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This is for my class ENVSTY101, or Nature of Environmental Problems! In this page, I share photos that I have taken over the years and briefly explain some environmental problems that go along with them/relate to them! Most of my photos relate to urbanism in some aspect, so I will mostly be talking about that.
Looking east, this photo was taken from the Charlestown Ferry of Boston Harbor at sunset. Boston Harbor has a rough history of being very polluted, with the water being deemed among the most toxic in the country. This changed in 1972, with the implementation of the Clean Water Act which allowed Boston to clean up its harbor, and redevelop the areas surrounding it from parking lots and industry to housing, businesses, and waterfront parks.
Source: https://www.sasaki.com/voices/bostons-waterfront-legacy/
This is CSX Transportation's Readville Yard, located in Hyde Park, a neighborhood in Boston, MA. Readville Yard is the last active freight yard in the City of Boston. Close to Readville Yard, the MBTA also owns a yard in Readville which they purchased in 1970. The MBTA transformed the area and removed 17,840 tons of contaminated soil, 11.2 tons of trash, 1,009 tons of concrete and metals and 74 tons of railroad ties.
Although there are plans to transform MBTA's Readville yard into a maintenince facility, CSX does not have any plans to transform/redevelop/remove its yard in Boston.
Seen here is contracted bus Route 712 leaving Point Shirley in Winthrop, MA close to Deer Island and the MWRA Deer Island Waste Treatment Center. When Boston Harbor was getting cleaned up, the MWRA Deer Island Waste Treatment Center was constructed to process waste instead of dumping it into the harbor, causing damage to the ocean biodiversity and creating air pollution. Deer Island is known as one of the most advanced treatment facilities in the nation, and it is where most waste in Greater Boston is processed. You will also notice to the right of the photo some flood protection infrastructure, a large concrete wall to prevent flooding from any potential storms.
Source: https://www.bostonharborislands.org/deer-island/
Seen here is a trackless trolley, a type of electric bus that uses overhead catenary wires as its power source. The MBTA decommissioned its trackless trolley network in 2022 in favor for battery buses, which was harshly criticized by transit advocates due to battery buses underperforming in the cold, being prone to lithium fires, lithium mining being required to create the batteries, and the cost of battery buses compared to the trackless trolleys.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/05/trolleybuses-green-public-transit-solution
Seen here is an outbound commuter rail train heading to Worcester, Massachusetts from Boston next to I-90 using a diesel locomotive. Before the construction of I-90, the Worcester Line consited of more than two tracks with trains running more frequently then they do today, but the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority aquired the tracks to make room for I-90. Even though I-90 takes up more space, Commuter Rail trains can fit up to 400-1400 passengers, which means that every car in this photo can fit into that one train that takes up less space, and can also skip traffic, and also create significantly less of a negative environmental impact.
Source: http://roster.transithistory.org/
Seen here is Queensbridge Park in Queens, NY overlooking Manhattan. This park is built with many environmental protections and flood protection systems, such as the flood wall seen in the photo. In this case, this waterfront park with a flood protection system is raised much higher than the water and has a wall, despite having holes in it, can still hold off floods due to the slight curve of the wall.
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