What is the Habor Project and Why is it Important?
The overall purpose of the project is to define new ways to promote pollution prevention in the New York /New Jersey Harbor area by incorporating the analytical tools of industrial ecology. This project also emphasizes outreach and communication to arrive at concerted solutions and promotes a course of action agreed upon by a wide base of participants.
Published January 1, 2000
By Merle Spiegel
Academy Contributor
What is the overall purpose of the Harbor Project?
The overall purpose of the current project is to define new ways to promote pollution prevention in the New York /New Jersey Harbor area, especially with respect to a proposed harbor dredging plan. Dredging will release toxicants currently lodged on the Harbor’s floor. To address this problem, the pollution prevention endeavor incorporates the analytical tools of industrial ecology. This project emphasizes outreach and communication to arrive at concerted solutions and promotes a course of action agreed upon by a wide base of participants.
How will this be accomplished?
The New York Academy of Sciences is creating a regional Consortium (the Harbor Consortium) that employs a stakeholder process and uses industrial ecology to define the needed pollution prevention strategies. The consortium will produce, publish, and promote specific pollution prevention plans for various toxicants, using analytical techniques derived from industrial ecology.
What is Industrial Ecology?
Industrial ecology (IE) is the multidisciplinary field that focuses on the study of industrial and economic systems and their linkages with fundamental natural systems. IE is a new “systems” approach to pollution prevention and assessment of toxicants. It helps analyze specific toxin cycles and attempts to define mass balance for each toxicant.
Why is it important?
The regional economic and environmental well being depend on defining better ways to reduce pollution of the New York/ New Jersey Harbor. Continued levels and flows of contaminants into the harbor represent a threat to ecological systems, public health and economic development.
Also read: Reducing Mercury Pollution in NY Harbor
