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The Panama Canal
The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a key conduit for international maritime trade
France began work on the canal in 1881, but had to stop because of engineering problems and high mortality due to disease -
Great Smog
Was a severe air pollution event that affected London during December 1952
A period of cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants mostly from the use of coal to form a thick layer of smog over the city -
Castle Bravo
Castle Bravo was the code name given to the first United States test of a dry fuel thermonuclear hydrogen bomb
the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated by the United States (and just under one-third the energy of the most powerful ever detonated) -
Minamata Disease
Is a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning
It was caused by the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater from the Chisso Corporation's chemical factory -
Silent Spring
Silent Spring is a book written by Rachel Carson.
The book is widely credited with helping launch the contemporary American environmental movement -
Montana Asbestos Contamination
Town discovered and then coped with toxic asbestos dust from the vermiculite mines
The story can be traced back to 1919 when companies first started pulling vermiculite out of mines -
Palomares Incident
A B-52G bomber collided with a KC-135 tanker
The KC-135 was completely destroyed when its fuel load ignited -
Ecocide in Vietnam
Ecocide can be used to refer to any extensive destruction of the natural environment and disruption or loss of ecosystems
Ecocide can be irreversible when an ecosystem suffers beyond self healing -
New Mexico Dead Zon
Dead Zones are low oxygen areas in the world's oceans and large lakes
They are caused by excessive nutrient pollution from human activities coupled with other factors that deplete the oxygen required to support most marine life in bottom and near bottom water -
First Earth Day
Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection.
Was first celebrated in 1970 -
Love Canal
In the mid-1970s Love Canal became the subject of national and international attention after it was revealed in the press that the site had formerly been used to bury 21,000 tons of toxic waste by Hooker Chemical -
Environmental Protection Agency
is an agency of the U.S. federal government which was created for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress -
Door to Hell
Was a natural gas field in Derweze
It was lit by Soviet petrochemical scientists in 1971 and is still burning still to this day -
The Seveso Disaster
It resulted in the highest known exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin
It gave rise to numerous scientific studies and standardized industrial safety regulations -
Amoco Cadiz
Was a very large crude carrier
Ultimately split in three and sank, all together resulting in the largest oil spill of its kind in history to that date. -
The Three Mile Island Nuclear Explosion
Was a partial nuclear explosion
It was the worst accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history -
The Bhopal Disaster
was a gas leak incident in India, considered the world's worst industrial disaster
Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals -
Chernobyl Nuclear Exsplosion
An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of the western USSR and Europe.
The Chernobyl disaster is widely considered to have been the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and is one of only two classified as a level 7 event (the maximum classification) on the International Nuclear Event Scale -
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
A oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef and spilled 260,000 to 750,000 barrels of crude oil
It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters -
Kuwait Oil Fires
Was caused by Iraq military forces setting fire to more than 600 oil wells
The fires started in January and February 1991 and the last one was extinguished by November 1991 -
Pacific Gyre Garbage Patch
Also described as the Pacific Trash Vortex,
The patch is characterized by exceptionally high concentrations of plastics, chemical sludge and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre -
Baia Mare Cyanide Spill
Was a leak of cyanide near Baia Mare, Romania
The polluted waters eventually reached the Tisza and then the Danube, killing large numbers of fish in Hungary and Yugoslavia
The spill has been called the worst environmental disaster in Europe since the Chernobyl disaster. -
The Al-Mishraq Fire
Al-Mishraq is a state run sulfur plant near Mosul, Iraq
it was the site of the largest human-made release of sulfur dioxide ever recorded when a fire gained control and burned for almost a month -
Jilin Chemical Plant Explosions
A series of explosions
The explosions killed six, injured dozens, and caused the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents. -
Sidoarjo Mud Flow
Was the result of an errupting mud valcano
It is the biggest mud volcano in the world -
TVA Kingston Fossil Plant Coal Fly Ash Slurry Spill
1.1 billion US gallons of coal fly ash slurry was released during the spill.
The coal-fired power plant uses ponds to dewater the fly ash. -
BP Oil Spill
Considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry
Is the result of the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig -
Fukushima Daiichi
Fukushima Daiichi was the 15th largest nuclear power stations in the world.
Got damaged during the tsunami in japan in 2011. -
The three gorges dam
The Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity
Except for a ship lift, the dam project was completed and fully functional as of July 4, 2012,[5][6] when the last of the main turbines in the underground plant began production -
Electronic Waste in Guiyu China
It is the location of what may be the largest electronic waste site on earth
Guiyu is nicknamed the "electronic graveyard" -
The Shrinking of the Aral Sea
The shrinking of the Aral Sea has been called "one of the planet's worst environmental disasters
The region's once prosperous fishing industry has been essentially destroyed, bringing unemployment and economic hardship
The Aral Sea region is also heavily polluted, with consequent serious public health problems -
Tragedy of the Commons
the tragedy of the commons is the depletion of a shared resource by individuals
acting independently and rationally according to each one's self-interest, despite their understanding that depleting the common resource is contrary to the group's long-term best interests
