Interventions for Filthy City- New York City- Using Amory Lovins’ Design Approach:

1. The issue of housing was a large problem and still is today. There is limited space in the city and it was in demand so it was very expensive to rent a small apartment. This resulted in many immigrants living in a small area. The landlords were very wealthy and did not want to make improvements on the buildings for immigrant tenants. These areas became slums, the buildings were not kept up and became unsanitary since many landlords wouldn’t pay for plumbing or if there was plumbing, wouldn’t pay for sewers so the streets would be flooded and filthy. Body lice also became a problem in these areas because it was very crowded so the lice would crawl from person to person. A way to fix this is to have requirements for buildings and certain things that landlords must to in order to have a safe, healthy area for all tenants. Another way to intervene would be to have buildings that are affordable for immigrants and lower class tenants. This would help the problem of overcrowding in small areas and help end the spread of disease.

2. The issue of waste and polluting the harbor was a large problem and is still a large problem today. The Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant was created where there is now a system of cleaning water and separating large pieces of waste and then cleaning it to make it drinkable. This fixed the problem of needing a place for wastewater and somewhere to clean it. Many people were pouring straight waste into the New York harbor so the water became extremely polluted and still is today. A way to fix this problem would be to continue to try and clean up the water. This can be done by actively cleaning it, getting pollution out of the water that is there currently, and by the use of getting oysters back into the harbor. Oysters filter water so this will act as a natural way to clean the harbor. Another way to intervene would be to continue to make people aware of the harmful effects their pollution is having on the environment and encourage them to stop polluting.

3. The issue of safe food was a problem in New York City in the late 1800s, early 1900s and will continue to be a problem. Specifically the meat industry was a major problem. The process of making sausages was very gross but interesting: Butchers would use rotten pig heads, decaying hearts, or any parts of the animal (usually pig) that they still had and make sausage out of it as a way to use the meat rather than throw it out. Butchers would mash up the meat, add borax to kill some of the bacteria on the rotten meat (the meat would still make someone sick and potentially kill them if it was consumed) and therefore mask the awful smell somewhat. Red clothing dye would then be added to make the rotten, grey meat look like fresh, red meat. There were only 10 food inspectors in the late 1800s early 1900s. To fix this problem, the food safety department has many more food inspectors now and the grading system for a restaurant was created to show how clean and safe it is. There are flaws in this system still, like how if a restaurant gets a B rating, it could be very close to a C, and it could be worse than the consumer thinks. A way to keep food safely up in New York City would be to hire even more health inspectors and have more routine check ins at restaurants to ensure standards are being kept. Also restaurants should have to be rated before they are allowed to open to ensure safety.

4. The issue of pollution of cars is a large problem now in New York City and across the globe. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, electric cars were produced but they did not get very far so the Ford gas automobiles were chosen as the car of choice. The problem of automobiles and the emission they produce is an issue that Amory Lovins has talked about too. There is a need to revert to the initial idea of electric cars because of the intense pollution that cars we are now using are creating. This is one way to help fix the problem. Another way would be to encourage other modes of transportation like biking and walking, which does not produce any emission and pollution into the air.