Ever since the dawn of the human species, mankind has left his mark upon the Earth. Early humans were hunters and gatherers. Unfortunately many species of wildlife have been hunted to extinction to feed man’s ever growing appetite. In modern times mankind’s imprint on this Earth is growing ever larger. Many species and ecosystems are in danger as a direct result of man’s presence on this planet, and technological advances in weaponry give armies the potential to kill hundreds of thousands of people in minutes.
No matter where an individual stands on issues like pollution or politics one cannot deny that human technology can backfire or be misused and has been. The following is a brief description of some of the worst disasters caused by mankind.
The Chernobyl Disaster
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was a nuclear power facility in the part of the former Soviet Union that is now Ukraine. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant contained four reactors during the time before its destruction.
On April 26, 1986 at 1:23 a.m. Reactor 4 malfunctioned and exploded causing a chain of events that would later be known as the worst nuclear disaster of all history. The incident at Chernobyl is the only incident to ever be rated as high as a seven on The International Nuclear Event Scale.
The Explosion of Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant occurred as a result of a poorly planned and executed experiment on the reactor. Two workers died as a result of the initial explosion. After the explosion of Reactor 4 several other explosions took place and a cloud of radioactive particles was sent into the atmosphere. It is estimated that the radioactive particles released in Chernobyl that day were four times more than were released during the bombing of Hiroshima. Scientists believe that fifty-percent of the fallout was eventually carried out of the Ukraine. Some other countries that received some fallout include, but are not limited to, Russia, Poland, Belarus, Serbia, The U.K., Moldova, Italy, Turkish Thrace, France and many more.
Due to the secrecy of the Soviet Union it will never be known how many people actually died as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Doctors were, at the time, forbidden to list “radiation sickness” as a cause of death on a death certificate.
Today most areas affected by the fallout are considered safe to live in. Only thirty kilometers are left of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and that is strictly off-limits. Getting the area to be livable again was not cheap. The accident itself and the cleanup, including the installation of an enclosure around the site is estimated to have cost the equivalent of 200 billion USD.
The Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese raided Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, U.S.A. 2,400 Americans were killed in the raid. In retaliation for that attack and in an effort to curtail any further fighting on American soil, the United States launched a campaign against Japan. The United States demanded a surrender from Japan and none was forthcoming. After years of fighting and six months of sustained bombing of Japan by U.S. forces Japan had still not surrendered. U.S. President Truman eventually gave the order to launch a nuclear attack on Japan. On August 6 and 9 of 1945 the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastated by nuclear bombs, the first and only nuclear attack in history.
The bombing of Hiroshima happened on August 6, 1945. A bomber that had been christened “Enola Gay” left the island of Tinian and headed for Hiroshima. The “Enola Gay’s” cargo was a 9,700 pound Uranium bomb nicknamed “Little Boy.” The “Enola Gay” released “Little Boy” at 8:15 a.m., the city was bustling with activity. When “Little Boy” hit every person close to the site was killed instantly. It is said that birds flying close to the explosion burst into flames midair. White light from the explosion burned the pattern of people’s clothes to their skin. Silhouettes that were people’s shadows were burned onto buildings. Within minutes 90% of people within a half-mile were dead. A large firestorm had begun after the explosion. Injured people who could not escape burned alive.
A few days after the bombing the city of Hiroshima had turned power back on in some parts of the city and relief workers were tending to the injured, then another challenge faced them. A couple of days after overexposure to radiation people begin to show signs of radiation poisoning, it was then that some survivors began to become ill and it took them weeks to die of the radiation. Estimates show that 70,000 people died in the initial fallout and blast, but certainly thousands more died weeks, months and years later from leukemia and cancer.
Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, August 9, 1945, the U.S. dropped another bomb on Japan, this time on Nagasaki. The B-29 that carried the nuclear bomb to Nagasaki was named “Bockscar” and it carried a far more powerful load than “Enola Gay.” The bomb intended for Nagasaki was a 10,200 pound bomb with a Plutonium core. This bomb was called “Fat Man.” The “Fat Man” was detonated at 1,800 feet over Nagasaki at 11:02 a.m. The fallout and damage caused by the “Fat Man” were very similar to that of “Little Boy,” but the hilly landscape of Nagasaki saved the city from far worse destruction than it suffered. The population of Nagasaki was also only two-thirds that of Hiroshima. The casualties are considered to number at 64,000 a lot less than this powerful bomb could have potentially hurt or killed.
The Dumping of Oil Into the Persian Gulf
During the Gulf War, on January 21, 1991, the one time leader of Iraq Saddam Hussein ordered the opening of valves at the Sea Island Terminal effectively releasing 96-528 million gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf. Apparently this order was given in an attempt to stop a potential landing by U.S. Marines.
Initial reports from Baghdad claim that the oil spill was caused by U.S. Air Strikes. U.S. and coalition forces found the cause of the spill and on January 26, 1991 launched an Air Strike to blow up oil lines leading into the Persian Gulf and effectively stopping the flow of oil.
Much of the oil from the spill wound up on the northern coast of Saudi Arabia. The oil endangered Mangrove trees and wildlife habitats it also dangerously polluted intertidal zones. Several operations were put into effect to try to save endangered mangroves and to assist the turtle population. Flushing away the oil from the roots of the mangrove trees proved affective in saving them. Oil-soaked sediment was removed from the coast of Karan Island and replaced by fresh sand. Today the Gulf looks much better, but environmentalists say that the oil still lies in the sediment on the shore and in the ocean.
A lot of the human population today relies on electricity that is generated at dams or nuclear facilities that can be hazardous to the environment and to humankind. Weapons used to fight wars are becoming more and more dangerous every year. With the potential for bio and eco terrorism and warfare on the rise who knows what disasters lie in our future?
