Kent Armstrong on Bioremediation

On the morning of the 20th of January, our AP Environmental class was visited by Kent Armstrong. A local of Andover, New Hampshire, Kent was very happy about coming to talk to us about a subject he is currently involved in, Bioremediation. Throughout the time he talked to us, we learned that he had spent 35 years working in Site Assessments for building projects, bioremediation, and environmental evaluations. It was quite interesting to hear someone talk who is so knowledgable about this subject and had such a keen interest.

He went on to talk about how our hazardous waste was mucking up the environment because we did not dispose of it correctly. The effect of these byproducts are causing a serious disruption in the ecosystems, not only here but everywhere. It is quite awful that we cannot make sure that our waste does not reach these areas.

As he went through his presentation, he talked about how the Chemical Age began. Starting in the 40s, companies began to try and convince people that these chemicals that they were making were vital in their lives. And because at this time there were no real regulations against these chemicals being made, it allowed them to simply test it themselves and, because it was their product, they were biased and would warp the results to be in their favor.

When the companies did this, it allowed chemicals that are incredibly harmful to be introduced into our everyday lives. The toxicology of these chemicals showed that many of them were carcinogens, mutagens or reproductive impacts. This meant that not only were people being poisoned themselves but they were passing these chemicals onto their children and they were causing birth defects.

Now, think. If these chemicals are harming us to this degree, what are they doing to our ecosystem. Just the fact that in each gram of topsoil, there is 20,000 species of organisms means that not only do these chemicals affect the small insects and herbivores but all those that eat them. These chemicals are not only coming from our home furnishings but they are being fed through the food chain. It is a tragedy that these chemicals are allowed to be in our daily lives. They are in what we eat, what we wear, what we sleep in and on. We need to get better control over these dangerous chemicals and the waste that we put out.