Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink

Information Technology and Society Research Group (ITSRG)

2009-07-01T12:07:00.003-04:00

This Is Temple University in Philadelphia, Pa where students with the Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN) will be working on environmental research projects! GreenGertrude will be working with a group of students aka interns and guiding them through the world of blogging and twitter to increase awareness to other group's research projects. Monday July 7 is the first day of the program which will last to August 15. Keep watching GreenGertrude on Twitter for updates and the blogs our interns will create! We will be using the hash tag #greenphilly to communicate between the multiple groups and so interested individuals can follow the progress!
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The Year of Change

2009-06-25T14:16:00.003-04:00

2009 is definitely the year of change and as I'll be working with ITSRG and Philadelphia Youth Network under Mayor Nutter's Greenworks Initiative, a new blog is totally suitable.
Thank you for all your support and interest in environmental injustices, I promise the new blog will contain the same quality, if not highter, of posts.

It's still a work in progress but new information is being added, Feel free to check it out !
www.greengertrude.wordpress.com

yours truly,
Green Gertrude

Final Thoughts

2009-05-07T18:59:00.002-04:00

Through out the course of researching and writing for this blog, I have learned a great deal about policies along, within, and around the Delaware River and largely those contributing to environmental injustices in the city of Chester.

Before committing to this project, I knew very little about the Delaware River or the greed and injustices associated with it. I had originally planned to research about the political and economic aspects of environmental policy associated with the Delaware River, but found myself drifting to the results of poor environmental and economic polices.

The Clean Water Act was the main focus of this project as its implementation created almost immediate effects and enhanced water quality. But this only happened in certain areas, largely around Philadelphia but just south of the city, another was deteriorating. Chester had once been a booming port city with plenty of jobs and wealthy residents but the city's prosperity soon diminished as cancer rates sky rocketed and wealthy residents moved elsewhere.

Environmental policies have huge faults and Chester falls right into one, as the quality of life in this city is far lower than those neighboring it. The fault in policies involving the Delaware River is pollution dumping in and around the river. In Philadelphia, the city can afford to enforce such laws and enhance the surrounding area. The city of Chester does not have the funds to enforce pollution laws and because of the manufacturing businesses in the city, little government intervention is favored so environmental policies can easily be disregarded.

Profit maximization, dirty economic policies, and loop holes in the environmental laws have ruined the lives for the residents of Chester because they cannot afford to stand up against the industries that ruin their environment.

Through this blog, I hope to increase awareness on the issues involved with environmental injustices and polices along the Delaware River. From research I have gathered I can strongly conclude that this is not only happening in Chester, but in many cities all over the world and it's extremely unfair for a group of people to suffer for the betterment of others. But I also wonder about the ethics and history involved with such issues, as individuals have been suffering for the enhancement of a group for centuries (think slaves, pyramids and Cleopatra). Regardless of how much one group has suffered, our environment has been suffering the most time after time and it's time we start taking care of people and the environment, perhaps a lot of problems would be solved if world poverty was eliminated and a sustainable lifestyle established and enforced.

I hope this blog has been informational and inspires you to find out more information about environmental injustices and to create change in your community.

Presentation

2009-04-20T19:08:00.002-04:00

The day before earth day is my capstone presentation where I will show the big M all the progress made over the semester, this is going to be so much fun! On our class blog, managed by the big M, is a list of questions we should answer while giving our presentation.

Explain how the individual project contributes to the group project
-My individual project looks at policies and implementation of the clean water act which is an important component of the Delaware Water Basin.
Explain what is unique about the individual project as compared with the group project
-Looking at how the clean water act was implemented and the effects on surrounding areas makes my individual project unique. Not In My Back Yard, environmental injustices, and loop holes in the law are the keystones of my project dealing with causes and effects of pollution in the Delaware Water Basin
Discuss your strategy for balancing between group and individual activities
-Up date my twitter and blog when i feel the urge. Update group facebook and twitter whenever one of us has something we want the world to know about.
Discuss your plans for the further development of your individual social media project
-Environmental injustices have always urged me to write about the unfairness of this world and I most likely will continue. However, I have grown quite found of my Green Gertrude character and may progress my greengertrude.blogspot.com more and tie it into my twitter account, which tweets about green news in philadelphia and whatever else catches my eye.

EARH DAY TWEETUP #greenphilly

2009-04-20T18:45:00.000-04:00

if that link does not work, click HERE

What are you doing on Earth Day?

2009-04-20T18:44:00.002-04:00

Philadelphia has been celebrating earth day ever since Saturday from what I have gathered. And in fact events will be held throughout the city all week long! woo hoo!

On April 22, 2009 I'll be twittering about earth day events in Philadelphia, along with pictures and videos of all I see. If you want to join in from 5:30-7:30pm I'll be twittering from the green roof of Philadelphia's free public library!

But get ready for the Tweetup between 8pm to midnight! What you'll need to do is gather some interesting facts, pictures, news, or just your green self and use #greenphily as much as you can!

Our goal to to trend sometime during the day, and if that's achieved hopefully our professor gives everyone in the class an A! :)

Pollution economics

2009-04-19T14:20:00.000-04:00

Pollution in the Delaware River results largely from the dense population that resides along its banks. Below is some brief information to to help us understand why pollution is an economic problem, especially pollution in the Delaware.

Most environmental problems are the result of economic activity and are economic problems. Environmental problems can be solved if economic activity is channeled in ways that are environmentally safe. Otherwise, any attempt to resolve environmental problems is pointless.

Environmental resources have 4 valuable functions with positive economic value, if they could be purchased and sold in the market place.

1. supplies natural resources that are used as inputs in the production of economic goods and services
2. serves as a potential receptor of wastes generated by production and consumption activities. However, the environment has a limited capacity for these wastes.
3. contributes fresh water and food necessary to sustain life and provides other life-support functions suitable for life.
4. provides direct amenities that enhance human enjoyment, education, and spiritual well-being

Blog Name

2009-04-16T20:36:00.003-04:00

Many of you may wonder why my blog has such a poetic title. Honestly, it seemed natural and I did not even think about Samuel Coleridge while choosing such a titled. However, the catchy phrase fits the delAWARE theme perfectly.

Fresh water is becoming an increasingly difficult to access and even reason for war in many places around the world. United States is not exempt from such devistation, just outside Philadelphia in Chester and Camden many wonder if their water is killing them. Below is a quote about water scarcity in an editorial sharing the same title as this blog.

“The International Conference on Water” held in Singapore in 2001, concluded that billions of people throughout the world are facing the problem of freshwater shortage, while “The International Freshwater Conference” held in Bonn, Germany, in December 2001, stressed that one fifth of the world’s population do not have access to sufficient clean drinking water. This is because wastewater from 2.5 billion people cannot be disposed of hygienically, making polluted drinking water the number one cause of disease around the world, ultimately leading to poverty and gender inequality.

What? Who? When? Where?: Chester's Story

2009-04-16T20:16:00.002-04:00

Located in Delaware County, about 15 miles southeast of Philadelphia, this city of 43,000 people has the highest poverty and unemployment rates in the state. Once an industrial boomtown, Chester hosted numerous large-scale shipbuilding facilities, oil refineries, and automobile plants. In the 1940s and 1950s, many people, including African-Americans from the south and immigrants from Eastern Europe, flocked to Chester to find well-paying jobs. However, between 1950 and 1980, 32% of the jobs in Chester disappeared and the economy collapsed. Most of the upwardly mobile residents left the city, leaving behind a largely poor and minority population.

New industries moved in, but not the kind many of the residents planned for or wanted. Chester now houses four large hazardous and municipal waste-treatment facilities. Daily, trucks from Pennsylvania, Delaware, and as far away as Virginia roll through Chester’s West End, delivering thousands of tons of waste. Claiming that the waste facilities are disrupting their lives and polluting the air that they breathe, the residents formed the Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL).

Nearly all of Delaware County’s municipal solid waste and sewage is treated at the Chester
facilities. In addition, 90% of all monitored air pollutants released in the county are from
Chester-area sources. The city’s autoclave facility is the largest in the country and receives
medical waste from Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey. In March 1998, George magazine dubbed Chester “Toxic Town U.S.A.”

The poverty rate in Chester is about 25%, which is three times the national average. About 65% of Chester residents are African-American, many of whom suffer from chronic respiratory problems, high blood-lead levels, and other illnesses. Chester has a mortality and lung cancer rate that is 60% higher than the rest of Delaware County. It also has the highest percentages of low birth rate and infant mortality in the entire state.

prepared by TerrificScience

Local Environmental Injustices

2009-04-16T19:31:00.007-04:00

Where does the stuff go that you don't want? out of sight, out of mind, right? Well just outside of Philadelphia two other cities deal with all the garbage large cities from surrounding areas. Chester, PA and Camden, NJ are two very polluted areas dealing with racial environmental injustices effecting the health of individuals. Is the right to an adequate environment a genuine human right? Should these people be forced to suffer so millions can live healthy lifestyles?

What goes on in these two cities is a tragedy and a different kind of environmental concern, that is perhaps even harder to fix than some others.

Ursula K. Le Guin wrote an allegory titled "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas". It's a story of a beautiful thriving city with happy and healthy residents. However, everyone's happiness rests on one person's suffering. Residents that visit the suffering soul, often go back to their normal lives forgetting what they saw others leave Omelas not knowing where to, but that such injustices are inhumane.

Environmental injustices occur around the world and are of a similar nature, those suffering are doing so at the benefit of others living a healthier and safer life. Chester, Pa and Camden, NJ are two places where fighting large corporations from a grassroots level has been difficult and little gains made to help protect the city's residents. Below or two clips from YouTube about the injustices. A film was made in the 1990s called "Laid to Waste" about the environmental injustices in Chester, because it is one of the worst places and largest environmental justice case in the United States. Camden's issues were something I learned about while researching Chester. Both are interesting a deserve attention.

CHESTER

CAMDEN

1. Does Environmentalism Promote Injustice for the Poor?

2009-04-16T19:01:00.002-04:00

River Activity

2009-03-31T07:39:00.006-04:00

Factory in Chester along the Delaware

Street of abandoned buildings in Chester, Pa

BP Oil refinery in New Jersey, Picture take from PA side of river byPaPeR.cLiP on flicker

Fighting Environmental Injustices

2009-03-29T19:11:00.004-04:00

These days Van Jones is almost synonymous with the green economy and creation of green collar jobs. However he has been fighting against environmental injustices for nearly two decades. His ideals promote a very logical approach to the environmental movement and need to make itself relevant to low-income Americans.

"Why should a single parent working two jobs care about greenhouse gases if there are far-more-immediate concerns at hand?"

Phrases like this one are key issues when trying to creating a greener future for everyone. In order to really make a difference people of all socioeconomic levels need to be involved and have a way to create change. Green collar jobs is a way to transform blue collar jobs into employment thats benefits the worker, the earth, and creates positive externalities.

Think about Chester, Pa and all the industries located there and amount of pollution created. Now thinking about the people who live there, it is largely comprised of low income households and minorities. Pollution affects the daily lives of these residents and a lot could change if the factories changed their business practices and higher the residents to help institute that change. Solar panels need to be installed by someone, homes need to be weatherized by trained auditors, local farms need maintained by workers to produce food for the local residents. Green collar jobs can fill in all these gaps while educating an individual, a family, and the future about our environment.

Here is a short video of Van Jones of the Colbert Report explaining what a green economy is and what it can do for our future.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/164563/april-01-2008/van-jones

Environmental Theories

2009-03-15T20:51:00.002-04:00

Environmental issues have been and continue to be very controversial. With almost every proposition to protect, preserve, or enhance the environment questions of effectiveness and strategy are brought up. Every detail must be throughly explained, such as what a human is what a animal is, what is right, what is wrong. With such need for detail it is easily seen why environmental policies take time and thought before change occurs. It also points out the need for theories in the heart of environmental history.

Throughout my quest to find roots for my research, I have come across Plato and his work the Republic, Book 1, Law 845. Where he says:

Water is easily polluted by the use of any kind of drug. It therefore needs the protection of a law, as follows: Whoever purposely pollutes water shall be obliged, in addition to paying an indemnity, to purify the spring or receptacle of the water, using whatever method of purification is prescribed by ordinance, at all times and to everyone.

Plato points out point pollution sources by saying " whoever purposely pollutes" perhaps this is way the Clean Water Act (passed in 1972) focuses on point sources rather than non-point sources of pollution.

(point pollution sources, are known polluters such as industries while non-point pollution source has no direct source, such as urban runoff)

More importantly Plato makes a case that everyone is entitled to clean water and those who pollute it must take responsibility for their actions with the help of laws.

I'm currently reading more about the Clean Water Act from a fantastic resource published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, it helps to explain the pit falls within the act's structure. One thing I've gathered so far is that even the term pollutant has different meanings to different companies, states, and regulators. interesting. This is where we go back to defining what is good and what is bad, what is human, and what is an animal. Detail detail detail.

The scary business of externalities

2009-03-15T16:28:00.002-04:00

This topic is too scary for me to write about just yet. In the mean time you can suffice your eagerness to learn more about such an exciting topic with the definition that follows. Otherwise just google it.

noun.

1. Economic. side effect or consequence of an industrial or commercial activity that affects other parties without this being reflected in the cost of the goods or services involved, such as pollination of surrounding crops by bees kept for honey.

2. Philosophy. the fact of existing outside the perceiving object

Why So Dark?

2009-03-04T16:24:00.000-05:00

In an effort to lower my energy consumption by a small margin, this blog has been given a black background. When translated by your computer, darker coloring has a very low LCD projection rate. To produce the light frequency for this kind of backgournd takes far less energy than any other type, especially white. This is a trend that has been pursued by popular websites such as Google. Google recently released Blackle, their lower energy counterpart. On the website it is explained in great detail how much energy is saved by simply switching the color of the background and why it has been a successful website.

Chester, Pa

2009-02-21T14:11:00.002-05:00

This is a working blog of all the info I find about environmental injustices in Chester, Pa.

-Chester, Pa is just a few miles south of Philadelphia and home to many large polluting factories and toxic waste facilities. The state continually grants this land cheaply to industries because of its location on the Delaware River but also because it is a poverty stricken area with cheap land, and residents too poor to fight against the government. Many residents health is negatively effected by the pollution produced from the industrial monsters which are pictured below.

Pictures

2009-02-21T13:53:00.001-05:00

History Lesson

2009-02-20T19:03:00.000-05:00

Threats to The River
Today the greatest pollution of the River comes during storm events. The rainwater washes sediments and pollution from land surfaces into streams and storm water drains. This runoff flows tainted through countless tributaries into the Delaware River. Some runoff sources are herbicide drenched lawns; oil stained streets and parking lots; fertilized farm fields sprayed with pesticides and fortified with fertilizers; and acid mine drainage.

Another hazard to the health of the River comes from point-source pollution -- direct discharges from municipal and industrial sewage treatment plants, power plants, chemical plants, paper mills, refineries, and refracteries. Most point-source dischargers have permits issued under the Clean Water Act and the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System. These permits limit the quantities and types of pollutants permitted to be contained in the wastewater. There are 1600 permitted discharge points in the Delaware Watershed.

In many urban regions of the watershed, storm water, sewage, and industrial wastes all flow through the same system of pipes into treatment facilities. During storm events the rainwater mixes with the sewage. In many cases this overwhelms the capacity of treatment facilities, which were not designed to handle the volume. Overflow devices, called combined sewer overflow (CSO), divert the excess directly into streams. An uncontrolled source of untreated sewage, CSOs are detrimental to the water quality and pose a public health threat to recreational users of the River.

As a result of this myriad of pollutants that wind-up in the River, its fish and shellfish are contaminated with toxins, including: PCBs, chlordane, mercury, dioxin and DDT. Fish contaminated with toxics pose numerous hazards for humans. Delaware River states have all issued fish advisories recommending limited or no consumption of contaminated species. The state warnings contain some inconsistencies. Fish considered unsafe on the NJ side of the river may be considered safe on the PA side of the river. These inconsistencies led Riverkeeper to create a comprehensive Toxic Fish Alert with information gathered from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The alert lists all warnings and advisories issued on both sides of the river.

Toxics are hazardous to birds of prey, such as the osprey and the peregrine falcon. These birds are high on the food chain so the are especially susceptible to the effects of biomagnification of toxics. Toxics such as DDT are believed to be responsible for the thinning of eggshells, causing lower productivity for many species of birds that are already endangered. The long banned pesticide DDT is still in the River's sediments. During dredging, or tidal periods the sediments are disturbed, and the concentrated toxics are resuspended, making them more available for uptake by aquatic organisms.

The Delaware has suffered a great many losses. It once knew sturgeon by the hundreds of thousands, unabating oyster harvests, shad, terrapins, and great flocks of waterfowl. While today nutrient pollution has been greatly reduced, the River continues to face threats of pollution and habitat degradation caused by our way of life.
Prepared by Kim Appleby, Spring 1995