Quite rightly, climate change has been at the forefront of discussions in the news and media. The message is consistent, that we must make a change now, before it is too late. Unfortunately, a lot of the time, we can feel like it is out of our control. This isn’t helped by the fact that companies we thought we could trust to be on the side of humanity, have made mistakes that have had detrimental impacts on the earth’s climate. Here are five pollution incidents that could have, and should have, been prevented.
- Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill on 20th April, 2010. On this date, the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig on BP-operated Macondo Prospect, exploded. Eleven workers were killed, making this the worst oil spill and environmental disaster in the history of the USA.
- Union Carbide (now Dow Chemical) pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, 2nd December 1984. This has been called the world’s worst industrial accident ever. Deadly fumes from leaking gases caused people in the city to wake up with burning eyes and lungs. Thousands of people died. The effects were long-lasting as pollutants seeped into groundwater apparently causing cancer and other serious health problems.
- The Citarum River, the biggest river in West Java, Indonesia historically provided drinking, cleaning and irrigation water for surrounding inhabitants but currently it is ‘clogged with plastic litter and fouled by untreated household sewage, solid waste and industrial waste’.
This is very gruelling information to take in, but they are real events that we mustn’t ignore. We need to learn from them and make sure they don’t happen again. Some solutions for individuals include cutting drastically on the number of products we buy that come in plastic packaging. You can protest and boycott big companies that have made these unforgivable mistakes.
Finally, for those in charge of maintaining pipes, drains and sewers, it is vital to have them checked regularly and maintained to prevent pollution incidents. Contact CCTV Drain Survey Cheltenham to sort this out as soon as possible.