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O P I N I O N
Environmental restoration How we treat the environment is coming full circle, from the sustainability of the Native Americans, to the factory and dump era, and, finally, to remediation.
W e are in the midst of an environmental restoration renaissance. It’s taken almost 50 years, but the momentum is building. After decades of investigating, remediating, and redeveloping contaminated brownfields to construct new buildings, we are turning our sights to serious restoration of our urban wetlands and waterways, and to “green infrastructure” systems to help manage and clean stormwater.
Marian Young
polluting land, creeks, and rivers. Wars sped up production urgency. Like yeast reproducing in a vat until they eventually perish in the alcohol they create, no thought was given to the mass poisoning that lay ahead. In the 1950s, as factory production skyrocketed, the costs of goods dropped, and our daily conveniences increased, many people did not notice that chemical and plastics production and “We are in the midst of an environmental restoration renaissance. It’s taken almost 50 years, but the momentum is building.”
When William Penn first set foot on American soil in 1682, he saw a wooded land filled with birds and animals, sparkling rivers and lakes full of fish. Native Americans lived sustainably, taking care not to decimate populations of plants and wildlife. Philadelphia’s incoming European colonists were farmers, shipbuilders, miners, artisans, and tradespeople. From small shops – leather tanners, shoemakers, millers, woodworkers, metalsmiths, bakers, and brewers – they turned raw products into all the goods needed for food, clothing, shelter, and entertainment. Wastes were minimal and mostly recycled. By 1800, Philadelphia was a bustling port and America’s largest city. The Industrial Revolution brought manufacturing prominence, propelled by coal and iron mines, factories, railroads, and banks. As goods were produced faster and in larger quantities, waste dumping also accelerated,
See MARIAN YOUNG, page 8
THE ZWEIG LETTER December 12, 2016, ISSUE 1179
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