below 14th Street (McGeehan and Hu),” and building walls around buildings to create flooding barriers. Some of the actions that have already taken place in the effort to prevent damage include: raising equipment and living establishments, as well as hospitals, schools, and etc. “The utility installed a submarine door that can seal off a tunnel that runs under the highway to the river, which originally was used to shuttle coal from barges (McGeehan and Hu).” Although there have been many efforts by the city and by government officials to push for better preparedness, there is still a long way to go to ensuring that our city and other cities are safe from natural disasters that could possibly create more damage than even Sandy did.

Imagine going on a vacation to Niagara Falls expecting to see beautiful clear water flowing over beautiful scenery and instead seeing water that reminds you of the color of your coffee. Gross, am I right? Turns out this isn’t the first time that this has happened in Niagara Falls. In fact, this is the second in a span of two months and quite frankly, visitors find it unacceptable. According to the Niagara Falls Water Board, “excess sewage was discharged on Wednesday when its wastewater treatment plant’s processing capacity was exceeded during a rainfall. (The Associated Press)” The color and bad condition of the water unfortunately has violated the state’s water quality standards and the high penalty for water quality violations is $37,500 per violation. That’s a lot of money to be paying with such a common recent occurrence. Unfortunately, the water board believes that there is no way to control the color of the overflow when it rains. ” It said the overflow was “a direct result of outdated infrastructure and system design limitations. (The Associated Press)” Outdated equipment must be changed and a solution must be found before the violations start racking up.

https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/05/us/ap-us-niagara-falls-black-water.html

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170922094047.htm

Sustainability is all about conserving and maintaining, right? Well, what better way to promote sustainability than a turbine that will not only generate energy but protect the coasts? Professor Tsumoru Shintake at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University proposed a turbine. This turbine is an ocean energy source that is both affordable and easy to maintain. Thirty percent of the seashore in mainland Japan is covered with tetrapods. A tetrapod is a concrete structure that is placed along the coastline to weaken the force of any incoming waves in order to protect the shore from erosion. This turbines would replace the tetrapods and wave breakers by being attached or placed near them, helping to protect the coast.  Professor Shintake states, “”Using just 1% of the seashore of mainland Japan can [generate] about 10 gigawats [of energy], which is equivalent to 10 nuclear power plants.” This project is a great example of sustainability as it is cheaper and more affordable as well as easier to maintain. It also protects the coast from erosion which helps the environment and all living creatures in it.