Public Environmental
Concern And Fact
in
Haim Cohen, Solly Elmann, Lillian
Setton, Judy Dayan
Issues
While
deciding which environmental issue most warranted our
attention, our group decided to conduct a survey in our communities to first
discern the issue with the highest priority. After some preliminary
queries,
the top four issues seemed to be: UV
exposure due to a growing hole in the
ozone; proliferation of hazardous
waste disposers; growth of air
pollutant
facilities; and water pollution.
We then conducted our own data
search on these
issues and graphed it.
Methodology
In
order to properly research the specific issues, we
started by creating a survey. We went around our given zip codes,
handing out
our surveys to people in the street. We split into two pairs and each
took on
two zip codes. We tempted the people with Hershey bars just in case they
needed a little
motivation. It proved to be effective, because we managed to get 100
surveys
answered, 25 from each zip code. We then studied the information we
received
and looked for patterns and tried to come up with conclusions based
upon the
responses. In the meantime, we called up the Environmental Protection
Agency
for guidance on the best way to find information regarding hazardous
material,
air pollution, water pollution, and the UV rays. We then created the
maps,
using ArcGIS, based on the information from he surveys, and used the
information from the EPA to write the
captions underneath.
Conclusions
Our analysis was based on research we did on the EPA website, and first hand accounts of people’s biggest environmental concerns. Our bar graph illustrates that people are very concerned about hazardous waste, and they are least concerned about ozone depletion. Hazardous waste can be seen as something very dangerous, however ozone depletion can lead to skin cancer. There were no significant differences in responses from the various zip codes.
