Jacqueline Tosto- Week 4

In seminar this week we discussed the consequence of the use of incinerators in New York City. For one, the amount ash from the incinerators was quite large and took up a great amount of room in landfills. The gases released from the incinerators also were quite harmful for everyone in the city. Although the municipal incinerators did damage, the worst was the sheer number of incinerators in apartment buildings. Even though the incinerators are no longer in use, they are still affecting the city. It seems amazing the damage these machines can cause in just a short time seems impossible. In just over 40 years over 12,000 tons of particulate matter was emitted, damaging both the environment and the body.
We also discussed the survey done on youths in New York to study the amount particulate emissions on an average student. The discovery was that students who have long commutes to school inhale a significantly higher amount of toxic pollutants than students who have short commutes. This is due to the high amount of steel that is released in subway stations. There are many ways that this problem could be fixed. For one, the MTA can change the wheels on the subway to a difference substance so the wheels do not cause friction releasing the steel particles into the air. Another option is to add more ventilation into subway terminals so the particles can release into open air instead of staying contained in the tiny space. A last option is to add a glass barrier between the subway and the platform. Many cities in other countries have such things such as London. Not only does this add protection from commenters falling onto the tracks, it also will keep the particles from releasing into the terminal. Something really should be done. As a commuter who takes the subway almost everyday, I do not like to think that my commute could be slowly damaging my lungs. I have to take the subway in order to get around so there is no way of avoiding inhaling the steel. I would much rather the MTA do something in order to protect the people.
We also discussed in class this week Landfills and Brownfills and what they are made of. An important part of keeping accurate records about the contents of Landfills and Brownfills is so public policy is directed in order to keep waste low. If accurate records were not kept correctly certain laws would never have been passed such as the deposit laws.
I thought the refuse composition contents over the certain years were very interesting. One of the percentages that interested me the most was the decrease in ash from 1905 to 1989. It is quite amazing to see how quickly the American population adjusted to electricity and completely gave up the old methods of keeping heat and light. Obviously this progression was bound to happen but in just 34 years, the amount of ash deposited dropped by just under 40%. A percentage that confused me however was that of glass. I would like to know why there was a sudden increase in 1971 and then a decline in 1989.
I was disgusted by the amount of waste humans throw into landfills. In 2004 millions of tons of garbage was just thrown away without any thought of where it will go and how it will affect our future. I am most disgusted by the sheer number of diapers thrown away. 3,470,000 tons of diapers in just one year are too many. Not only is that disgusting, but also wasteful. They never decompose and just stay in landfills forever. Gross.