Scientists are once again working to find ways to protect wildlife habitat and sensitive ecosystems from an oil spill. This work is happening while studies are still being done to determine the full effects of these and other past oil spills.
New Zealand’s Biggest Sea-Accident in History:
On October 5, 2011, a cargo ship headed to New Zealand ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef off the port of Tauranga, spilling 350 tons of oil into the ocean. Government officials are claiming that this is the most significant environmental disaster New Zealand has had to face in decades. In later days, the accident threatened to worsen as the cargo ship became dislodged from the reef and began to break apart.
Due to bad weather, clean-up crews have not been able to unload the hazardous cargo from the oil ship. According to investigators on the case, the 775-foot vessel crashed into the well charted reef during calm weather and the crew are fully cooperating with local authorities, but have provided no further explanation as to the cause of the accident.
This accident has led to severe environmental damage to local and pristine beaches in the area. Over 1,300 birds have been negatively affected by the spill, and the remains of fish, penguins, jellyfish and snails are continuing to wash up on shore. The local community has become a large force in cleaning up the debris that has washed up, and efforts to contain the damage of the spill continue. While this off-shore accident will cause terrible damage to the local environment, it does not begin to compare to prior oil spills.
Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill:
The largest off-shore oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry occurred in April of 2010, and flowed for next 3 months. It was named the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also referred to as the Gulf of Mexico spill. This led to 205.8 million gallons of oil to leak into the Gulf of Mexico. In January 2011, the White House oil spill commission released the final details on the causes of the spill. Oil company BP was blamed for making a series of cost-cutting decisions and the lack of a system to ensure well safety that led to the explosion and subsequent 11 deaths and billions of dollars of damage.
Gulf War Oil Spill:
Dwarfing even this immense spill was the 1991 Gulf War oil spill that led to 240 to 336 million gallons of oil to spill into the Persian Gulf. Unlike many other spills that occurred over the course of history, this was no accident. As Iraqi forces retreated from Kuwait during the first Gulf War, they opened the valves of oil wells and pipelines in an effort to slow the advancing American troops. This caused considerable damage to the Persian Gulf as it created an oil slick the size of the island of Hawaii. Also, unlike other spills, cleanup efforts had to wait until the war was over. According to Dr. Jacqueline Michel, U.S. geochemist, “The long term effects were very significant. There was no shoreline cleanup, essentially, over the 800 kilometers that the oil (spread)” so when scientists went back to conduct a survey in 2002 and 2003, there was still a considerable amount of oil sediment that remained, 12 years after the spill. Because the oil had been there so long, it penetrated much more deeply into the intertidal soil, and there is no way to extract the oil at that point.
These environmental catastrophes affect not only the local areas, but the world as a whole. For example, the Gulf of Mexico spill threatened eight U.S. national parks, and more than 400 species that live in the Gulf islands and marshlands are at risk, including many endangered species. Using our fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) as a means of ecological warfare causes not only environmental damage, but endangers the health of human generations. While the topic is still debated, several American soldiers complain of suffering from “Gulf War Syndrome,” described as a medical condition stemming from exposure to dangerous war-time chemicals that led to symptoms such as skin rashes, cognitive defects, or future birth defects. Finally, these immense oil spills are depleting our already finite resources of fossil fuels at an alarming rate. While research into alternative fuel resources (such as biodiesel, solar power, wind power, and hydroelectricity) is on the horizon, we are not yet ready to be separated from our current dirty power sources. We see the evidence of the growing scarcity of oil in the world as the price of gas is driven ever higher. Every time we turn on a light, or take our cars for a spin, we can be reminded how precious our fossil fuel resources are, especially as they go to waste in our oceans and deserts.
As environmental educators, it is important that we help our students understand the role they play. Even a sixth grader can proudly turn off a light or choose a book over a video game if they can see their own connection with what is going on in the rest of the world. As these students grow into adults, the lessons we teach them about the challenges of fossil fuels may help them to come up with answers to our planet’s challenges that we cannot yet imagine. These are the seeds that we at High Trails, and throughout the environmental education industry, can be proud to plant.
 |
| Caroline Burdick |
For more information click here.
For information on the largest oil spills in history click here.
Comments are closed.