Homework answers / question archive / Running head: EVALUATING THE ALBANY HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES Evaluating the Albany Hazardous Waste Facilities Shuronica Walker Built Environment and Public Health April 24, 2021 1 EVALUATING THE ALBANY HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES 2 Introduction According to Moeller (2011), promoting health begins by striving to have a healthier environment

Running head: EVALUATING THE ALBANY HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES Evaluating the Albany Hazardous Waste Facilities Shuronica Walker Built Environment and Public Health April 24, 2021 1 EVALUATING THE ALBANY HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES 2 Introduction According to Moeller (2011), promoting health begins by striving to have a healthier environment

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Running head: EVALUATING THE ALBANY HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES Evaluating the Albany Hazardous Waste Facilities Shuronica Walker Built Environment and Public Health April 24, 2021 1 EVALUATING THE ALBANY HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES 2 Introduction According to Moeller (2011), promoting health begins by striving to have a healthier environment. All the responsibilities lie in the shoulders of the human beings living in such environments. The inhabitants of a place are the custodians of that place. They are the people that interact with such an environment constantly. The interaction leads to their individual health because the healthier it is the better it is for them. Every individual inhabiting a place should understand that how they interact with the environment affects various factors such as their healthy lives, quality of life, and subsequently, the health disparity patterns. According to World Health Organization, an environment is closely related to the health of individuals because the human life revolves around the chemical, physical, and the biological factors, most of which are external to the individual. From the three factors that make up an environment, it is accurate to conclude that once they are properly balanced, the human environment would be healthier. Therefore, environmental health is characterized by diseases and injuries control and prevention. Research Objectives Environmental pollution is one of the biggest concerns for different parts of the United States and other countries. This paper seeks to do the following activities; they are the key objectives of the paper. • The paper seeks to characterize various problems associated with the hazardous waste facilities. • The study seeks to examine and explore the adequacy and efficiency of the approaches that the County of Dougherty undertakes to address this big problem. • The paper seeks to suggest various practical ingredients that can be adopted to improve the efforts aimed at managing the wastes. EVALUATING THE ALBANY HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES 3 Literature Review According to the Office of the Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (2020), environmental health is one of the most neglected but vital part of healthy living. Due to its immense importance, the Office of the Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (2020) explored this subject under six critical themes. The six themes include the following. The first theme is the outdoor air quality. This theme is based on the fact that any poor air quality has been linked with premature deaths. Apart from the deaths, the quality of air determines how safe an individual is from cancer and other chronic illnesses such as the long-term damage to the cardiovascular and respiratory system. The second theme involves the quality of surface and ground water. Water features here because people use it for domestic purposes and for recreation. The moment water is contaminated by any agent, the users of such water become vulnerable to mild or severe illnesses. Therefore, there is a need to protect all the water sources at all times. The third theme is toxic substances and hazardous wastes. This theme proves a major challenge because of the following reason. Despite the efforts exerted to address them and their related problems, the situation has become closer to being worse. Experts have advised that the exposure to various toxic substances and wastes is harmful and should be avoided. Therefore, the environmental health depends on the effectiveness of handling such hazardous materials. Another theme is homes and communities. Here, we are introduced to the fact that depending on the location of an individual, they are likely to be exposed to indoor air pollution, inadequate heating, and sanitation, structural problems, electrical and fire hazards, and lead-based paint hazards. All these elements are harmful to an individual’s health. Also, infrastructure and surveillance. This theme explores the partners that work together to ensure that there are adequate measures to prevent environmental hazards. The last theme is the global environmental health. This theme focuses on the water quality for the entire globe. EVALUATING THE ALBANY HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES 4 Kasperson (1986) explores the [erspectives of various individuals and stakeholders in ensuring that the society is free from the harmful effects of pollution. According to this study, it takes different perspectives and initiatives to work and find solutions to such matters. According to Kasperson (1986), there are numerous problems that face a facility siting. The first challenge in such issues is the absence of a systems approach. The system approach is vital for the management of any hazardous wastes. It all begins from exerting efforts to reduce risks and lower the economic costs. All the processes and activities involved may seem complex, making it a challenge to perfectly execute. The second issue is the risk uncertainty. There are different factors that lead to the risk uncertainties. These factors include the limited knowledge in the following critical aspects. Firstly, the timing and quantity of any constituent elements has become the biggest challenge. Secondly, there tends to be limited knowledge in the transport rates and their subsequent environmental degradation. Another area that the authorities lack knowledge in is the degree of possible exposure when a persistent hazardous constituent is released into the environment. Lastly, there are challenges with identifying the actual damage caused by the exposure to these harmful substances. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that the stakeholders do not have enough scientific knowledge for handling or addressing the specific harmful wastes. Another concern is the public perception of the risks. There may be significant variations in the public perceptions. Such variations may make some members of the public to take the right action to avoid the harmful effects while others may just downplay the intensity of such challenges. Another issue revolves around inequity and the ethics of risk imposition. Also, the institutional distrust can be the angle from which this problem can be analyzed. Based on all these factors, it is evident that the challenge is not an individual challenge. It takes the effort of every member to contribute to the success of the entire system. Research Methods EVALUATING THE ALBANY HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES 5 The current study has adopted the case study research design. This approach is useful for understanding the Albany hazardous waste facilities. It is a suitable approach to generate an in-depth understanding of the subject. This problem is a multi-faceted one and its complexity relies on the fact that despite the efforts that may have been put in place to address it, it continues to be a major concern. Therefore, the approach intends to focus on Albany, Georgia to ensure that it pulls all the information together to find a working solution to the challenge. Data Albany, Georgia Case Mulholland, NoiseCat, & Cha (2020) confirm that Albany, Georgia is inhabited by approximately 75000 people as of 2020. The majority of the residents of this city are African Americans. The total African American population is about 73% of the city’s population (Mulholland et al., 2020). The population does not make this city any popular. Over the past few decades, the city has had to struggle with pollution and environmental challenges. These challenges have made Albany hit the headlines because of the vulnerabilities created by such pollution challenges. The situation became worse in 2020 when the Coronavirus pandemic hit the entire globe. The pandemic led to a death toll of at least 120 and a total of at least 1505 cases of new infections as at May 1, 2020. According to this statistics, Albany’s per capita infection was high, almost reaching or hitting the infection rate in Wuhan China. Being a city that is dominated by African Americans in terms of population, any environmental issue affects them more than any other race. At least 80% of the coronavirus patients that were laid in hospitals were the African Americans (Mulholland et al., 2020). According to Mulholland et al. (2020), the Coronavirus case in Albany shows a trend that is consistent with other United States regions where the burden of pollution is a major concern. This city has long been associated with environmental injustices. One of the latest EVALUATING THE ALBANY HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES 6 cases involves the construction of oil and gas pipeline. These products are useful in that they are sources of fuel and energy for various industries and domestic use. At the same time, a compressor station was established in this city not many years ago. The two are real sources of pollution. The carbon from these establishments pollute the environment in different ways. In particular, the carbon dioxide gas absorbs solar energy from the space. The absorption leads to the solar energy to be kept closer to the surface, an effect called the greenhouse effect. The carbon dioxide comes from the burning of fossil fuels such as the oil and gas that are produced from these establishments. Further, there are higher number of environmental pollutants in Albany. The larger Dougherty County has various statistics that associate it with higher pollution levels. According to Mulholland et al., (2020), the following statistics give the extent of pollution in the larger Dougherty County. Firstly, the county contains about 259 hazardous waste facilities. This number is worrying for a region that has been a hot bed for pollution. Secondly, the county contains at least 78 facilities that have produced and released numerous volumes of air pollutants. Air pollutants translate into air pollution. Therefore, the higher the volume of the pollutants, the riskier it becomes ion this county. Also, the county is known to be hosting at least 20 facilities that release toxic pollutants. Lastly, the county hosts at least 16 facilities that have always released pollutants into various water bodies and sources within the United States. All these statistics point out to the fact that Albany is at a higher risk of asthma. The conditions are even worse because of the social status of the individuals living in this part of the United States. Mulholland et al. (2020) identify that over one-fifth of the Albany’s population do not have health insurance covers. The statistics are even higher than the national uninsured proportion that stands at 15.7%. Again, the median household income for Albany stands at least $20000. The figure is slightly lower than the national median income for every household. Therefore, the living conditions for Albany make the population vulnerable to EVALUATING THE ALBANY HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES 7 various kinds of health complications. Unfortunately, the insurance cover that may have been their rescue is also a challenge to most of them. Analysis and Results According to the World Health Organization (2019), the presence of unclean various sources of energy should be a major concern to the people living in the areas where these sources are used. The conditions of the people living in Albany makes them use the following resources inappropriately. Firstly, their energy use is not efficient. Being that Albany hosts various pipelines and gas firms, the most likely source of energy is the fuel that comes from these sources. The fossil combustion can be seen as one of the sources of energy that is cheap and relatively affordable; however, the implications to the environment are quite grave. The region around Albany is struggling with regulating emission. With the sources of energy that Albany residents use, it is likely that they struggle with regulating emission. Even if the governmental organizations and officials are involved, the change will never be that significant because it all starts from understanding the problem from its root causes. Another factor that the study reveals is the available transport options for the Albany residents. Many individuals within this region rely on fuel-powered cars and automotive machines for movement. However, the sources of fuel for such automobiles are not environmentally friendly. The emissions from these sources are found to be some of the most harmful energy sources that lead to different kinds of pollution. Again, the land use is not as efficient as it should be for an environment that aims at reducing the impact of environmental pollutants. This part of the United States probably invests so much in using the land in activities that would lead to degradation. All the firms that have been established in this part of the country all point out that the land use is not aimed at making the environment sustainable. While the owners of these facilities may be generating income and providing employment to EVALUATING THE ALBANY HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES 8 various people, the sustainability of the environment is significantly at stake. Another evident issue is that agricultural waste incineration. Though not common, it is a major challenge that this region has to deal with. Conclusion In summary, Albany Georgia is one of the most vulnerable regions within the United States. There have been numerous efforts to address the environmental issues before. Some of the efforts have been exerted by governmental authorities and the non-governmental authorities. All in all, the efforts have not been bearing fruit because of the lack of appropriate knowledge on this issue. The use of specific steps may help in ensuring that Albany becomes or does better than it does not. Therefore, Georgia should strive to find better ways to use more sustainable energy sources to help address the specific challenges that have been faced by this region before. Recommendations • Albany should opt for energy conservation. It should move away from the fossil fuel consumption. • Albany should regulate emissions from various industries and power generation plants. • This region should adopt more sustainable transport options. Rapid transit or walking and cycling could be the most efficient ways of movement. Due to the need of such a step, Albany officials should develop or improve the available pedestrian and cycling infrastructure to encourage individuals to take this direction. • The region should improve the land use. Instead of investing on the installation of facilities that generate environmental pollutants, Albany should invest in environmentally friendly and more sustainable economic activities. EVALUATING THE ALBANY HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES • 9 Albany should focus on clean energy rather that the pollutants that impact the environment negatively. EVALUATING THE ALBANY HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES 10 References Kasperson, R. E. (1986). Hazardous waste facility siting: Community, firm, and governmental perspectives. Hazards: Technology and fairness, 4, 118. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK217573/ Moeller, D. W. (2011). Environmental health. Harvard University Press. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ffoPEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1 &dq=Environmental+Health&ots=WdxNbWG1B_&sig=Zk9L2yW68jQrZ4_2hS2S1 o7tAzc&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false Mulholland , M. , NoiseCat, J.B., & Cha, M. (2020). “IN GEORGIA, CORONAVIRUS AND ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM COMBINE.” Data for Progress. https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/5/6/coronavirus-and-racism-combine-in-georgia Office of the Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (2020). “Environmental Health.” https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/environmental-health World Health Organization (2019). “HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS FOR HEALTHIER POPULATIONS: WHY DO THEY MATTER, AND WHAT CAN WE DO?” Overall Feedback Thanks for studying a very important topic! Albany does need a lot of help in terms of sustainability and public health. Your paper highlights the needs. The recommendations you have for Albany are great! However, it would be nice to include a recommendation for future research. It would also be nice to include an abstract as required by the paper guideline. There are some minor typos. Again, thanks for writing on this important topic! Score 105 / 120 - 87.5 % Feedback Date