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The environmental movement, is a social movement that aims to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create sustainable living. Environmentalists advocate the just and sustainable management of resources and stewardship of the environment through changes in public policy and individual behavior. In its recognition of humanity as a participant in ecosystems, the movement is centered on ecology, health, as well as human rights.
The Cuyahoga River is a river located in Northeast Ohio that bisects the City of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie.
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The Flint River is a 344-mile-long (554 km) river in the U.S. state of Georgia. The river drains 8,460 square miles (21,900 km2) of western Georgia, flowing south from the upper Piedmont region south of Atlanta to the wetlands of the Gulf Coastal Plain in the southwestern corner of the state. Along with the Apalachicola and the Chattahoochee rivers, it forms part of the ACF basin. In its upper course through the red hills of the Piedmont, it is considered especially scenic, flowing unimpeded for over 200 miles (320 km). Historically, it was also called the Thronateeska River.
Conservation and restoration of immovable cultural property describes the process through which the material, historical, and design integrity of any immovable cultural property are prolonged through carefully planned interventions. The individual engaged in this pursuit is known as an architectural conservator-restorer. Decisions of when and how to engage in an intervention are critical to the ultimate conservation-restoration of cultural heritage. Ultimately, the decision is value based: a combination of artistic, contextual, and informational values is normally considered. In some cases, a decision to not intervene may be the most appropriate choice.
The Ventura River, in western Ventura County in southern California, United States, flows 16.2 miles (26.1 km) from its headwaters to the Pacific Ocean. The smallest of the three major rivers in Ventura County, it flows through the steeply sloped, narrow Ventura Valley, with its final 0.7 miles (1.1 km) through the broader Ventura River estuary, which extends from where it crosses under a 101 Freeway bridge through to the Pacific Ocean.
Osborne Reef is an artificial reef off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida at 26.10748°N 80.06493°W. Originally constructed of concrete jacks, it was the subject of an ambitious expansion project utilizing old and discarded tires. The expansion ultimately failed, and the reef has come to be considered an environmental disaster—ultimately doing more harm than good in the coastal Florida waters.
Ocean Conservancy is a nonprofit environmental advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., United States. The organization seeks to promote healthy and diverse ocean ecosystems, prevent marine pollution, climate change and advocates against practices that threaten oceanic and human life.
An ongoing effort to remedy damage inflicted during the 20th century on the Everglades, a region of tropical wetlands in southern Florida, is the most expensive and comprehensive environmental repair attempt in history. The degradation of the Everglades became an issue in the United States in the early 1970s after a proposal to construct an airport in the Big Cypress Swamp. Studies indicated the airport would have destroyed the ecosystem in South Florida and Everglades National Park. After decades of destructive practices, both state and federal agencies are looking for ways to balance the needs of the natural environment in South Florida with urban and agricultural centers that have recently and rapidly grown in and near the Everglades.
Dam removal is the process of demolishing a dam, returning water flow to the river. Arguments for dam removal consider whether their negative effects outweigh their benefits. The benefits of dams include hydropower production, flood control, irrigation, and navigation. Negative effects of dams include environmental degradation, such as reduced primary productivity, loss of biodiversity, and declines in native species; some negative effects worsen as dams age, like structural weakness, reduced safety, sediment accumulation, and high maintenance expense. The rate of dam removals in the United States has increased over time, in part driven by dam age. As of 1996, 5,000 large dams around the world were more than 50 years old. In 2020, 85% percent of dams in the United States are more than 50 years old. In the United States roughly 900 dams were removed between 1990 and 2015, and by 2015, the rate was 50 to 60 per year. France and Canada have also completed significant removal projects. Japan's first removal, of the Arase Dam on the Kuma River, began in 2012 and was completed in 2017. A number of major dam removal projects have been motivated by environmental goals, particularly restoration of river habitat, native fish, and unique geomorphological features. For example, fish restoration motivated the Elwha Ecosystem Restoration and the dam removal on the river Allier, while recovery of both native fish and of travertine deposition motivated the restoration of Fossil Creek.
In 1990, the Allied Paper, Inc./Portage Creek/Kalamazoo River in southwestern Michigan was declared by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be a Superfund site – in other words, an abandoned industrial site containing significant amounts of toxic waste. The EPA and companies responsible for the waste in this area, which includes a three-mile section of Portage Creek as well as part of the Kalamazoo River, into which it flows, are currently involved in an effort to reduce the amount of toxic waste at the site, which is contaminated by PCBs from paper mills and other factories.
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The Kalamazoo River oil spill occurred in July 2010 when a pipeline operated by Enbridge burst and flowed into Talmadge Creek, a tributary of the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Michigan. A 6-foot (1.8 m) break in the pipeline resulted in one of the largest inland oil spills in U.S. history. The pipeline carries diluted bitumen (dilbit), a heavy crude oil from Canada's Athabasca oil sands to the United States. Cleanup took five years. Following the spill, the volatile hydrocarbon diluents evaporated, leaving the heavier bitumen to sink in the water column. Thirty-five miles (56 km) of the Kalamazoo River were closed for clean-up until June 2012, when portions of the river were re-opened. On March 14, 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered Enbridge to return to dredge portions of the river to remove submerged oil and oil-contaminated sediment.
Between 1947 and 1977, General Electric polluted the Hudson River by discharging polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) causing a range of harmful effects to wildlife and people who eat fish from the river. Other kinds of pollution, including mercury contamination and cities discharging untreated sewage, have also caused problems in the river.
The Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit environmental engineering organization based in the Netherlands that develops technology to extract plastic pollution from the oceans and to capture it in rivers before it can reach the ocean. Their initial focus was on the Pacific Ocean and its garbage patch, and extended to rivers in countries including Indonesia, Guatemala, and the United States.
Willamette Riverkeeper is a non profit organization formed in 1996 in order to protect and restore the water quality and natural habitat of the Willamette River. WR was the 13th Riverkeeper organization formed after the original Hudson Riverkeeper. Today there are over 300 Riverkeeper, Baykeeper, and Coastkeeper organizations in the United States and internationally. Each organization is independent, but subscribes first and foremost to enforcing the Clean Water Act, or related international laws.
In February 2014, an Eden, North Carolina facility owned by Duke Energy spilled 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River. The company later pled guilty to criminal negligence in their handling of coal ash at Eden and elsewhere and paid fines of over $5 million. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has since been responsible for overseeing cleanup of the waste. EPA and Duke Energy signed an administrative order for the site cleanup.
The August 2020 Midwest derecho was a powerful derecho affecting the Midwestern United States on August 10–11, 2020, primarily eastern Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. It caused high winds and spawned an outbreak of weak tornadoes. Some areas reported torrential rain and large hail.
America's Most Endangered Rivers is a list of threatened rivers in the United States compiled by the nonprofit group American Rivers. First published in 1984, the annual list spotlights ten rivers facing environmental degradation due to existing or proposed development projects. The list is intended to build public awareness and spur action toward addressing specific environmental issues.
References
- 1 2 Irvin, Wm. Robert (10 May 2013). "American Rivers: Celebrating 40 Years". HuffPost. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
- ↑ "Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax" (PDF). American Rivers. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
- ↑ "Restoring Damaged Rivers". www.americanrivers.org. American Rivers. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
- ↑ Ehmke, Jim. "Oakland dam in Pennsylvania being removed". www.msn.com. WIVT Binghamton. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
- ↑ "Map of U.S. Dams Removed Since 1912". www.americanrivers.org. American Rivers. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
- ↑ Durrant, Spencer (25 February 2022). "2022 State of Dam Removal in U.S." MidCurrent. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
- ↑ Petri, Alexandra E. (11 April 2017). "Top 10 Most Endangered Rivers in the U.S." nationalgeographic.com. National Geographic. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
- ↑ Graff, Frank (9 November 2022). "National Conservation Group Names the Neuse 'River of the Year'". PBS North Carolina. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
- ↑ Tanenbaum, Michael (15 April 2020). "Delaware River named 2020 River of the Year by national environmental organization". PhillyVoice. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
- ↑ Haidet, Ryan (17 April 2019). "Cuyahoga River named America's 'river of the year'". wkyc.com. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
- ↑ Charles River Conservancy (18 April 2022). "The 23rd Earth Day cleanup of the Charles River brings us closer to swimming its waters again". Cambridge Day. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
- ↑ "National River Cleanup Organizer's Handbook" (PDF). American Rivers. 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
- ↑ "American Rivers". National CleanUp Day. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
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