The article is about comparing the pollution caused by cars in the 1970’s to the pollution that existed in the United States prior to the automobile. The focus of the article is the pollution caused by the waste of horses. Horses were the cause of a number of pollution related issues in the past. The gases that they released along with the fecal matter they left behind not only resulted in foul odors, but were harmful to the environment and people’s health. There was also the issue of noise, which subsequently increased to horrifying levels in cities such as New York. According to the article there were more than 120,000 horses in the city of New York.
The issue of horse pollution was not a new one in the 19th century. Europe had started to see it as a concern in the 14th century, just as America knew from the very beginning. The problems that the people had was twofold. Before the locomotive and automobile horses were the fastest way to travel. Secondly, the people probably did not know how bad the situation was. According to the article a city with a population of 350,000 individuals and a horse population of 12,500 would result in there being about a pound of manure per person per day.
On the street there were piles of feces swarming with flies and a horrid stench. There was also the smell of horse urine, hay, and the oils used for the leather. During a typical day in 1885 there would be about 7,811 vehicles pulled by horses travelling around the town.
These were not that successful because the men working for the sanitation department often only sought to obtain the manure that was lying on the streets and ignored the other trash. Many sanitation workers would leave huge piles of manure in poor neighborhoods where it would fester and attract flies. Even dry manure was not much better as the build-up of gases caused them to blow up quite a lot. Finally, in regards to horses’ people tended to overwork them. Many of them would just drop dead in the middle of the street. The result was a number of disease ridden vermin and flies consuming the bodies and spreading disease.
Cities implementing street cleaners was beneficial because it not only got rid of the smell, helping to reduce the amount of flies in an area. This was beneficial in reducing the spread of disease such as typhoid or yellow fever. Just like horses before them automobiles are also a necessary evil. This is because they allow people to get places quicker, to obtain merchandise and to continuously progress.
While I agree with the author in regards to the fact that horses were extremely unsanitary and the ethanol emissions from the horse would have been quite unhealthy and could have contributed to the greenhouse effect under the right conditions. I do not however agree that the pollution from horses is anywhere near as bad as that of cars in the 1970’s. If you watch of TV or movies from the 1970’s you can see huge flumes of grey smoke pouring out of exhaust pipes. This was because cars did not have the means to regulate things like smog or exhaust fumes. Besides while horse manure, urine and bodies were riddled with disease/ Once cities started hiring people to clean the streets the cities were able to get reasonable control of the illnesses that plagued their cities due to the horses.
On the other hand, the toxic emissions that were released by a car in the 1970’s is still having negative effects 40 years later. This is because automobiles have played a key role in destroying the ozone layer and contributing to global warming. Global warming has caused the Earth to become warmer. Which has brought about an increase in skin cancer, the smog of the 70’s has given many people lung diseases and other ailments.
In conclusion while pollution from either source is not ideal. The pollution from the horse has less long term effect on people and society, since it does not make any huge changes to the environment, and any changes that are made can easily be remedied by eliminating the source.
Works Cited
Tarr, Joel. "URBAN POLLUTION-Many Long Years Ago - CARRIAGE HORSE History - Coalition for New York City Animals." Ban Horse Drawn Carriages Coalition For New York City Animals. N.p., Oct. 1971. Web. 15 June 2016.
