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Littering
Littering
Sanitation trucks on the streets of NYC as seen in this photo have a small message on the side of it saying "DONT LITTER", as if people are actually going to listen to that. A message that sanitation trucks should put on the side is something along the lines of "500 DOLLAR FINE IF CAUGHT LITTERING" but in very big print so that it shouts out at people to not litter. The current fine in NYC for littering is anywhere from $50 -$250 and no more than 10 days in jail, which is clearly not intimidating enough.
Significance
Significance
What people do not understand is that the trash you litter gets carried by wind that eventually ends up in near by catch basins and whenever it rains that trash is let out into the various important NYC waterways. Our water ways will continue to suffer as long as people keep littering. As said in the article, NYC is a cultural icon and it would be a shame if the water ways were full of trash and pollution.
Is Urbanization bad?
Is Urbanization bad?
This graph show's how the population of NYC has grown by over a million people in the last 20 years. Since 1920, the population has nearly doubled.
The biggest problem that affects littering is urbanization. Without people in an area, there would be no one to litter, and the more people in an area, the more people to litter. Common sense.
As seen in this article, A NYC sanitation worker, who drives a mechanical street sweeper through out the streets of Williamsburg tells us "he finds so many more water bottles, soiled napkins, newspapers, cigarette butts and nastier discards than when he started nine years ago that he has to circle back and make a second pass... Its a lot more litter for me to pick up".
Each year it gets harder and more expensive for the city of New York to keep up with the trash increasing because of population size.
The more NYC grow's the worse the litter will get, so its entirely up to the residents to keep the streets clean and not litter.
This video is from 1980, 40 years ago, trying to instill into people that they are the ones that will make a change. The population of NYC in 1980 was a little over 7 million people, almost 2 million less than it is today.
Limiting what we have to throw away
Limiting what we have to throw away
Here are some facts:
- In New York City alone, one less grocery bag per person per year would reduce waste by 109 tons and save $11,000 in disposal costs.
- 1998, the people in New York threw away 29.7 million tons of trash. That’s 3,258 pounds per person or 9 pounds per person per day.
- An average New York Times Sunday edition produces 8 million pounds (3.6 million kilograms) of waste paper
- New York Biggest Export- Paper
- Residential Garbage produced by NYC= 12,000 Tons per day
People dont realize how much what they throw away adds up to create crazy statistics such as these
Sewage Overflows
Sewage Overflows
Over 60% of NYC has a combined sewer system and figuring that its 150 years old it may need a bit of improvement. When there are heavy rainstorms, the treatment plants cant handle the wastewater flowing in. This leads all the backup overflow streaming into the NYC waterways, containing large amounts of litter that was in the sewage from being washed down catch basins. Litter ending up in waterways is often dangerous toward our fish and toxic to the water.
Common question is what will help prevent this from happening?
Increased tree and vegetation planting has the potential to decrease the harmful effects of runoff. In that case, it seems like this cant help NYC because theres nearly any green there.
This is a perfect example of NYC resident's trash ending up in the Gowanus Canal.
This is a perfect example of NYC resident's trash ending up in the Gowanus Canal.
Idling
Idling
Idling is a word that not many people are familiar with, unless that of course if you are from NYC. Idling a vehicle means that your engine is running while you are parked, legally or illegally, ad doesn't matter if your parked aside the road waiting for your friend to come outside.
Types of Air Pollutants in NYC
Types of Air Pollutants in NYC
"Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5)- Fine particulate matter consists of small, airborne particles. PM2.5 that can penetrate deep into the lungs, causing inflammation of the airways, exacerbating lung and heart disease, increasing hospital admissions and contributing to premature mortality... due to motor vehicles."
"Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)- Nitrogen oxides are gases produced by fuel combustion. They include nitric oxide, which is rapidly converted to nitrogen dioxide after emission from vehicles and other sources. Exposures have been associated with lung irritation, emergency department visits and hospital admissions for respiratory conditions. Nitrogen oxides also contribute to the formation of ozone."
"Elemental Carbon (EC)- Elemental carbon is a component of PM2.5 emitted from fossil fuel combustion, including diesel exhaust. EC can cause irritation of the airways and exacerbate asthma, may increase the risk of lung cancer, and like greenhouse gases, can contribute to hotter temperatures in cities."
"Ozone (O3)- Ozone is a gas made up of three oxygen atoms which enters the air from motor vehicle exhaust, industrial emissions, and natural sources. Ozone is naturally present approximately 10 to 30 miles above the earth’s surface where it protects us from the sun’s harmful rays. However, at ground-level ozone creates smog and can trigger a variety of health problems including asthma and other respiratory illnesses."
We learn from these air pollutants that 3/4 are produced from motor vehicles fuel which come with a laundry list of health illnesses. The one that is produced from diesel exhaust pertains more toward trucks rather than cars, but still all 4 are being let out into our ecosystems blindly damaging our health.
So what happens when these pollutants are released in to the air?
So what happens when these pollutants are released in to the air?
Once these pollutants are released they created a smog in the air which creates a smokey fog mixture in the air which makes it difficult to breathe. "Pollution like smog and soot from vehicle tailpipes can irritate and damage human lungs, leading to higher risks of asthma, cancer, and heart disease. A major source of this pollution is idling. To make matters worse, people often park and idle right where we breathe - along our sidewalks, schoolyards, playgrounds, hospitals, shops, businesses, and homes."
Fun Fact:
"New Yorker City drivers waste over $28 million dollars every year in fuel burned while idling. Idling also inflicts more wear and tear on engines, leading to higher maintenance costs." -https://www.edf.org/sites/default/files/9581_Anti-Idling_FactSheet_April09.pdfThis article below goes on to tell us how New York City's air is really gross and is graded an F by the American Lung Association for smog levels.
https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/nyc-among-smoggiest-cities-nation-report-says
What is being done to stop idling?
What is being done to stop idling?
New York City has anti-idling laws with fines ranging from $100 to $2000 for people who idle their vehicles for more than 1 minute adjacent to schools and 3 minutes for the rest of NYC.
In some cars nowadays, they have a feature called the start/stop system which turns your engine off every time you come to a complete stop, which makes it impossible to idle.
Fact: In New York City, idling engines create close to 24 tons of sooty particles, 940 tons smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx ), 2,200 tons volatile organic compounds (VOC), over 6,400 tons of carbon monoxide (CO), and about 130,000 tons of the green-house gas (GHG) carbon dioxide (CO2 ).
Citizens are now able to help report idlers and get paid for it
From the article below: "The city is paying cash bounties to tipsters who turn in commercial drivers for leaving their engines on while parked by a curb for more than three minutes — or a mere minute in a school zone." With rewards amounting to 25% of the end fine of the idling ticket. Although you are being a rat on people who may not know they are doing anything wrong, you are putting cash in your pocket and helping your ecosystem.
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