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Effects of Air Pollution on Greenpoint Population

Summary

Pollution is killing and changing ecosystems in the environment for the worse. Human development and industrialization have become the most significant contributors to environmental degradation, which has adversely affected life’s natural ways. As the environment continues dying, people are the ones who will be affected as they rely directly on everything that the environment offers. From water to air and soil pollution, the earth is being poisoned in different ways, and it may be hard to revive the world back to its original state. This has been caused by people’s ignorance of what is around us. Air pollution is a problem New York City continues to face and specifically in the areas in it. Greenpoint is one of the towns found in Brooklyn. Pollution being a new age problem that the world is currently facing, Greenpoint, Brooklyn is not left out.

Purpose

This paper focuses on specific issues relating to air pollution in Greenpoint, including the effects and recommendations that may offer the best solutions to this problem. Being an industrial center with a significant population, Greenpoint faces adverse effects of air pollution, either long-term or short-term problems. In this case, people are causing this on themselves, and it would be appropriate to study this problem in depth.  

Background

Greenpoint is the northmost situated neighborhood in Brooklyn, found in New York City. The neighborhood is dominated mainly by people of Polish descent, and it contains numerous polish restaurants, businesses, and markets. Greenpoint has been nicknamed little Poland because of this. Many of the street names in the place are from original farmland owners that lived there before it was divided during the 19th-century industrial revolution. Green point’s history sees it having rope factories and lumber yards situated on the East River towards the west, and the northeastern section became an industrial marine area. Throughout the history of this region, there have been many people immigrating to Greenpoint because of plenty of jobs in factories, heavy industry and manufacturing, shipbuilding factories, and dock work. The rezoning of 2005 led to the construction of high-density residential areas on the East River Waterfront. The New York City Department approved the rezoning of city planning to rezone 175 blocks in Greenpoint and Williamsburg.

Greenpoint is a diverse community in terms of residency, work, history, education, and many more. It is estimated that 151 308 people were living in Greenpoint in 2019, with most of the population comprising white people, followed by Hispanics, then African Americans, Native Americans, Asians,  and other races (NYU Furman Center 2022). Greenpoint has gone through various changes over the years to reach where it is today. Although Greenpoint is an excellent place to live, it faces challenges like other places. New York City has been termed to be one of the most polluted places in the United States. Greenpoint is one of the communities in New York City that has to also fall within this range. New York City pollution has been a cause of more than 3000 deaths, 2000 hospital admissions for chronic diseases such as heart and lung-related conditions every year, and this problem is particularly higher if the effects are from air pollution in New York City (New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene 2011). Thus, air pollution is a current problem for New York and those communities in this region.

In 1994, the Greenpoint incinerator was closed down due to residents and environmental activist groups banding together to fight against the facilities polluting the area and the neighborhoods. In the 1950s, the largest oil spill in America occurred in Greenpoint, where an average of twenty million gallons of oil spilled into Newtown Creek. The spillage has led to all of New York City not drinking its groundwater as it is believed that oil is still seeping through groundwater up to date. Residents of Greenpoint continue to discuss ways of dealing with the oil spill problem as they say it continues to wreak havoc on their lives in the town (News12 Staff, 2006). The effect of pollution does not end in one night but takes many years with people suffering the adverse effects. The level of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which is classified as the most harmful air pollutant in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, is about 9.6 micrograms per cubic meter higher than that of Brooklyn and New York City (Hinterland et al., 2018). This shows that Greenpoint and Williamsburg account for the most air pollution in Brooklyn. An average of one in about every six adults found in Greenpoint is a smoker, although most of them have been trying to quit in the past year (Karpati et al., 2003). Greenpoint has several clinics but no hospitals in the neighborhood.

Discussion

When chemicals are released into the environment, the natural ecosystems of every kind are affected. These chemicals affect all life forms involving animals, plants, and other microorganisms in the environment. Air, water, and soil are the primary factors that support life on earth, and when they are affected, then life is affected. The release of these harmful chemicals from farms, factories, and other institutions keeps on destroying the environment as these firms are also crucial in supporting the way people live in their respective societies.

The simple definition of air pollution is introducing substances that have harmful effects by poisoning of air. Air pollution possesses an environmental effect on the health of people, animals and plants, and all diversified living organisms. Fossil fuels have been the primary cause of air pollution globally as it has the most effect on the environment as it introduces more poisonous substances into the air. Some primary causes of air pollution lead to poisoning of the air in the environment. Fossil fuels come from burning coal, oil extraction, and gasoline that are used to produce electricity and energy. Carbon monoxide is the main component found in high levels of fossil fuels. Industrial emissions that comprise particulate matter 2.5 and other gases have a wide range of effects. Indoor air pollution occurs in households using poisonous products such as perfumes and aerosols. Most of these products contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are released when these products are used. Other ways indoor air pollution occurs include living in inadequately ventilated houses with uneven temperatures and lower humid levels that affect the standard conditions for a person at homes, offices, schools, and other places. Wildfires cause a spike in the levels of harmful gases in the environment. It leads to smog when increasing PM2.5 particles collide with other harmful gases. Agricultural activities such as spraying farmlands affect the quality of air.

Effects of air pollution

Poor quality air has various harmful effects on the environment, people, and other living things. The most significant effect of air pollution can be seen on people and their health. Reports indicate high air pollution has a high effect and leads to an increasing rate of morbidity and mortality and mostly happens due to the risk of respiratory and heart diseases such as asthma, lung cancer, and child health problems such as autism and other diseases related to this (Ghorani-Azam 2016). The sources of this kind of pollution range from more minor causes such as cigarette use to much bigger causes which include emissions from motor engines and the effects they have been long-term and cannot be solved at once (Ghorani-Azam 2016). These diseases affect the quality of life that people live. Greenpoint is a diverse community where people interact every day as they do their activities. When these disease cases rise, the way people associate will be affected for the worse. The world health Organization (WHO) defines health as a state of physical and mental well-being and the absence of disease in a person (Megari 2013). The quality of life is affected in ways that the productivity of a community reduces, life is limited as the mortality rate increases, and people cannot live well.

Another significant effect of air pollution is global warming. Global warming is mainly caused by adverse climatic changes caused by the emission of harmful greenhouse gases that negatively affect weather patterns. Emitting greenhouse gasses (GHGs) from the ground stay in the atmosphere and is a major cause of climate change as they absorb terrestrial radiation, which leaves the earth’s surface and creates a heat-trapping atmosphere which in turn increases the overall earth’s absorption of energy leading to global warming through increased temperatures (Grossman 2018). Global warming affects both humans and the environment. Some of the effects on the environment include hot unbearable temperatures, uncontrollable drought, rising ocean levels, losing plant and animal species, and severe storms. Human influence has been linked to being the dominant cause of why global warming continues to be an uncontrollable menace since the mid-20th century (Grossman 2018). The health effects caused by global warming are diverse. They include causing injuries, diseases, and deaths relating to extreme weather events, changes in food distribution, water, airborne diseases, and other diseases. They also lead to threatened mental health as people try their best to cope with the challenges that arise. Climate change has a negative impact on environmental health determinants, including clean air, secure shelter, safe drinking water, and sufficient food.

 

 

 

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