Category Archives: Post 3.4

3.4 Drafting Continues

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RESEARCH QUESTION: “What are different approaches to New York City’s resiliency regarding rising sea levels in the era of Anthropocene with consideration of Donald Trump’s tweet about  “sea wall” from January 18th, 2020?”

ANNOTATION OF NEW SOURCE:  I just found this source and didn’t have a chance to really dig inside. Hopefully it has some useful information. This would raise a bunch of perspectives. Hopefully. Raise the focus from New York city to global resiliency. I’m not sure if I should stay solely focused on NYC. Not in MLA format:

“Global and Regional Sea Level Rise Scenarios for United States”.  NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. January, 2017.

https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/publications/techrpt83_Global_and_Regional_SLR_Scenarios_for_the_US_final.pdf

WORKING THESIS: Trumps tweet leave us all but wonder: on what level this influences us in real way? How is it possible that  the study of many years with $19 million dollars involved gets “indifinitely suspended”? Is there any connection? What plan do we have now? The different approaches to NYC resiliency are my lenses applied to the tweet. There are some points when they back him up and some others when his words seem questionable.

ANYTHING ELSE: In the end of an essay I’d shift a question from my focus being on New York City to the whole country perspective. The aforementioned source would help me with this. The problem is not only with NYC, the same problem applies to all of the coastal cities in America. In the light of this report how the words of President of our country sound? He is just talking about rare storms but what about inevitable problems coming in the future which apply to the whole country? It’s not only about “rare storms”, it’s about getting ready for long term changes. Is he going to act? How is he going to act? Do we need to wait for the tweet?

 

 

3.4: Reforming the Education System

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Research Question: How can our education system be reformed in order to lessen the effects of the rising sea level in Long Island?

Annotation of New Source:

Aretxabaleta, Alfredo L., et al. “Observations and a Linear Model of Water Level in an Interconnected Inlet‐Bay System.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, vol. 122, no. 4, 2017, pp. 2760–2780.

 

Aretxabaleta analyzed the water  levels from October 2007 to November 2015 and created models to help comprehend bay water level along southern Long Island. The greatest change observed in amplitude was observed in mid-2014 which was related to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Using Aretxabaleta’s model they were able to predict the changes in bay water level in nearby areas in which long term observations were not obtainable. They found that fluctuations in tidal frequencies were less in bays with large areas and small connections between them, as opposed to small area bays with larger connections. Overall drastic changes in amplitude were almost always caused by the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters.

This peer reviewed journal is meant for those who are trying to understand the effects of natural disasters such as hurricanes on the bay water levels. Since hurricanes are becoming more and more frequent due to climate change, this information is becoming more and more relevant. There are many homes and businesses in the  bay area along southern Long Island, who could stand to learn a few things from this article, which in turn could help them save their businesses and homes. 

This article reinforces the idea that things will only get worse, a theme I have noticed throughout my research so far. All of the articles researched thus far are preparing for the worse or doing some sort of damage control. This just adds to the fact that if people were more educated on the topic beforehand then the aftermath of climate change could have been reduced greatly, but now that it’s too late we have to hope that the aftermath does not affect us as much as it affects others.

Working Thesis: The key to Long Island surviving rising sea levels is within reforming the way we educate our youth.

3.4 Blog Post; Research Paper

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Working Research Question:

Is New York water really considered to be the “champagne of tap water” or does evidence prove the opposite?

Annotation of New Source:

Dovey, Rachel. “Cleanup Begins in NYC’s most Polluted Waterway.” Next City.org. Oct 18 2017 ProQuest. 6 May 2020 .

Rachel Dovey wrote an article named “Cleanup Begins in NYC’s most Polluted Waterway”. In this article, she describes how Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal was finally receiving a large clean-up as the site has been a significant hazard to people, animals, and plant life alike. She states that the canal was “…a(n) environmental and public health disaster just a rainy day away from cross-contamination”. Dovey explains that that canal could cause serious contamination to NYC’s drinking water and could have dire consequences to wildlife. In the article, she also explains that the canal hadn’t been cleaned since the construction in the mid-1800’s.

Working Thesis:

New York tap water has a history of being one of the best drinkable water sources, but studies show that in different areas of New York there is severe contamination of its water.

Anything Else:

I’ve been thinking about moving my focus to just Long Island in my search of the contaminated water. I’m still not entirely sure though, maybe just a slight tweak because my research really consists of Long Island and New York State as a whole, rather than just the city. But I’ll definitely see what else I can find and add.

NYC AirPollution

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What much damage is the pollution in NYC causing? That is my research question because there are far too many sources of air pollution and the city seems to be funding that more than funding against. There are multiple sources that make mention of how there are hundreds of thousands of pounds of air pollution in NYC. One of the main sources are from plants in Astoria, Queens. According to a post in qns.com, the Charles Poletti Power Project located in Astoria alone caused hundreds of thousands of pounds of air pollution. Although these pollutions originate from particular locations, it does not remain there. The pollution spreads and hundreds of thousands of people are affected by its harms. This source includes information from influential people in the community and it can help strengthen the claims made. I can use this to provide reference to these people.

Post 3.4:

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RESEARCH QUESTION:
“What initiatives can be taken to deal with the issue of air pollution in Queens and what are the
challenges that may be faced while implementing them?”

ANNOTATION OF NEW SOURCE:

I found a new source by Robert Paehlke entitled “Bucolic Myths: Towards a More Urbanist
Environmentalism”. This source argues that the ideology of environmentalism can be applied in
urban development so as to mitigate the issue of air pollution. He further adds that air pollution
can be reduced through less travel and installment of pollution control devices. The source is
valid since the author points out the benefits that could be reaped by urban environmentalism. I could borrow his valid idea as an initiative that could be taken in Queens to help combat air pollution. One major that could be faced while implementing this initiative is a lack of support from the relevant authorities but this can always be resolved by explaining the concept to them in detail.

Paehlke, R. (1986). Bucolic Myths: Towards a More Urbanist Environmentalism. Centre for
Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto.

WORKING THESIS:

Application of environmentalism in urban development is one of the initiatives that can help
reduce air pollution in Queens.

ANYTHING ELSE:

So far, I’m still struggling with finding more sources since I changed my research question in
accordance with the instructor’s suggestions. I found one already and I believe I’ll be able to find
more along the way. I feel that there are definitely more initiatives to be considered in combating air pollution and hence may decide to change my working theses sometime later.

3.4 The new normal

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In my struggle searching sources for my research project I discover .” New York plastic ban , which went into effect on March 1st will not be enforced until at least May 15 due to the coronavirus outbreak” by Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

This catastrophic pandemic kills thousands of people , brings tears to almost everybody faces, separates kids from friends and exclude people from their social life.

Among all those things that the virus made , it didn’t stop from also touching the environment, especially the ocean , with the new normal of wearing mask and gloves , people are going crazy and don’t pay attention to they act throw them anywhere  .Could you imagine those living creatures in the ocean , they were already battled to survive with plastic bags , plastic straw and other debris , now the virus is bringing more plastic products in the ocean .

Those marine animals will mistakenly eat them for food as usual . Therefore, the research question could be ”can climate change be solved by a global pandemic”.