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 On July 16, 2004, Christopher O. Ward, then Commissioner of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), certified, under the State Environmental Quality Regulations Act (SEQRA), that consistent with social, economic and other essential considerations from among the reasonable alternatives available, the siting of the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) in Van Cortlandt Park minimizes adverse environmental impacts to the maximum extent practicable. There are many reasons to challenge such a conclusion. With regard to "reasonable alternatives" that may be considered, membrane filtration is more effective, one-third the size, cheaper, safer, and easier to maintain. Dr. Bruce Bell of Carpenter Environmental Associates has significant experience with water treatment facilities and has worked on numerous New York City capital projects. Dr. Bell's expert opinion was that DEP did not give a fair assessment of Membrane Filtration. Further information can be found in Hazen and Sawyer's website. They are the engineering firm that pilot-tested and designed the plant proposed for Van Cortlandt park using outdated technology! see: http://www.hazenandsawyer.com/menu.htm. In addition, they plan to build a 40mgd membrane plant upstate. Intensive continuous blasting over several years into the bedrock to make a pit twelve stories deep will forever destroy an irreplaceable source of greenery and fresh air for the surrounding community, inhabited mostly by people of color whose asthma rates are among the highest in the country. Once the plant is completed, 450,000 pounds of hazardous chemicals will be required on a daily basis and will be transported by trucks through the densely populated neighborhood, then stored in this public park. A vote for our Green mayoral candidate will stop this dinosaur of a project which will waste $1 billion in taxes. Top of page The growing of organic food is the first defense for human health as well as the health of the entire planet. Imagine what yields could be if even one-tenth as much research went into organic farming as has been put into chemical or genetic research. Genetically modified "Frankenfoods" (as they have been dubbed) are responsible for numerous problems including:
The Food and Drug Administration has chosen not to classify GM genes as food additives and therefore does not require that they be listed on food labels. A bag of corn chips, for instance, must disclose that salt has been added but it need not reveal that the corn itself has been genetically manipulated to contain its own pesticide. We already grow enough to nourish everyone. The problem is that distribution is uneven. Waste abounds in the midst of dire poverty. The world works according to the laws of ecology, economics, and human nature. Ecology teaches us that monocultures breed pests; that chemicals upset soil ecosystems, and kill off natural predators; that crops with pesticide in every cell will induce pest resistance; and that the ecological or evolutionary consequences of genetic engineering will be disastrous. Top of page For at least 50 years under both Democratic and Republican administrations, New York City parks have been neglected and underfunded. During the 1960s, '70s and '80s, the Parks Department removed the laborers who cleaned and maintained playgrounds. Recreation Leaders who lead children at play and handed out playground equipment were also removed. As a result, most pIaygrounds became dirty, abandoned and vandalized. Larger parks became littered, grass wasn't regularly cut and brush became overgrown. Street trees have also become dangerously neglected. We propose the following:
The Parks Department wants to install fake grass in many other city Parks. It argues that plastic grass will be easier to maintain. But hasn't the city already covered enough natural earth with artificial surfaces? We must protect the natural environment in our care. Top of page A TEN POINT PLAN
To Humanize and Modernize Transportation In NYC
1. Road Pricing Phase I — Tolls on all four East River bridges (E-ZPass only) 2. Bus Rapid Transit (exclusive lanes, pre-boarding “pods”) on all highways and major arterials 3. Zero free parking for public employees’ private vehicles 4. Cars out of Central Park (surface roads) and Prospect Park 5. Road Pricing Phase II
Continuous real-time
metering of all motor vehicles, moving and parked, in CBD (Central
Business District).
The CBD (Manhattan south of 60th Street) is NYC's most congested district and its economic engine. It is also the area best served by tranist -- subways, buses, walking, cycling. Charging for all motor vehicle use there will allow the City to manage traffic and improve mobility. Indeed, there is no way to do so without such "congestion charging." London's Congestion Charging scheme, in effect since early 2003, has busted gridlock, improved bus travel times and boosted cycling and walking. A similar system using EZ-Pass technology could be implemented here for modest cost. Ours will go London's one better, by charging per minute for motor vehicle "residence" in the CBD. Whether moving, standing or parked at curbside, all private motor vehicles will be charged for each minute spent within the district. Charges will be "graduated" by time of day (much higher charges during peak than off-peak) and geographically (with highest charges in the midtown core). The meter stops ticking when vehicles enter private parking facilities. CBD Congestion Charging will bust gridlock while providing an abundant and secure dedicated revenue stream for transit. It also answers the understandable criticism of East River bridge tolls, that they exempt travel into Manhattan from the north as well as trips by Manhattan drivers within the borough. (East River tolls logically should come first as a way of demonstrating "boothless," seamless tolling before moving to the more cutting-edge CBD charging system. 7. Comprehensive citywide bicycle lanes, enforced to keep cars out 8.
Build out sidewalks in heavily pedestrianized areas
9. Road Pricing Phase III citywide weight-distance fees on motor vehicles, proportioned to vehicle size and weight and prevailing congestion. This citywide scheme is the natural extension of CBD pricing. The East River crossings and central and lower Manhattan are hardly the only parts of the City suffering from traffic gridlock and motor vehicle overload. Charging a fee for all miles driven within the City will create incentives to economize on vehicle use while expanding the pot of money to fund transit operations and improvements.The citywide fee system will be heavily graduated to reflect congestion levels and transit availability. A mile driven in midtown Manhattan on a weekday afternoon during the Christmas shopping season probably imposes a hundred times the social costs as a mile driven in Bay Ridge at 7 a.m. on a Sunday, and the weight-distance fee structure will reflect that. Similarly, proportioning the charges to vehicle weight will properly capture the greater social costs of large vehicles (18-wheelers vs. medium-sized trucks; SUV's vs. sedans; etc.) 10. Subway system
rehabilitation and expansion, financed with road pricing revenues
In addition, declare
that 'Earth Day" should be celebrated once a month instead of
once a
year on a certain designated Friday of each month; that no
cars will be
allowed on the roads on those days and that these days will
be a paid
legal holidays where people will have the chance to breath clean air
and be able to take time to "smell the roses".
Critical Mass Bike Rides I
support the objectives and tactics of "Critical Mass", an
international event held in more than 325 countries on six continents,
that occurs
on the last Friday of every month when bicyclists spontaneously come
together to ride the ordinarily car-clogged streets of their
cities.
Critical Mass focuses on the rights of bicyclists and the rights of
pedestrians on their own streets. It also brings attention to the
deteriorating quality of life-- starting with the toxic levels of air
and noise pollution--- that cars create for cities. Critical Mass' aim
is to make people take notice of cyclists as road users. Although some
obstruction of normal traffic occurs, they're only seeking to raise the
profile of cycling, and put cycling and transportation issues on the
agenda
so that they will not be ignored.
I
deplore a continuation of the police state tactics of
Billionaire Bloomberg who has un-Constitutionally mass arrested
cyclists and confiscated their bikes. No other country is doing this.
Top of pagePrescription for a Healthy Public Health System
By Paul R. Epstein, M.D., M.P.H. October 6, 2005 New England Journal of Medicine Volume 353:1433-1436 Number 14 http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/353/14/1433?query=TOC In 1998, Hurricane Mitch dropped six feet of rain on Central America in three days. In its wake, the incidence of malaria, dengue fever, cholera, and leptospirosis soared. In 2000, rain and three cyclones inundated Mozambique for six weeks, and the incidence of malaria rose fivefold. In 2003, a summer heat wave in Europe killed tens of thousands of people, wilted crops, set forests ablaze, and melted 10 percent of the Alpine glacial mass. This summer's blistering heat wave was unprecedented with regard to intensity, duration, and geographic extent. More than 200 U.S. cities registered new record high temperatures. In Phoenix, Arizona, sustained temperatures above 100°F (38°C) for 39 consecutive days, including a week above 110°F (43°C), took a harsh toll on the homeless. Then came Hurricane Katrina, gathering steam from the heated Gulf of Mexico and causing devastation in coastal communities. These sorts of extreme weather events reflect massive and ongoing changes in our climate to which biologic systems on all continents are reacting. So concluded the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,1 a collaboration of more than 2000 scientists from 100 countries. In 2001, the panel concluded that humans are playing a major role in causing these changes, largely through deforestation and the combustion of fossil fuels that produce heat-trapping gases such as carbon dioxide. Since 2001, we've learned substantially more. The pace of atmospheric warming and the accumulation of carbon dioxide are quickening; polar and alpine ice is melting at rates not thought possible several years ago2; the deep ocean is heating up, and circumpolar winds are accelerating; and warming in the lower atmosphere is retarding the repair of the protective "ozone shield" in the stratosphere. Moreover, ice cores that are drilled in Greenland indicate that the climate can change abruptly. Given the current rate of carbon dioxide buildup and the projected degree of global warming, we are entering uncharted seas. As we survey these seas, we can see some of the health effects that may lie ahead if the increase in very extreme weather events continues.3 Heat waves like the one that hit Chicago in 1995, killing some 750 people and hospitalizing thousands, have become more common.1 Hot, humid nights, which have become more frequent with global warming, magnify the effects. The 2003 European heat wave - involving temperatures that were 18°F (10°C) above the 30-year average, with no relief at night - killed 21,000 to 35,000 people in five countries. But even more subtle, gradual climatic changes can damage human health. During the past two decades, the prevalence of asthma in the United States has quadrupled, in part because of climate-related factors. For Caribbean islanders, respiratory irritants come in dust clouds that emanate from Africa's expanding deserts and are then swept across the Atlantic by trade winds accelerated by the widening pressure gradients over warming oceans. Increased levels of plant pollen and soil fungi may also be involved. When ragweed is grown in conditions with twice the ambient level of carbon dioxide, the stalks sprout 10 percent taller than controls but produce 60 percent more pollen. Elevated carbon dioxide levels also promote the growth and sporulation of some soil fungi, and diesel particles help to deliver these aeroallergens deep into our alveoli and present them to immune cells along the way. The melting of the earth's ice cover has already become a source of physical trauma. In Alaska, Inuits report an increase in accidents caused by walking on thin ice.2 Ocean warming and Arctic thawing are also spawning severe winter storms and hazardous travel conditions in the continental United States. Although tropical sea surfaces are warming and becoming saltier, parts of the North Atlantic are freshening from melting polar ice and increased amounts of rain falling at high latitudes. Contrasting barometric pressures over changing oceans increase winds and propel storms. Meanwhile, in the past three decades, widening social inequities and changes in biodiversity - which alter the balance among predators, competitors, and prey that help keep pests and pathogens in check - have apparently contributed tothe resurgence of infectious diseases. Global warming and wider fluctuations in weather help to spread these diseases: temperature constrains the range of microbes and vectors, and weather affects the timing and intensity of disease outbreaks.4 Disease-bearing ticks in Sweden are moving northward as winters become warmer, and models project a similar shift in the United States and Canada. The encroachment of human housing on wilderness and reductions in the populations of predators of deer and competitors of mice are largely responsible for the current spread of Lyme disease. Mosquitoes, which can carry many diseases, are very sensitive to temperature changes. Warming of their environment - within their viable range - boosts their rates of reproduction and the number of blood meals they take, prolongs their breeding season, and shortens the maturation period for the microbes they disperse. In highland regions, as permafrost thaws and glaciers retreat, mosquitoes and plant communities are migrating to higher ground.5 The increased weather variability that accompanies climate instability contributed to the emergence of both the hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and West Nile virus in the United States. Six years of drought in the Southwest apparently reduced the populations of predators, and early heavy rainfall in 1993 produced a bounty of piñon nuts and grasshoppers for rodents to eat. The resulting legions of white-footed mice heralded the appearance of hantavirus in the Americas. The origin of the 1999 outbreak of West Nile virus in New York City remains a mystery, but city-dwelling, bird-biting Culex pipiens mosquitoes thrive in shallow pools of foul water that remain in drains during droughts. When dry springs yield to sweltering summers, viral development accelerates and, with it, the cycle of mosquito-to-bird transmission. During the hot, arid summer of 2002, West Nile virus traveled across the country, infecting 230 species of animals, including 138 species of birds, along the way. Many of the affected birds of prey normally help to rein in rodent populations that can spread hantaviruses, arenaviruses, and yersinia and leptospira bacteria, as well as ticks infected with Borrelia burgdorferi. Extremely wet weather may bring its own share of ills. Floods are frequently followed by disease clusters: downpours can drive rodents from burrows, deposit mosquito-breeding sites, foster fungus growth in houses, and flush pathogens, nutrients, and chemicals into waterways. Milwaukee's cryptosporidium outbreak, for instance, accompanied the 1993 floods of the Mississippi River, and norovirus and toxins spread in Katrina's wake. Major coastal storms can also trigger harmful algal blooms ("red tides"), which can be toxic, help to create hypoxic "dead zones" in gulfs and bays, and harbor pathogens. Prolonged droughts, for their part, can weaken trees' defenses against infestations and promote wildfires, which can cause injuries, burns, respiratory illness, and deaths. Shifting weather patterns are jeopardizing water quality and quantity in many countries, where groundwater systems are already being overdrawn and underfed. Most montane ice fields are predicted to disappear during this century - removing a primary source of water for humans, livestock, and agriculture in some parts of the world. A still greater threat to human health comes from illnesses affecting wildlife, livestock, crops, forests, and marine organisms. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment of 2005 revealed that 60 percent of the resources and life-support systems examined - from fisheries to fresh water - are already in decline or are being used in unsustainable ways. The resulting biologic impoverishment may have important consequences for our air, food, and water. Crops are being confronted with more volatile weather, vanishing pollinators, and the proliferation of pests and pathogens. One fungal disease, soybean rust, is thought to have been ushered into the United States by Hurricane Ivan last fall. Warmth and moisture will favor its propagation. And many habitats are not faring well. Our coastal zones, for example, are in trouble: coral reefs are suffering from warming-induced "bleaching," excess waste, physical damage, overfishing, and fungal and bacterial diseases. Reefs provide a buffer against storms and groundwater salinization and offer protection for fish, the primary protein source for many inhabitants of island nations. One reef resident, the cone snail, produces a peptide that is 1000 times as potent as morphine and that is not addictive. We may never know what other potential treatments will be lost as reefs deteriorate. All in all, it would appear that we may be underestimating the breadth of biologic responses to changes in climate. Treating climate-related ills will require preparation, and early-warning systems forecasting extreme weather can help to reduce casualties and curtail the spread of disease. But primary prevention would require halting the extraction, mining, transport, refining, and combustion of fossil fuels - a transformation that many experts believe would have innumerable health and environmental benefits and would help to stabilize the climate. The good news is that we may also be underestimating the economic benefits of the clean-energy transition. When the financial incentives are adequate, renewable energy, energy- efficient and hybrid technologies, "green buildings," and expanded public transportation systems can constitute an engine of growth for the 21st century. Source Information Dr. Epstein is the associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School, Boston. An interview with Dr. Epstein can be heard at www.nejm.org. References 1. Houghton JT, Ding Y, Griggs DJ, et al., eds. Climate change 2001: the scientific basis: contribution of the Working Group I to the third assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 2. Hassol SJ. ACIA, Impacts of a warming Arctic: arctic climate impact assessment. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 3. Leaf A. Potential health effects of global climatic and environmental changes. N Engl J Med 1989;321:1577-1583. [ISI] [Medline] 4. McMichael AJ, Campbell-Lendrum DH, Corvalán CF, et al., eds. Climate change and human health: risks and responses. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2003:250. 5. Epstein PR, Diaz HF, Elias S, et al. Biological and physical signs of climate change: focus on mosquito-borne diseases. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 1998;78:409-17. |