Wednesday, April 10, 2013


John Carter

Hey friends, I have here a couple of examples of environmental/health tragedies. One is from the 70's, and involved houses being developed on chemical waste sites. The other is more recent and talks about how lead poisoning is still an issue for many children. The crappy part of this one is that it mostly affects children in lower income or racial minority neighborhoods. Also, many toys from China still contain lead.

Please read these articles and comment with your reaction. These kinds of things are still happening today.

Love Canal tragedy: http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/lovecanal/01.html

Lead Poisoning: http://www.kvue.com/news/health/kids-doctor/202083071.html

  • Liz Thomas Thanks for posting these articles, John. They were sobering, but informative.
  • Wil Carter My man! Can't believe that place blew up! That's kinda crazy to think about. You would think more people would be aware of this stuff. I think the lead poisoning is more relevant to us because old homes in the US still have lead paint. It's sad this stuff still happens.
  • Nate Carter I majored in environmental health cuz! this is my thing! what continues to amaze me is how long after these things happen we start to see effects. its pretty sad how little regard people have for the future- even in their hometown and their own kids, e...See More
  • Teri Seeley Mitton These are great links to use in my Biology class. Love Canal was awful and we still have landfill issues to deal with. But, in terms of the toll on human life lead poisoning has been a problem so much longer. I am always amazed at the risks that people...See More
  • Paige Mitton I think its sad how much people will ignore just because it will make life "easier". Thinking that you can just cover up toxic chemicals to get rid of them is ridiculous. Its kind of the same with people who are still at high risk for lead poisoning. T...See More
  • Nate Monson Wow cannot believe the story about the chemical cover up! businesses are always looking for the cheapest way out without ever considering the future costs to society. We need to be careful of this in the future. Absolutely unacceptable to allow people to live in such conditions. As for the lead 2.5% doesnt concern me much. It is something that can be improved but not very alarming to me.
  • Spencer Carter i think we should seriously consider what we can do as individuals, communities and as a nation to mitigate the negative health effects those conspirining men would force upon us. its us, middle class working americans, who get up every morning so that at the end of the day the man can screw us over by building neighborhoods on toxic waste sites and feed lead to our children.
  • Brian Bonbon Carter I agree with everyone who has commented. The thing that bugs me most is the blatant disregard for the future and others. You don't have to be a major in environmental sciences to know that putting chemicals like that without the proper care into the ground is stupid. These are both horrible things.
  • Sidney Robert Horrocks What sickens me is that these kinds of cover-ups have and will happen frequently to save or make money. This really could happen anywhere. How many people know what the land they are living on was used for in prior years? I just imagine the chemical ef...See More
  • Alexandra Hirst These stories are so tragic, especially since something could have easily been done to stop both incidences. In our constitution, we are guaranteed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but in these circumstances such rights are taken from the people. I think its important that we lobby our congressmen not to allow toxic dumping to occur in areas where people live.

My reaction:


Were you aware that environmental tragedies of this magnitude still exist today?
I noticed that I kind of just assume that “someone” is taking care of the environment, public health, chemical waste, etc. It’s kind of like doing the dishes. If we all assume “someone” will do it, no one will. Each of us has got to be the one to “do it.” These problems would take care of themselves if we all quit assuming and stopped being apathetic. Otherwise each of us could be at risk of a serious, preventable health concern.


Based on the impact environmental tragedies affect you/your family how likely are you to take action against disasters like this one?
Honestly, I have not noticed an environmental tragedy in my own life, which means I am not very likely to take action against them happening. I think that most people are this way, but we never know when these things will happen. But now I have information, and I can no longer ignore potential or actual health hazards. I also think that it is my responsibility to inform others.


Environmental tragedies still exist today; what can we do today to mitigate these problems?
Those of us majoring in public health can obviously make it part of our career to preventing these tragedies. Everyone can help, however. I think the best thing we can do is to inform those around us and especially our lawmakers. I think that if we can get laws passed to prevent such tragedies before they occur, or at least to 
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