Author: sustoyev

Heritage Thermal Services is a hazardous waste facility located in East Liverpool, Ohio and on July 2013 an eruption occurred which spewed toxic waste and chemicals around the neighborhood.   Three years later, Donald Trump, someone who is notoriously known for refuting climate change claims, won by a landslide in industrial East Liverpool.  Today, East Liverpool is drafting a protest letter to the EPA which has made no progress in punishing the owner whose plant erupted in East Liverpool in 2013.

Ever since Trump took office the EPA has had major cut-downs which are unprecedented for any previous president, both republican and democrat. When Trumps appointee, Scot Pruitt, took office the amount of investigations on hazardous sites has decreased by less than one-third of the investigations under the Obama administration and one-fourth of the Bush Administration.    In addition, EPA officers no longer have the right to order air and water pollution tests without receiving permission from Washington.  This has slowed down and inhibited the efficacy of EPA enforcement officers and consequently any projects that were in effect to reduce pollution and toxic emissions.  The 31 percent EPA budget cut that Trump put in place led to the loss of about 700 employees at the EPA (Davidson).  After three years, East Liverpool still contains toxic levels of dust with metal additives such as manganese which are harmful to human health.  Other sites that have been stalled because of cuts to the EPA such as TimkenSteel Corporation in Canton, Ohio and Globe Metallurgical in Waterford, Ohio continue to release life threatening chemicals that can cause, “pulmonary edema, respiratory failure and death.” (Lipton and Ivory).

EPA cuts are detrimental to society and Earth.  These toxic wastes are silent killers that not only cause extreme changes in climate but also directly impact human health.  With cut-downs on the EPA these plants remain unpunished free to illegally emit chemicals into the atmosphere.   In an attempt to alleviate the drop in efficiency of the EPA due to cuts, the EPA decided to put more power into the state judiciary in deciding how to deal with the main causes of pollution in their individual states.

Works Cited

Lipton, Eric, and Danielle Ivory. “Under Trump, E.P.A. Has Slowed Actions Against Polluters, and Put Limits on Enforcement Officers.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/12/10/us/politics/pollution-epa-regulations.html.

Columnist, Joe Davidson |. “Perspective | EPA won’t be able to do the ‘right thing’ under Trump, says latest protesting official.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 1 Aug. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/08/01/epa-doing-the-right-thing-is-not-possible-under-trump-says-resigning-official/.

In Santa Fe, New Mexico the Chaco Canyon stands as one of America’s grand national monuments.  The canyon which was built by the indigenous people of New Mexico represents a civilization that has excelled in architecture, agriculture, astronomy and the arts.  The canyon and the surrounding region have been highly protected by conservationists and the government, specifically the National Park Service, but when Trump took office the area around the Chaco Canyon became a prime contester for oil and gas drilling.  Although the surrounding region has been protected by the National Park Service, the land legally belongs to the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs which are less focused on protecting the sight and more focused on economic gain.

Drilling and fracking, the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks, have a detrimental effect on the region.  Not only does drilling in the area of the canyon run the potential of ruining artifacts that have not yet been discovered but it also increases the regions chances for earthquakes.  In addition drilling emits carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and and other harmful chemicals from blasting activities (Indian Affairs).  Ryan Zinke, who serves on the Trump administration as the United States Secretary of the Interior mad oil drilling his priority.  What Zinke fails to realize is that by permitting more drilling, especially in areas as sensitive as the Chaco Canyon he is putting the people in his own country at risk to natural disasters.  In addition, the emissions have potential to detrimentally ruin human health and will therefore lead to more citizen death in the region.

Drilling regulations are of benefit to this country because although it may help America’s economy, we are slowly deteriorating the Earth making America a lot more susceptible to national disasters.   There have been studies done in industrial states, Kansas and Oklahoma that experience multiple small magnitude earthquakes a day, in an attempt to link drilling to the increase of their susceptibility to earthquakes.  The data shows that fracking, although not directly linked to causing earthquakes, increases the chance of earthquakes and adds to the harmful groundwater that already exists in the ground (Fifield).  Natural disasters are occurring more frequently and with more intensity as is in America so it is in every benefit for America to take precautions and cut down on anything that can increase natural disasters.

Works CitedOil and Gas Drilling/Development Impacts, teeic.indianaffairs.gov/er/oilgas/impact/drilldev/.

Moe, Richard. “The Treasures of Chaco Canyon Are Threatened by Drilling.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/12/01/opinion/chaco-canyon-new-mexico-drilling.html.

Fifield, Stateline Jen. “Scientists study link between U.S. oil drilling and rise in earthquakes.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 14 July 2016, www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/scientists-study-link-u-s-oil-drilling-rise-earthquakes.

Canada’s “First Nations” are a group of indigenous people who have lived over the Hart River and are adamant on preserving their land in the Yukon Territory.  The Yukon wilderness territory is highly coveted by the government because it is exceptionally rich in minerals.  The wilderness has coal, gas and about 18 billion tons of ore that has already been claimed by one of the largest petroleum companies, Chevron. The recent land quarrel between the indigenous people of Yukon and the Canadian government is over the Peel Watershed which is a large mountainous area in Yukon that contains 6 rivers and all of the rich minerals wanted by the government for industrial use.  The Peel Watershed has long been negotiated by the government and the indigenous people through a series of treaties in which the government promised not to touch a certain percentage of the land.  The Peel Watershed Planning Commission, which was set up in 2004 to mediate between the indigenous people and the government of Yukon, made a 7-year land use planning study which recommended that the government leave the majority of the Peel Watershed alone.   Recently however, the Yukon public government feels that elected officials of the region, and not the indigenous people, have the final say on the usage of the land and have proposed to open up 71 percent of the land to mining claims.  (Johnson)

The view of the indigenous people and the government over any piece of land is usually the same across society.  People who live on highly coveted land feel that they need to protect the natural beauty and resources that the land possess while the government feels that minerals in such abundance must be exploited for economic gain.  In this article an official from the Yukon government, Mike Burke, stated that, “Mother Nature has given us many gifts, beautiful rivers, the land they flow through, the mountains and the trees that we can see, but we should not forget that she also gave us minerals that allow us to live in a modern society.”  What the government fails to realize is that although mining for resources provides humans economic gain it further deteriorates the Earth and its atmosphere.  According to environment.co, mining causes high amounts of toxic minerals and greenhouse gas emission which effects human health by causing various respiratory diseases.  Mining and exploitation of land can also cause formation of sinkholes, contamination of soil and loss of biodiversity, which is especially great in the Peel Watershed region.   Although the Peel Watershed is still under debate various groups have made protests and websites to preserve the natural land and support the indigenous people in their lawsuit against the government.

Works Cited

Levin, Dan. “Canada Legal Fight May ‘Destroy the Faith’ in First Nations Treaties.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Nov. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/11/05/world/canada/yukon-indigenous-treaties.html.

Ron Johnson – February 5, 2014. “Yukon Government Opens Vast Peel River Watershed to Mining.” Earth Island Institute, www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/yukon_government_opens_vast_peel_river_watershed_to_mining/.

“Effects Of Mining on the Environment and Human Health.” Environment News South Africa, 20 Oct. 2016, www.environment.co.za/mining-2/effects-of-mining.html.

Ever since the mid-20^th century, flying has become an indispensable part of the worldwide economy.  This is the case for New York especially, who’s three major airports, John F, Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty, contribute about $37.3 billion to the regional economy (NYC’S Risk Landscape).  Today, with temperatures rising and unprecedented storms occurring worldwide, many airports are not prepared.  This could lead to a significant and expensive economic problem because flying is one of the most profitable forms of transportation.   The temperature increase over the past decade has caused the tar on the runways to melt which restricts takeoff, delays flights and may require more restrictions on the weight a plane can carry, meaning the loss of customers and seats.  In the study, “Impacts of Rising Temperatures on Aircraft Takeoff Performance”, it was found that the rise in temperature has caused a weight requirement on 10-30% of annual flights that departed at the max temperature for that day (Coffel, Thompson and Horton).  In addition to a rise in temperature, a rise in sea levels, which is expected to be about six or seven feet this century, can cause harm to low lying airports.  As seen in this article, human efficiency and transport is greatly affected by the changing climate and infrastructure should include risk management for the worst case scenarios.

Although this article focused more on airports worldwide, New York’s airports are equally affected by climate change and storm surges as presented in New York’s Risk Landscape assessment.  Both of New York’s local airports are located on floodplains and have already been subject to flooding.  LaGuardia, which was built next to the East River, and JFK, which is next to Jamaica bay, have both closed during Sandy and had taken 3 days to come back to operation.  What New York does to manage the risk of flooding on the infrastructure of airports specifically has not been stated.  In the article, a Norwegian airport planner took on the problem of rising sea levels and flooding and “decided to build all the future runways at least 23 feet above sea level.” (Ives).  To do such a thing in New York would mean shutting down the airports and finding solid ground to even build 23 feet above sea level.  In terms of extreme heat or heat waves, New York City does not have any specific threats to airports but extreme heat can lead to power outages which can in turn affect airline efficiency.

Humans fail to realize how much of an effect Earth’s climate has on the functioning on all parts of society.  Since 1980 average global temperatures have gone up by 2 degrees and have not been a major problem until certain functions of society start to shut down because of it (Pattani).  In order to keep the economy running and society functioning smoothly there should be more risk assessment when building infrastructure in New York City and globally.  This article proves that worldwide planners of various types of infrastructure are looking to the climate to determine their next building move.

Works cited:

Ives, Mike. “In a Warming World, Keeping the Planes Running.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/30/business/airports-climate-change-global-warming.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fasia.

Plan for Hazards – Hazard Mitigation – NYCEM – New York City.

Coffel, Ethan D., et al. “The impacts of rising temperatures on aircraft takeoff performance.” SpringerLink, Springer Netherlands, 13 July 2017, link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10584-017-2018-9.

Pattani, Aneri. “How a Warming Climate Will Trouble Air Travel.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 17 July 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/climate/global-warming-air-travel.html.

Trade, a function of society that is usually associated with the economy, actually has its roots deeply embedded in geology.  Trade, globally and in the United States specifically, is highly controlled by resources, resources that we get from planet Earth itself.  Resources that the United States cannot self-provide, using its territorial land, is looked for in other countries.  This contributes to the dependency the United States has on other countries, even those that President Trump may consider as “arch enemies”.  As Paul Mozur proposed in this article, President Trump cannot stop trade with North Korea because the United States and North Korea have a mutual dependency on one of their biggest trading partners: China.  China helps North Korea with its “fuel, food and machinery needs” and at the same time provides the United States with 650 billion dollars’ worth of goods and services.  The reason that this mutual trading partner between North Korea and the United States is such a problem for Trump is because cutting off trade with North Korea would also mean that the United States would have to cut trade with any country that has ties to North Korea, including China.  Unfortunately, cutting off trade or increasing sanctions on China to stop trade with North Korea is not an option for the United States because we are so dependent on China for the continuation of our market economy.  The main reason China resists most sanctions on stopping trade with North Korea is because China is dependent on the natural resources that North Korea provides them, which are minerals such as zinc, iron ore and coal.  In a report released by China’s General Administration of Customs, and as presented in the article “China Says Its Trade with North Korea Has Increased,” China’s trade with North Korea in the first quarter of 2017 compared to that of 2016 increased by 37.4 percent with an increase of imports by 18.4 percent.  This means that this year China is still relying on the natural resources that North Korea can provide (Perlez and Huang).  These natural resources that China acquires from North Korea is then used to make highly marketable goods for the United States, such as the iPhone which in turn keep the economy going.

This cycle of dependency, starting from the need for resources, can have a great effect on society.  China, by importing natural resources from North Korea, provides North Korea with money which is put to the development of nuclear weapons and testing of missiles.  However, based on the same report released by China’s General Administration of Customs, China had decreased the import of coal from North Korea by 51.6 percent, since the import of this resource was the greatest contributor to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program (Perlez and Huang).  Although this was a significant decrease, the import of coal from North Korea cannot stop in totality meaning that China is still contributing to the North’s nuclear weapons program, let alone the contributions from the other natural resources China imports from North Korea.  For the United States this has great implications as well.  If the United States were to stop all trade with North Korea, this would start animosity between China and the United States which plays into the favor of North Korea for potentially starting a “trade war” between the United States and China.   Most people see the economy and trade as separate from having to do with planet Earth, when it has everything to do with what Earth can provide and what areas have what others need or covet.

Works Cited:

Mozur, Paul. “Trump Can’t Stop Trade With North Korea. But He Does Have Options.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/business/trump-china-north-korea-trade.html.

Perlez, Jane, and Yufan Huang. “China Says Its Trade With North Korea Has Increased.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Apr. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/world/asia/china-north-korea-trade-coal-nuclear.html.