I found the entire experience of the Circle Line field trip very interesting. I liked hearing the different speakers at different points of the trip describing what we were seeing and providing context for the destinations. I didn’t know how bad the issue of waste is. It surprised me when the speaker said about 10 million pounds of waste comes from the people of manhattan daily. In addition, I thought it was really interesting to see the digester eggs at Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, especially after seeing a video and learning about it in class. They look unassuming from far away but the job they do is amazing. Each huge steel digester egg holds tons of black sludge and it is turned into a source for renewable energy. They produce a gas called methane that can be used to heat homes and or make electricity. The fact that the plant could take organic waste that would go to a landfill and turn it into a useful, renewable source of energy is an incredible thing. I thought it was really cool to see something we have learned about in class right in front of me in person. I also was impacted by the speaker who spoke about the impacts of hurricane sandy on New York City, and how the city coped with the disaster. Since I was negatively effected by hurricane sandy as well it was crazy to think about how a city such as manhattan could have been damaged so horribly. The subway stations were wrecked and water flooded. The power was out for days and the city faced the damages. It was incredible however to hear about the resilience of the city and the precautions mayor Bloomberg took to help the city in this dangerous time and quickly heal the damage made to the city. Overall, I really enjoyed the trip and all of the different speakers.
