A River Runs Through Us Essay

The area where Rollins Environmental Services Incorporated is located is known as Cancer Alley because it is one of the most toxic areas in the country with residents claiming a host of numerous health conditions. Cancer Alley is the 107 mile stretch along the Mississippi River that runs between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. African American composed 98.9 of those residents. Cancer Alley alone has over 150 environmental hazards and waste dumps. More than 60 percent of these waste dumps are located in or near communities that are predominantly people of color. In fact, Louisiana has tax exemptions and business friendly policies for business who want to relocated to Cancer Alley. Many companies move their operations to Cancer Alley to take advantage of business friendly standards and policies. The people of color in Louisiana do not have a lot of political and social power and are unable to challenge the ways in which their communities were being changed that take a relaxed view of environmental standards and health issues. Most of the time the people who live in these areas are not aware that their illness is coming from the toxic waste that these waste dumps produced, nor are they aware of the creation of these waste dumps in their communities. For example, Mary McCastle, who is a resident of Alsen, Louisiana

Part of the drama in “Toms River” involves the conflict and concerns for environmental public health and those who wanted for more economic growth. Toms River residents and government

The physical side is at one time they did love each other because kids were born. The shared activities are the fact they have children and they still do things as a family.

Metro Atlanta is on a collision course with reality – and the shock of this collision will have profound political and economic implications for future growth throughout the Southeast. The core problem is that Atlanta’s runaway growth will soon outstrip the available water supply (Corps, 1998). And if Atlanta continues to increase its water consumption until the maximum limits are reached, the effects on downstream users will become catastrophic, both economically and environmentally.

When you think about the pinnacle city, the turning point in the Industrial Revolution, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. It was a city that perfectly encapsulated the American Dream and set the standard for the working class in America. Flint, Michigan was home to General Motors and at one point they were the driving force of the economy. However, that success was fleeting due to globalization and with many competing companies outsourcing, GM had to make many tough decisions that ultimately led to its downsize. When GM left Flint, the city was devastated and it’s exit contributed to the poverty we see now. The post-industrial era not only left the city in despair, but also left many things in questions, such as the large amounts of lead used during that era that has thus left the city more vulnerable. The current crisis in Flint is able to portray the damages of this ‘industrial legacy’ that has now affected their water. The Flint water crisis could have been avoided had they properly assessed the situation and went in with the proper tools. Just how they were able to assess and adjust laws to save people during the industrial revolution, Flint needs to implement the same changes. This case is able to illustrate the ways in which race and socioeconomic status intersect with one 's insurance to uphold human rights and environmental health.

The Artificial River, a well thought of 177 paged book written by the author Carol Sheriff whom at the time was an graduate at Yale University and finished it off while an assistant professor at William and Mary. This compelling book captures and emphasis the success and downfall the Erie canal has brought to the people. Sheriff has a clear notion that “progress” viewed differently through the eyes of conflicting people and status. What one envisioned the Canal turn out to be fluctuated from another. Progress to them meant in large part men and women take apart an active role in the community that they are in which the construction of the Erie canal consisted of people doing just that. She apprehended that whomever supported the canal had some dream and hope to actively be apart a wider range or market exchange. In Sheriff words she says that progress would play a central role in defining Northern sectional identity in decades. The book will explore six topics which are titled Vision of Progress, The Triumph of Art over Nature, Reducing time and distance, Politics of land and water, Politics of Business and The Perils of Progress all of which I will touch on throughout the paper.

For this paper water structures and infrastructures were selected as focus points because the longer we wait to fix issues with them, the more expensive it will get, in other words, we are in a race against time. Studying the past it is easy to see how water availability made population explode in an area such as Southern California, where savvy marketing and great politics made it happen. Particularly, for Los Angeles and for the purposes of public narrative, Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert does a great job at understanding and identifying the politics and key figures in getting water to Los Angeles. Great hydrologic structures were created using both manpower and water politics. It is important to state that there are connections between water, politics, environment, and geography when analyzing what the biggest problems involving water structures and infrastructures (Reisner.) We must think of water as both a socio-political issue and a natural resource, whose fate is molded by the understanding of its connectivity to itself, man-made structures, geography, environment, and society. The classes taken in this program have taught us ideals that in order to become a great water resource manager, one must master the political and scientific knowledge to make decisions that are prosperous for society and the environment. Furthermore, one must know the United States’ hydrological history in order to gain manipulation upon the system that makes it both thrive and deteriorate.

Anacostia Riverkeeper, 2015). Anacostia Riverkeeper challenged the permit in the Montgomery County Circuit Court in 2013. The Court held that the permit did not comply with state water quality standards and effluent limitations under section 303(a)(1) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972. The court also held that the best management practices were too vague and that the permit did not provide a clear basis regarding how compliance with state water quality standards would be measured (Edwards, 2015). When the MDE appealed the case, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals (CSA) agreed with MDE that the permit does not require a permittee to meet state water quality standards due to 1987 amendments to the CWA that resulted in a different standard for municipal storm water permits than industrial storm water (Maryland Department of the Environment v. Anacostia Riverkeeper, 2015). While the CSA agreed with the MDE on technical terms, the CSA found that the permit did not meet the requirements of the CWA and state law because it did not entail public notices or specific and detailed information that the public could understand and comment on, and that the permit did not contain specifics on measuring compliance on two of the most important factors that the permit addresses

Eddy changes Gus in three different ways: when she directly interacts with him, by her absence and by her reappearance. On their first encounter with one another Gus is compelled by her differences in dress, techniques and gear. After she leaves, Gus feels a “need” to fulfill his empty life. Finally when she shows back up in his life, Gus then has everything he could ever ask for: a beautiful woman who loves to fish, just like him.

Recently Detroit has been publicly experiencing a lot of issues within the city, which has cause many people to speak out on the matter. Alex Johnson was no different, He wrote in article called “No Water, No Teachers: Behind Detroit's Surge, Old Problems Stubbornly Persist”. Throughout the article Johnson discuss the harsh reality of living in Detroit and the affect it has on the community. As I read this article I felt empathic for the people of Detroit because no person deserve to be without water or a stable education. Overall I felt that the article was a cry for help and that the government really needs to step up and help.

The article “Water Works”, published by Orion Magazine and written by environmental specialist Cynthia Barnett intends to inform the reader anyone can make water an important factor. Overlooking it has become common many people in the United States have adapted to through the changes that have occurred in society over time. At the beginning of her article, she describes an area that does not make water care a priority, whereas in another location they make it very evident water is important. The location she describes is gloomy, grey, and is a populated area that has old water systems that are damaging environmental factors. Barnett continuously emphasizes that people are the ones who can help restore nature. This is at a less cost than

“In the entire flooded region, 50 percent of all animals--half of all the mules, horses, cattle, hogs and chickens--had drowned. Thousands of tenant farmer shacks had simply disappeared.” Said exactly from John Barry, the writer of the book “Rising Tides,” or the book all about the Mississippi River Flood of 1927. This quote explains the whole concept of this flood. Everybody near the Mississippi River were affected, and became devastated in some way. That could be by losing a loved one, or by losing a home. This flood was the worst one in U.S. history. Death, destruction, and depression were served to everybody.

In the academic journal written by Ronald A. MacGillivray the purpose was to find out information about the Delaware River and how polluted it is. The research was done over a four-year period to find out if lethal toxins were coming out of tributaries (MacGillivrary et al., 2011). The research was done by a sampling procedure. The researchers would go out into the field and collect samples on a weekly basis depending on the weather to see how the toxic levels in the river were from 16 different locations (MacGillivrary et al., 2011). At the end of the four years that the research was taken the results were conclusive that the tributaries that led into the Delaware River were found to be at normal toxic water level rates (MacGillivrary et al., 2011). The pollution levels found were normal with a few exceptions depending on the water content of the day (MacGillivrary et al., 2011).

Throughout A River Runs Through It, Norman Maclean emphasizes the relationship between nature, art, and faith. The concise, simple sentence with which he chooses to open his story captures the essence of all one hundred pages: in his family, 'there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing' (1). Reverend Maclean believes that both fly fishing and spiritual belief are 'exact arts,' if such a term can exist without paradox. The Reverend holds the firm conviction that 'all good things ' trout as well as eternal salvation ' come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy' (4). This belief system obviously espouses a view of the world as meticulous and well-ordered:

Consequently, numerous colonial residents in the city experience to a greater or even lesser extent coming from severe environmental well being challenges of lack of clean water, inadequate sewerage facilities, & insufficient solid waste materials disposal.