Isabella Lacefield

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Tucker & Neto

N.E.W. School

April 12, 2017

The Destruction of the Russian River

Rivers carry water and nutrients to areas all around the Earth. They

play a very important part in the water cycle, acting as drainage channels for

surface water. Rivers drain nearly 75% of the earth's land surface (Barrow,

Mandy). Rivers serve an important purpose on Earth and are often called the

arteries of the planet. However there is a huge issue that is threatening the

rivers. Trash in the Russian River, which is caused by illegal dumping and

homeless people, is harming fish, but a pulley could help remove large

furniture from the river.

Trash that is dumped in the Russian river is extremely dangerous to the

environment because as it decomposes, it can leak pollutants. According to

Alina Bradford, a Live Science contributor, in the year of 2010, Americans

produced about 250 million tons of garbage that contributed to pollution.

This garbage consisted of furniture, appliances, batteries, clothing and other

types of garbage. The garbage that humans are responsible for that is

causing pollution on land, can do the same when it is dumped in a river. A lot

of the pollution that is harming the environment is caused by humans so it is

critical that people stop dumping furniture into the river as a way to dispose
of it. WWF, one of the worlds leading conservation organizations, claims

that because of pollution in water caused by trash, 2.4 billion people do not

have clean water to drink which leads to illnesses and

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possible death. Pollution in the water caused by trash is not just threatening

the animals that live in the water but also harming people that live in land by

polluting their drinking water to drink. Water pollution is not just a threat to

animals and the environment, also a threat to humans. In brief, trash is more

than just ugly, it is also damaging to the environment of the world and the

animals and humans that live on it.

Illegal dumping is causing an abundance of furniture and trash to be

disposed into rivers all around the world due to the public not wanting to pay

the expensive fines. Russian River Cleanup, an organization that coordinates

cleanup teams to help remove foreign objects from the river, says that

cleanup teams have found objects such as broken televisions, microwaves,

mattresses, chairs, construction and remodeling debris, automobile parts

and tires that have been thrown down the banks and washed downstream.

The weight of waste that is dumped is in the hundreds, just a tire is 20

pounds and a mattress can be about 45 pounds. As a way to avoid paying

for their old furniture to be picked up and taken away, people use the

Russian River as a dumping ground. Many might think that the cleanup crew

can just get rid of it for them, however this bulky furniture is extremely hard

to retrieve from the river. According to Cea Higgins, a devoted Russian River
cleanup member, much of the furniture is either left on the shore by either

homeless people or the public, or dumped into the river where it can slowly

sink to the bottom and worsen the pollution. Higgins also states that not only

is there furniture being dumped but excess amounts of plastic as well from

the Russian river visitors. The public could very easily stop a lot of the issues

that are occurring on the river just by cleaning up

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after themselves or paying dumping fees rather than viewing the precious

river as a garbage can. All in all, there is a superfluous amount of objects

that are being dumped and tossed into the river and it is damaging in so

many aspects, especially to the wildlife.

Excess trash in the Russian River is causing important species of

salmon that live in the Russian river, like the Coho salmon, to become

endangered. According to NOAA Fisheries Office of Protective Services,

salmon species that can be found in the Russian river have become seriously

endangered in the past decades due to both natural and human-induced

factors. Factors such as overfishing and parasites contribute to the

endangerment of important salmon species, but the dangers that humans

create for fish can be extremely fatal. If humans were to stop at least one of

these horrific habits that are harming fish, the population would increase

greatly and save many lives. Dr. Renata Schneider, a wildlife rehabilitator

who has seen many animals harmed by trash, claims that many aquatic

animals encounter trash everyday and do not survive the encounter. Marine
life have been found to eat objects like bottle caps, lighters, and cigarette

butts which are all fatal to them. It is not just plastic wrappers that are being

tossed carelessly into the rivers, furniture is decomposing in the river. The

public is disrespectfully using this great river as a garbage can for their

cigarette butts, lighters and bottles. If any fish were to eat one of these

things, it can cause death within minutes. Overall, litter in the Russian River

does not just look ugly, but it is endangering many innocent fish that eat the

garbage thrown into the river, it is pertinent that the public stops these nasty

habits.

A pulley system could help to remove large furniture from the river,

which takes

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volunteers hours to do. Cea Higgins, a woman who has experience with

cleaning up trash in the river and ocean, says that the volunteers and

cleanup teams would greatly appreciate a pulley system to help them

retrieve furniture before it reaches the oceans or contributes to pollution. A

pulley system wont stop all of the litter problems, but it will target one of the

biggest issues the river is dealing with right now. Furniture in the river can

cause some of the pollution in Earths waters so it is important that a pulley

system be used to help retrieve the large objects from the river before it can

cause too much damage. According to Russian River Cleanup, volunteers

that help cleanup after illegal dumpers end up lifting about 80 pounds per

appliance or piece of furniture, which can take a while to maneuver out of a

river, especially if they are lacking volunteers. Cleaning up after illegal

dumpers is one of the hardest parts of cleaning up the river. The volunteers

could save so much time and energy if they had something to do most of the

heavy lifting. With a pulley machine, they could do a lot more work on the

river. To sum up, a pulley system could greatly help the volunteers that

cleanup the river and help to reduce a lot of the issues that the river is

having because of the garbage.

In conclusion, illegal dumping and littering is an extreme issue that is

causing problems such as pollution and fish species to become endangered,

a pulley system could greatly reduce them. The Russian river is one of the

many rivers that helps provide water to the public, is a home for many

aquatic animal, but its also become a dumping ground. Trash could leak

pollutants into the river which can transport to the ocean, and kill many

animals such as fish and bugs. This pulley system could help remove

furniture from the river and fix