I read about the rising rate of cancer in Staten Island, New York, which has consistently had the highest amount out of any other borough in New York City. Staten Island had 2,781 cases reported out of 38,838 in New York City, which accounted for 7.16 percent of all New York City cancer incidences even though only account for 5.5 percent of the city’s population. For both males and females rates were high above New York City’s average, males 13.48 percent higher and females 18.53 percent higher. The article then went into describing the different types of cancer present in that area which included: breast, pancreatic, and thyroid, which were all found to be over 10 percent higher than New York City as a whole. They ended the article by discussing various possible causes of these cancer rates, which included high smoking rates, New Jersey pollution, and landfill contamination. A comprehensive third-party study was called upon the landfill to find out what effects the dump...
Sam Clayton
ReplyDeleteThis week's common hour talk was “Stand Up That Mountain” by Jay Leutze. He spoke about the importance of environmental conservatism, and how it is the key to building communities and connecting people from different backgrounds. He recently won a court case in North Carolina that gave some of the Appalachian territory back to citizens. I believe this talk relates to our class first and foremost due to Leutze's emphasis on conservatism which, above all else, is the basis for the science policy that aims to reduce and restore the damage done by humans to the environment. Also, Leutze's argument that it connects people from different backgrounds relates to our class because, often, one of the more difficult aspects of policy making is addressing the needs of the many, specifically voters, and those voters often do not agree entirely with one another.