Marjorie Clarke

Marjorie J. ("Maggie") Clarke, Ph.D., is an environmental scientist who specializes in recycling participation, waste prevention methods, waste-to-energy/incinerator emissions controls, environmental impacts of the World Trade Center fires and collapse, and community botanical gardening. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks she has focused on increasing participation in New York City's waste prevention and recycling programs.

Early life and education

She is a native of Miami Florida, born July 14, 1953.

A 1975 graduate, with B. A. in Geology of Smith College, a year of which was spent at Dartmouth College on exchange program in the environmental studies program in 1973–1974, she received M.S. in environmental sciences from Johns Hopkins University in 1978, M.S. in energy technology (applied sciences) from New York University in 1982, and a Ph.D. in earth & environmental sciences in 2000 — City University of New York.

Career and research

Clarke was the Department of Sanitation's specialist on emissions from incinerators from 1984 to 1988, the author of a book[1] and a number of publications on the subject of minimizing emissions. She also served on a National Academy of Sciences committee on Health Effects of Waste Incineration, co-authoring the NRC publication by that name. Clarke also served on the New Jersey Standard-Setting Task Force on Mercury emissions from incinerators in the early 1990s.

From 2002 to 2004, she was a Scientist-in-Residence and adjunct assistant professor at Lehman College, and an adjunct professor at Hunter College, City University of New York from 1996 - 2005.

Best known as a persistent questioner of United States Environmental Protection Agency's claims about the safety of the World Trade Center site,[2] Dr. Clarke has underscored the importance of understanding toxicity, synergy of chemicals acting together, and the precautionary principle, and has provided testimony to many government committees and panels, including the U.S. Senate down to the New York City Council, and has been a guest speaker in academic settings, conferences, down to local eldercare centers. Dr. Clarke laid the groundwork for the later work of such area politicians as Congressman Jerrold Nadler and Senator Hillary Clinton.

She also conceived and garnered support for a New York City local law to eliminate 2200 apartment building incinerators which was signed into law in 1989.

NGO participation

Clarke has been chair or vice chair of the Manhattan Citizens' Solid Waste Advisory Board for 8 of the years since its inception in 1990, a steering committee member of the New York City Recycling Advisory Board since its inception in 1990, and was a founding member of the NYC Waste Prevention Coalition. These are connected to efforts to clean up lower Manhattan from the effects of 9/11 and others to solid waste prevention and recycling. She has chaired and currently vice chairs the Municipal and Medical Waste Division of the Air & Waste Management Association. She co-founded and has been president of the Riverside-Inwood Neighborhood Garden (RING), a volunteer botanical garden in Upper Manhattan, since 1984.[3][4]

See also
  • Health effects arising from the September 11, 2001 attacks

References
  1. Burning Garbage in the US—Practice vs. State-of-the-art, INFORM, New York, NY 1991
  2. Public Lives: Keeping a Wary Eye on the E.P.A. at Ground Zero, Robin Finn, for New York Times, June 14, 2002.
  3. Finn, Robin. "Pilfered Peppers in City Gardens; Tomatoes, Too". Ny York Times. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
  4. Richardson, Clem. "Inwood's Dyckman St. is battleground between residents and businesses over noise". Ny Daily News. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
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