In 1988, vast amounts of medical debris had been dumped in the North Atlantic Ocean, causing it to stray onto beaches in New Jersey and New York; this accident became known as The Syringe Tide. The Syringe Tide was an event where substantial amounts of medical waste started drifting up onto beach shores on the Atlantic Coast, forcing those shores to be temporarily shut down for cleaning. It affected the shops that relied on visitors coming to the beaches the most. The estimated cost of the lost revenue in the tourism industry that summer was over $1 billion. The waste was eventually traced back to the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island. Because of this event, there was the creation of an extremely successful act known as the Short-Term Floatables Action Plan. In 1987, an almost mile-long slick was seen along the central New Jersey shore. “It included medical debris such as; needles, syringes, and empty prescription bottles.” (Mike Franolich) All of the garbage polluted the water and coasts, affecting the wildlife in and around the waters, as well as the overall presentation of the area. The recognition of HIV/AIDS was growing rapidly during this time, causing people to not want to go near the filthy waters, in fear of catching the virus. The tourism industry was largely impacted by …show more content…
“The New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program (HEP) founded the plan. Its purpose was to establish and effective four step process to prevent any future waste from collecting on the New Jersey shores” (Eric Schmitt) It’s four steps were to conduct regular air and sea patrols of the Harbor in search of debris, have regular clean up vessels and watch for where debris is most likely to occur at, clean additional reported debris, and have coordinate a reporting network and cleanup activities. This event was taken very seriously due to the HIV/ AIDS epidemic of the
After the towers collapsed people where trying to get off the island of Manhattan any way that could. With all the tunnels, subways, and bridges closed, there was only one way off the island, by boat. In the documentary, a boat captain tells how people were so desperate to get off the island they were literally jumping in to the water or on to the side of boats. People with every kind of boat were letting people on, trying to get people off the island and help any way they could. There where so many people trying to get off the island, boats where getting so full that they were getting close to flipping or sinking.
Cayton, Andrew R. L., Elisabeth Israels. Perry, Linda Reed, and Allan M. Winkler. "The New Jersey Plan." Prentice Hall America: Pathways to the Present. Boston, MA: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. 152-53. Print.
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. "The Case For Contamination." The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 Dec. 2005. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
For many years now scientists and researchers have been paying their attention to the bay. Millions of dollars and hundreds of hours have been spent to return the bay to its glory. However, with all that has been done the bay is still in danger and the work is no where near complete. In 2005 the bay's health was evaluated at a “D”. (Chesapeake Bay Restoration)
Joe, Brancatelli. " What Is Polluting Our Beaches?" Popular Science 1 Mar. 2003. Database. 23 Oct. 2005.
We need to also figure out a way to stop people from littering into our waterways. I was thinking maybe close off the passages along the street so adults and children don’t even have the opportunity to litter in these waterways.
Then the documentary tackles Puget Sound. The Duwamish River is the largest hot spot in the nation. In 2001, the Duwamish River was classified as a “Super Fund” site. This is given to a site that will receive federal assistance for clean up. But yet, it may be too late. Puget Sound in contaminated with PCP, lead and mercury. The threat comes from the giant industrial polluters of old and from chemicals in consumers’ face creams, deodorants, prescription medicines and household cleaners that find their way into sewers, storm drains, eventually into America’s waterways and drinking water.
...es for oysters which combats over harvesting as well. All these resolutions are helping to increase the bay's oyster population.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is sometimes referred to as the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch and the Pacific Trash Vortex is a floating patch of garbage that has collected in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, which is located in the middle of two high-pressure areas between Hawaii and California. The majority of the garbage, which is also called marine debris, in the patch is plastic, but items made from other materials such as glass and rubber are also present. Though the garbage patch is too large and goes too deep under the surface of the ocean for scientists to determine exactly how much garbage is in it, they have collected up to 750,000 bits of plastic one square kilometer (CITE). This sort of debris floating around in the ocean is dangerous for several reasons. One important reason is that marine animals mistake some of the garbage, especially plastics, for food (CITE). Another reason that the floating debris is so dangerous is because it can block sunlight from reaching deeper levels of the ocean, and thus, it removes the energy source for many autotrophs like alga...
Hooker admits to burying about 21,800 tons of various chemicals in the canal. There are at least twelve known carcinogens in the canal including benzene which is well-known for causing leukemia in people (Gibbs 22). The air, soil, and water tests have found chemical migration throughout a ten block residential area. The extent of the chemical migration is still unknown.
human doing bad thing to the earth is the theme of the toxic love story. Every time we litter or even throw something away the garbage escapes the landfill and litter the beach.Therefore the beaches are trashed up and dirty.
In many clean-up projects, officials initially point fingers at factories and large corporations assuming large facilities must be the cause of such horrendous pollutants. Unfortunately, what officials have discovered is that although industries do produce large amounts of waste, human activity produces even more. "Residential and open land uses together comprise ninety percent of the total Santa Monica Bay watershed area, and contribute eighty-two percent of the total runoff and the largest pollutant loads to the Bay." Auto and homeowners commit numerous actions that hurt the environment unknowingly. Simple acts such as overwatering one's lawn creates a runoff which cause pesticides and fertilizers to flow into storm drains that empty into the bay. Litter, pet waste and improperly disposed car care products cause the same problem.
NOAA Marine Debris Program. “De-mystifying the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch.’” Marine Debris. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2010.
The oceans need to be protected because it is where life began and if not taken care of, life as we know it will end. When dangerous substances go into the ocean, ecosystems are suffer and become endangered along with lives of people and of marine life. Surfrider Foundation recognizes the importance of protecting and preserving the quality and biodiversity of the world's coasts because they are truly irreplaceable. There is also historical evidence of ocean pollution being present in the past, but the problem still lingers today. Heal the Bay discovered that,“Did you know there is a DDT and PCB hot spot off the coast of Palos Verdes? This superfund site (which indicates it's one of the most polluted places in the United States), is left over from a 1930's era chemical plant. Because DDT takes so long to break down in the marine environment, it persists to this day, contaminating certain species of fish. There are also highly polluted sediments in the Long Beach area, a sign of the heavy shipping in the port. Heal the Bay works on developing effective capping and removal plans to keep those toxins from spreading” (Heal the Bay). DDT is still highly concentrated in the South Bay area and still contaminating different species of fish. Even after more than 80 years DDT, a toxic insecticide, is still very concentrated and during upwellings, DDT particles come back up and continue to harm marine life. If humans are careless about what is thrown on the floor or sprayed on lawns, it can lead to disastrous affects when it comes to the condition of the ocean's ecosystems, and can endanger life itself leading to a problem that only we can mend.
The problem with contaminated beaches will soon take effect on everyone. The main causes that pollution creates in the beaches are from heavy rainfall, natural disasters, and plant malfunctions. Government agencies cannot control the weather, but they can control what goes into the water. In the United States, the number one reason why beaches are closed down are due to contamination in the water that may be harmful and are left untreated. The arising problem with the beach is that the industries are producing toxic chemicals and tossing the unwanted waste into the ocean. Also, the public are recklessly throwing their trash out into the streets. A prime example to demonstrate this is, if someone was trying to throw a bottle into a street trashcan but missed, he/she is unlikely to pick up after himself/herself if no one was around to see it. This scenario causes pollution to the sidewalks. When mother nature disasters occur, these waste products will end up in the storm drains and into the sewage system. The overflow of debri from the cities can flow into the rivers and if not preserved, it can flow into the ocean. The rivers will then carry these human caused waste into t...