Environmental disasters of mankind
Environmental disasters in the world occur almost every year. A catastrophe can be the result of an accident caused by human activity. For example, an oil spill or a nuclear explosion, smog or a fire at a dangerous enterprise. An environmental disaster is a natural or anthropogenic incident that leads to a negative or" catastrophic " impact on the environment. Often, the term "environmental disaster" is used to describe incidents that are the result of anthropogenic actions. However, it is important to note that this is only one category of environmental disasters. What type of disaster may be different, namely: agricultural disaster occur as a result of the impact on the agricultural sector; the distress associated with beersnob-connector, are a consequence of the fact that new species move into the territory and harm existing species or the environment; industrial disasters occur as a result of the impact of large industrial enterprises on the environment in a small or global scale; b Estia to human health are the result of disease or other causes of mass death among the people; natural disasters occur as a natural process of weather conditions or other factors that affect the Earth. These can include earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, forest fires, landslides, sinkholes and droughts; nuclear disasters are the result of a spill or damage to a power plant, which leads to a radiation leak. That is, natural disasters are only one of the five types of environmental disasters.
In this article, we will give examples of global environmental disasters of the XX century that caused harm to the environment:
1. The Great Smog on December 5, 1952. One of the first environmental disasters caused by human industrial activity was the smog that swept London in the winter of 1952. In the first eight days, the poisonous fog killed four thousand people, and in the following weeks another eight thousand.
2. The death of the Aral Sea in 1960-2007. Lake Aral, called the Aral Sea because of its huge surface of 68,500 km2, is a drainage salt lake in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which disappeared as a result of human activity, which led to one of the largest environmental disasters in the history of mankind. The surface of the lake began to decrease systematically. Since the 1960s, the water level has decreased by about 20 cm per year, in the 70s-by about 60 cm, and a decade later-by 90 cm. If in 1960 the area of the lake was 68,500 km2, by 2009 it had decreased to 13,500 km2.
3. The Canadian environmental disaster of 1962-1970. The history of mercury poisoning among the indigenous population in Canada is associated with an industrial incident in the middle of the XX century. The culprit of the environmental disaster is the pulp and paper mill of a chemical company located in Dryden, Ontario. The company's activities caused mercury waste to enter the environment, which was formed during the bleaching of paper.
4. The Bhopal disaster on December 3, 1984. A pesticide manufacturing plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, accidentally released a deadly chemical mist that killed more than 5,000 people. They were victims of fatal poisoning with isocyanate (pesticide) gas. More than 50,000 people have been treated for gas exposure, and more than half a million people have been exposed to gas. According to experts and activists, since then, the gas leak has claimed an additional 20,000 lives. This is considered the worst industrial chemical disaster ever.
5. The Chernobyl disaster on April 26, 1986. The largest environmental disaster associated with the use of a peaceful atom. On April 26, 1986, a reactor shutdown occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The nuclear reaction led to a huge fire and explosion, instantly killing 50 people and releasing radiation 400 times higher than during the atomic bombing in Hiroshima.
Fire on the Piper Alpha oil platform on July 6, 1988. The Piper Alpha disaster occurred on July 6, 1988 off the coast of Aberdeen. It claimed the lives of 167 workers and is the world's worst accident on an oil platform. Unfortunately, the environmental crises and catastrophes discussed above are not the last. And the presented list is far from exhaustive. It can be continued for a long time. And representatives of various international organizations that are engaged in environmental protection pay attention to this. But often methods and ways of getting out of the current situation are offered, which can only harm humanity, put it on the verge of extinction. For example, a ban on the extraction of minerals, or a reduction in its use for the production of electricity. In addition, such measures can trigger other man-made environmental disasters. The way out of this situation is to improve technologies and strengthen the safety of industrial production. Only in this case, humanity is really able to effectively solve the problems that face it in the foreseeable and distant future.
