CITATIONS:
Brown, S. R. (2020, August 10). Brooklyn’s Prospect Park covered in litter after weekend revelry. New York Daily News. https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-prospect-park-trash-20200810-r3do4siy6jaihaj23gheuognza-story.html
According to reports, about 2,000 individuals stayed until 3 a.m., littering Prospect Park. Prospect Park Alliance has a 3.5-million-dollar shortfall due to a lack of enforcement. Due to financial shortages, 1,700 seasonal park workers have been laid off. Bars and restaurants have imposed limitations due to the outbreak, and people have resorted to parks in droves. This story relates to our study on environmental pollution since it demonstrates a lack of enforcement and government and citizen neglect in maintaining public areas such as parks.
Cain, F. (2018, April 11). What if New York City had no light pollution? Universe Today. What if New York City had no light pollution? (phys.org).
The article mainly talks about how light pollution denies people the ability to see the night sky in its entirety, where you can see all the stars in a milky way. The project video added with the article shows what we can see using an overlaid night sky of the Grand Canyon and Death Valley with the night sky of NYC. The view of the stars is incredible; however, we cannot see such a sight due to the light pollution we have. Since there isn’t a considerable awareness of such pollution, not many people understand it; however, if you use the Dark Sky Finder tool, you can see that almost the entirety of the state of NY is polluted with light. This article can be related to our project since it can be used as a concern for the community about their environment and how they cannot see the night sky’s clarity.
Goldstein, I. F., Landovitz, L., & Block, G. (2012, March 15) Air Pollution Patterns in New York City. Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association, 2(24), 148-152. https://doi.org/10.1080/00022470.1974.10469906.
According to Goldstein, Landovitz, and Gloria, this paper discusses a three-year study conducted on-air monitoring stations in New York City of two different pollutants, smoke shade and sulfur dioxide. The study aims to analyze the spatial-temporal variation of the concentration of these two pollutants throughout the five boroughs of the city. Studies of air pollution health effects in NYC have often been used to check morbidity or mortality statistics and linked them to air pollution levels obtained from a single air monitoring station. This paper tries to answer whether reading the levels of pollution from a single air monitoring station is accurate enough to represent air pollution exposure throughout the population of all five boroughs of NYC. It was found that interstation correlations are not high enough to justify using one single monitoring system for a large metropolitan area. Thanks to this study, we can appreciate the importance of an accurate reading of the city’s air pollution level to better understand which areas are more affected and how to better solve this problem that affects New Yorker’s health.
Hoylman, B. (2022, January 06). Senator Brad Hoylman & Assembly Member Patricia Fahy Introduce “Dark Skies” Act to Minimize Light Pollution & Protect Migrating Birds. The New York State Senate. Senator Brad Hoylman & Assembly Member Patricia Fahy Introduce “Dark Skies” Act to Minimize Light Pollution & Protect Migrating Birds | NY State Senate (nysenate.gov). [article from a website]
The article mainly focuses on the environmental harm and wildlife interaction with light pollution. One of the issues addressed was that it affects the migrating birds that fly at night, which causes them to fly into buildings and die. The statistical report shows that over 230,000 birds are being killed every year due to increasing light pollution. This can lead to some birds having their species endangered. Since humans create artificial light, is it the most “pervasive form of environmental altercations?” With the unnecessary usage of light late at night, there is a constant stream of air pollution from the power plants that generate the power for these lights. This can be related to our project since it is affecting the environment. People in the community can walk around the parks built for outdoor enjoyment and for wildlife to thrive a little, but they don’t understand the full impact of light pollution on the animals.
Prospect Park Alliance. (2021, April 29). Help the Alliance Tackle Trash.
‘Carry In and Carry Out Your Trash,’ ‘Volunteer Corps,’ ‘It’s My Park Mondays,’ ‘Green and Go Kits,’ and ‘Ace New York’ were all pushed by the Park Administrator and President Prospect Park Alliance. This article is relevant and important because it details the city’s efforts to clean up and organize Prospect Park.
Sax, S. (2019, December 05). New York City needs to better regulate noise. City & State New York. New York City needs to better regulate noise – City & State New York (cityandstateny.com)
This article by Sarah Sax goes into detail about what it can be like living in the city regarding noise pollution. Sax mentions hearing loss as most places (at the time of the post) are louder than they should be (at least regarding people’s hearing). She also goes over other various sources of noise and how some are not really or easily escapable (which is one thing to factor into location in what ways can people escape the noise in a specific area), as well as some of the adverse health effects loud noise can have on people and the different decibel volumes of some areas. Some of this can be informative and may be included in our pamphlet/handout. Sax also mentions a noise measuring app that could allow measuring noise in the area for our project.
Sorqvist, P. (2016, April 25). Grand Challenges in Environmental Psychology. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00583.
The main idea of this article is human behavior in the built and natural environment, including emotion, stress, perception, mental fatigue, decision making, and social interactions. Environmental psychology studies the sociophysical environment’s influence on people and people’s influence on the environment. The articles also discuss society’s grand challenges: climate change – and global warming. Environmental psychologists are studying, explaining, and predicting human behavior in different environments, especially regarding global warming. This article is related to our project because global climate change is one of the common examples of “society’s grand challenges” regarding the relationship between people and the environment. The most significant contributors to climate change are noise, air, and light pollution. Our goal is to study and observe that relation and their behavior because people’s behavior can be affected based on their environment.
Tyrvainen, L., Ojala, A., Korpela, K., Lanki, T., Tsunetsugu, Y., & Kagawa, T. (2014). The influence of urban green environments on stress relief measures: A field experiment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 38, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.12.005.
The article’s main idea is to study the psychological effects of build-up environment and nature on the human mind and mood. Seventy-seven people were the human-subject of the experiment in three environmental settings. The study’s objectives were positive and negative affect of the environment on vitality, mood, and creativity. Natural areas like woodland and green environments had a more positive effect on people than the build-up environment. This article is related to our research because our idea and objectives are similar. We are trying to study and observe people’s feelings, moods, thoughts, and creativity in two completely different environments: dense, heavy traffic and buildings and the other being quiet and calm. Natural atmosphere.
New York City Department of Environmental Protection. A Guide To New York City’s Noise Code. noise-code-guide-summary.pdf (nyc.gov)
This source is a Noise Guide provided by a city agency known as The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The guide details why this guide was made (to reduce unnecessary noise), who enforces the rules, and how noise is measured in the city. The guide goes over many different sources of excessive noise and how the city plans to mitigate these sources. This noise guide is relevant to our project regarding our research into noise pollution – it provides many sources of noise pollutants, such as restaurants, vending vehicles, and cars, which makes us consider where various sounds are coming from and how that might affect an area.
New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. (2001, April 18). NRG Reduces Non-Point Sources Pollution and Restores Forests in Northern Manhattan. Prospect Park News – NRG REDUCES NON-POINT SOURCE POLLUTION AND RESTORES FORESTS IN NORTHERN MANHATTAN : NYC Parks (nycgovparks.org)
According to Nenn, C. from the NRG Forest Restoration Team, the Natural ResourcesGroup (NRG) has received more than 2 million dollars from the New York State Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act, The National Fish, and Wildlife Foundation, and the Environmental Protection Agency to help to reduce pollution and initiate forest restoration plans in northern Manhattan parks. There are many causes of the pollution, one of them is years of erosion damage to the root system of many trees, causing these trees to have higher chances to fall due to heavy wind or poor/dry roots. Another cause is the off-trail use of these parks by hikers and bikers; the soils in steep hillslopes have become too compacted. Therefore, plant roots cannot penetrate the compacted soil, so these areas lack vegetation, becoming more vulnerable to erosion caused by rain. Moreover, some invasive species, such as the Norway maple and Tatarian honeysuckle, provide dense shade reducing light sources to the ground, making it difficult for some plants species to grow in these areas. In conclusion, some actions taken to save and restore native trees and plants in northern Manhattan parks are removing non-native, exotic trees, shrubs, and vines and replanting with trees, shrubs, and groundcovers naturally found in this area. This can help to re-create a healthy environment where vegetation can also provide habitat and food for wildlife in the parks.
