The Effects Of Toxic Waste Essay Research

The Effects Of Toxic Waste Essay, Research Paper

.Research on Toxic Waste.

Written by:

World Lit.

Mrs.Maronde

March 26, 2001

Outline

I.Introduction

a.Story of Macomb County Farm

b.Explanation of farm situation

c..Mismanagement of toxic waste is a problem that is plaguing the communities of both America and the world in the beginning of the twenty-first century..

II.Extent of the Problem

a.Amount of toxic waste disposed (illegally)

b.Areas affected by the dumping of toxic waste

III.Causes of the problem

a.Types of toxic waste

b.People that dispose of waste

IV.Effects of the Problem

a.Destruction of Property

b.Degeneration of communities

c.Related deaths and injuries

V.Description of proposed solutions with steps to implement

a.Removal of waste from land

b.Cleansing of the land

VI.Discussion of the disadvantages of rejected solutions

a.Cost

b.Time consumption

VII.Evidence to support the solution & to counter possible objections

a.Expert opinion (found throughout the essay)

b.Public opinion (found throughout the essay)

VIII.Conclusion

IX.

Throughout time human beings have plagued the earth in which God bestowed upon us with hazardous man made materials that both destroy the soil, and the individuals that reside upon it. Mismanagement of toxic waste is an expanding problem that is affecting the communities of both America and the world in the beginning of the twenty-first century. In 1970 a man by the name of Frank Hornak owned, and managed a farm based on 24-mile road, and Foss road in Mount Clemens, Michigan. Around this date Macomb County approached Mr. Hornak in an attempt to purchase his property that consisted of eighty-five acres so that the property may be converted into a landfill to serve Macomb County. The transaction was made, thus leading to a nearly thirty -year battle for survival for the citizens surrounding the property, and total mutilation of the land area itself. Macomb County began dumping materials in early 1971, within a ten-year period of this date both the Hornak family, and the surrounding community came to the tragic realization that hazardous materials had been disposed of on this land. .It started with one neighbor experiencing a red substance infiltrating her basement, and then another neighbor becoming ill., all ultimately resulting in the untimely suffering and death of many innocent people [Hornak]. Recent studies have shown that the cause of this destruction was contamination of natural water wells with the seepage of hazardous waste. As for that eighty-five acre parcel of land, it is as of a recent year 2000 survey assessed at a negative one hundred and twenty-five million dollars [Spoutz].

Fact is more ominous than fiction that it has long been believed that the largest compilation of man made products brought upon the Earth by humankind is the Pyramid of the Sun, constructed in Mexico around the start of the Christian era. The gargantious structure occupies nearly thirty million cubic feet of space. In contrast, however, is the Durham Road Landfill, outside San Francisco, which occupies over seventy million cubic feet of the biosphere. .It is a sad monument, indeed, to the excesses of modern society. [Gore 151]. One might assume such a monstrous mound of garbage is the largest thing ever produced by human hands. Unhappily, this is not the case. The Fresh Kills Landfill, located on Staten Island, is the largest toxic garbage dump in the world. This landfill commands the unbelievable elevation of 155 feet, an estimated mass of 100 million tons, and an unheard-of volume of over 2.9 billion cubic feet. In total acreage, it is equal to 16,000 baseball diamonds [Miller 526]. This landfill is projected to close in the year 2005, at this point it will have a projected elevation reaching a whopping 505 feet above sea level, making it the highest point along the Eastern Seaboard, Florida to Maine. Standing at that height, the mound will pose a hazard to air traffic at Newark airport located in New Jersey [Rathje 3-4]. Fresh Kills (Kills has been derived from the Dutch word for creek) was originally a tidal marsh.

In 1948, New York City planner Robert Moses developed a highly praised project to deposit municipal garbage in the swamp until the level of the land was above sea level. A study of the area predicted the marsh would be filled by the year 1968. He then planned to develop the area, building houses and attracting light industry. Mayor Impelliteri of New York issued a report titled “The Fresh Kills Landfill Project” in 1951. The report stated, in part, that the enterprise “cannot fail to affect constructively a wide area around it.” The report concluded by saying, “It is at once practical and idealistic” [Rathje 4]. One must appreciate the irony in the fact that Robert Moses was, in his day, considered a leading conservationist. His major accomplishments include asphalt parking lots throughout the New York metro area, paved roads in and out of city parks, and development of Jones Beach, now the most polluted, dirty, overcrowded piece of shoreline in the Northeast. In Stewart Udall’s book The Quiet Crisis, the former Secretary of

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