The Price of Progress - New Jersey's Toxic Legacy

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This documentary, in the form of a satellite map, tracks the toxic Superfund history of one of the 13 original colonies on its path to becoming the 7th leading U.S. state in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). New Jersey has the largest volume of Superfund sites in the nation. As you will see, the areas with the most toxic sites just happen to be along the old Post Road that aided in expanding the national economy. Many of these toxic sites are the result of smelting, and as a result are locations that have a long history of manufacturing. This contamination was passed through several owners who themselves limited their assumed liabilities by selling the land to someone else. Eventually the toxicity levels became so dangerous that action had to be taken. Some landowners and manufacturers did the right thing by cleaning up their land, while others conveniently went bankrupt and left the problem to the government to clean up. Others had to be forced by the government to clean up their toxic mess.

In a published study in the journal Biological Trace Element, Arizona State University researchers reported children with autism had higher levels of several toxic metals in their blood and urine compared to typical children. This would explain why New Jersey has one of the highest rates of autism.

Tags

Superfund sites toxic sites high autism rates high cancer rates original colony interactive map map 3D map educational self-learning individual learning

Map Type

GeoJSON

Map Source

https://climateviewer.org/layers/MRM/Geoscience-and-Oceanography/The-price-of-progress-New-Jerseys-toxic-legacy.geojson

Attribution

George Stiller, MyReadingMapped™

Map: The Price of Progress - New Jersey's Toxic Legacy by George Stiller and Jim Lee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Based on a work at climateviewer.org/. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at climateviewer.com/terms.

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Jim Lee • Creator of ClimateViewer Maps

I am forever a Boy Scout, lifetime artist, nocturnal programmer, music is my life, love is my religion, and I am the luckiest husband and father on Earth. I speak for the trees. I have a passion for mapping, magnets, and mysteries. Feel free to contact me: jim@climateviewer.com