5022
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
President's
Environmental
Youth Awards
Washington DC
October 1977
100R77010
rxEPA
Earth Trek...
Explore Your Environment
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w AGSNC?
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Earth Trek...
Explore Your Environment
By Dr. Gerald Schneider
President
A Better World, Inc.
Contents
Introduction 3
Needed: Clean Water 7
Needed: Clean Air 13
Needed: Good Ways to Get Rid
Of Trash and Garbage 17
Needed: Freedom from Noise
Pollution 23
Needed: Safer Use of Pesticides 29
Appendix I
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and
Environmental Laws 35
Appendix II
Regional Offices of EPA 38
Appendix III
Books and Films About Pollution 39
Glossary 40
Illustrations: Joan McGurren
Reference Order No WA-6-99-2762-A
Office of Public Awareness
Contract Officer Mattie Montgomery
U S Environmental Protection Agency
Washington. DC 20460
•if U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1977 O~247-803
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402
Stock No. 055-000-00170-7
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*•'**' ""•'
V;
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Introduction
Your birth made an impact on the world.
You were a new person for the world to
feed, clothe, and shelter.
The kind of life you have today depends
on the work of many people. Farmers who
grow your food, factory workers who make
your clothes, and people who build the
place you live in are just a few of those
who affect the quality of life you have.
As you grow, your needs grow, too-
more food, more clothes, more toys, more
of most everything. A desk and books are
there when you start school. Gas, oil, or
electricity (energy) are used to warm or
cool you, cook your food, or run the TV or
record player. You need more water for
drinking and bathing.
Industries make televisions, stereos,
sports equipment, and otherthingsforyou
to enjoy. They mine the land and oceans
for more materials to make these things.
Materials, energy, water, and other things
add to the quality of your life.
A lot of people and things are needed to
give you the kind of life you have. These
people and things are called resources.
And these resources will be needed every
day for as long as you live.
Today, you are still making an impact on
the world. Every person —in fact, every
living thing—affects the world and its
surroundings.
What we do to maintain our way of life
affects the world's environment and, in
turn, affects us. Environment means the
surroundings living thingsfindthemselves
in. For example, a monkey's environment
is a jungle while yours may be a city.
Our present methods of meeting our
needs create environmental problems
and cause pollution. Pollution is whatever
makes our air, land, and water dirty and
unhealthy.
Burning fuel to make electricity for
houses and factories can pollute (make
dirty and unhealthy) the air we breathe by
filling it with smoke, dirt, and chemicals.
Mining for the fuel and materials to make
the things we buy can pollute water. For
example, rain can wash soil and acids
around mining sites into nearby rivers and
lakes.
Wastes from manufacturing and dispo-
sal of garbage can pollute land, water, and
air. Noise from big machines usedto make
and move things is also a kind of pollution.
(It can affect your hearing, for example).
Chemicals sprayed on crops and those
added to food, lotions, and cleaning
agents may end up harming us.
Many of the things we do and want
cause pollution. Whether we pollute the
environment or not depends on how we
produce the things we want.
The Earth Must Be Used Carefully, No
New Earth Will Be Available
The way we live in the world is something
like the way an astronaut lives in a
spaceship. An astronaut in space needs
11 pounds of water and two pounds of air
each day to live. But if that were all the
water and air an astronaut had, how long
could the astronaut make them last?
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/Answer: Forever, if need be1
The reason, of course, is that a
spaceship's water and air can be cleaned
and made usable again within the space-
ship. Cleaning and renewing things
already used is called recycling. Special
machines recycle water and air on
spaceships over and over again so the
astronauts never run out'
Recycling of water and air also happens
on Earth, but is done by nature, not
machines. Earth's water, for example, is
recycled when it is warmed by the sun,
becomes a gas (water vapor) and then
returns "cleansed" as rain or snow. Green
plants, in making their food, use carbon
dioxide that is breathed out by people and
animals. In the process, plants produce
large amounts of oxygen which we need.
That is how plants renew the air we
breathe (recycle it).
Closed System
Earth is sealed off from space much as a
spaceship is. Earth's land, water, and air
are locked together by gravity and cannot
drift off separately into space. Except for
tiny amounts of air and spacecraft (with all
they carry aboard), no matter escapes
from Earth out into space. And except for
cosmic dust and space objects such as
meteors, no new matter is added to Earth.
All the fresh water, air, mineral, plant,
and animal resources Earth now has it has
always had. Earth gets no new supplies
from space.
The water you drink today may contain
atoms drunk by dinosaurs millions of
years ago. And your favorite person in
history may have breathed some of the
same air you are breathing now.
Spaceships and Earth, which are
sealed off from space, are "closed
systems". Recycling of resources such as
water and air are vital in closed systems.
Without recycling, water and air would
soon be used up in a closed system.
Although new water and air (both
materials) do not enter the Earth's closed
system, energy in the form of sunlight
does reach us. Sun energy provides the
power for recycling by nature.
Wood, wool, cotton, and other materials
produced by living things are broken down
into atoms when eaten by insects, bacte-
ria, and fungi. The atoms are recycled into
new materials. For example, the atom may
become mineral matter dissolved in water
that plants soak up through their roots.
But some materials that are made in
laboratories by people cannot be recycled
by nature. These man-made materials
include many plastics, detergents and
chemicals. They cannot be eaten by
insects, bacteria, fungi, or any other living
thing. Thrown away in the trash, dumped
into water or carelessly sprayed in the air,
these man-made materials are not des-
troyed. Instead, they remain as they are—
often poisoning the environment and
becoming polluters.
There are still other materials, such as
iron, copper, and glass, that are recycled
in nature, but very slowly. These materials
must be dissolved in water before living
things can absorb them. And it may take
many years before they are dissolved. The
cans and junk cars that litter our country-
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sides are examples of the environmental
problems caused by slowly dissolving
materials. They also pollute.
People can help to protect the environ-
ment from man-made materials that
cannot be destroyed and materials that
are only slowly dissolved by nature.
Nature cannot do the job alone. As you
may have heard in a radio or TV an-
nouncement: "People make pollution,
people can stop pollution".
To help, you must learn as much as you
can about pollution problems. Then you
must act on what you learn. Action without
learning rarely helps and it may even
make matters worse. This booklet can
help you learn and act.
City smoke
puts poisonous
gases in
the air
Plants make
food and oxygen
Animals breathe out
Carbon Dioxide
used by
plants.
isonous
harm
to a«J
them
from doing
wortc.
Sewers dump wastes
into rivers
Natural
Environment
People-made
Polluted Environment
Smoke ts cleaned
before it Is put
into the 8ir.
Water is cleaned
before it drains
into the
Or
People-made
Non-Polluted Environment
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Needed: Clean Water
Try these questions (correct answers at
end of chapter):
1. How much water do you and your
family use each day?
2. What is the most common pollutant in
water?
Life Depends On Water
You, other people, and all animals and
plants are mostly water. A person is about
65 percent water. And each of us needs to
drink at least five pints of water each day
to live. Big animals like horses need about
15 gallons of water a day. Do you know
how much water your favorite pet needs?
Water is also used for washing, air
conditioning, household work, and sprin-
kling lawns. And steel, gasoline, paper,
and most other products are made with
the help of water. Power plants use water
for cooling. Farms of course, need water to
grow food.
Goods and people are carried around
the world on ships that move on water.
Water is used for swimming, boating, and
other kinds of recreation. And water is the
home of many animals and plants such as
fish, whales, clams, and seaweeds.
Life would not be possible without
water. That is why it is so important to keep
water clean and usable.
What Is Water Pollution
Water is polluted when it is unsafe to
use because sewage and other wastes
have been dumped untreated into it!
Polluted water can smell, have garbage
floating in it, look muddy and be too ugly to
swim or boat in. But even water that looks
clean and smells good can be polluted: it
may be loaded with germs and dangerous
chemicals that you cannot see.
People pollute water in a lot of ways.
One way is to allow factory and bathroom
wastes to flow through pipes and into
waterways with no treatment. Another way
is to allow soil, fertilizers, and industrial
wastes to wash from farms, building sites,
and mining sites into waterways after a
rain.
Bacteria can feed on some wastes.
Other wastes will be diluted by water in
waterways. But nature can only do so
much! We are making more wastes than
nature can handle alone. More and better
wastewater treatment is needed.
Water Treatment
Not all communities properly treat water
before drinking it! Most of us think that the
water we drink is safe—and it usually is.
But about 4,000 Americans are made sick
each year by germs and bacteria in
unsafe drinking water, according to
medical reports. Many others are probably
also sickened by bad water, but they do
not know that it was the water that made
them sick and it is never reported.
Water must also be cleaned after it is
used and before it goes back into
waterways. This cleaning is done by
waste treatment or sewage plants.
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Sanitary sewer pipe (to waste treatment plant)
nearest waterway)
Storm sewer pip
/«^
The picture (right) shows two stages of
wastewater treatment: primary and se-
condary. A third stage or tertiary treatment
(not shown in the picture) is required to
clean up pollutants the tirst two stages
missed. Few communities use tertiary
treatment.
Rivers and lakes will dilute much of the
pollution that remains after secondary
treatment and bacteria will feed on other
pollutants, as already mentioned. But only
tertiary treatment can remove man-made
chemicals.
Tertiary treatment is costly. It includes
ways to speed settling out of solids in
wastewater, use of electricity and carbon
filters to remove wastes and other special
methods. All communities may have to
use tertiary treatment of water in the future
8
because of the increase of man-made
chemicals in water.
Find Out More About Water Supply
And Pollution
Where does your community's water
supply come from? Can you hike or ride to
any of the water sources? Is the water you
drink treated to remove dirt and germs
before it is piped to your house? Is there a
water treatment plant you can visit?
Learn more about how sewage is
treated by doing some water treatment
yourself. Ask your parents to buy you a
cheap flour sifter or make a container with
a screen bottom. Cover the screening with
a layer of absorbent cotton, next a one-
inch layer of coarse sand and then a one-
inch layer of gravel.
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*•*'* I
1/llsSH/K.
2. DM and gravel
sink to the bottom
d are scraped
lite
are skimmed off.
1, Dirty water from
sewer pipe passes
through screen
are mixed
Wai** In
Aerating Tank
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Set the sifter over a jar and slowly pour
muddy water into the sifter. Does the water
look clean when it comes out the bottom
into the jar? WHILE THE WATER MAY
LOOK CLEAN, IT STILL HAS GERMS
AND SHOULD NOT BE DRUNK! Com-
pare what you did with the way wastewat-
er is treated in regular sewage treatment
plants as illustrated in this chapter.
Visit a construction site after a heavy
rain. Has any soil been washed away from
the site? Did any soil wash into a nearby
lake or river? What can be done to insure
that soil stays in place at construction
sites when it rains?
Trace the runoff from a service station
after a heavy rain. Are there signs of oil in
water from the service station into street
gutters (oil creates shiny, rainbow-colored
streaks in water)? Where will any oil in the
water go? What effect can oil have on the
local water supply or the quality of water
fish live in? What can service station
owners do to prevent oil from washing
away?
Is there a factory that is polluting water
near you that you can visit? A teacher, the
health department, or a local anti-pollution
organization may help you find such a
factory. What kind of pollution is involved?
Is the pollution only the fault of the factory
owner? What can your community do to
help stop pollution from factories?
10
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Checklist For Action
Here are ten ways to help reduce water
pollution problems. Can you list others?
• Make an exhibit showing how water is
supplied and wastewater treated in your
community for display at school or in a
library.
• Adopt part of a river or lake for you and
some friends and classmates to take care
of. Plan litter cleanup trips, test the water
for pollutants, and tell others of the value of
your adopted water area. (Have an adult
on hand for safety.)
• Help to plan a special program on water
pollution at your school. (Ask your local
public works or health departmentforaid.)
• Find out what the drinking and water
pollution laws are in your community and
how well they are enforced.
• Interview water polluters in your area for
a school newspaper and describe their
water pollution control problems.
• Organize a debate in school to defend
and oppose the statement: "Environmen-
tal legislation and enforcement are neces-
sary to protect water quality".
• Spend a few hours each month working
with a community anti-pollution organiza-
tion on water pollution problems.
• Plan a trip to a water supply or
wastewater treatment plant.
• Draw a map of vour community showing
where sources of water pollution are
located.
• Use compost instead of store-bought
fertilizers and pesticides on lawns (since
excess amounts of these chemicals can
drain off after a rain and wash into
waterways).
What Would You Do?
You catch a fish in a small lake near your
house. You are not sure that the fish is
safe to eat (the water may have been
polluted). Would you eat the fish?
You are hiking with a club in a wooded
area. Another hiker sees a clean-looking
stream, takes a drink from it and offers you
a drink of it from a cup. Would you drink the
water?
/Answer to questions at beginning of
chapter:
1. If yours is like the average American
family, you use about 160 gallons each
day.
2. Sediments (soil, sand, and minerals)
washed from the land into water are the
most common pollutants in water in
general (often more than half of all
pollutants in a river or lake).
11
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Needed: Clean Air
Try these questions (correct answers at
end of chapter):
1. How much does sickness and damage
from air pollution cost Americans each
year?
2. What is the biggest cause of air
pollution in cities?
What Is Air Pollution
Can you see the sky clearly where you
live? If not, the air may be polluted.
Polluted air can smell bad or look smoky.
But pollution could also be there without
your smelling or seeing it.
Air pollution comes from soot, fly ash,
and chemicals produced by automobile
exhaust fumes, chimney smoke, burning
garbage dumps, and materials sprayed in
the air. Soot from burning fuel oil is the
main pollutant that gives smoke its dark
color. Fly ash is tiny ashes that go up and
out of chimneys and make smoke even
darker. Chemicals of many kinds that you
cannot see mix with the smoke. Smog, the
eye-stinging haze that hangs over most
cities, is produced when chemicals in the
air mix with sunlight.
Damage To Things From Air Pollution
Air pollutants such as soot and fly ash
settle out on things and make them dirty.
Blown by the wind, air pollutants act like
sandpaper and scratch away buildings
and statues. Chemical air pollutants
discolor and "eat away" (corrode) mate-
rials. Can you find any change in the color
of bricks on old buildings near where you
live? Is there a statue in the park that is
crumbling away? If you find these things,
chances are that air pollution was one of
the causes.
Plants are also harmed by air pollution.
Their leaves may get dry. Brown spots
may appear on them. Or the leaves may
turn yellow and fall off. Orange and other
citrus trees and "salad" crops (such as
lettuce and celery used in salads) are
especially hurt.
Even house plants suffer from air
pollution from cooking fumes. Are any of
the plants in your house being affected by
air pollution? (Look for symptoms menti-
oned above.)
Animals are also affected by air pollu-
tion. Cattle can get sick . . . and so can
pets. A small amount of some chemicals
sprayed near an aquarium may kill pet
fish, for example. Care must be taken so
that you and your pets are safe from fumes
of many paints, lotions, glue, cleaning
agents, and other chemicals.
Sickness From Air Pollution
Even a little air pollution can make your
eyes burn and your head ache. It can tire
you out, blur your vision, make you dizzy,
and make it hard for you to breathe. Air
pollutants can also affect asthma and
make catching colds and flu more likely.
And air pollutants have been linked to
some cases of serious diseases such as
lung cancer and heart ailments.
13
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What To Do In A Pollution Alert
When air pollution gets very bad, many
cities have a "pollution alert". A pollution
alert is a warning that the air outside is not
healthy. Factories may have to close to
reduce chimney smoke. People may be
asked not to drive their cars so as to
reduce auto exhaust fumes.
Pollution alerts usually end when fresh
winds blow or rain washes the pollutants
away.
Pollution alerts are especially danger-
ous to people who have breathing prob-
lems, hayfever, and other allergies. But
you and everybody else should avoid bad
air if you can.
If there is a pollution alert in your
community, try to stay indoors more, move
around less, and keep away from smoke.
A parent or teacher may be able to tell you
more about what you should do during a
pollution alert.
Air Quality Today
Air quality in the United States is getting
better but much more needs to be done. It
will take the combined interest of eve-
ryone—you, other people, industry, and
How air pollution
might affect you.
dizziness.
headaches.
burning eyes.
running nose.
nausea, vomiting, and
coughing—hard to
breathe.
sore throat
narrowed airway.
contributor to
lung diseases.
Chest pains make
suffering worse from
colds, allegies,
asthma, and
pneumonia.
poisons swallowed
get into stomach
and blood.
government—to help restore the quality of
the air we breathe.
Is The Air In Your Neighborhood
Polluted?
Why not find out if the air is polluted in your
neighborhood? Try a "touch survey" and
see how much dirt comes off on your
fingers. Touch the sidewalk, buildings,
stones, fences, trees, parked cars, and
store windows. Wipe dirt off your fingers
after each touch. Which things were dirty?
Which were the dirtiest? Can you tell
where the dirt came from?
Do a "seeing survey." Can you see dirt
on the window of your bedroom? Can you
see dirt on clothes hung on a clothesline?
How long does it take your bedroom
windows to get dirty again after they are
cleaned? How long can clean clothes
hang on a clothesline before they get
14
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dirty? Where is the dirt coming trom (is it
from air pollution alone)?
Smear two sheets ot the same kind of
writing paper on one side with petroleum
jelly. Put the sheets next to each other,
smear sides up, on a window sill. Clamp
the sheets in place with the closed
window. Do this when it is not raining or
snowing.
Take one sheet in at the end of one day
and see how dirty it looks (compare it to a
clean sheet of the same kind of paper).
Save the dirty sheet. Take the other sheet
on the window sill in after a week. See how
dirty it is (compare it to the first dirty sheet
and a sheet of clean paper of the same
kind). How dirty do you think the air is?
All these surveys and tests are more fun
if you do them with friends and class-
mates. You can compare findings. Maybe
you can even tack the sheets of paper up
on a bulletin board at school with a note
about what you did. Why not have a
contest to see who can find the dirtiest air?
Have an adult help.
Carburetor and fuel tattk evaporation:
20% of the hydrocarbons.
Crankcase blowby:
25% of the hydrocarbons.
Exhaust:
100% af the Cartw
100% of the oxWes o*
100% of the let*
5$% of the hydrocarbons.
Approximate Distribution of
Automotive Pollutants without
Controls, By Source
15
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Program Record
Exhaust
Checklist For Action
Here are ten ways to help reduce air
pollution problems. Can you list others?
• Find out who the major air polluters are
in your area (a local anti-pollution organi-
zation can help), what can be done about
their pollution (pollution problems are
often not their fault alone), and how you
can help.
• Form an anti-pollution club in your
school. Plan projects, study local and
national air pollution problems, and invite
experts to talk to your club.
• Invite polluters to talk to yourclub about
their pollution control problems.
• Learn about the air pollution laws in your
community and how well they are en-
forced (your local health department and
other groups can help).
• Help plan a special program on air
pollution at your school.
• Walk or bike whenever possible instead
of riding in a car.
• Organize a car pool if you must travel by
car to school.
• Take photographs of the effects air
pollution has on buildings, statues, and
plants in your community and use the
photographs to make an exhibit.
• Make a slide show or a film that shows
why clean air is everyone's responsibility.
• Use grooming aids, paints, glues, and
detergents that come in non-spray con-
tainers.
What Would You Do?
Your friend only lives a few blocks from
her school. But a parent drives her to and
from school each day. You think she
should walk between home and school
since using a car when you do not have to
wastes fuel and makes air pollution
problems worse. Should you talk to your
friend about it?
You felt wonderful after a trip to the
country. The fresh air was great! Now you
are back in town and the air smells bad.
What would you do to help make the
town's air fresher?
Answer to questions at beginning of
chapter:
1. Sickness from air pollution costs
Americans about $4.6 billion yearly in
medical treatment, lost wages for sick
workers, and lost work. Damage to
buildings, clothing, and other things from
air pollution costs about $12.3 billion
16
yearly. The total yearly cost of air pollution
in sickness and damage to things, then, is
$16.9 billion.
2. Automobiles cause more air pollution
in cities in general than anything else! As
much as 85 percent of air pollution in
some cities comes from moving cars,
trucks, and buses.
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Needed:
Good Ways to Get Rid of
Trash and Garbage
^fe^^K5fc ""•
""•sfeT^Hi^ *
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Needed:
Good Ways to Get Rid of
Trash and Garbage
Try these questions (correct answers at
end of chapter):
1. How much household trash and gar-
bage does your family throw away each
day?
2. How much solid waste (all trash and
garbage) do Americans throw away each
year?
Methods Of Waste Disposal
Used Now
What do we do about the so//d waste we
produce so much of? (See answer to
question 2 above for the amount pro-
duced.)
Throw the stuff away and it litters
streets, roadways, the countryside, and
waterways.
Burn it in the open and it causes air
pollution.
Leave it in the open at garbage dumps
and it smells, looks ugly, and attracts rats
and insects.
Bury it and we lose the value of
materials in it that might be reclaimed and
reused.
Bury it without care and dangerous
chemicals drain from it to poison land and
water.
Each year, Americans "throw away" 7.6
million television sets, 7 million cars and
trucks, 48 billion cans, 26 billion bottles
and jars, and 30 million tons of paper!
Waste disposal now costs $4.5 billion per
year. Something has to be done with all
this trash and garbage even if it is not the
18
best thing that can be done.
Open garbage dumps (the most com-
mon place we put our solid waste) have
been made better by turning them into
sanitary landfills. In a sanitary landfill, a
layer of soil applied daily over the waste
keeps pests away, cuts off water pollu-
tants that wash off from the site after rain,
does away with the need to burn the
waste, and prevents wind-blowing of litter.
When filled, the site can be planted with
grass, shrubs, and trees and made into a
park.
However, ordinary sanitary landfills may
not stop waste materials from seeping
through the soil and ruining water supp-
lies. For example, hazardous waste-
chemical, radioactive, biological, flamma-
ble, and explosive types—need landfills
that are sealed in special ways to prevent
seepage. And Americans produce more
than 10 million tons of hazardous waste
each year!
In the past, hazardous waste was
burned in incinerators (furnaces for
garbage) or dumped into waterways. As
air and water pollution controls went into
effect, however, more of these wastes
were put into landfills. With 5 to 10 percent
yearly increases in the amount of hazard-
ous waste produced, the h'ealth of people
is threatened by seepage of hazardous
waste from the landfills.
There are good ways to get rid of most
hazardous waste without harming health
or ecology. But costs of such disposal are
high. Federal and State and local govern-
ments are working with business firms and
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Paper and Burnable Garbage
citizens to solve cost and other disposal
problems.
Better Methods Of Waste Disposal
To recycle what we can and reclaim what
is of value in solid waste is an important
goal. It is probably the best method of
waste disposal because it allows reuse of
materials. Otherwise, solid waste is really
wasted solids.
There are a number of reasons why we
recycle and recover so little solid waste
today. It often seems easier and cheaper
to throw many things away, although the
cost of replacing, hauling, and disposing
of throw-aways is increasing. We do not
yet know how to reuse some solid waste,
such as rubble. And we do not yet know
how to recycle other waste, such as
certain plastics.
Heating Plant
19
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Some garbage that cannot be recycled
or reclaimed now can be burned to
produce energy. The city of St. Louis has a
system that separates burnable from
nonburnable waste. The burnable waste is
mixed with coal and used as fuel in
electric utility boilers.
Note in the picture on page 19 how
garbage can be collected and some of it
burned to heat a building while metal and
glass that does not burn is recovered.
Some apartment buildings and hospitals
in Sweden handle garbage in this way.
One way to reduce the solid waste
problem is no? to produce so much of it. Do
we really need all the cellophane, card-
board, colored paper, metal foil, and
plastic bags that so many things come in?
Can we get along with less packaging?
Find Out More About Solid Wastes
Do a litter survey of your neighborhood
or schoolgrounds—perhaps as a class
project. How much of what can you find?
Collect the litter (wearing gloves) and
place it in paper grocery bags. Skip food
waste. Weight or count the number of
bags filled. How much litter did you get?
Does the amount surprise you?
What kinds and how much of each kind
of litter did you collect? Divide the litter on
the ground into separate piles as follows:
Paper
Metal Cans
Bottles, Jars, and Glass
Plastic
Wood
Other Scrap Materials
Weight each pile. Which pile weighs the
most? Also note which pile takes up the
most room. Is the pile that takes up the
most room the same pile that weighs the
20
most? If there is a difference, explain the
importance of that difference in waste
disposal. Is there something you can do to
reduce the amount of room needed for
any pile of litter?
Which kinds of litter will decay outside
exposed to rain and sunlight? Of those
kinds, which will decay in a few days? In a
few years? In hundreds of years? And
which will remain practically forever?
What accounts for the differences?
Can all the litter be recycled now? Find
out what you can about possibilities (a
teacher, librarian, or the sanitation depart-
ment can help you).
What does your community do with the
trash and garbage it collects? Is it put in an
open garbage dump or a sanitary landfill?
Are there any recycling centers or
systems to recover metal and glass
wastes? Visit disposal sites and see for
yourself.
(P.S. REMEMBER TO REMOVE AND
PROPERLY DISPOSE OF ALL COLLECT-
ED LITTER.)
-------
Checklist For Action
Here are ten ways to help reduce solid
waste problems. Can you list others?
• Check to see if soda machines in
school cafeterias use returnable bottles
and if they do not, ask the school principal
about it.
• Help to organize a school, club, church,
or synagogue recycling center.
• Have a contest to see who can pick up
the most litter in an area of several blocks
or along a stretch of a not-too-busy
highway.
• Interview the head of the sanitation
department on your community's solid
waste management problems for a report
to classmates.
• Make an exhibit describing solid waste
problems using litter found in your com-
munity for display at school or in a library.
• Write a poem about trash and garbage
problems for a school assembly program.
• Take a trip to a waste disposal site that
serves your community.
• Find out what kind of laws your com-
munity has about trash and garbage
disposal in your community and how well
they are enforced.
• Ask your teacher to invite a sanitation
worker to talk to the class about the kinds
and amounts of garbage and trash
collected in your community.
• Organize a group to clean up a vacant
lot and turn it into an outdoor play area
(with approval from the lot owner and help
from adults.)
What Would You Do?
You want to buy some recycled writing
paper. A store near you has the recycled
paper next to regular writing paper. The
recycled paper costs one-dollar more
than the regular paper. Which doyou buy?
A dog owned by a neightbor runs loose
and knocks over garbage cans put out for
garbage pickup. The garbage is always
scattered on the street. What would you do
about the problem?
/Answers to questions at beginning of
chapter:
1. The average American throws away
about five pounds of refuse each day.
2. Americans throw away about 4.5 billion
tons of solid wastes each year. This
includes household, commercial, agricul-
tural, animal, industrial, and mining
wastes.
21
-------
-------
Needed:
Freedom from
Noise Pollution
Try these questions (correct answers at
end of chapter):
1. What is the first warning that a sound
may be loud enough to hurt your hearing?
2. What are the first sounds lost to ears
affected by harmful noise?
What Is Noise
Noise is ear pollution. It is often called
"unwanted sound". If a sound is some-
thing you like, say a song or a call from a
friend then it is just a sound. But if you are
trying to sleep or study, a sound like that
becomes a noise.
Loud noises can affect your hearing.
Noise of any kind may make you nervous
or affect your sleep. Noise can also affect
your speech and your ability to think. And
noise (along with other causes) has been
linked to cases of heart disease, ulcers,
mental illness, and other sicknesses.
Wanted sound, such as amplified rock-
and-roll music, can hurt your hearing,
even though you may not think of it as
noise.
Noise, of course, is not always bad. You
may not like to hear car horns, but they
warn you of coming cars when you cross
streets. A thumping noise from a bike tire
warns you that the tire may be flat. And
one can block out another noise, for
example when loud music drowns out the
sounds of a typewriter in an office.
Sound is made by air pressure on your
eardrums. (See the chapter drawing of an
ear and its parts.) For example, when you
clap your hands, listen to the "clap"
sound. Air was pushed out from between
your hands when you brought your hands
together. At almost the same time, air in
your ears pushes your eardrums inward.
And your ears signal your brain to give you
the "feeling" of a clap sound.
Air your hands pushed did not travel to
your ears. But the push travelled from your
hands to your ears at a speed of 770 miles
per hour, moving through the air much as
waves move over the surface of water.
This wave of "push" or pressure moving
through the air was a sound wave.
The number of sound waves hitting your
eardrums each second controls the
highness or lowness of the sound you
hear. The strength of sound waves is
measured by a sound level meter in units
23
-------
Loudness of Sounds (in decibels)
called decibels. Note the "noisiness" of
the different sounds in the decibel scale
included here. In general, every increase
of ten decibels doubles the noisiness of a
sound.
How Noise Affects Your Health
Ear pain is felt if sounds are too loud for
three tiny bones in ears called ossicles to
soften them enough. The ossicles change
the loudness of sounds before they enter
the inner ear. Vibrations from the overly
loud sounds that reach the inner ear may
rip and tear tissues that are needed for
hearing. Damage from the sound vibra-
tions can affect the ability to hear.
Ears will heal themselves if not seriously
injured. There may be only a short time
after the loud noise that you cannot hear.
But hearing can be lost forever if the
damage is very bad. Or hearing may be
damaged so that you may hear some
sounds, but not others. For example, a car
horn may be heard, but not someone
speaking.
Making The World Quieter
The world is getting noisier. Big machines
roar, air conditioners whir, lawn mowers
snarl, car horns blast, sirens screech,
telephones ring, people yell, dogs bark,—
noise is most everywhere.
But the world could be made quieter. It
should. Our health depends on it.
Noise can sometimes be softened at its
source. For example, mufflers on car
exhaust pipes give exhaust gases a
chance to spread out a little before the
gases are pushed out into the air.
Because of this, the gases make weaker
sound waves than if they were piped
directly from the motor into the air. What
other noises can be softened at their
source?
Another way to reduce noise is to soak
the noise up. When sound waves bounce
off walls and ceilings in rooms, their
echoes add to the new sounds in the
rooms and make a jumble of noise.
Ceilings made of acoustical tile (tiles with
tiny holes in them) absorb sound waves
much as sponges soak up water.
Putting machines on rubber pads can
reduce noise by keeping tables and floors
from vibrating along with the machines
and making noise as they vibrate. What
machines in your house can be made
quieter by putting them on rubber pads?
24
-------
Noise can also be blocked or stopped
completely! That might seem like the
easiest way to stop noise, but it is not
always so. For example, to soundproof
rooms would require that walls and
ceilings be very thick and covered with
special soundproofing materials. The
extra materials and building requirements
would make houses and apartments
much more expensive.
Would the soundproofing materials be
worth the extra cost? What would your
parents decide? What would you decide?
What would the decision finally be based
on?
Blocking out all outside sounds from
rooms can cause a different noise
problem, however. For example, this was
done in the reading room of a new library.
The room was so quiet that the sound of a
reader turning a page or pushing back a
chair disturbed other readers. Scientists
have found that people work and feel
better when they hear some familiar
outside noises.
Find Out More About Noise
How noisy is your neighborhood or the
area around your school? Your ears may
fool you since you are used to hearing
certain sounds, but not others. Try making
a noise survey using a battery-operated
tape recorder, which will not be fooled.
Walk around outside with a tape recorder
on. Play back the tape you made in a quiet
room. Can you tell which was the noisiest
place surveyed?
Make a list of all the sounds you hear on
the tape. What made them? Could any of
the sounds be softened or stopped? Were
all the sounds necessary?
List all of the sounds you like to hear on
the left side of a sheet of paper. List the
sounds you do not like to hear on the right
side of that same sheet. Have your friends
and classmates make similar lists. Com-
pare lists. Does everybody like or not like
25
-------
the same things? Can you explain your
findings?
Make or buy a buzzer set that includes a
battery, buzzer, wire, and switch. Have a
contest with friends and classmates to
see who can muffle the sound of the
buzzer most. Try surrounding the buzzer
with cardboard, plastic, and other mate-
rials to get the muffling effect. The winner
will be the person who muffles the sound
most with materials that weigh the least
(since weight is important).
Checklist for Action
Here are ten ways to help reduce noise
pollution problems. Can you list others?
• See if your school or club can arrange to
borrow a sound level meter and record the
decibel levels of sounds on streets, in
traffic, and at an airport as a group project.
• Make a tape recording of the noisier and
quieter places in your community and play
it for friends, family, classmates, and
others.
• Find out what the noise control laws are
in your community and how they are
enforced.
• Locate noise pollution sources in your
school and develop a plan that you share
with your school principal to reduce
school noise problems.
• Develop a skit or play that you and
others can perform about noise pollution
problems.
• Test to see how low you can set the
volume control on a television, record
player, tape player, and radio and still
enjoy listening.
• Wait until you are closer to people
before talking to them instead of shouting
at a distance.
• Use ear plugs at live "rock" concerts to
soften the music and protect your hearing.
• Help plant trees and shrubs to screen
your house from street and highway noise.
• Attend a public hearing on noise control
laws and offer to give your opinion about
noise pollution problems.
26
-------
What Would You Do?
A teenager who lives down the block from
you loves his noisy motorcycle. He wants
everyone to hear him and know he is there
when he rides by. The noise of his
motorcycle disturbs you and your family.
What should you do about it?
You are trying to do your homework in
your bedroom. You cannot concentrate
on it because your sister is playing music
loudly in the next room and your baby
brother is watching a noisy cartoon on
television. What would you do?
/Answers to questions at beginning of
chapter:
1. The first warning that a sound may
be loud enough to hurt you is ear distress
(for example, pain or ringing noises).
2. The first sounds lost to ears by
harmful noise are usually the f, s, th, ch
and sh sounds. Loss of these sounds is
likely to be followed (if you lose more of
your hearing) by loss of b, t, p, k and d
sounds. In any event, doctors should
examine people with hearing complaints.
27
-------
/r
f I
-------
Needed:
Safer Use of Pesticides
Try these questions (correct answers
given at end of chapter):
1. What is the most important thing to do
before using a pesticide?
2. How many pesticides are now regis-
tered in the United States?
Pesticides Can Help And Harm
Pesticides are chemicals that kill, repel,
reduce the harm of, and prevent develop-
ment of pests! Pests include "harmful"
insects, mites, fish, rats, mice, fungi,
weeds, and other animals and plants.
They are harmful because they injure, kill,
and spread disease to people and "desir-
able" animals and plants, and spoil food,
clothing, household furnishings, and
buildings. How many pests can you
name?
Desirable animals and plants are those
that people like and make use of or that
are important to a healthy environment.
These include living things that provide
food (such as crop plants and cattle), fiber
(such as trees), or are used as decoration
(such as houseplants) and pets (cats,
dogs, and others). Also included are
animals and plants found in nature that
people enjoy or are needed for good
ecology.
But misused—applied without following
proper directions—pesticides can harm
people and the animals and plants people
want to protect1 Pesticides can poison.
And the remains of some pesticides last
for many years, injuring and killing long
after and in places distant from where they
were first used.
The message is plain. Pesticides are
useful. They protect us and desirable
animals and plants. But misused, pesti-
cides can harm us and the animals and
plants we want to protect. Danger,
warning, caution,— these are the three
most important words to remember when
pesticides are used.
Protect Yourself From Pesticides
NEVER USE PESTICIDES YOURSELF!
It is dangerous and it is against the law for
children to use pesticides! Pest control
with pesticides is a job for adults1
Do learn, however, to recognize a
pesticide by the label on a container. But
29
-------
avoid touching or using pesticide contain-
ers in any way—even if they are empty!
Spilled pesticides on a container can
poison you!
Three kinds of pesticide labels are
pictured below. Each has a key word you
should look for. These words, already
mentioned in this Chapter, are:
DANGER
WARNING
CAUTION
Find these key words on the labels:
SHOULD YOU OR SOMEONE ELSE BE
ACCIDENTALLY POISONED BY A PES-
TICIDE, FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS ON
THE PESTICIDE LABEL FOR WHAT TO
DO!
Other Ways To Control Pests
Many pests are no longer affected by
pesticides. They were born with the ability
to survive attacks by pesticides. This
ability came from their parents who had a
natural resistance to (were not affected
by) pesticides used on them in the past.
The parents passed that natural resist-
ance on their offspring in the birth process.
Use
DANGER-POISON
Because many pests are now resistant
to pesticides and pesticides can be
dangerous to non-pests, people seek
other ways to control pests. These other
ways do not involve use of pesticides.
They include:
Control By Predators And Disease. Use
of animals that eat and kill pests and
diseases of pests. The predators and
disease-causing organisms are raised in
laboratories and released where the pests
are. An example: use of lady beetles to
control cottony-cushion scales (insects
that affect citrus trees) in California.
Sterilization. Radiation and chemicals
are used to damage body cells that male
pests raised in laboratories need to
produce babies in females. The sterilized
males are released to mate with females.
No babies can be born from that mating,
so there are no new pests to replace
adults when they die. An example: the
sterilization program that ridded Florida of
a major livestock pest, screw-worm flies.
Attractants. Use of sound, light, and sex
odors to attract pests into traps or confuse
WARNING
PRODUCT NAME
• .
CAUTION
30
-------
them so that they cannot find their mates1
(Attractants are pesticides if they kill as
well as attract.) An example: using
attractants to rid Hawaii of a major fruit
pest, oriental fruit flies.
Resistant Crop Varieties. Use of new
breeds of plants that naturally resist insect
attacks, fungi, and disease. An example:
planting naturally resistant breeds of
wheat.
Farming Methods Control. Planting and
growing crops in such a way that you
"outsmart" the pests1 This includes
planting before pests come or after they
go, planting different kinds of crops on the
same land in different years so pests of
one crop cannot build up in numbers from
year to year and planting crops where the
pests do not live. An example: growing
cotton in the West where boll weevils
(cotton-killing insects) do not live.
Most of the ways to control pests
without pesticides still need to be devel-
oped. But if everyone works together,
control of pests without pesticides will be a
reality for many pests in the future'
Integrated Pest Control
Integrated pest control is a fancy way of
saying that both pesticides and other
methods of control should be used to stop
pests! The best mix of pesticide and non-
pesticide controls will depend on what you
have and what works in a certain case.
Cases will differ. And the best mix of
methods will not only control the pest
involved, but will have the least harmful
effect on the environment.
Find Out More About Pesticides
Pick a landscaped area around your
school or housing development and find
out what kinds and how much pesticide
are used to maintain it. Ask the custodian
or whoever else is in charge about
pesticide use. What chemicals are in the
pesticides?
Are there alternatives to the pesticides
that could be used? A county agricultural
agent, park manager, or science teacher
may know. Can you find anything about
possibilities in the library, too?
Alternatives to pesticides are not
necessarily better to use than pesticides.
There are good and bad points to most
every method of pest control. What is the
case for alternatives to' maintain the
landscaped area you are investigating?
Write down the good points about each
method of pest control on the left side of a
sheet of paper. Write down the bad points
on the right side of the paper. Take into
account the cost of each method (for
material and labor), how well each method
controls pests and how each method
might harm ecology. On the whole, which
methods are best? Which methods are
worst? Do others agree with your find-
31
-------
ings? What do pesticide laws say?
Visit the landscaped area during a
heavy rain. Where is the water running off
the area going to? Could the runoff water
contain remains of some pesticides?
Would runoff pesticides harm people,
animals, or plants elsewhere? How could
you find out?
Checklist for Action
Here are ten ways to protect you and
others from misuse of and to reduce the
need for pesticides. Can you list others?
• Never USE PESTICIDES YOURSELF! It
is dangerous and it is against the law for
children to use pesticides! This is a
message that cannot be repeated too
often!
• Remind adults that they are required by
law to follow directions on pesticide labels
for use of the pesticides described and for
proper disposal of empty pesticide con-
tainers.
• Adopt a street tree to take care of. Keep
it weeded to remove hiding places for
pests. And water it in dry weather to keep it
strong and resistant to pests.
• Wearing gloves, pick off larger pests on
plants with your hands. These pests
include caterpillars, grasshoppers, and
some but not all beetles.
• Spray water from a hose on plants in the
early morning to wash away plant pests.
Spraying early allows the sun enough time
to dry the leaves. It also insures that more
water will stay in the ground for use by
plants than it would later in the day
because of evaporation.
• Protect lady beetles, praying mantises,
spiders, toads, and birds around your
house so that they can help in the control
of insect pests.
• Help plant trees and shrubs around your
house that are naturally resistant to pests.
This includes many plants that grow wild
in your area.
• Help to plan a special program at school
on protecting yourself and others from
misuse of pesticides. (Ask your local
health department for aid.)
• Find out what your community is doing
to protect people from misuse of pesti-
cides.
• Pass out leaflets available from your
health department or EPA on safe use of
pesticides to friends and neighbors.
32
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What Would You
A neighbor is spraying:" """""
pesticide on a windy
pesticide is blowing your wa
smell it! What should you do?*l|lSi|i^|l
When your neighbor finishes'1^^^!^:*'"
his shrubs with a pesticide, he tosses
empty pesticide container into an open
t of his house. You
have learned that the
dangerous to people
the garbage pickup
Of course, you know
Hhan to touch the container your-
would you do?
/Answers to questions at beginning of
chapter:
1. The most important thing to do before
using a pesticide is to READ THE LABEL
and FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.
2. Over 34,000 pesticides made from one
or more of about 900 chemical com-
pounds are now registered in the United
States. (See Appendix I, underthe catego-
ry of "Pesticides" for more information on
what registration involves.)
33
-------
r'\
V*
'"T^-Swfr*,, „
/*'
-------
Appendix I
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency
and Environmental Laws
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agen-
cy or "EPA" was created in 1970. Its job is
to work with other Federal agencies, State
and local governments, business firms
and citizens on environmental problems of
air and water pollution, solid waste,
pesticides, radiation, and noise. EPA acts
under laws of Congress.
EPA's main mission is to set and
enforce ENVIRONMENTAL STAND-
ARDS. These standards are limits on how
much pollution can be allowed without
harm to the health and welfare of people.
Standards change as EPA learns more
and more about pollution. People and
companies that do not obey environmen-
tal standards may be fined and jailed by
the courts.
The following is a summary of environ-
mental laws that EPA operates under in
the areas of air, water, solid waste, noise,
and pesticides:
Air
Highlights of the Clean Air
Amendments of 1970
• EPA is required to set standards for all
air pollutants. EPA is also required to set
limits on air pollutants produced by
community incinerators, power plants,
and industrial plants; limits on air pollu-
tants from automobiles and; limits on very
dangerous air pollutants such as berylli-
um, mercury, asbestos, and vinyl chloride.
Each State adopts a plan to achieve
EPA clean air standards or, if a State fails
to do so, EPA will given them a plan.
• EPA will research all aspects of air
pollution and its effects on health.
• Citizens can take legal action against
violators of clean air standards.
Water
Highlights of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act Amendments of
1972
• Pollutants cannot be put into navigable
waterways (includes most waterways in
the United States) without a permit. EPA or
a State with a pollution control program
and EPA approval, can give such permits.
• No radioactive wastes can be dumped
into waterways.
• EPA can give money to communities to
build wastewater treatment plants; give
money to States for waste treatment plans
for large areas and; loan money to small
35
-------
business to help them to meet clean water
standards.
• EPA is required to research all aspects
ot water pollution and its effects on
people's health.
* Citizens have the right to take legal
action against water polluters. And citi-
zens can help make rules for water
pollution control.
Highlights of the Safe Drinking Water
Act of 1974
• EPA can set standards for drinking
water to ensure that it is safe to use.
• Each State can enforce drinking water
standards or EPA will do the enforcement
for a State that cannot.
• EPA can research all health aspects of
drinking water and help the States to
improve their drinking water.
• An advisory council of 15 persons
(representing State, local, and private
organizations) will advise EPA on safe
drinking water policy.
• Citizens can take legal action against
any public water system or Federal
agency (including EPA) that fails to follow
safe drinking water rules.
Solid Wastes
Highlights of the Solid Waste Disposal
Act of 1965 (As amended by the
Resource Recovery Act of 1970)
• EPA gives money for building and
operating plants and processes that show
how to dispose of and recover valuable
materials from solid waste. EPA also gives
money to State and local governments for
planning overall programs of solid waste
disposal and recovery. And EPA helps to
train people to build and run large and
complex systems of waste disposal and
recovery.
• EPA is required to research all aspects
of solid waste management, its effects on
health and techniques for disposal and
recovery.
• EPA is required to develop a plan for a
system of national sites where very
36
dangerous wastes can be stored and
disposed of.
• EPA gives advice on waste disposal
and recovery and requires Federal gov-
ernment-operated facilities to follow dis-
posal and recovery guidelines.
Noise
Highlights of the Noise Control Act of
1972
• The EPA Administrator is required to
protect the health and welfare of people by
setting standards for noise from building
equipment, transportation equipment (ex-
cept aircraft), all motors and engines, and
electric equipment.
• EPA advises the Federal Aviation
Administration or "FAA" on standards for
aircraft noise. But FAA makes and
enforces rules for aviation noise.
• EPA can require that products be
labelled to show how noisy they are.
Highlights of the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976
• Requires that handling and disposal of
hazardous waste, produced mainly by
industry, will come under Federal/State
regulation. The law also requires that all
open dumping of solid waste be ended
throughout the country by 1983.
• EPA will identify and publish a list of
hazardous wastes, and set standards for
the handling, transportation, and ultimate
disposal of these wastes. States are to
establish regulatory programs under
guidelines given by EPA, or EPA will do it
for them.
• Civil and criminal penalties for noncom-
pliance are up to $25,000 per day, a year
in prison, or both.
• EPA will establish criteria for identifying
both open dumps and sanitary landfills,
and provide aid to help rural communities
meet the new requirements.
• Citizens can bring suit to obtain com-
pliance with the law.
-------
Highlights of the Toxic Substances Act
of 1976
• Requires pre-market testing for human
and environmental health of new chemi-
cal substances; EPA can prevent or limit
the use of substances found to be harmful.
• Bans the manufacture of RGB's (po-
lychlorinated biphenyls), phased-out over
a two-year period, to take effect in 1979.
RGB's have been used in many commer-
cial products, such as printing inks,
electrical equipment, and bendable plas-
tics.
• Citizens can bring suit to obtain com-
pliance with the law.
Pesticides
Highlights of the Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide and Rodenticide Act of 1947
(as amended in 1972 and 1975)
• People and firms that make pesticides
must register them with EPA before they
can be sold in the United States.
• Pesticide makers must give proof that
the products they make affect pests in the
way the makers say they do and will not
harm people, livestock, wildlife, and crops
when used as directed.
• EPA can decide whether a pesticide
can be used in general or used only in
special ways. Pesticides allowed for
general use are not likely to hurt the user
when directions are followed. Pesticides
allowed only for special use are very
dangerous if misused and can only be
applied by people certified (trained and
licensed) to do so.
• EPA is required to set standards for
certifying appliers of pesticides allowed
only for special use. Each State, however,
does the actual certification based on EPA
standards.
• The EPA Administrator can cancel or
stop registration of pesticides found or
suspected of being harmful to people,
livestock, wildlife, and crops.
• EPA action on pesticides is reviewed by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a
Scientific Advisory Panel.
• The EPA Administrator can give a "stop
sale, use, and removal" order when a
pesticide already in use is found to be in
violation of the law.
• All pesticide containers must be la-
belled according to ways developed by
EPA (see labels in Chapter 5) and; all
pesticide container storage and disposal
methods are developed by EPA.
37
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Appendix II
Regional Offices of EPA
EPA Regional Offices
EPA Region 1
Room 2303
JKF Federal Building
Boston MA 02203
EPA Region 2
Room 1005
26 Federal Plaza
New York NY 10007
EPA Region 3
Curtis Building
6th and Walnut Streets
Philadelphia PA 19106
EPA Region 4
345CourtlandSt, NE
Atlanta GA 30308
EPA Region 5
230 South Dearborn Street
Chicago IL 60604
EPA Regions
1201 ElmSt
Dallas TX 75270
States Covered
Connecticut Maine
Massachusetts New
Hampshire, Rhode Island
Vermont
New Jersey, New York, Puerto
Rico Virgin Islands
Delaware Maryland
Pennsylvania Virginia West
Virginia, District of Columoia
Alabama Georgia Florida
Mississippi, North Carolina
South Carolina Tennessee
Kentucky
Illinois Indiana, Ohio
Michigan Wisconsin
Minnesota
Arkansas Louisiana,
Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico
EPA Region 7
1735 Baltimore Street
Kansas City, MO 64108
EPA Region 8
Suite 900
1860 Lincoln Street
Denver CO 80203
EPA Region 9
215 F rornont Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
EPA Region 10
1200 Sixth Avenue
Seattle WA98101
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri
Nebraska
Colorado, Utah, Wyoming,
Montana North Dakota, South
Dakota
Arizona California Nevada,
Hawaii
Alaska, Idaho, Oregon,
Washington
38
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Appendix III
Books and Films About Pollution
Books
Clear Air—Sparkling Water: The Fight
Against Pollution. By Dorothy Shuttles-
worth. New York: Doubleday, 19.
Going To Waste: Where Will All The
Garbage Go? By James Marshall. New
York: Howard McCann, 1972.
Save The Earth! An Ecology Handbook
For Kids. By Betty Miles. New York:
Knopf, 1974.
The Complete Ecology Fact Book. Edited
by Philip Mobile and John Deedy. New
York: Doubleday/Anchor, 1972.
The Only Earth We Have. By Lawrence
Pringle. New York: Macmillan, 1969.
Understanding Ecology. By Elizabeth T.
Billington. New York: Warne, 1968.
Film Distributors
National Tuberculosis &
Respiratory Disease Association
1740 Broadway
New York, New York 10019
Modern Talking Picture Service
2323 New Hyde Park Road
New Hyde Park, New York 11040
Commonwealth Film Distributors
1440 S. State College Boulevard
Bldg. 6-K
Anaheim, California 92806
Films
Runaround. Free Loan. 171/2 minutes.
Color. Sponsor: National Lung and Respi-
ratory Disease Association, 1969. About
action on air pollution.
The Gifts. Free Loan. 28 minutes. Color.
Sponsor: U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 1973. Water, air and land pollu-
tion.
The Great Ail-American Trash Can. Free
Loan. 13 minutes. Color. Sponsor: Glass
Container Corporation, 1971. About solid
waste and recycling.
To Conserve and Protect. Free Loan. 15
minutes. Color. Sponsor: Electronics
Corporation, 1970. About noise pollution
and protection.
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Glossary
Air Pollution— Air made dirty and in-
healthy by dirt, ash, soot, and chemicals.
Attractants—In pest control: Use of
sound, light, and sex odors to attract pests
into traps or confuse them so they cannot
find their mates.
Biodegradable—Something is biode-
gradable when it can be broken down
quickly into a gas or liquid by microscopic
plants and animals.
Biological Control—In pest control: Use
of animals and diseases that eat and kill
pests to control pests.
Closed System— A system such as a
spaceship or Earth in which energy, but
not matter, can be exchanged with
surrounding space.
Compost—A mixture of garbage and
degradable trash with soil in a pile.
Bacteria in the soil break down the
garbage and trash into fertilizer that
enriches the mixture.
Conservation—Avoiding waste of, and
renewing when possible, the human and
natural resources of the world.
DDT—A pesticide meant to kill only pests
but that was found to persist in nature and
poison animals that were not pests. Even
the health of people might be affected by
it. EPA banned its use in the United States
in 1972.
Decibel—A unit of sound measurement.
In general, a sound doubles in loudness
for every increase of 10 decibels.
Ecology—The relationship between liv-
ing things and their surroundings (envir-
onment).
Environment—Everything, including liv-
ing things, that surrounds a person,
animal, or plant.
Estuary—The water along the coast
where rivers meet the ocean. Most forms
of marine life are born there.
Fertilizer—Materials such as nitrogen
and phosphorus that provide nutrients for
plants and increase their growth.
Hazardous Waste—Chemical, radioac-
tive, biological, flammable, and explosive
waste that need special care in disposal.
Hormones—Chemicals found in plants
and animals that affect growth and devel-
opment.
Incinerator—A furnace for trash and
garbage that allows these solid wastes to
be burned under controlled conditions.
Integrated Pest Control— A mix of
pesticide and non-pesticide methods to
control pests.
Noise—Unwanted sound. It can do harm
both when low or loud.
Organic Compounds—Animal- or plant-
produced chemical compounds with a
basic carbon structure.
Ossicles—Three tiny interconnected
bones (tiniest in the body) of the middle
ear. Called the "hammer," "anvil," and
"stirrup." Ossicles change the loudness of
sounds before they enter the inner ear.
Loud sounds are softened; soft sounds
are made louder.
Pesticide—Chemical that kills pests.
Pollution—Whatever makes land, water
and air dirty and unhealthy.
Primary Treatment— In wastewater
treatment: the first stage of treatment
where all solids that sink or float are
removed.
Recycle—Cleaning and renewing things
already used.
40
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Resistance—For plants and animals: the
ability to withstand attacks by chemicals
and disease and poor environmental
conditions. This ability may be inborn or
developed at a later time.
Resource—A person, thing, or action
needed tor living or to make lite better.
Sanitary Landfill— site where garbage
and trash are taken and covered daily with
a layer of soil. A sanitary landfill keeps
pests away, holds litter in place, reduces
runoff of wastes during rain, stops smells,
and prevents fires.
Secondary Treatment— In wastewater
treatment: the second stage of treatment
where sewage is mixed with air and
sludge to increase the growth of bacteria
that "eat" the organic pollutants.
Sediments—Soil, sand, and minerals
washed from land into water usually after
rain. Sediments pile up in reservoirs,
rivers, and harbors, destroying fish nesting
areas and homes of water animals, and
clouding the water so that needed sunlight
might not reach water plants. Careless
farming, mining, and building activities will
expose sediment materials, allowing them
to be washed off the land after rainfalls.
Sludge—Material found in wastewater
treatment plants that is made up of tiny
particles of solid wastes loaded with
pollution-eating bacteria.
Smog—Eye-stinging haze that hangs
over most cities and is produced when
chemicals in the air mix with sunlight.
Solid Waste— All trash and garbage.
When not reused, might better be called,
wasted solids!
Sound Waves— Pressure moving
through the air like waves moving on the
surface of the ocean, produced by a
sound.
Standards—Limits on how much pollu-
tion can be allowed without harm to the
health and welfare of people.
Sterilization—In pest control: Use of
radiation and chemicals to damage body
cells needed to produce babies.
Tertiary—In wastewater treatment: a
third stage of treatment to remove pollu-
tants missed by primary and secondary
treatment. Uses electrical, chemical,
carbon filter, and other cleaning tech-
niques and is the most expensive treat-
ment.
Water Pollution—Water made unsafe to
use because of sewage and other wastes
that have been dumped untreated into it.
A -TV
;ncy
Chicago, Illinois 60604
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