With the visionary ideas of PlaNYC and what we’d recently learned of New York’s preventative water-pollution systems, I had higher expectations for the city’s new solid waste management system. This time, New York needs to follow the example of cities like San Francisco.
It seems that the real issues of waste management in New York have gotten bogged down in politics. I have to wonder how much thought was given to the idea of a “zero-waste” NYC when the city’s new solid waste management system was drawn up. Was the idea considered at all, or did the city government take it for granted that waste is a fact of city life? Instead of exporting garbage to Tarrytown to rot in a high-tech dump, the city could export fertilizer to farmers. Surely the idea could be successfully marketed to this organic-food loving city.
Personally, I find it hard to get “mad as hell”. I’m pretty stoic most of the time, and I don’t usually think of anger as a productive emotion. I’ve also become fairly desensitized over the years to social problems – except for a few special situations, like unfair treatment on an individual level, anger just isn’t my response to these situations. I generally think of this as a good thing, since anger clouds judgment and is generally unpleasant to experience or be around, but in cases of social justice anger might be called for. Besides being stoic, I’m also fairly passive. An angry version of me might feel more motivated to make change; I might be more emotionally engaged. Emotional engagement requires strong emotions virtually by definition.
The presentations we watched on Thursday tried to put a bit of emotional engagement into practice. The study on the towns of Treece and Pitcher presented an example of a community essentially destroyed by, and the EPA’s response to it. With the hazardous results of decades of mining surrounding the town, with a total cleanup cost that might potentially cost more than the monetary value of the homes and possessions there, evacuation may well have been the only conscionable solution. Regardless of individual free choice, a community that includes children has a responsibility to them to provide a safe environment to grow up in. With the developmental risks posed by exposure to lead and other metals, the EPA’s response seems particularly justified. The town stands as an example of the mistakes of the past, and the situations and hard choices we should do our best to avoid having to make in the future.
I have to wonder why only one couple refused every offer of reimbursement for evacuation. I don’t know the financial details of anyone who lived in Treece, but it seems unusual that only two people would be unable to move. It seems likely that they simply decided they were more happy staying where they were than picking and starting anew, which is and should be their choice.
Advertising is entirely based on emotional engagement, although feelings of envy and desire are usually the goal rather than anger or camaraderie. In the case presented by my classmates, however, the goal is to juxtapose the beautiful architecture of the city with the waste that surrounds its operation. I think the idea is clever. A possibly even more effective version might use a great number of unique images from across the city to form the mosaic, allowing more people to connect with scenes from their neighborhood and become engaged with the situation surrounding us.
