Sometimes, it’s not just the weather. Sometimes we have only ourselves to blame.
The following are 10 of the worst American catastrophes caused by people.
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone
Drainage from the Mississippi River has resulted in about 7,000 miles of dead zone between Texas and the Mississippi River Delta. The drainage includes so many pesticides and fertilizers and so much animal waste that a hazardous type of algae grows here. When the zooplankton eat, process and pass it, the resulting waste depletes the oxygen levels in the water, killing the rest of everything off.
Three Mile Island Nuclear Meltdown
March 28, 1979 was the most disastrous nuclear event in US history: the meltdown of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania. At the time, the amount of radiation released was deemed inconsequential. But people grew ill and died, and at least 2,400 residents of the area have filed class-action lawsuits over illnesses and death. Families of children born with birth defects were compensated, but due to poor recordkeeping, the true extent of the damages may never be known.
The Dust Bowl
Overharvesting in the Midwest in the 1930s resulted in massive drying of the soil. Topsoil was loosed from the earth and became airborne, creating dust storms of up to 10,000 feet. These storms blocked out the sun, picked up cars and reached clear to New York City at times, where much of the topsoil landed in the Atlantic. This only worsened the impact of the Great Depression on farmers and residents.
Love Canal
When pregnant women in Love Canal, Niagara Falls, NY began to experience an increased rate of miscarriages and birth defects, it was found that about 21,000 tons of toxic waste was buried beneath the city. Strange odors and other irregularities plagued the town. About 56 percent of kids born in the area between 1974 and 1978 had birth defects. Families were relocated and the land was declared the first federal disaster area.
Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch
Floating in the middle of the Pacific is hundreds of miles of garbage. Some believe the patch is as large as a continent, and it weighs about 100 million tons. Fish and other sea life can become trapped in the patch. Exposure to sunlight causes toxins to leach out from the plastic. The patch formed due to the currents of the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone.
Libby, Montana Asbestos
Asbestos fibers coated the town of Libby for years as the W.R. Grace Plant emitted carcinogenic smoke, killing a few hundred and sickening over 1000 people. The asbestos was used to build public structures all over town, including parts of schools. From 1919 and 1990, residents suffered. Now the company is bankrupt from over 270,000 lawsuits due to asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma, but removing all the asbestos seems impossible.
Tennessee Coal Ash Spill
When an enormous dam crumbled on December 22, 2008, over 1 billion gallons of coal ash swept through the town of Kingston, Tennessee. It was the largest industrial spill in our country’s history. Although the ash contained arsenic, lead, and other dangerous components, the EPA doesn’t consider coal ash a hazardous material, so residents were told not to worry. The toxins began to take their toll on both wildlife and humans, however, and the long term effects are simply unknown.
Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill
In 1989, 10.8 million gallons of crude oil decimated the coast of Alaska. The culprit was a reef that Exxon-Valdez’s supertanker drove into, ripping open 11 cargo tanks. The resulting spill covered about 11,000 miles of ocean and coast in all. After 20 years, cleanup is still incomplete. Well over 250,000 birds and mammals are estimated to have died in the disaster, with untold billions of salmon, salmon eggs and other fish affected.
Picher, Oklahoma Lead Contamination
The EPA deems this the most toxic place in America. It used to be an active mining town for lead and zinc, but the contamination from the mines began to infect the entire town. Residents were found to have high blood levels of lead, and cancer rates soared. Picher was in danger of falling into the mine shafts as sink holes began to appear. A federal buyout paid residents to move out and the town has been unoccupied since September 2009.
BP Gulf Oil Spill
The Gulf of Mexico makes the list once again as 206 million gallons of oil spilled from a BP well a mile below the surface. It was the largest accidental oil spill in the world. A company rig exploded, killing 11 people. The well was not capped for nearly three months, and the resulting spills threatened 400 different species of animal life. Scientists cannot fully anticipate the continuing effects of this disaster.
Lawrence Reaves is a freelance writer and health advocate who is concerned about the environment and the impact it can have on people’s health. With the terrible odds of sarcomatoid mesothelioma life expectancy and bleak pleural mesothelioma prognosis, he is especially horrified by the Libby, Montana incident since he’s seen what this terrible disease can do to people.