Paige Barnes: Love Canal and Oil Spills

Love Canal--http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/business/energy-environment/bp-executive-shares-blame-with-contractors.html?ref=gulfofmexico2010&_r=0

BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010--http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/lovecanal/01.html

Were you aware that environmental tragedies of this magnitude still exist today? I knew that tragedies were still happening, but when you see it affect people the way the Love Canal, it becomes more shocking and scary. I didn't realize how bad that situation was. 

In your opinion are environmental hazards something we should be concerned about on a daily basis? Yes, I believe that it should always be in the back of our minds. I don't think we necessarily need to be panicked over it all the time, but being aware of what can happen and trying to be educated by doing research and paying attention to public health news is very important.  

How do environmental tragedies affect you on a daily basis? Why should we care about them?  I haven't seen affects of them in my daily life, but we need to care about what has happened and what can happen. It is important that we know of our past and how we can help to prevent it from happening again. 

Why should we care about something that happened 30 years ago? (comments from others)

1. This is an unbelievable story. So, so sad. We can be aware of what is going on--we need to educated ourselves!
2. We need to know how to protect ourselves and our families. If we aren't aware of things like this, then we have know way of helping.
3. If we are aware of things like this, then there are ways that we as the public advocate for our communities.
4. I think it is important that we understand the affects that things like this can have on a community. Like the Love Canal, it seems like the public was only aware to a certain point.
5. I believe it is so important to be informed about things like this so that we can be safe. We want to live in a safe environment and by having information like this, we can be more aware.
6. We study history whether it happened 100 years ago or 5 years ago. We have to learn from the past. Obviously we haven't learned--we don't want to make the same mistakes.
7. So that we can learn from the past. And, not makes mistakes that have already been made. To all of the families that lived there (Love Canal), it is important to them and they want it to be remembered. You don't push tragedies aside.
8. The love canal story is an angering one. It is hard to believe that so many people were so affected by this...and that others were so ignorant. I think that people just get lazy and don't bother. I believe that it is so important that we remember the past. That is how we learn and grow. And by remembering these past situations we can improve and move towards a better future.
9. It is important to know things like this so it helps the people who make decisions like this have a bigger perspective.
10. We as a community, public and Country we can create preventative actions by remembering the past. How else can we become better if we forget our mistakes?