Onondaga Lake: Pollution Timeline

1654: Salt springs are discovered on the shores of the lake

1793: Commercial salt production begins

1880: Onondaga Lake is a popular resort area (hotels, parks, beaches, etc)

1884: The Solvay Process Company begins production of soda ash

1918: The Solvay Process Company begins production of organic chemicals

1940: Swimming is banned

1946: Mercury wastes are directly discharged into lake

1973: New York State bans phosphorus in laundry detergents

1986: Allied closes soda ash manufacturing operations

1989: Attorney General files a complaint against Allied-Signal Corp. for pollution violations

1994: Aquatic restoration projects begin

2000: Onondaga Lake partnership created to promote awareness of environmental issues

(http://www.onlakepartners.org/p12011.html)

1884: The Solvay Process Company (later to become Allied-Signal Corp.) begins production of soda ash.

1918: The Solvay Process Company begins production of organic chemicals.

1940: Swimming is banned.

1946: Allied begins chlorine production and discharges mercury into the lake.

1960: Construction of the Onondaga County Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant (Metro) is completed. 1970: Fishing is banned. Due to the discovery of mercury in the lake's fishery, the US Attorney General sues Allied-Signal to stop mercury dumping. The amount of mercury discharged to the lake is calculated to be 22 lb/day.

1977: Allied closes chlorinated benzene plant and Willis Avenue chlor-alkali plant. 1979: Metro is upgraded to secondary and tertiary treatment. 1986: Allied closes soda ash manufacturing operations.


Calcium carbonate
Mercury
Clay
Silt
Phosphorus
Ammonia
Nitrite
Pathogenic bacteria and viruses
PCBs
chlorinated benzenes
chloride, sodium, and calcium (salts)


Phosphorus leads to algae growth which impacts the lake's water clarity and when the algae die, oxygen is consumed which leads to depletion of oxygen in the lake.

The Allied chlor-alkali facility discharged an estimated 165,000 pounds of mercury to Onondaga Lake from 1946 until 1970. Scientists estimate that 7 million cubic yards of the lake sediments remain contaminated.

Methyl mercury, formed in aquatic systems through the activity of certain bacteria, is among the most poisonous chemicals known. If all the mercury in the average fever thermometer were converted to methyl mercury, it would be enough to render more than 10,000 one pound largemouth bass unfit for human consumption.

To do:
Sunday: Search for information for label - everyone
Make label - Blair

Monday: Buy water bottles and poster board - Blair
Buy water bottles - Pierson
Make water bottles - everyone

Wednesday: Bring camera: Blair, Pierson
Do project: everyone

Introduction: Alyssa
Before we talk about our project, I want to quickly go over some of the history of Onondaga Lake:... Now that we’re all on the same page, we’ll talk a little about our proposed project.

Project: Pierson
We don’t think enough has been done to clean up Onondaga Lake, so we are planning to perform, after class today, a piece of public art. We bought these bottles of water and changed the labels so that they say Onondaga Lake Water. Additionally, we created a Nutrition chart on the back listing some of the toxins in Onondaga Lake, which include:…

Outcome: Blair
As we pass these out, we plan to give the subjects some startling facts about the toxins in Onondaga Lake, like:… We plan to document their reactions. We’re not expecting a certain reaction, but instead we’re kind of carrying out an experiment to see what happens and how people react, kind oh like the Panhandling for Reparations or the Couple in the Cage. That’s about it, and you guys can stop on by if you want to check out what we’re doing. We’re going to be on the quad or in the general area.

Onondaga Lake Contamination: Questions

1. Our project aims to spread awareness about Onondaga Lake pollution. We are planning on handing out water bottles with self-made labels that list the major contaminants in the lake.
2. Our project will take the form of public awareness as we will attempt to handout the bottles ourselves. We will be interested in how the public will react to our project.
3. We want to work with Onondaga Lake because the pollution has been a problem for so many years and although many have made efforts to improve its condition, bringing more awareness to the issue can only help. We hope that this project will inspire others to support the cause and restore the lake’s beauty.
4. Onondaga Lake was once a popular tourist attraction but since many nearby companies began disposing of waste into the site, the water quickly became contaminated. Since nothing was done to eliminate the waste immediately, the pollution only accumulated. Now, Onondaga Lake cannot be used for recreational purposes because it is too contaminated.
5. This site is appropriate for the project because we wish to spread awareness about the lake and about pollution in general. Onondaga Lake is a perfect example of this.
6. This project is more of an intervention because we hope to directly involve the public and use shock as part of successfully acquiring awareness.
7. We might have to get permission to handout water bottles around campus or in other areas but we aren’t directly using the Onondaga Lake site so we won’t need permission for that.
8. We will use Armory Square because it is densly populated and hopefully, many people will see our message.
9. Damilia Ayo’s project inspired ours because she used the public to create shock. Also, she actually conducted her experiment. On the other hand, we don’t want to confuse our audience and thus, our message will be clear and direct.
10. Our goal is to bring awareness to the Onondaga Lake area by showing people the amounts of contaminants in the water. By doing this, hopefully we will be improving the condition of the lake in the long run.
11. The number or water bottles given out.
12. Our target audience is primarily residents of Syracuse because they will be more likely to care about the future of the lake. Since they live in this area, they will probably be more willing to support the pollution cleanup. But we will also try to target others who are willing to help or listen to our message. Maybe we can encourage people all over the world to stop polluting the environment.
13. We hope that people will take our water bottles and read the labels to ultimately understand our message. We hope that they will interact with the cleanup of Onondaga Lake.

Group Project: Onondaga Lake

Chemicals in Onondaga Lake

Contaminant Names/Discharge in pounds per year:

Manganese - 128

Nickel - 251

Chromium - 194

Cobalt - 74

Ammonia - 2,562

Lead - 11

75,000 kg of mercury in lake over 1946-1970 interval

phosphorus 60%
nitrogen 90%
(http://upstatefreshwater.org/html/onondaga_lake.html)

"Funk Lessons"

Thesis: Although some may question Piper's technique,he was certainly successful in enlightening and creating dialogue between races through the use of funk music.

Piper's use of funk lessons enabled individuals to confront racial issues and accept cultural differences.

Topic Sentences:

Between the years of 1982 and 1984, Adrian Piper experimented with dialogic art by teaching white participants about black funk music.

By using this form of medium, Piper was able to discretely and gradually introduce racial topics of discussion.

Instead of lecturing to white participants, the funk lessions encouraged discussion and individual appreciation of the music cultural.

Although Piper had good intentions, the funk lessions embarrassed and offended middle class and college-educated blacks.

Today, the same experiement might not conjure up the same response as hip hop music is a more acceptable part of white culture.

Piper's funk lessons sought to discretly introduce whites to the black culture, therefore, resulting in more positive results.

Essay 3

Topic: Adrian Piper's "Notes on Funk"

Questions: How did lessons in funk promote black acceptance among white people?
Were many people aware of the author's initial intent when taking these lessons in funk? Are people more likely to discuss the issue of racial acceptance if the intent is subliminal (funk lessons were used to promomote discussion)?

Sources: Participation by Claire Bishop

Adrian Piper Art Forum http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_2_41/ai_93213721

Adrian Piper: A Canvas of Concerns http://www.asu.edu/cfa/wwwcourses/art/SOACore/piper-art-review.html

Adrian Piper: A Retrospective http://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/2000/10/27/27632.html

One Place After Another

In Kwon’s book, one of the projects depicted is a garden grown for AIDS patients. The two artists, Haha and Flood “transformed the storefront space in which the garden flourished into a kind of community center for AIDS education…” (Kwon 130). I thought this was a strange form of art, since one would typically not consider an act of charity artwork. To me, these “artists” were just doing something good to help others in their community. If everyone who lent a hand to those less fortunate were considered artists, what would those who created paintings be called? I believe that there has to be some limit on what our society considers art. Before we know it, everything will be labeled “art” and those pieces created with talent and precision will be considered much less special. To me, physical actions should not be considered art, despite their rewarding results.

"Video and Resistance: Against Documentaries"

"Video and Resistance: Against Documertaries" opens by stating that photographs capture facts and real events so individuals don’t have to rely solely on memory to recall specific details. With photography came documentaries. However, unlike pictures, documentaries are often a disaster as they reveal only distorted versions of the truth. Documentaries are often bias and are created for persuasion purposes. The film can also be manipulated to make viewers believe or think a certain way.

The ideas presented in this article relate to Sontag in the fact that overtime, images begin to consume our reality. We are a visually oriented society and we believe what we see in photographs and on film. This is dangerous however, because often times the things we believe are not the absolute truth.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/de/Piss_Christ_by_Serrano_Andres_(1987).jpg
(for some reason I can't post a picture, only a link appears but it's supposed to be a picture of Piss Christ)

Essay Revision

Superfund Slipups

Today, as a society, we put little value in taking care of the environment. For years, individuals have carelessly thrown and created waste, killing off many of our nation’s greatest natural wonders. One of the most concerning problems, water pollution, has become dangerous, increasing infection and spreading disease. Contamination of our water supply is only one of the many ways in which humans are destroying the world in which we live. Syracuse’s Onondaga Lake, once a popular tourist spot, is now suffering from negligence and extreme pollution. Although various organizations, including Superfund, are aimed at eliminating waste, the task has become overly expensive. The government can no longer control the copious amounts of waste expenses and thus, taxpayers are burdened by Superfund’s debt. In fact, the organization is borderline bankrupt, leaving many polluted sites untouched or incomplete. With dwindling funds and the inability to effectively “take action”, one is left wondering whether Superfund is capable of securing a future for our environment.

Brad Knickerbocker’s CMS article entitled “Superfund Program: A Smaller Cleanup Rag”, addresses many of the issues presently facing the Superfund program. Superfund, a federal program aimed at eliminating hazardous waste across the country, was created in 1980 to help pave the way to a more environmentally friendly nation. The Superfund cleanup process claims to be long lasting as it hopes to promote a cleaner environment, encouraging others to follow by example. Currently, Superfund has undertaken “18 new construction projects ranked by the National Risk-Based Priority Panel at 16 National Priorities List (NPL) sites.” (http://www.epa.gov/superfund/) It seems as though the government has everything under control. By creating a program aimed solely to aid in both toxic waste elimination and pollution prevention, the nation’s environment should be improving at a rapid pace.

Onondaga Lake is just one of the many sites in dire need of Superfund care. Once a major tourist attraction in the late 1800s, Onondaga Lake is now one of the most polluted lakes in the entire nation (Williamson 1). The lake’s demise was ultimately caused by two very important factors: sewage discharges and industrial waste disposal. With increasingly large amounts of toxic waste, Onondaga Lake quickly became dangerous as leaky waste-beds became hazardous to nearby inhabitants. In 1950, “the waste-beds themselves had grown 80 feet in height” (Williamson 2). Irregular amounts of mercury made the lake too contaminated for both swimming and fishing activities.

In general, Superfund claims to target sties similar to Onondaga Lake. Certain sites suffering from extreme pollution are at the top of the organization’s list. Yet, many are not receiving the treatment they deserve due to the program’s lack of funding. Twenty-three years from its birth, Superfund had to declare bankruptcy. It seems that, with a cost of over one billion dollars a year, the government can no longer support its’ production. Thus, the 699 construction projects underway at 436 various sites are too large and expensive to complete (Knickerbocker 1). But the real question remains, “where is all this money going and could this situation have been prevented”?

Not dealing with the bankruptcy situation effectively is perhaps one of the most aggravating issues regarding the Superfund program. Environmental health advocate, Julie Wolk, stated, “We’ve known for a long time that the Superfund trust fund was running out, but unfortunately the president and Congress have continually failed to reinstate Superfund’s “polluter pays’ fees, leaving regular tax payers to foot the bill” (Knickerbocker 3). The program should have taken more action if members had known for so long that it was running low on funding. If adequate planning had been done, many “orphan sites” wouldn’t have been started and less time would have been wasted. Perhaps efforts could have been consolidated since money was low. With less money, Superfund should have aimed its efforts at aiding the sites that needed urgent care.

In most cases, Superfund ran low on funding because much of their money was not spent wisely. The program initially established a policy entitled “polluter pays”. This way, those responsible for the pollution would be paying out of their pockets for the damages they have caused. Yet, it became too difficult for Superfund to track down those solely responsible. Instead, the program wasted many precious dollars hiring lawyers to investigate the companies involved with the pollution. Both time and funding were spent on investigation and thus, none of the money was going directly towards the actual cleanup.

Most can agree that Superfund had all the best intentions. The environment needed saving and thus, the program was created to solve pollution issues and prevent future problems. Although many did not anticipate Superfund’s decline or ultimate bankruptcy, individuals are also not aware of the growing number of contaminated areas in our country. So is Superfund all to blame? Can the responsibility lie solely on the program when it is the countries fault that pollution is increasing at an uncontrollably rapid pace? Perhaps one should not waste time blaming, but taking action. Superfund has the authority, all it needs to do is use it. The program needs to reinstate “polluter pays” and use the majority of its dwindling funds to aid with site production only. Although the fate of the Superfund is indeterminable, one can only hope that the costs will somehow be paid so we can attempt to preserve what’s left of our polluted environment.

Superfund

Superfund, a federal program aimed at eliminating hazardous waste across the country, was created in 1980 to help pave the way to a more environmentally friendly nation. However, many did not anticipate its decline and ultimate bankruptcy twenty-three years down the road. It seems that, with a cost of over one billion dollars a year, the government can no longer support its’ production. Thus, the 699 construction projects underway at 436 various sites are too large and expensive to complete (Knickerbocker 1). The article by Brad Knickerbocker, “Superfund Program: A Smaller Cleanup Rag” addresses many of the issues facing the Superfund. Although the fate of the Superfund is indeterminable, one can only hope that the costs will somehow be paid so we can attempt to preserve what’s left of our polluted environment.

I will use the following sites for research:

www.epa.gov/superfund/ (Superfund Official Site)

www.onlakepartners.org/ (Onondaga Lake Info)

Anti-war

On this past Saturday night, Syracuse University opened the doors of Hendricks Chapel to all those opposing the war. That night, a panel of speakers spoke about their experiences with war and war prevention. As nearly every pew inside the chapel was full, a sense of dedicated motivation was created amongst complete strangers. Everyone one present was united against a common cause: ending the war.
As I entered the chapel that night, the first thing I witnessed was a couple of men dressed up in costumes at the entrance. They were wearing shirts with money signs and surrounding them were others carrying posters labeled, “Bring home our troops”. As I sat down, I glanced around at the other people sitting in the pews and quickly noted the similarities between these strangers. Almost everyone was wearing a peace shirt or some other article of clothing mentioning the end of the war. Most people were middle aged but yet I was surprised at how many older people came out to support the cause.
The panel began with speaker Dahlia Wasfi, who spent her early childhood in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq before moving with her family to the United States. She spoke about the war and how it’s affecting the rest of her family that still lives over seas. The crowd was intrigued by her knowledge and firsthand experience.
The second panel speaker really got the crowd on their feet when he spoke passionately about war prevention. Scott Ritter was an anti-war and pro-soldier activist. He spoke how most of the soldiers who are fighting in this war are also against it. Since he was a veteran, he had lots of thoughts on the subject that really connected to the audience.
In his speech, he also offered a plan of action to the American public that could potentially help fix the situation. He stated how we had to withdraw troops, pay for damages, and own up to the mistakes we had made. Ritter’s speech, without a doubt, had a last impact on the audience.
Towards the end of the panel, discussion was open to the audience and there was a brief question and answer period. I thought it was a good idea that the panelists gave the people a chance to talk about the issues as well.

"One Weeks Dead"

Bihn Dahn’s exhibit “One Weeks Dead”, is an amazing tribute to the lives of the soldiers who were lost in the Vietnam War. His collection of paintings, in a sense, serves as a war memorial and a symbol of patriotism. Justice and patriotism are two dominant themes in Dahn’s works. Dahn’s portraits of the men give them, and many others who lost their lives, honor for their heroic acts. A sense of patriotism is also created as one realizes that all the men in the paintings died in a fight for our country. Although these men might have come from different places, families, and backgrounds, they all were united under a common cause. Bihn Dahn’s exhibit reminds us that although the Vietnam War is history, it must always be remembered. Just like a high school yearbook (full of memories), Dahn’s exhibit features a yearbook style collection of soldier’s faces. I also found it interesting how the color contrast and foliage arrangement was different for each picture. It was if Dahn was trying to emphasize individualism and enforce the fact that, although the men were all soldiers, they were all unique in their own ways. Although the bodies of these men may have looked the same when they were found, each deserves to be remembered as an individual. Bihn Dahn’s work can also be translated into a reflection of our current war in Iraq. Dahn makes a point that individuals in war must be remembered as individuals, regardless of the large numbers of casualties. A soldier is not just a number; he is a name, a husband, a father etc. Dahn chooses a unique way to remember each individual soldier.

Sontag refers to photography by stating, “Photography supplies is not only a record of the past but a new way of dealing with the present.” (358) In his exhibit, Dahn uses the create form of art as a way to deal with the past. It is easier for people to accept what happened during the Vietnam War if they can remember those who died as individuals, not casualties. The photographs bring back memories of a happier time and help people focus on the positives. Sontag also states that, “Our unlimited use of photographic images not only reflects but gives shape to this society.” (363) The photos bring about diversity as they show differences between people and places all over the world. In Dahn’s exhibit, his photographic-like painting highlighted the differences between each man, emphasizing individualism.

"Art Was a Proper Name"

In general, art is a difficult word to define. Since art is based so heavily on personal interpretation, defining art in one sentence is a difficult task. To me, art is merely a personal form of self-reflection. Whether it’s a painting, sculpture, or three-dimensional object, art can be anything that has meaning to the artist. My most memorable experience regarding artwork occurred this past year when I traveled to France with my school’s foreign exchange program. During our two week visit, I had the opportunity to view many different forms of artwork. Yet the most interesting form of art I witnessed was the “Mona Lisa”. Most people know the “Mona Lisa” as one of the most popular pieces in art history. Although this may be the case, Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting struck me as memorable because it was just the opposite. Upon arriving at the Louvre, I was fully aware of the painting’s popularity. However, once viewing the artwork in person, I was shocked by its size and overall lack of appeal. What was so special about this painting anyways? In my opinion it was small and dull, nothing too extraordinary. The painting was located in a room full of giant pieces of artwork and in relation, the “Mona Lisa” was not far from pathetic. Yet, as I was staring at the portrait, surrounded by avid admirers, I was determined to find the root of this art’s popularity. I soon realized that the art’s fame was in the facial expression of the women in the painting. At the time this piece of art was constructed, there weren’t many other realistic portraits. Da Vinci was able to capture the essence of this woman and her mysterious smile. The artist was successful in intriguing his spectators. The “Mona Lisa” will most likely remain one of the world’s most famous paintings.

Duve’s essay spoke clearly to me about art. I agree with his statements that art is continuously changing and being reinvented. His statement that, “Art is your domain, your speciality, your chapter in universal history” (Duve 7) really reinforces that fact that art is unique to the artist. Art is about being different and trying something new. Although most artists’ works should speak to others, it is most important that an artist’s painting speaks to himself. Duve speaks about how art is constantly being produced and preserved. We, as a country, preserve art and value new artists’ works as well. I also agree with the fact that there are many different forms of art. Just because something is not a paining or a sculpture doesn’t mean it’s not art. Stationary objects can be alternative forms of art. The author also stressed that fact that humans don’t know exactly how to define art and they might never really know what art truly is. The important thing is for people to respect, question, and create art. Art is nothing unless others are willing to invest their time and genuine interest into the artist's work.