1 Toxic Sludge Poisons New York State Neighborhood had two children who were sick She read a newspaper article that said chemical waste was buried in the area Lois spoke to her neighbors She recorded the conditions residents had Her work gained national attention Officials began to investigate They found that the Hooker Love Canal neighborhood In the 1970s children in the Love Canal neighborhood of Niagara Falls New York started getting sick Some developed diseases such as epilepsy and asthma Many babies were born premature Others had birth defects A number of children never grew their adult teeth When black goo began seeping up from the grass residents knew something was wrong One young mother took action Lois Gibbs The foundation of a home that was relocated Behind is the filled-in chemical dump
Children protest at a neighborhood rally in 1978 Chemical Company had dumped chemical waste in Love Canal decades earlier The site was later covered with clay It was then sold to the city A school was built on the site Over time chemicals ate through the clay They seeped up out of the ground Children spent their recess on a playground with black mucky toxic goop These poisonous chemicals made Love Canal residents sick 56 Percent of children in Love Canal born with birth defects from 1974 to 1978 Children in Love Canal began getting sick in the 1970s Toxic chemicals had been buried in the area Exposure to the chemicals caused birth defects and diseases A PREVENTABLE DISASTER The Hooker Chemical Company told city officials about the buried chemicals But officials didn’t pass along warnings to people who bought homes in the Love Canal neighborhood The state of New York eventually purchased the homes of nearly 1,000 families in the area It also paid to relocate people
2 Door to Hell Burns for Decades in Turkmenistan Desert Geologists went to the Karakum Desert in 1971 to find oil They began to drill in present-day Turkmenistan near the village of Darvaza These scientists did not find oil Instead they drilled right into a large pocket of natural gas The large craters gave off natural gas It contained a gas called methane The methane made it difficult for people and animals to breathe Scientists noticed desert animals dying Something had to be done When oil drills hit the natural gas cavity the ground gave way It couldn’t support the weight of the machinery The entire site collapsed Other areas near the drill site also caved in Open craters dotted the Karakum Desert Geologists lit the natural gas field on fire They hoped the gas would burn off quickly After a few weeks the fires still burned Months passed Then years Then decades More than 40 years later the Darvaza gas crater is still on fire
The crater is 225 feet 69 m across Many people call it the Door to Hell In 2010 the president of Turkmenistan ordered the crater to be filled in He believed this would allow geologists to drill for oil in nearby areas But officials have yet to take action The crater has become a tourist attraction No one knows how long the fire will burn 99 Depth in feet 30 m of the burning crater The Darvaza Gas Crater was created by geologists drilling for oil Scientists lit a fire in the crater to burn off natural gas containing methane The crater has been burning for more than 40 years
