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The Panama Canal
The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a key conduit for international maritime trade
Annual traffic has risen from about 1,000 ships in 1914, when the canal opened, to 14,702 vessels in 2008, -
Libby, Montana Asbestos Contamination
Decades of mining the vermiculite exposed workers and residents to toxic asbestos dust.
As of 2010, the EPA had cleaned up 1,460 businesses and residences and removed about 900,000 cubic yards of contaminated material -
The Great Smog of 52
was a severe air-pollution event that affected London during December 1952
total number of fatalities was considerably greater, at about 12,000. -
Castle Bravo
First United States test of a dry fuel hydrogen bomb
Contained 15 megatons of TNT
Most powerful bomb ever detenated by the U.S. -
Minamata Disease
neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning.
Symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, narrowing of the field of vision and damage to hearing and speech. -
Silent Spring
The book documented the detrimental effects on the environment—particularly on birds—of the indiscriminate use of pesticides.
Silent Spring was a 4 year project -
Eccocide in Vietnam
In 1965 US planes for the first time sprayed the defoliant Agent Orange to deforest the djungle but also causing major havoc on the civilians living in this area.
poisoning their food chain and causing illnesses, serious skin diseases and a variety of cancers in the lungs, larynx, and prostate. -
The Palomares Incident
United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command collided with a KC-135 tanker during mid-air refuelling at 31,000 feet (9,450 m) over the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Spain
killing three of the seven crew members aboard. -
Tragedy of the Commons
situation where individuals acting independently and rationally according to each's self-interest behave contrary to the best interests of the whole group by depleting some common ...
widely-known by an article written by Hardin in 1968. -
1st Earth Day
events worldwide are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection.
This day of nature's equipoise was later sanctioned in a Proclamation written by McConnell and signed by Secretary General U Thant -
Environmental Protection Agency
created for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress
The agency has approximately 15,193 full-time employees -
The Seveso Disaster
It resulted in the highest known exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) in residential populations which gave rise to numerous scientific studies and standardized industrial safety regulations
Within days a total of 3,300 animals were found dead -
The Love Canal
Covers 36 square blocks in the far southeastern corner of the city; New York City
Love Canal is one of the most appalling environmental tragedies in American history. -
The Three Mile Island Nuclear Explosion
It was the worst accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history. The incident was rated a five on the seven-point International Nuclear Event Scale
Cleanup cost of about $1 billion -
The Bhopal Disaster
Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals
official immediate death toll was 2,259. -
The Chernobyl Nuclear Explosion
catastrophic nuclear accident
An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of the western USSR and Europe.
involved over 500,000 workers and cost an estimated 18 billion rubles -
The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
Occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska,
Spilled 11 to 38 million US gallons of crude oil -
The Kuwait Oil Fires
Damaged or destroyed approximately 85% of the wells in every major Kuwaiti oil field
The total amount of oil burned is generally estimated at about one billion barrels -
Baia Mare Cyanide Spill
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
Was a leak of cyanide near Baia Mare, Romania, into the Someş River -
The Three Gorges Dam
world’s largest hydropower project and most notorious dam
sets records for number of people displaced (more than 1.2 million), number of cities and towns flooded (13 cities, 140 towns, 1,350 villages), and length of reservoir (more than 600 kilometers). The project has been plagued by corruption, spiraling costs, environmental impacts, human rights violations and resettlement difficulties. -
The Al-mishraq Fire
site of the largest human-made release of sulfur dioxide ever recorded when a fire (thought to have been deliberately started) gained control and burned for about three weeks
fire was putting 21,000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide a day into the atmosphere. -
Jilin Chemical Plant Explosions
An explosion at a petrochemical plant in China's northeastern Jilin Province resulted in the release of 100 tons of toxins into the Songhua River
The explosions killed six, injured dozens, and caused the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents. -
“An Inconvenient Truth
documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens about global warming via a comprehensive slide show that, by his own estimate made in the film, he has given more than a thousand times.
grossed $24 million in the U.S. and $26 million in the foreign box office, becoming the tenth highest grossing documentary film to date in the United States -
Sidoarjo Mud Flow
At its peak Lusi spewed up to 180,000 m³ of mud per day
It is expected that the flow will continue for the next 25 to 30 years. -
TVA Kingston Fossil Plant Coal Fly Ash Slurry Spill
An ash dike ruptured at an 84-acre (0.34 km2) solid waste containment area at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tennessee, USA.
Covering up to 300 acres (1.2 km2) of the surrounding land, damaging homes and flowing up and down stream in nearby waterways such as the Emory River and Clinch River -
Deep water horizon BP oil spill
a sea-floor oil gusher flowed for 87 days
it is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry -
Fukushima Daiichi
9.0 earthquake and tsunami Hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 11th, 2011
The disaster disabled the reactor cooling systems, leading to releases of radioactivity and triggering a 30 km evacuation zone surrounding the plant -
Amoco Cadiz
she ran aground on Portsall Rocks, 5 km (3 mi) from the coast of Brittany, France; and ultimately split in three and sank, resulting in the largest oil spill of its kind in history to that date.
contained 1,604,500 barrels (219,797 tons) of light crude oil -
Pacific Gyre Garbage Patch
A gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean
These four currents move in a clockwise direction around an area of 20 million square kilometers -
Door to Hell
The gas reserve found here is one of the largest in the world. The name "Door to Hell" was given to the field by the locals, referring to the fire, boiling mud, and orange flames in the large crater
Depth of about 20 metres (66 ft)
Found in 1971 -
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone
Dead zones are hypoxic (low-oxygen) areas in the world's oceans and large lakes, caused by "excessive nutrient pollution from human activities
In the 1970s oceanographers began noting increased instances of dead zones -
The Shrinking of the Aral Sea
irrigation made the desert bloom, it devastated the Aral Sea
As the lake dried up, fisheries and the communities that depended on them collapsed. -
E-waste in Guiyu, China
E-waste, or electronic waste, consists of everything from scrapped TVs, refrigerators and air conditioners
about 70% of electronic waste globally generated ended up in China
