How Did We Get Into Trouble?: We Were Naive and Polluted

Introduction:

 

        Why is it that every time the world turns around, it finds itself facing more turmoil?  How did the environment and the earth itself become one of the objects to add to that list?   Something of this magnitude took more than just a few years.  We started to destroy this world long before we knew what we were doing.  More recently, though, things have gotten worse.  Bottom trawling and extreme pollution such as DDT and toxic waste are major contributors.  Bottom trawling is ruining the darkest, most mysterious parts of the oceans.  DDT was the supposed miracle pesticide that turned out to be a major polluter of the environment.  Another example is what happened at Love Canal. Love Canal was an area in the USA that was used as a dumping site for toxic chemicals that ruined the lives of many people.  The issues are complex, but if we understand how we got to where we are now, we have a better chance of preventing such occurrences in the future.

 

Love Canal:

               

          Between 1942 and 1953, a chemicals and plastics corporation dumped 21,000 tons of chemicals, some highly toxic, at Love Canal, which is a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, USA.  These chemicals were deposited into a canal that was thought to be the perfect location because the walls were made of thick clay.  In April of 1953, the Niagara Falls Board of Education purchased the Love Canal property for one dollar.  Soon a school was built on top of this site and then another followed shortly.  The construction company hired to build the first school advised against it.  It was known at that time that there were chemicals in the area, but no one paid much attention to them.  In the 1970’s problems began occurring in Love Canal.  There were strange odors coming from the area and children and dogs would get rashes after playing in the fields next to the schools.  Oily substances started oozing into families’ basements and chemical corrosion was found there as well.  Investigations began as to what was actually put into the ground before the school was built. After some testing, it was found that there were volatile organic compounds, (VOC’s), other organics, and heavy metals in the soil.  Some areas were evacuated and still other homes were completely demolished.  There was also a huge impact on the health of the people who lived there.  The cancer rate was many times higher than the national average and many people became very ill or died. About 250 million dollars later, Love Canal was mostly remedied.
    

          Pollution in Love Canal had a huge effect on people’s lives and the environment.  People, wildlife and ground water were endangered.  There were many errors in judgment in this situation. First of all, it shouldn’t just be assumed that clay will hold toxic waste without leaking.  This theory needed to be tested first. And secondly, public access buildings and land should not be built over such sites.  This was a hard learned lesson, and many people paid with their lives or health.

 

 

DDT-The Miracle Pesticide?:

 

          Originally created in the early 1870’s for no purpose at all, DDT (Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane) is one of the best known pesticides in the world.  In 1939 it was discovered that DDT would kill common pests such as mosquitoes, potato bugs, and some moths and worms.  In the mid 1900’s DDT was used often and in large quantities to control these pests.  Unfortunately, it was not until the 1970’s that we began to see the effects that it was having on the environment.   
           

          DDT took a huge toll.  Since it was not specifically designed to kill insects, DDT also killed crabs and crustaceans.  DDT greatly affected birds as well by reducing the amount of calcium in their egg shells.  This caused the egg shells of large birds to become extremely thin and crack when the adults then sat on them killing the chicks growing inside.  This happened most often in raptors and is a major contributing factor for the decreased population of bald eagles and peregrine falcons. 
          

          Although opinions vary, DDT is considered to have a half life of 15 years.  This means it takes fifteen years for half of it to deactivate, or 105 years to have less than one percent left.   Since it takes such a long time for DDT to completely disappear, it is still a major environmental issue and will probably remain so for a very long time. 

          

          Today DDT is still used in Africa, however, and is instrumental in saving the lives of many people who would have been killed by malaria.  It is estimated that DDT has prevented the deaths of 500 million people in Africa in the last 20 years.    So what does this mean?  It means that these issues are very complex, and that, in many cases, balancing the needs of humans against those of wildlife has no clear cut solutions. 

 

 

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Sources:

 

Love Canal:

 

Danis, Karen. “The History of Superfund: Love Canal.” Superfund. 1 Dec. 2001. Kenyon College. Accessed 8 January 2008. <http://biology.kenyon.edu/slonc/bio3/2001projects/Superfundkdanis/historylovecanal.htm>

 

“Love Canal, An American Tragedy”.  Humans and Their Environment. 19 April 1997. Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Accessed 8 January 2008. <http://civil.engr.siu.edu/301I_Ray/he_love.htm>  

 

Stoss, Frederick W, and Fabian, Carole Ann. “Love Canal: Reminder of Why We Celebrate Earth Day.” Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship. 2000. University at Buffalo SUNY. Accessed 8 January 2008. <http://www.istl.org/00-spring/article2.html>  

 

Photograph: Superfund Clean-up. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed 8 January 2008. <http://www.epa.gov/superfund/programs/er/resource/d1_20.htm> 

 

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Sources:

 

DDT-The Miracle Pesticide?:

 

“DDT: an Introduction.” Cruising Chemistry. Duke University –Department of Chemistry.  Accessed 8 Jan. 2008. <http://www.chem.duke.edu/~jds/cruise_chem/pest/pest1.html>  

Edwards, J. Gordon, and Steven Milloy. “100 Things You Should Know About DDT” Junk Science. 1999. Junkscience.com. Accessed 8 Jan. 2008. <http://www.junkscience.com/ddtfaq.htm>  

Weis, Judith S, and Cleveland, Cutler J. “DDT.” Encyclopedia of Earth. 31 Jan. 2007. Environmental Information Coalition. Accessed 8 Jan. 2008. <http://www.eoearth.org/article/DDT> 

Photograph: 

w e n d y.  Macro Musquito. (sic). Flickr.com. 10 October 2006. Accessed 2 February 2008. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/wenflickr/266164980/>
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