Michelle Laparra-Love Canal Report

This is the question that I asked my people after posting the video on Facebook along with an article about the major spill and explosion in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010: Read the article and watch the clip. Why should we care about something that happened 30 years ago?
Comments from Facebook:

David-Wow, that is crazy. I just watched part 1. Obviously we care about this because we don't want it to happen again in our day. Although it happened so long ago, it has had an effect on the community which lasts today.

Tyler- I agree with David. Though it happened long ago, it's effects are unfortunately still present today. We have to learn from the past so that incidents like this don't happen again.

Anna-the past affects the present , its a way to look at us , the worst , the best , what worked , what not , the growing up of the human race, it is us ,

Stacy-Even though this happened over thirty years ago, we should still care about it because it still affects us today, and we also don't want to make the same mistakes as before

Aurelllia-Oh my goodness! Ignorance is not bliss. The people who did not know, or did not care about the effect this could have on innocent people are to blame. "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it". If we forget instances like this, we are setting ourselves up for misery and tragedy. For all we know, this stuff could be still happening. If we are aware of the past, we'll be better prepared for the future.

Mabi-Well, like everybody pointed out we learn from human errors in the past. It makes us aware of incidents that might happen in the future so we take proper measures against it. It is still helpful, to this day, for huge companies that work with chemics and wastes, it explains its dangers to people. It encourages people to fight against anything that endangers people's health and lives. This could be used in History, Science, etc. Very interestind and informative video

Shannon-Dang...thats crazy. Its sad to think about those people that were affected. I would hate to be in a situation like that, which is why we should care. Its important to learn from mistakes like that to make sure they do not happen again

Megan-We should still care about this because the contaminant doesn't go away. It's called contaminated for a reason. Anything that goes in and out of the canal will catch it. The chemical isn't organic. In the long scheme of things, 30 years is NOT a long time. You need to protect the people and the land they live on.

Comments from phone:

Mom- I had heard about this before but I did not really know exactly what had happened. How sad! Its so sad to think about the carelessness of the people that were responsible for this and the price that others had to pay for it. We have to ensure that history does not repeat itself like this again, like you had said Michelle, there are still things like this still happening.

Pamela- I think that it is important for us to learn from the past mistakes that others have made. There are still things that can happen like this again, and we need to be aware and careful so that it doesnt

Here are my answers to the 3 questions I chose:

1. Why should we care about something that happened over 30 years ago? I think that it is essential for us to care about events like this. After learning more about these kind of tragedies, it has dawned on me the kind of carelessness and ignorance that we have about environmental hazards. We need to not just care, but care enough to be more informed and ready to act against possible dangers like this.                           
2. Were you aware that environmental tragedies of this magnitude still exist today? Honestly, I had heard about freak accidents that happened, but I did not have much of an idea as to how many, why, and how they could happen even more if people continue to be uninformed and careless.
3. Do you believe that environmental crises affect you/your family today?  I think that after learning more about it..yes. Accidents like this are waiting to happen, but even if it is not something of this magnitude, my family is affected by the way that the environment is being treated. The air, the water, the land, it is all slowly getting worse because of all that we do to it. I worry fir my little sisters or future family that will have to deal with worse conditions if we do not make it better or realize that we can't just use up resources and abuse the environment without a price.