Introduction to environmental studies

Environmental episodes

• Formerly one of the four largest lakes in the world with an area of 68,000 km2 (26,300 sq mi), the Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects. By 2007, it had declined to 10% of its original size, splitting into four lakes – the North Aral Sea, the eastern and western basins of the once far larger South Aral Sea, and one smaller lake between the North and South Aral Seas.[4] By 2009, the southeastern lake had disappeared and the southwestern lake had retreated to a thin strip at the western edge of the former southern sea; in subsequent years, occasional water flows have led to the southeastern lake sometimes being replenished to a small degree.[5] Satellite images taken by NASA in August 2014 revealed that for the first time in modern history the eastern basin of the Aral Sea had completely dried up.[6] The eastern basin is now called the Aralkum Desert.

• Love Canal is a neighborhood within Niagara Falls, New York. It is the site of a pollution disaster that extensively affected the health of hundreds of its residents, necessitating a Superfund cleanup operation.

• Originally intended in the 1890s as a planned model community, Love Canal grew and then slowly declined before being bought out in the 1940s by the Hooker Company, which dumped industrial waste in the never completed canal.

• In the late 1970s, Love Canal received national attention for the public health problem originating from the disposal of 22,000 barrels of toxic waste. Numerous families were displaced from their houses, which had been contaminated with chemicals and toxic waste. Many of the families suffered several health issues with common problems of high red blood cell counts and indications of leukemia. The entire neighborhood has since been demolished and a Superfund cleanup was only wrapped up in 2004.

• New York State Health Department Commissioner David Axelrod calls the Love Canal incident a "national symbol of a failure to exercise a sense of concern for future generations

•Endosulfan was sprayed in the cashew plantations in Cheemeni estate from 1978 onwards regularly three times every year. It was sprayed aerially by using helicopters and small planes.

• As the plantations are mostly in mountainous areas, the pesticide drained and got washed down the slopes during rains into drinking water below. The consumption of this water by the people and animals resulted in diseases ranging from physical deformities, cancers, birth disorders and damages to brain and nervous system.

• The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident in India, considered the world's worstindustrial disaster.[1]

• It occurred on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals. The highly toxic substance made its way into and around the shanty towns located near the plant.[2]

• Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259. The government of Madhya Pradesh confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release.[3] A government affidavit in 2006 stated that the leak caused 558,125 injuries, including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries.[4] Others estimate that 8,000 died within two weeks, and another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-related diseases.[5

Objectives

• The intergovernmental conference on environmental education held in Tbilisi 1977 USSR listed 6 objectives:

• Awareness• Knowledge• Attitude• Skills• Evaluation ability• participation

Definition

• Derived from the French word ‘Environer’