Climate Group, an international non-profit organization, has been battling the climate crisis since 2003, with a mission of resolving our planet’s climate issues. Climate Group brings together international leaders from businesses, governments, and civil societies to take global climate action during Climate Week in NYC. One of their landmark goals is to cut global emissions in half by 2030 and to achieve a world of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
One of the most at-risk areas of NYC is the Hudson River. According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDE)[1] , various portions of Hudson’s water quality are impaired “due to PCBs, cadmium, and other toxic compounds.”[2] Other ongoing river pollution problems include “furans, dioxin, pesticides, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).”[3] These Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAs or “forever chemicals,” are a contributor to the current Climate Crisis in their production and remediation.
Climate Week NYC is precisely what NYC and the world needs to inspire everyone to take action. This is why ecoSPEARS, our clean tech company with NASA-developed technologies, is proud to support the efforts and initiatives of The Climate Group as they dedicate their mission to building a better future for all. This year, Climate Week NYC takes place from September 17th through 24th .
Why We Should Care and Take Swift Action
As New Yorkers go about their daily lives, scientists and researchers are just beginning to unveil the impacts of contaminants, such as those currently found in the Hudson River, and how they affect our health.
Let’s look at just one of the dozens of “forever chemicals” – PCB’s. The effects of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs can have fatal consequences. Minor PCB effects include skin irritations and hormonal disruptions; more severe effects are neurological disorders, lower IQ, poor short-term memory, and ADHD. Other effects that can be fatal are suppressed immune systems, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, and diabetes. Contamination occurs in humans through consumption of tainted food and drink (eating contaminated aquatic life), absorption through the skin, and inhalation.[4]
Even though New York City has a reputation for having the best tap water, (i.e. bagels and coffee) the amount of forever chemicals is too significant to ignore. It would be irresponsible to discuss the issue of forever chemicals and not state how rising sea levels threaten to spread chemical contamination to more coastal communities. With climate change comes higher sea levels, which will push the water table up with them, causing flooding, contamination, and all manner of unseen chaos. “As the ocean encroaches . . . helping people move inland won’t be enough unless we also clean up our mess. Otherwise, there will be a toxic area that we leave behind, and that will spread.” [5]
We must take action to resolve the issue and work towards creating cleaner water, soil, and air.
The Toll of Traditional Remediation Methods
Now that we’ve created this mess, the logical thing to do is to clean it up. However, current and accepted remediation techniques have negative environmental impacts, including harmful changes to ecosystems, toxic byproducts, accelerated soil erosion, and are so expensive they aren’t even viable.
The most widely used remediation methods for cleaning soil and sediment now are dredging, digging, and hauling the contaminated dirt or sediment to a qualified facility for incineration, or landfilling. But these methods still release harmful substances from sediments, endanger aquatic life and their habitats, heighten the risk of transportation spills (like the recent Palestine, Ohio incident), release pollutants into the atmosphere, and pollute the groundwater and surrounding areas. These byproducts of “remediation” hardly feel like a solution that works.
Traditional soil remediation has a disproportionately worse effect on the environment than it initially intended to do, so current remediation techniques are doing more harm than good. With ecoSPEARS, we’re turning a new corner.
How ecoSPEARS Aims To Restore Our Habitat
We develop innovative and sustainable solutions to eliminate many of the “forever chemicals” found globally, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, and other persistent toxins from our environment. So they’re gone – forever. One of the ways we do this is by deploying our namesake NASA-developed technology, SPEARS.
How Do SPEARS Work?
To envision how our SPEARS work, think about a flat mat liner, with carefully spaced green “SPEARS” that are filled with our proprietary solvent. These are placed into contaminated sediment, for example, and act like a sponge, drawing in toxins, such as PCBs. Once these are deployed into the contaminated sediment, they absorb the and concentrate the toxins inside. After a period of time, the SPEARS are withdrawn from the sediment and the solvent inside is put through our green tech ecoCUBE solution, [5] eliminating the toxins.
The Benefits of Using SPEARS
Unlike traditional remediation methods that produce toxic by-products or fail to eliminate contaminants permanently, ecoSPEARS offers permanent elimination. Our practice is sustainable in reducing the environmental spread of toxins (such as through dredging) and decreasing disturbance to the natural aquatic habitat. In addition, our SPEARS are 6-18 inches long, which assists in sediment stabilization, preventing erosion and further spread of contaminants.
Not only is ecoSPEARS sustainable, but it is also cost-effective, since there’s no need to dig up or move toxic soil or burn it. [5] In other words, because the two-step process does all of the heavy lifting by extracting and breaking down toxic chemicals, there is no need for heavy equipment such as excavators or freighters.
For being efficient in sustainability and cost, ecoSPEARS is recognized by IPEN (Stockholm Convention) as the Best Alternative Technology (BAT) for treating toxins in sediment.
We Can Create a Cleaner Future
With climate change on the rise, time is ticking for us to take action. Climate Group is racing to bring international leaders from businesses, governments, and civil societies together and take action to fight climate change. We encourage all to attend events offered by Climate Week NYC, which has developed and expanded each year, so we can unite to fight for our future. If we all work together, educate ourselves, and stay strong, we can overcome the climate crisis and create cleaner soil, sediment, and water for our future.
SOURCES:
1. Final New York State 2008 Section 303(d) List of Impaired Waters Requiring a TMDL/Other Strategy (PDF) (Report). Albany, NY: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). May 26, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 26, 2010.
2. “Hudson River Estuary Program: Cleaning the river; Improving water quality” (PDF). NYSDEC. 2007. p. 24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
3. “Health Effects of PCBs”. Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). EPA. 2021-05-13.
4. Ogasa, Nikk. “Rising Groundwater Threatens to Spread Toxic Pollution on U.S. Coastlines.” Science News, 12 June 2023, www.sciencenews.org/article/groundwater-toxic-pollution-superfund.
5. “EcoSPEARS® Presents New Technology to Eliminate ‘Forever Chemicals’ at 2023 COPs Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.” Www.businesswire.com, 11 May 2023, www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230511005912/en/ecoSPEARS%C2%AE-Presents-New-Technology-to-Eliminate-Forever-Chemicals-at-2023-COPs-Conference-in-Geneva-Switzerland#:~:text=It%20involves%20two%20steps%3A%20the. Accessed 19 Sept. 2023.
6. “Near Coasts, Rising Seas Could Also Push up Long-Buried Toxic Contamination.” NPR, 8 Feb. 2021, www.npr.org/2021/02/08/963673676/near-coasts-rising-seas-could-also-push-up-long-buried-toxic-contamination. Accessed 19 Sept. 2023.
7. “How Rising Groundwater Caused by Climate Change Could Devastate Coastal Communities.” MIT Technology Review, www.technologyreview.com/2021/12/13/1041309/climate-change-rising-groundwater-flooding/.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution_of_the_Hudson_River#:~:text=The%20New%20York%20State%20Department,cadmium%2C%20and%20other%20toxic%20compounds. Final New York State 2008 Section 303(d) List of Impaired Waters Requiring a TMDL/Other Strategy (PDF) (Report). Albany, NY: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). May 26, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 26, 2010. “Hudson River Estuary Program: Cleaning the river; Improving water quality” (PDF). NYSDEC. 2007. p. 24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2007-12-31. “Health Effects of PCBs”. Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). EPA. 2021-05-13.