Kelli Meyer-Love Canal Report

Were you aware that environmental tragedies of this magnitude still exist today?

I knew that there were still environmental tragedies. However, I did not realize how dramatic and horrendous they are. In the news, not everything is covered. I feel as if, like myself, there are many who are not aware of such tragedies. The older I get, the more educated and more aware I become.

Why should we care about something that happened over 30 years ago?

We need to care about our past in order to better our future. Though Love Canal was a tragedy, we are able to learn from that experience in order to protect ourselves from such events reoccurring.

Do you believe that environmental crises affect you/your family today?

Yes, I believe that environmental crises affect my family today. Close to where I live was a large area where mine tailings were deposited. This had a large impact on the people living there at the time and precautions were taken to ensure the safety of the community. However, there are still lasting affects, such as cancer, that many suffer from because of their exposure to the mine tailings.

1. It is important today because there are still toxic wastes in the ground.  We should have a special task force, create jobs like ghost busters to hunt these sites down.  We want to be more aggressive to protect our health & our kid’s health. We need to find where the chemicals were manufactured or patented. The future looks grim with not knowing if your house or the next neighborhood down is sitting and growing gardens, kids playing in sand boxes, all unaware of the time bomb ticking underneath them.

-Jonna Meyer

2. We should care about what happened in Love Canal 30 years ago, because it is still affecting the area now. The dangerous chemicals have not been completely contained yet and they can still have a negative effect on the populous that are moving back into the area. A fence around the main toxic area does not prevent the dangerous chemicals from spreading and people need to be aware of that. Furthermore, we should care, because incidents like this are still happening in the United States. We need to manage toxic waste more carefully to avoid contaminating water sources and experiencing a similar disaster in other area.

-Sarah Bennion

3. Nowadays, more than ever, the example of the Love Canal tragedy is important as we think about how to handle chemical waste.  The United States produces even more chemical waste than in the past and there are even more populated areas than in the past, and if we are not careful about how it is disposed, cases similar to the Love Canal tragedy could become rampant.

I think the Love Canal tragedy is important in that we are still dealing with the problem of how to properly dispose and manage waste.  Sometimes waste management can seem like a distant problem that we no longer deal with, but in reality, we see cases of this as close by as Moab--the Department of Energy is currently in the process of moving uranium tailings that were buried near the banks of the Colorado river to a permanent location where leaching and water contamination will be less likely.  (See http://www.moabtailings.org/)  As a side note... there are more uranium tailings and mill waste buried in Mexican Hat, but those ones were properly contained to prevent leaching and radiation exposure in 1995.  (See http://clui.org/ludb/site/mexican-hat-uranium-disposal-cell)

-Haley Parker

4. What is the possibility of an episode such as the Love Canal happening again? The reality of the scene tells us that we should continue to do everything in are power to not repeat the past. With the amounts of hazardous waste today, it is important that safety measures are taken to prevent the possibility of what could happen. We know of the consequences and we have the ways and means to product this land and people from the risks; let's continue to provide the most efficient way to prevent this from recurring.

-Casey Meyer
5. We should care about something that happened thirty years ago, like the Love Canal, because it still affects us today. Although regulation has been taken in effect to prevent toxic waste, it is still occurring and the issues that came from the Love Canal forewarn us what could happen if we do not completely get rid of the problem.

-Kallina Crompton

6. All historical events have an impact on the world, no matter how long ago they happened. Whether it be a direct relation, or just the memory of the event, they shape our lives. Something like the Love Canal tragedy is a more prevalent event because it causes us to rethink how we are using substances and how we dispose of them. They also make us reconsider what has more value, human life free of harm, or savings of money and time. We should care about the past events because they can teach us how to change the future. Without knowing about them, studying them and the improving, history would repeat its self. With the Love Canal situation, if it were to be repeated more serious health problems would arise, and there would be nothing set up to aid those people affected. Past events can teach us to make a better future. We need them in order to develop and become a more well functional society.

-Rachel Swendsen

7. We should care because some of the effects can still affect people today (the chemicals)

Also, if we care about this it can help us prevent things like this from happening in the future

--The legislations and costs that have to do with the love canal are still in effect

-- it shows what the reaction will be of gov't and people etc if it were to happen again

--people suffered-we should care-

--shows how people responded and if it was effective etc

-Ashley Kunz

8. We should care about something that happened over 30 years ago because we still see the effects of this tragedy on people.  Even though this love canal tragedy happened more than 30 years ago, it has created a lasting impact on the people that live in the area and has caused some people to have to move and has even caused some children to have birth defects.  We should also care about this tragedy so that we can make sure we don't repeat it in the future.  We need to learn from the past so that we can make a better future.

- Becca Fenn  

9. When the chemicals were put into the ground, they didn't realize the effect it could have on future generations. What are we doing now that is dangerous or harmful that could potentially damage the future? We need to care about tragedies such as this one from the past to better prepare for the future. 

-Bridget Banks

10. We have to care about something that happened over 30 years ago because it still affects us now. To think about the innocent kids and families that got the impact from the people in the past's irresponsibility.  But what happened had happened and we couldn't change it. The only thing we can do now is to learn from the past and find a solution and prevention to this problem.

Taradita subiantoro