Rebekah Tucker - The Love Canal

I asked the question: Why is it important that we should care about an event that happened 30 years ago?

Jackie - So you can take steps to make sure it never happens again.

Bonnie - Events that happened over 30 years ago - even hundreds of years ago - have a huge impact on what we do, who we are, and how we see the world.

Hillary - If we forget our past (recent or otherwise) then we are disregarding that those actions have any impact on our current lives and identities eventually leading to a devalued importance on our own ability to make decisions that affect ours or others futures. When we forget the past the purpose of our existence disappears.

Carolina -  The past is a great teacher. If we can take the learning and apply it, we move forward and better, avoiding falling in similar mistakes.

Hannah - It's good to know for future prevention, and to see relationships between now and then. Also, things that happened even 30 years ago, may still have an effect on us today, for example the consequences from it: environmental, physical, and how it changed the people and community. 

Brittany - History is a perpetual cycle. If we don't look at, then we are doomed to repeat it.

Nelssie - It's important to know what has happened, because it teaches us where we are coming and so we can find some direction for the future. The past influences our present with us knowing, but when we are aware, then we can now how to use that moment for the future.


Lisa - You can learn from the past. If you learn about chemicals in waters and those kinds of events, same with pollution, pesticides, etc, you can learn how to cut out the harmful things in the environment if know the problems that happened in the past. This way you don't make the same mistake, and you improve the future.

Taylor - History is bound to repeat itself unless we remember it. Tragedies happen so that we can learn from our past mistakes in order to be more prepared in the future. The Love Canal also reminds us of our dependence on others. The residents of the Love Canal weren't able to sell their land because they couldn't prove that the chemicals on their ropert were causing birth defects and other health problems. Only after the media stepped in did it gain national attention. It's disheartening that change takes so long to occur in our society, even when it is so obvious that it is needed.

Paul - Understanding past disasters helps us avoid new ones. It also helps us solve new problems better.

My Comments:
I posted the article about the Chilean miners that were trapped in a mine for 69 days. The mine collapse happened in 2010.

Why it's important to know things that happened 30 years ago is because you can prevent them from occurring. Environmental/occupational hazards happen a lot more than we think. It is important that we are aware and do something to prevent them from occurring.

Ways that we can mitigate environmental tragedies that happen today are by correcting a problem when we first see it before it grows into something worse. We need to make the public aware that there are dangers and they should be careful and not just pass by them.


I honestly was not aware that environmental tragedies still exist today. Not only do they exist, but I think it's because of the ignorance of the common people. They will keep existing in the future if we don't care about preventing them now.