Environmental issues
To the Editor:
When one reads the Reporter, one would think that this is a community that is concerned about the environment. After all, the Island has very limited natural resources, so one would want to protect them at all costs. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
This Island would like to bring back leaf burning and doesn’t have a law requiring the removal of dog feces, which is quite shocking to say the least. These practices have been outlawed in most communities for the past 25 years, because of the pollution they cause. Yet, they would like to limit your outdoor lighting, and claim that as a form of pollution.
Dogs run on the beach during non-beach weather, which is great fun for everybody. They also have the ability to transmit Giardia, whipworms, roundworms, cryptosporidium and hookworms, which one picks up just walking barefoot in the infected area.
Putting the containers of bags by the beach is good, but let’s get serious about it and put a hefty fine on the folks who walk their dogs irresponsibly and who also walk their horses in the road. Throwing it in the bushes, when no one is looking, just doesn’t cut it anymore. Think about this next time you see the adorable baby sitting in the sand, shovel in hand and then the sand goes in the mouth. It happens all the time.
This is the first time during the fall that we were able to really enjoy it. Why? No leaf burning. Now, I know that this infuriates a lot of the folks who don’t want to worry about their leaves and find it a convenient practice, and they’re right. After all, they’ve been doing it forever.
Well, for a community that is suddenly concerned about a neighbor’s light polluting the sky or next-door yard, wouldn’t they be concerned about the quality of the air that their neighbor is breathing?
Just to name a few pollutants given off by residential burning: carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide (increases respiratory illness in children and causes smog and acid rain), sulfur dioxide (causes acidification of lakes and streams, foliar damage, cardiovascular problems), organic matter, among which are hydrocarbons PAH and PHN. Both have benzenoid components and are released by leaves when burned.
Studies at the University of Illinois suggest the presence of benzo(a)pyrene relates directly to the incidence of lung cancer. The particulate matter pollutes the wetlands, reduces visibility and damages property. Still want to light that match?
ELIZABETH BUTLER
RUMSON, NEW JERSEY