In the 1970s, the Indian government started a program to encourage foreign companies to invest in regional industries. Union Carbide built the pesticide plant in Bhopal, which is located in the central part of India, in order to have a better access to transport infrastructure. The particular site inside the city might have been zoned to light mechanical and business use, not to risky business. “The plant was initially approved only for formulation of pesticides from component chemicals, such as Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) imported from the parent company, in relatively small quantities” (Broughton, 2005, para 3). The world’s worst industrial disaster happened in Bhopal, India thirty-one years ago. According to Sinha (2009), “at least 8,000 people died on that night. Half a million were injured. In the years since, as more people died of their injuries and illnesses caused by inhaling the gas, the death toll has risen above 20,000” (para. …show more content…
All these areas are considered contaminated and today more than 100,000 people remain chronically ill. After the disaster, the chemicals were abandoned in warehouses open to wind and rain. “Twenty-four storms have rusted and spoiled the passing industrial facility. The downpours wash the toxins profound into the dirt. They enter the groundwater and saturate wells and bore channels. They spout from taps and enter individuals ' bodies. They smolder stomachs, erode the skin, harm organs and stream into wombs where they go to take a shot at the unborn. In the event that infants make it into the world alive, the toxins are holding up in their moms ' milk” (Sinha, 2009, para 31). The water is also contaminated. In 2009, some tests were made and was found carbon tetrachloride 4,880 times the limit. In India, this disaster brought lots of changes about environmental awareness. Furthermore, Broughton (2005) pointed out
The main problem was lead, with seven well samples showing positive. The calcium and nitrates both had four samples showing positive. Hydrocarbons had 3 samples showing positive. Heavy metals have two positives,and bacteria have only 1 positive. Many men, women, and children are getting sick from horrible water pollution and some of the water pollutants cause cancer!
50 years and 6 months after the Texas City disaster, a lot of changes has been made to ensure the safety of handling hazardous material due to the disaster. It was a wake up call for people around the world to look deeply into the safety issues and for government to assume an active role in enforcing those issues. For the residents in Texas City who decided to stay and rebuild after the disaster, it was more than a wake up call for safety. It was a painful memory that made people even stronger. It was a call for the community to come together and make Texas city a major industrial center again. It was a joint effort to make Texas City a better and safer place to live.
I think that tragedy with Hormel was inevitable in this kind of situation because when the conflict exists and no one want to lose, there won’t be a happy ending for both sides. On the Hormel Company side, since it was a large company it has its power to control the workers’ wages for it long-term business activities (the video doesn’t state what its long-term goals even though they make millions during that year) which make sense because every business wants to increase its profits. On the Union side, the pay cut wasn’t acceptable since the company were making money and workers definitely have to fight for their rights. However, this situation was more on the Hormel Company because its power in that city and the economy at that time, hiring
However, there is no guarantee that there are no long-term health effects caused by the chemical since regulators do not have adequate data (The Associated Press, 2014). Those affected by the spill are the residents near Elk River who depend on the river's water supply. Many restaurants, hotels and local businesses are forced to close since residents are not able to access tap water other than for flushing toilets. Locals are forced to take cold baths and use only bottled water for hydration and cooking needs (The Associated Press, 2014).... ...
Such is the condition of Texas waterways. The surging population in Texas, the numerous pharma, chemical and oil industries, landowners, farmers and other residents have been recklessly using water. Water is a limited resource and our best efforts in recycling, reusing and conserving water have not yielded the desired results. Climatic changes over the past few decades may have resulted in unpredictable rainfall in Texas. It is important to conserve water without polluting it. It is shocking to know that the drinking water has traces of arsenic, cyanide, nitrates, asbestos and mercury and lead. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Geological Survey after conducting studies have shown that water samples containing growth hormones, various antibiotics,birth control drugs, and many other chemicals end up in ground water. The Trinity River is highly polluted with bacteria from sewage. The high water pollution in Texas State by various sources causes environmental hazards and life threatening diseases like cancer and nerve damage; thus the government and community should intensify their efforts to reduce pollution and make drinking water safe.
The sulfur dioxide was regarded as the acknowledged toxic gas, and is also one of main factors for acid rain. Due to its severe toxicity, the major pollution incidents have even happened in human beings’ history. During 1st December and 15th December 1930, the toxic gases including the sulfur dioxide caused great loss for Meuse Valley in Belgium. The toxic gases led to thousands of people in the industrial zone of Meuse Valley were catched with respiratory diseases, and “nearly 63 people were dead within a week”. ( Benery B, HoetPH, Nemmar A. 2001) Additionally, many livestocks also could not survived and died of the toxic gases. In the incident, the mixture of SO2 and SO3 were the main dioxide smog. Similarly, during 26th October and 31st October in 1948, the Nonora smog in America was another sever toxic incident. (Lynne Page Snyder, 1994) The results proved that the sulfur dioxide was still the main toxic gas. Therefore, the sulfur dioxide has been proved to be the acknowledged toxic gas.
In addition to the plant, the governments related in India that issued permits and provided incentives for the plant, Bhopal community officials who permitted slum dwellers to move near the plant in illegal settlements, Indian environmental and safety inspectors should also be responsible for this. The governments related in India issued permits because people need jobs, or people would starve to death. This was one reason in my opinion. Soft money from Union Carbide plant may be another reason for issuing permits. It was clearly that the governments in America would not issue a permit to Union Carbide plant under such circumstances, which lacked of severe environmental standards and permitted slum dwellers to live near the plant and so on. Such actions were the fuses leading to more deaths. Before the major gas leakage from the MCI unit on December 3, 1984, some people were killed because of phosgene gas leakage. However, no one took it seriously in spite of the report by media. One of the reasons that people ignore this was because people didn¡¦t know the potential danger of the chemical plant. The other reason was that there are not enough environmental inspectors to cover so many plants in India. Besides, those inspectors had a record of loose enforcement. Consequently, danger emerged just as the saying goes ¡§Nothing comes of nothing.¡¨
Accidents are an inevitable part of life. Children learn this at an early age by bumping their head, scraping their knees, or falling off the swings. They learn that sometimes painful experiences just happen, seemingly without cause or reason. These children carry these lessons into adulthood, and then project their tolerance for accidents onto their families and occupation. The chemical industry, while one of the safest industries, has the potential for catastrophic accidents. Through experience and renewed focus on the conservation of life, the chemical industry has improved its safety considerably. In 2005, chemical industry fatality rate (the number of fatalities per year per total number of people in the applicable population) was the third lowest when compared to industries such as agriculture, coal mining, and construction1. However, accidents still occur, sometimes with regrettable repercussions. In 2005, Formosa Plastics Corporation in Point Comfort, Texas experienced an accident with severe consequences.
Nearly three decades ago, the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal India had a devastated tragedy. The toxic chemical and methyl isocyanate gas leak from the plant killed thousands of civilians who were sleeping and injured hundreds of thousands of people in the nearby neighborhood. For those who survived from this catastrophic incident had injuries ranging from blindness to suffering burns of the skins. The cause of this accident was due to the lack of safety standards and the decision making of Management of Union Carbide in the U.S and management in India in which it played a huge role on how this incident unfold and the many lives that were affected by this horrific accident. The Union Carbide manager in India’s overlooked at safety issues that could have clued them to the problem that needed to be resolved. And if management had a high priority for the safety of their employee’s well-being instead of profit, this situation could have been avoided. After the incident, it was a matter of who was responsible and who will compensate for the injured victims.
During the winter of 1952-1953, London came face to face with the “heaviest winter smog episode known to men.” (Environmental disasters) During the weeks leading to this even London had been experiencing colder than usual weather. Because of the cold weather, households were burning more coal to keep their families warm. This caused “additional coal combustion and many people travelled only by car, which caused the occurrence of a combination of black soot, sticky particles of tar and gaseous sulphur dioxide.” (Environmental disasters) During this event the numbers of deaths per day increased to a nine times the normal number in some cities. The smog approximately killed 12,000 people. Most of the victims were children and elderly people.
Every year, more than sixty-six million tons of poisonous gas is emptied into the air,
Secondly, before my undergraduate training, I learnt about the heat wave in the summer of 2003 that killed over 35,000 people in Europe. Furthermore, I discovered the growing incidence of health-related events due to global warming and climate change. This prompted me to pursue Environmental Science as my undergraduate programme of study. Eventually, I understood environmental issues and the impact of unsustainable use of the environment. During my course of study, one of many issues that really caught my attent...
The last major environmental catastrophe directly caused by humans are the oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico. There is hardly any attention to these events. Indra Sinha’s fire represented in Animal’s People has only burning within the community. The media never spread it to create a wildfire to spread across the world. The fire of conversation was struck short by the lack of support that the community was able to receive.
Environmental hazards are an unavoidable aspect of contemporary life. Whether they peturb a region, nation or continent, their effects are nonetheless devastating to those involved. Environmental hazards lie at “the interface between the natural events system and the human use system.” (Burton et al, 1978:25), interacting with global change and sustainable development. Disrupting social, economic and political organisations, these hazards are phenomena that damage and strain human infrastructures. Differentiating between ‘natural’ (geologic, atmospheric, hydrologic, epidemic and biologic) and ‘technological’ (industrial, infrastructural and engineering) hazards, Smith (2013) provides a framework through which hazards can be categorised, emphasising their multifarious nature. This essay will argue that humanity must learn to live with environmental hazards, developing methods of prediction and mitigation in order to reduce their effects. Focussing on three key case studies, this essay will analyse Myanmar’s Cyclone Nargis, Japan’s Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, and India’s Gujarat Hepatitis Epidemic of 2009. These diverse examples demonstrate the extent to which the impacts of hazards vary across different spatial scales, and manifest themselves at differing levels of economic and political development.
Any discussion of contemporary environmental crises, which result from humanities interaction with the environment, can be a tricky discussion. Many international reports and conferences are indicating that global environmental problems are intensifying (Bailes, 1985) . A German writer in the 18th century summed up our predicament when he said “ nature, we are embraced by her , and are powerless to separate ourselves from her” (Bailes, 1985), this is representative of the essentiality behind human interaction towards nature, not only for our survival , but for the maintenance of nature itself. Environmental history as a discipline itself is relatively new, however its roots stem from the beginning of recorded history within any piece of writing recording and discussing environmental problems resultant of humanity’s interaction with the environment (Skabelund, 2001). Essentially it the culmination of written observance relating to the relationship between human society and the natural environment throughout recorded history(Bailes, 1985). I believe that by appreciating the role of environmental history in the reform of our relationship with the environment, we gain greater understanding of modern environmental issues. The focus of this essay will be around the Issue of flooding in Australia, with a focus on the 2011 Brisbane floods.