This Borrowed Earth: Lessons From The Fifteen Worst Environmental Disasters Around The World (macsci)

THIS BORROWED EARTH LESSONS FROM THE FIFTEEN WORST ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS AROUND THE WORLD Robert Emmet Hernan THIS BORROWED EARTH This page intentionally left blank THIS BORROWED EARTH LESSONS FROM THE FIFTEEN WORST ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS AROUND THE WORLD Robert Emmet Hernan Foreword by Bill McKibben Preface by Graham Nash this borrowed earth Copyright © Robert Emmet Hernan, 2010. All rights reserved. First published in 2010 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fift h Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: 978–0–230–61983–8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hernan, Robert Emmet. Th is borrowed earth : lessons from the fi fteen worst environmental disasters around the world / Robert Emmet Hernan. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–230–61983–8 1. Environmental disasters—Case studies. I. Title. GE146.H37 2009 363.7—dc22 2009019880 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India First edition: February 2010 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America. CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Foreword by Bill McKibben ix Preface by Graham Nash xi Introduction 1 Minamata, Japan, 1950s 9 London, England, 1952 31 Windscale, England, 1957 39 Seveso, Italy, 1976 45 Love Canal, New York, 1978 61 Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, 1979 81 Times Beach, Missouri, 1982 91 Bhopal, India, 1984 101 Chernobyl, Ukraine, 1986 109 Rhine River, Switzerland, 1986 129 Prince William Sound, Alaska, 1989 137 Oil Spills and Fires of Kuwait, 1991 155 Dassen and Robben Islands, South Africa, 2000 163 Brazilian Rainforest 171 Global Climate Change 179 vi CONTENTS List of Some Environmental Organizations 189 Notes 193 Sources 197 Index 231 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My thanks and deep appreciation to: Jeanne Silverthorne, my wife and best friend, for just about everything; Bill McKibben for providing the clearest and most compassionate voice in support of efforts to save this planet from those who don’t care; Graham Nash for his efforts throughout his career to support environmental protection, for his support for this project from its earliest incarnation, and for his forceful preface; My friends and supporters Bill Kulik, Jim Morris, and Carl Garvey, for generously sharing their thoughts and comments af