Being a resident of Syracuse, one of the biggest public health related issues as I was growing up was the pollution of Onondaga Lake. This article on Syracuse.com (from Oct. 9, 2015) states that, according to the EPA, the Mercury levels in the lake are lower than projected when the $451 million plan was approved in 2005. Onondaga lake is an urban lake, thus linking it directly to the topic of Syracuse’s public health.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2015/10/epa_honeywell_onondaga_lake_cleanup_dredging.html
Heroine is a public health epidemic that has been spreading on both a national level and locally in Syracuse. The annual number of deaths from heroin use in Onondaga county has increased from 1 in 2010 to 26 in 2014. This topic directly relates to our class discussion in that the heroin use can be strongly correlated to the environment of Syracuse. The astounding poverty levels often drive victims to cheap drugs such as heroin while at the same time preventing them from any treatment for using, addiction, and even overdosing. This syracuse.com article notifies of a public forum held in Syracuse to discuss one of the most serious health concerns of the community.
http://www.syracuse.com/health/index.ssf/2016/01/heroin_prescription_painkiller_epidemic_in_onondaga_county_focus_of_public_forum.html
1. Glenn Coin, a writer for Syracuse.com published an article regarding the cleanup of the Onondaga Lake cleanup. Looking at Mr. Coin’s profile on Syracuse.com I noticed he writes majority of his articles on one of two topics, weather and of course, Onondaga Lake. It is clear that Glenn Coin is a journalist with an agenda that is very environment oriented. This specific piece that was written to report on the progress of the cleanup is filled with factual information from a variety of sources. The audience is the population of Syracuse, New York because it is published on Syracuse.com, the largest source of news for the area. The exigence of this piece has been ongoing for many years. The pollution spill into the lake was so detrimental to the body of water and its surrounding area that it demands attention. The cleanup is worth many millions of dollars and is a huge topic of concern for the Central New York Region.
2. The article uses a variety of very reliable sources to verify the purpose of the text: the cleanup is going well. The author cites the EPA and a Syracuse University researcher throughout the text that provide information through numbers that make the article very reliable.