Love Canal Report- Lauren Cheney

Lauren Cheney Public Health 100. 4/8/13

I posted an article about how there are invasive plant species, that can harm the native grasslands by changing the soil composition, making it harder to grow crops, for our daily intake.

The question was: In your opinion are environmental hazards something we should be concerned about on a daily basis. Here are the comments I received.

Comments

 

·         I feel as if it is something we should be aware of, but not something we should be concerned about on a daily basis. I feel as if we should each put in an individual effort to make sure that we keep in mind the effects of our actions on the environment though.

·         I'm not concerned with much anything on a daily basis, so count environmental hazards out of my daily concerns.

·         I am not worried about it at all. If scientist look back to research done in the years past, they can see that just as they are hypothesizing this coming change, it has already taken place earlier in the planets cycle. Take for example the practice of slash-and-burn agriculture where they clear out land to make room for fields. Many believe that this practice actually helps enrich the plan by introducing it to a new environment and strengthen the soil. In that same manner, the Midwest will undergo through the same change as a part of its cycle. It may seem like a bad thing, as the article suggests, but it, too, must undergo that change to fortify itself.

·         I agree with what has already been said. Yes we should be concerned about environmental hazards, but I don't see why that needs to be a daily concern for us. We have enough things to worry about on a daily basis, I don't think we need to add environmental hazards to the list.

·         I am sure it's something that we should be concerned with but won't. Like most things, if something isn't directly affecting us on a daily basis, we will not give it much thought until we have to.

·         I agree with everyone above. We should be aware of the issue but not concerned about it on a daily basis. The evolution of environmental factors is so slow that day to day not much would change.

·         I feel like they definitely are. Without these hazards our world would be an unhealthier place

·         Yes, I feel that it is something that we should be concerned about. I definitely wouldn't want to have mutant children because my home was built on top of chemical waste. We should work together to create a more healthy environment for everyone.

·         Environmental risks are part of a developing economy. The only way to minimize the risk is to be an industrial country and ship the labor to developing nations.

·         On a daily basis no. But I think we do need to reflect every year on what can be done to get better.

                                                                                         My own answered questions

 

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

·         I was not aware that tragedies still existed today. I knew that things like this tragedy has to take place sometimes, but I did not know they were this apparent, and that it can really affect our daily lives, and our future generations. It makes me want to be more cautious with my children and how I raise them. I didn’t know, like in my article that I found, that invasive plant species make it harder for crops to grow. I hope this doesn’t affect my children, or grandchildren someday.

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

·         I do think that it can affect my family over time. However, I don’t think that it has that much of an affect on us throughout our daily routines. I do think we have to be cautious anyways. I think there are many crises that we do not know about, and it is slowly affecting us and our future generations. Just like the Love Canal, it affects so many people. There were birth defects, people got sick, children burned their hands playing outside, and so much more. Sometimes, we don’t even know what is affecting us in the environment.

Based on the impact environmental tragedies affect you/your families how likely are you to take action against disasters like this one.

·         If the disasters are more apparent and more accessible to read and learn about, and I knew of the consequences of the disasters then I would definitely take action. However, people are barley aware of their surroundings and what it happening in their daily lives, so it is difficult to take action. Tragedies of the disasters happen little by little, just like the Love Canal affected the children little by little. Sometimes we have no idea.