Chapter 12 focuses on New Jersey and the rising sea levels. One part of Belton’s story I liked was the act that he thinks about the creatures beneath him in the ocean. I live not far from the beach, and whenever I am there this is something I always think about as well. I can’t help but think about all the fish and other creatures that are out there. Sometimes it scares me from going in the ocean, because I get nervous some kind of fish or animal with come up and touch me or ill step on them on the bottom. Reading about how New Jersey is losing their beach to erosion and the rising sea levels makes me sad to read that because of humans actions climate change is speeding up and it is going to become an even bigger issue for the future generations. Climate change is causing sea levels to rise and eventually over time will affect all these beach towns and cause the beaches to slowly disappear unless a plan is put into action. I think reading this book has overall opened my eyes to what is happening in New Jersey, because I think people always believe things like global warming and beach erosion and things from the environment aren’t effecting where they live, and if they do they aren’t that bad compared to other place, which is not true. There is a lot happening right here in New Jersey and conditions like Belton discusses in the book are taking place all over the world.
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Chapter 11 is titled “Headwaters and Watersheds”, in this chapter Belton discusses different waterways in New Jersey. He discusses the wetlands a lot in this chapter. Reading this section was the most interesting to me as I learned a lot I did not know. For example, there are four main different types of wetlands that each have different characteristics. I never realized the diversity these little areas held and how important they are to us. In this chapter Belton also discusses vernal pools a lot. Before reading this chapter, I never really knew what these were. It was interesting to read that the smallest one could even be a puddle. These pools are unsuitable for fish as they are so shallow. Many of New Jersey’s species use these pools to breed, such a frogs and salamanders. These pools are necessary for amphibians to survive in New Jersey. The overall population of amphibians is decreasing and endangered. This is concerning to read about. I didn’t even really know these small habitats were so important to certain creatures, and it has made me much more aware of how the smallest pieces of nature are important. This chapter is titled “The Biotic Mosaic” and Belton discusses the loss of habitat happening in New Jersey. He talks about a program New Jersey has to help to maintain and enhance endangered and threatened species. I thought it was interesting is that is program is funded though selling the conserve wildlife license plates. I have seen those license plates before, but had no idea that purchasing them contributed to this cause. It is good to know that in New Jersey we are doing something to conserve and protect our wildlife, even though habitat loss and building has caused a lot of disruption to many species. Another important topic that Belton brings up is how pollution also effects animals. He talks about the Bald Eagle population and how spraying lawns for insects, can end up effecting bird populations. He also discusses the effects of DDT which is a pesticide that was causing a decrease in the bald eagle population due to thinning of their egg shells, causing death and reproductive issues. It was scary to read that in the 1980s there was only one active nest of Bald Eagles in the entire state. Luckily our populations have now increased. But it is sad to think that we are ruining populations of animals due to our own human actions. In chapter 9, Belton reflects upon how as a child trees were looked at as something that was not appreciated or seen as a real living plant in Jersey City. He discusses a trip he took to Palisades Interstate park and learned about the life of the trees and the history that is found in the forest. This story made me think about the fact that children who live in large cities in and around New Jersey may not see the amount of open forests and trees there really are in New Jersey. This made me think about my own life, and growing up in south Jersey we have a lot of forests everywhere, and I remember in high school we had a project where we had to collect leaves from about 30 different trees that were found in new jersey and identify them all. So we had to wander around forests and other areas looking at all the diversity in trees New Jersey has to offer. Some of the facts Belton shared were surprising to me as well. The fact that New Jersey is so populated, yet we still have such preserved forest areas. A lot of the reason is that New Jersey tends to be super populated around New York City and Philadelphia and in between tends to be forest. It is sad to think that pollution is effecting our forests and put us at risk for losing all this beautiful diversity. This chapter is about environmental justice. This chapter discusses Camden and the conditions on pollution and brownfield sites. This did not surprise me as I used to live about 20 minutes away from Camden, and have seen the conditions that that city is in. With garbage and run down vacant lots everywhere. I always knew it as a dangerous run down town with a nice area for concerts and an aquarium. So it was not surprising to me that Belton has brought up Camden in this book.
It was upsetting to read that the state uses its power to displace families. Although this may not have been the intention, the state used the power of eminent domain to take property away from people, forcing them and their families to move. It is upsetting because Camden is a poor area to begin with, and to take away property from families that may not have a lot leaving them to find other places to live is unfair. I never realized that the state necessarily had this kind of power and it is concerning that these types of things can be happening. In this chapter Belton discusses Brownfields, which are land sites that were used as industrial sites that are now contaminated but have the potential to be used again if they are properly cleaned. At the time cleaning these sites was expensive, so they were only cleaned to the standard of “being safe” for nearby residents instead of being made 100% clean. They were not concerned with the future outcome of the sites, which could have the possibly of becoming residential homes or areas. With the idea that “Do we want to have signs up all around that say ‘Personal risk do not enter?” (page 118). They would rather have the sites cleaned to the minimal standard than to have useless land sitting around.
Reading this chapter, it was concerning to me that residential buildings can be built on once contaminated land, and that this was such an issue in New Jersey. Although there were incentives for cleaning up some of the land to developers, it is only a small portion and a short term solution for cleaning up land that is left contaminated by industries. After reading this chapter it made me realize how much of an issue this is, and how more land can be contaminated than I ever thought in New Jersey. Chapter six is titled “Environmental Warfare”, upon reading this it left me questioning what this chapter was going to be about. The chapter ended up being about dioxin toxicity and its effects in New Jersey, specifically in Newark. There was a spillage of agent orange, which was a herbicide, used in the Vietnam war. The soil in this area was collected and sent to Sweden to get tested and was ended up being so contaminated that it caused a contamination in the entire lab in Sweden. This entire time residents in of Newark were living among a highly toxic area that can cause health issues for them and their families. While reading this chapter, I thought it was crazy that someone could be living so close to something so toxic, that it contaminated an entire lab during testing, and not even know it!
Another thing in the chapter I found alarming, was the existence of dioxin in our fish supply. Dumping in our waterways has caused contamination to the sea life, which in the end will also contaminate the humans who consume these fish. It is upsetting that fishermen lives are also impacted, as they cannot be fishing for fish with a toxicity higher than the FDA allows. They are concerned for their families, who eat a lot of fish from these areas, and could end up causing health problems along the way, as they are such frequent consumers. It was shocking to read these companies will continue to dump their toxic waste into waterways and not care about how they are effecting those in the area, and how they are causing harm to innocent families and children who are consuming fish containing toxic waste chemicals. If I was in the situation of these residents, I would also worry about my well being, and it creates a sense of caution for the future, because I will always think about this when I see others consuming fish. Chapter five of the book is titled “Environmental Crime”, upon reading the title I never imagined that it would be about dumping toxic wastes. I thought it was crazy to read that dumping these wastes were thought out crimes and even the mob was involved in disposing of these chemicals illegally. Reading about how one the most dangerous chemical fires ever in the United States, happened in New Jersey and the effects it caused, concerned me. It contaminated water ways between New Jersey and New York and its pollutants lasted decades long.
I thought it was shocking that waste was used in everyday structures and settings. Such as the Chromium waste, which was everywhere in Jersey City. The waste was used in buildings and sold to people to be used in construction of things we see in everyday life, including in parks and playgrounds where children are. This chapter made me realize how much of an issue waste dumping is and how it was basically an organized crime! These toxins were dumped right under the public’s eyes and no one cared about the side effects and how it changed or affected the community around them. This was all happening without the public’s knowledge, and this scares me to know what could be going on in the world today right in front of our eyes. This chapter of the book is about radiation protection. It discusses nuclear incidents that have happened in the past, such as Chernobyl, and some closer that have even effected people of new jersey and surrounding areas. Most interesting to me was the story of the Radium girls of South Orange, and how they were employed to handle paint containing radium. Their employers knew of the risks, however still hired these woman, who would wet their paintbrushes in their mouths and therefore ingesting the radioactive paint, causing health issues late on in their lives. Had this have been public knowledge this could have been stopped, rather than so many innocent woman facing health issues in life due to not receiving proper training or warnings about the pain they were working with.
After reading this chapter, the things that struck me the most was that, people here in new jersey, for example the Radium Girls, were affected by radiation, when I never really think of being affected by anything like that in my life unless some type of event happened like an explosion of some sort. I never really thought of possible radiation people are exposed to in their lives and jobs now and in the past. I also thought it was scary how when these woman were working no one told them of the risks! Had they have known, I’m sure they would have taken precautions when handling the paint, or found jobs elsewhere. In this chapter, Thomas Belton discusses the quality of water. After reading this chapter, it made me realize how contaminated our water has been in the past, and how contamination happens so close to home. I found it interesting how even though our drinking water is disinfected, we still need to worry about drinking disinfectant residue, even though this has now been solved. In the U.S. we take having clean water for granted and do not think about all the filters and steps our water goes through before we receive it.
A lot of our water is contaminated by pollutants or chemicals, which are bad for both wildlife and humans to consume. People and companies do not realize that by dumping waste products or other items in water systems and supplies, they are only hurting themselves. People need to realize that without a change in their actions to help keep water clean, we cannot perform our daily activities that we need to survive. I found a lot of this chapter interesting because I know several people including myself that really only drink bottled water, and won’t drink from a tap unless they have too, because it feels like what’s in the water is so unknown, even though it goes through a disinfecting process. |
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April 2018
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