Fragile

This is the first part of the final history series. Enjoy!

We look outside our window, and we see a very hostile environment. It did not used be that way though. But now, we are in constant threat to something that affects the environment. And most of those things are creations by man. We hear of cultures being altered and the homes for all species being destroyed by someone’s selfish goals. And the many advances in technology have assisted in effecting our environment greatly. There are numerous amounts of man-made disasters, but today, I want to briefly discuss with you several disastrous events that prove that our environment is being affected by the decisions made by man, and how man’s own actions are affecting them.

We are all very familiar with the atomic bombings of Japan. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the two cities bombed, and still are reflected by it today. Tens of thousands died during the bombing, and hundreds of thousands died after due to harmful effects from the bombings. Anyone within a four to six mile range was likely to die. The cities took a hard hit from the bombings, receiving massive amounts of debris falling from the sky, and radioactive ash that kept falling an hour after the bombing. The after effects left citizens with radiation poisoning, which is the worst atomic bombing effect. And later on, reports came of cases of cancer, tumors and cysts.

That makes you wonder, what effects would be produced by another atomic bomb was detonated? Scientists say that a nuclear arsenal poses the single largest threat to the environment, and reports say that it could destroy the world’s ecosystems that would leave effects for decades. And only 0.03% of the current nuclear power could create so much soot to block out the sun, and rapidly cool the earth. All of this would result in the death of millions, and the inability to cultivate land. So, the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is not as harmful as what could potentially happen, but it puts fear into many that humans have the power to reshape , if not, destroy the environment that we live in today.

At the end of 1972, the United States ended the thirty year use of DDT, a pesticide used to control insects against crops, and diseases such as malaria. Because of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, the nation’s eyes were finally open to what DDT was really doing to the environment. It was first developed in War World II to combat the insects, malaria, and other diseases including typhus for the military and citizen population. During that time, the chemical was also starting to be used in the agricultural field. Since its entrance, 675,000 tons of it have been released around the nation, 80 million pounds of it being released in 1959 alone.

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, “The effects of DDT are present throughout the ecosystem and food chain.” The WHO also reported that DDT can also be seen in microorganism, water-inhabited animals and mammals. Reports also say that DDT causes thinning of bird eggshells, cutting the number of offspring, reducing reproduction rate. Microorganisms, which inhabits the ocean, is affected by DDT. It doesn’t kill the organisms, but infects the very bottom of the food chain, which winds up on our dinner table.

The most frightening is that humans can be affected by it as well. In 1968, it was proven that Americans were once consuming .025 mg of DDT a day. Certain concentrations cause the human body to experience headache, nausea, vomiting, confusion and tremors. And there are also talks that breast cancer is a result of being exposed to DDT. Even though the United States has banned DDT as a method against insects and disease, other countries still use it, continuing to be an enemy against the environment. And as long as the other nations are using it, there will always be a threat of the pesticide reaching in our foods or products that we use.

What happened in Bhopal? That was the question I asked when I came across the topic during my research. And although I have never heard of it, the incident in Bhopal, India was horrific. On December 2nd, 1984, a Union Carbide plant leaked 27 tons of the gas methyl isocyanate, which is used to create another form of pesticide. Over half a million people were exposed to the gas that was leaking, 20,000 people dying as a result later on.

120,000 of the victims continued to suffer from the exposure years after the leak. They experienced symptoms such as blindness, and difficult breathing. It greatly affected the environment when it seeped into soil and water and contaminated it with organochlorines and heavy metals. In 1999, they found mercury levels in water thousands to millions of times more than expected. Since the exposure, research has found mercury and lead in the breast milk of mothers living near the plant. Not only does the leak affect the environment greatly, but it affects the feeding process for infants living in that area. The contaminated area has never been fully cleaned up or stopped, which has resulted in citizens still being poisoned to this day .

To Be Continued...