WAYNE COUNTY NEW YORK

AN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIAGNOSIS by Kaiser Popal 6th grade Algonquin Middle School

Abstract The purpose of my study of is to understand the environment in Wayne County, NY. In order to evaluate the environmental health of my county, I studied five things: Habitats, Industries, Water & Soil, Energy, and Waste. These things give me a good sense of how healthy my county is environmentally. I learned that the top industry in Wayne County is Facilities/Transportation. This industry is mainly responsible for massive use of natural and human resources that cause environmental issues in my county. These are the issues with pollution, waste, and energy use. The soil and waters (including Great Lakes, Seneca Rivers, and Clyde Rivers) have challenges with manufacturing waste products. The majority of energy is generated through nuclear, hydroelectric power, and fossil fuels. My county has not begun improving education with Climate Smart Communities, but some schools do participate in the Envirothon. Some practical implications of what we have learned are that resources need to be managed better by the major industry. Also, Wayne County should begin educating its citizens and students by promoting Climate Smart community development.

MAPS

The environmental health needs to be studied because if we want to have a healthy county, then there needs to be a healthy environment. There are 62 counties in New York, and they are a good size to study a group of people and how they harm the environment. They are different in their water, habitats, and energy use. The environment has a very important role in the health of every county. It gives the water, food, and shelter that people need. The environment can be studied by doing many things. People could live outside, only relying on the environment for food and water and shelter. They could monitor an animal to see how it takes the food and water and what happens to it if it eats polluted anything. Those were some reasons why and how environmental health of counties needs to be studied. Some of the facts about my county were hard to find because not many people study them, but I found most of it on the Internet.

Rensselaer's EcoEd Research Group involves faculty and students in the development and delivery of creative, interdisciplinary environmental education to K-12 students. The goal is to extend the broad impact of humanities and social science research on environmental problems through translation into hands-on exercises through which young students develop capacity to deal effectively with environmental problems, and with complex problems in general - integrating many types of knowledge. In EcoEd’s Upper Elementary School Research Program, young students are assigned an RPI student mentor, and with them move through a nine-week exploration of a research topic, culminating in a substantial written report and formal oral presentation.

Lake Ontario is 9000 years old The Seneca and Cayuga tribes lived in Wayne county around They are an Iroquoian speaking tribe that are mostly elders that speak in native tongues. In 1789, Mad Anthony Wayne kicked out the Indians from Wayne county and settled Wayne County was heavily involved in the war of 1812 – two battles were fought there Part of the Erie Canal that goes through the edge of Wayne County opened in 1823

The habitats go from Mountain Ranges to farmlands. There are wetlands, water sources, State Parks, and forests. They all hold up to a lot of animals. There are also many disadvantages and challenges. They include poisons in water, chemicals in water, storms, and a bunch of others. Some things could even ruin the whole county. Those challenges are very dangerous, but we can stand up to them. Some responses should be made in order to deal with all that stuff. We could ask the government or the Governor to help with the challenges. People could also be able to not make more pollution. Those things would be very good responses.

The companies can stop making more pollution and we could make the government care. The water resources in my county are varied. There are 8-9 watersheds in my county. There is an Oswego watershed company, Oneida river watershed, (Upper, Lower) Seneca river, and the Clyde River. Some problems that must be dealt with to protect the soil and water resources in my county are the drugs and chemicals. There has also been nuclear waste from power plants destroying habitats and homes. The weed killer that people use can also kill fish and animals if they eat it.

There are really polluting landfills in my county. Some challenges created by waste are caused by incinerators. The smoke makes really bad air pollution and it also creates ash for the landfills. Some things that could be done to make the waste management in my county more sustainable is to incinerate the landfills in an airtight place so the pollution is out of the air and then use the ashes to make fertilizer. We could also make more waste to energy facilities so we could make more fuel efficient energy. Those are some things we could do to make the waste management more sustainable in my county.

My poster is about Wayne County and its environmental health. The environmental health can be evaluated by looking at the parts of a county like energy, habitats, water and soil, industries, and waste. The poster details information about the parts of the county. Some health indicators include air and water quality, and the energy mix of my county. I talk about the environmental health indicators and the conclusions about the environmental health of the county.

Facilities/Transportation is the biggest industry in my county. This industry requires tools, equipment, and materials. The human resources are money, time and physical labor. The facilities and transportation resources are transportation for goods and people and vehicles. The challenges it faces are bankruptcy, low on workers, and not enough contributors. The problems they cause are landfills, pollution, and harmful waste. Some things we could do to deal with some of the problems the industry faces is by making more efficient products. Another thing is if they wouldn’t take away land which could be a habitat for an animal.

The energy resources are varied. The renewable energy is good in some areas, but horrible in others. The energy mixture is okay, though. It isn’t great, but it still is something. Some challenges that must be dealt with are abundant. There is the amount of coal and the amount of gas. Without those two, the whole thing would be better. The others are the amount of facilities of renewable energies. There are none in my county. What could be done to improve the energy mixture is to get more facilities. The only facilities are probably coal, oil, and gas. There are no renewable energies in the county. Those are some things that could be done to improve the water sources.

It is important to study counties because you need to know the health of your county to let people and animals live in it. The key features of Wayne County are Lake Ontario, the Seneca River, the Clyde River, and the Poconos Mountains. The health of my environment is good because my county has pretty good air quality, even though the county has bad water quality. The Envirothon competition is really helping my county communities. The most important problems are not having many climate smart communities in my county, and that the water quality is not very good.

WATERSHED HEALTH Watershed name: Great Lakes and St. Lawrence What percentage of rivers have poor water quality? What percentage of lakes have poor water quality? Overall percentage with poor water quality? 5% 12%17% What percentage of rivers have good water quality? What percentage of lakes has good water quality? Overall percentage with good water quality? 12%2%14% Caption: My county has more polluted water than water with good water quality.

AIR QUALITY YOUR COUNTY Unhealthy air days for general population in Unhealthy air days for people with asthma in Since 2003, has air quality for asthmatics improved or worse? Improved RENNSSELAER COUNTY 00Improved ESSEX COUNTY 04 Improved NEW YORK COUNTY 02 Improved Caption: Wayne County had more unhealthy air days for people with asthma than Rensselaer County, but had less than Essex County and the same as New York County. All four of the counties have improved.

ENERGY What region is your county located in? The Fingerlakes Type of Energy% of County Energy Composition Renewable33% Hydroelectric29% Nuclear30% Oil2% Gas24% Coal16% I think my region is healthy. I don’t think that it will stay the same in 1000 years. The pollution is too great and it won’t stop growing, even though my region is more healthy than the whole nation. The mixture that is healthier is my region. It is healthier because hydro is bigger. The Nuclear is smaller and the oil is the same.

 “The Ponoco Mountains”. Google.com. 3/7/14.   