Cleaning up the Harbor
As the middle of the twentieth century began, people realized that hundreds of years of sewage and pollution had completely ruined the Boston Harbor ecologically and partly commercially. In 1972 Congress enacted the Clean Water Act that required the Boston Harbor to meet very far-off standards by 1977.2 However, instead of attempting to meet these standards the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), the governmentally created commission tasked with cleaning up the Boston Harbor, decided to just implement toothless policies, appeal for more time, and attempt to lower standards. The EPA ended up denying multiple appeals and after multiple lawsuits, which came to be because of the lack of progress, the MDC was replaced by the Massachusetts legislature with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA).2 The MWRA finally cleaned up the harbor in a multibillion dollar operation, thus fixing the natural ecosystem that humans almost destroyed.2 Therefore the Boston Harbor’s clean-up was initiated by political acts and, although it took a lot of time and money, ultimately led to the continuation of Boston’s fishing, shipping, and tourism industries that had been around almost as long as the city itself.
Life and Death
One of Boston’s most recent major events has also been one of its most unfortunate. The Boston Marathon bombings completely shook the city in a horrific way. However because it was Boston, the city was able to rebound with a Boston Strong campaign. With that said, one of the most controversial and pressing issues right now is the debate over the death penalty for the bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Although Massachusetts does not have a state death penalty, the federal government has opted to pursue its nationally viable death penalty.9 With that said, the jurors of Boston will have to decide if they want to unanimously approve the use of capital punishment in this case. Both sides for and against the death penalty raise good and controversial points, however the line of whether to grant life or death will be debated in a Boston jurors room and a conclusion will be reached. Therefore in deciding whether to give out life in prison or the death penalty, Boston jurors will be gaining justice for a horrific and tragic event that did not break the city as was intended, but rather brought the city and by extension the nation together. |