For the third year in a row, Bakersfield, California ranks as the nation’s second smoggiest city in America. Coming in just behind Los Angeles, Bakersfield is also the second most ozone-polluted cities.

But, that’s not all. Bakersfield has now moved into first place as the city with the most fine particulate pollution. According to an annual American Lung Association (ALA) report, which ranks America’s cities with the unhealthiest air, Bakersfield was third behind Pittsburgh and Los Angeles last year.

The ALA reports that, while America’s air has gotten somewhat better over the last 10 years, many cities still suffer from severe air pollution problems. In fact, despite progress in cutting air pollutants and a booming “green” movement, almost every major metropolitan area is fraught with considerable air pollution.

The ALA rates cities on three primary criteria: ozone, short-term particle spikes and long-term particle averages. Each group of ratings is based on statistics collected from the years 2005 through 2007 at monitoring stations maintained by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Los Angeles, Fresno and Bakersfield, all in California, had the dubious distinction of being on the top 10 list of all three categories.

Air pollution has become a major threat to human health. This is especially evident when you consider that roughly 60 percent of Americans are currently breathing air dirty enough to send people to emergency rooms across the country, to shape how children’s lungs develop and to kill through the development of serious respiratory illnesses.

The ALA’s annual report states that of the 25 cities with the worst ozone pollution problems, 16 recorded higher ozone levels when compared with last year. A dozen of the 25 cities with the worst average particle problems, which include microscopic soot, diesel exhaust, various chemicals, metals and aerosols, experienced a spike in these pollutants.

Another four cities showed no change and, thankfully, nine cities actually showed some improvement. And, of the 25 worst, 13 cities recorded more days of severe spikes in particle pollution than they had last year.

But, what contributes to the pollution problems in these 25 cities with the worst air pollution? Let’s look at Bakersfield.

It has been over a decade since the first reports of the growing air pollution that is still threatening the United State’s most diverse and productive farm counties in California’s Central Valley. The reasons for the advances in air pollution are manifold and include mist from fertilizers and pesticides and dust from tractors that help grow half of our nation’s produce.



Bakersfield photo: A Polluted Sunset by andy castro, via Creative Commons

However, other factors also contribute to the rising air pollution. The meteorological conditions and topography of the region only make matters worse, and they also make the problem very difficult to solve.

Bakersfield is boxed in on three sides by mountains. Inversion layers, which act as a lid on the air and hold the pollution close to the ground, are present in both winter and summer. There is little or no wind to take the pollution elsewhere, so it just sits over the city.

Bakersfield’s Kern County also ranks as the worst county in average annual particulate pollution. However, some efforts to reduce the toxic air pollution have been made.

According to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, the county has been able to reduce stationary sources of pollution by 80 percent since 1980. This has been accomplished through various measures, including regulations on oil processing and, in 2003, restrictions on wood-fueled fires. Additional farming regulations, which reduce the number of harvesting machines as well as the number of trips made through the fields, have also helped.

Despite these accomplishments, county officials now say they need state and federal assistance in controlling the heavy-duty trucks that pass through on Interstate 5 and Highway 99. These semi-trucks, cut east to west hauling produce from farms to packaging facilities, fall outside the county’s regulatory authority.

To date, air pollution controls have cost Kern County businesses approximately $40 billion. This $40 billion is split between to important plans – one aimed at reducing particulate matter by 2015 and another plan aimed at reducing ozone by 2023.

However, the financial cost of noncompliance with federal pollution standards may be much more. Being out of compliance with federal Environment Protection Agency standards costs Kern County $2 billion in forfeited federal highway funding and puts a dent in its ability to attract more businesses to the area.

There are other intangible costs that are just as important as the strictly financial costs. The ALA emphasizes the poor and deteriorating lung capacities of the young people who are growing up in such dirty, polluted environments. A University of California Fullerton Study estimated the economic cost of not meeting EPA air standards for the southern California region, which includes all of Los Angeles, at $6 billion per year in health-related costs as well as premature deaths.

So, while it does require huge amounts of money to clean up the air, massive amounts of money are already being paid out for the declining health of young people, increased medication usage, and shortened lives. The ALA is working with local governments and promoting partnerships between the county, state and federal authorities, but much more needs to be done.

This year, 12 more California counties received failing grades than did last year in terms of air quality. This reflects, in part, the tighter national ozone standards adopted in 2008. The ALA’s State of the Air 2009 Report also found that six out of every 10 Americans live in areas where pollution levels actually endanger their lives.

This means that despite an ever-growing “green” movement that is sweeping across the United States, the ALA’s report indicates that the air in many American cities became even dirtier since last year’s report.

THE REAL COST

There is now data and research that indicates that ozone is more destructive than originally believed. Because of this, in March 2008, the EPA lowered the standard needed for ozone levels to trigger an unhealthy rating.

Ozone, the gas that forms a major component of smog, is created by tailpipe emissions that are cooked by the sun, heat up and form triple molecules of oxygen. These molecules are much less stable than conventional oxygen and are much more damaging to our respiratory systems.

Respiratory problems are a very natural and scientifically established result of air pollution. Polluting particles in the air can especially cause health problems in children, the elderly and the infirm. Additionally, air pollution can aggravate asthma symptoms and worsen allergies.

However, respiratory problems are not the only health issues that can be brought on or aggravated by breathing polluted air. If the pollution is heavy enough and if a person is chronically exposed to the polluted air, serious health problems, including cancer and heart disease, can result from the toxins constantly breathed in through the air.

Look at Los Angeles, which has a lethal combination of heavy traffic, sunshine and heat. Last year, the city had 195 days where the ozone levels were high enough to be unhealthy for sensitive members of the population. On another 55 days, the ozone level was unhealthy for everyone, and on 11 days, the ozone in the air was rated “very unhealthy.”

Particle emission pollution is generated primarily by diesel engines, coal-fired power plants and the burning of wood and other combustible fuels. For California’s coastal cities, much of their pollutants come from ships coming into port. In fact, sea-fairing vessels contribute significantly to both particle and ozone emission air pollution.

Whatever the source, some states are taking very aggressive action in an attempt to combat the problem of air pollution. New York and Washington have been successful in reducing air pollution drastically over the past 10 years, and California is introducing cleaner diesel fuel for everything from semi-trucks to large ships.

There has been some criticism of the ALA’s air quality report because the findings are based on where the EPA monitoring stations are located. In Pittsburgh, for example, one monitoring station sits close to the largest coke plant in the United States. Coke is an important ingredient in the steel manufacturing process and is made by baking coal, which produces large amounts of ash and other toxic particles.

It is not a surprise then that Pittsburgh had the highest recorded number of particle pollution spikes, which are jumps in the number of particles in the air that can last for many hours or even days.

However, it is important to note that the findings are supposed to capture the worst cases of air pollution for each metropolitan area because that is what will have the most negative impact on a population’s health. So, it is actually appropriate to locate monitoring stations where the air pollution problems are most acute and potentially damaging.

While air pollution is a chronic problem across the United States, there are still some places where a taking a fresh breath is just that…a fresh breath.

The healthiest cities list mostly consists of cities in the vast-open spaces of the nation’s heartland. These areas are typically far from heavy industry and massive traffic jams. Cheyenne, Wyoming has the lowest long-term particle average, followed closely by Santa Fe, Honolulu and Great Falls, Montana.

The lowest, in fact almost non-existent, ozone levels were discovered in Billings, Montana, Carson City, Nevada and Fargo, North Dakota. Interestingly, only two eastern cities were on any of the three least-polluted lists. Portland, Maine had among the lowest spikes in particle emissions, and Port St. Lucie, Florida had among the lowest ozone levels.

However, the fact remains, many of us are still not breathing clean air. According to the ALA, six out of every 10 Americans, or 186 million people, currently live in communities where the air they breathe endangers their lives. As a nation, we obviously still have a long way to go.

Photo credit: Hot Raw Sewage by Trey Ratcliff

Of course, steroids have long been in the spotlight as numerous professional athletes admit to using steroids as a shortcut to enhancing their performance and helping them achieve victory over their fellow athletes. The term “steroid,” however, actually encompasses a relatively large class of biological molecules.

These molecules include virtually anything the body makes from the parent molecule, cholesterol. Most happen to be hormones or intermediate chemicals in hormone synthesis and metabolism, or synthetic drugs that imitate hormones or interfere with natural hormone action.

Steroids include such chemicals as the anti-inflammatory hormone cortisol (hydrocortisone), which is typically added to medicated skin creams. Synthetic varieties of cortisol are also the active ingredients in organ transplant anti-rejection drugs and asthma inhalers.

Additionally, the primary sex hormones are also considered steroids. Estradiol, the main natural form of active estrogen, and progesterone dominate in women. For men, testosterone, the main natural form of active androgen, dominates. In fact, it is testosterone and other natural and synthetic varieties of androgens that are the main steroids used for muscle enhancement by athletes.

While it has long been known that these male forms of anabolic steroid drugs cause liver cancer, the news has not been spread about the environmental consequences of oral contraceptives (“the Pill”), levonorgestrel (“the morning-after pill”), and mifepristone, or RU-486, (“the abortion pill”). That fact is that all of these synthetic chemicals are also all steroids. These chemicals are actually the same sort of synthetic anabolic steroids that are illegal for professional athletes to take. The difference is that they are anabolic for female tissues, like breast tissue, rather than muscle.

In wasn’t until 2006 that the World Health Organization acknowledged that the estrogen-plus-progestin drugs, which include birth control pills and combination hormone replacement drugs, like Prem-Pro, do have the potential to cause cancers in the breast, cervix and liver.

And, here lies the connection between these synthetic drugs and the part they play as environmental pollutants. It is not common knowledge, but it is fact, that in order for contraceptive steroids to function effectively as pills, they must be non-biodegradable, at least by the human liver. The liver is the first stop for any substance absorbed through the digestive tract before it enters the body’s blood circulation.

In fact, it is one of the liver’s jobs to metabolize, or break down, all substances in order to detoxify them before they can adversely affect the rest of the body. Because of this, these drugs must interfere with the liver’s normal function. While this is true of many oral medications, how many prescription drugs are taken daily for decades by hundreds of millions of women worldwide?

Because of this massive use of synthetic contraceptives, there is a substantial percentage of the worldwide human population who excretes significant quantities of synthetic, carcinogenic and largely non-biodegradable female sex steroid drugs into the environment every day.

photo credit: elbisreverri

This situation is only complicated by the fact that out of all the steroid hormones that act within our bodies, the estrogens are by far the most potent. And, it is important to note that even the monthly highest level of estradiol in a non-pregnant woman’s bloodstream is measured in parts per trillion. Additionally, the most common form of estrogenic steroid drug found in many oral contraceptives, 17-alpha ethinyl estradiol (EE2), is even more potent than estradiol.

For over a decade now, EE2 has actually been showing up in waste water, groundwater and streams that are downstream from major metropolitan areas. There is mounting, creditable research and evidence that documents this contamination. This contamination is beginning to have significant affects on the reproductive function and is feminizing fish and other wildlife.

With this mounting contamination comes a worldwide effort to find ways to remove EE2 and other estrogenic contaminants from our water supplies. Put simply, the chemical inactivation of EE2 is quite simple. In effect, the same types of techniques used to purify our drinking water, such as ozone and ultraviolet light treatment, will work, however most see treating raw sewage by these methods as extremely impractical.

So, while there has been significant research in the area of synthetic contraceptive pollution, much of the research findings are not yet widely know. Even though the World Health Organization has acknowledged the carcinogenicity of synthetic contraceptive steroids, is still hardly mainstream knowledge.

The fact remains, however, that our health and the health of our environment, is being affected by the excreted amounts of these steroids. For years now, reports have also been growing from around the world that the massive amounts of synthetic birth control hormones being pumped into the water systems through sewage outflow is changing the sex of many types of fish.

Going back as far as 2002, the UK Environment Agency issued warnings that fish stocks in several British rivers were showing signs of gender ambiguity as a direct result of high levels of estrogen in the water. A survey of 1,500 fish at 50 river sites found more than a third of males also displayed female characteristics.

photo credit: Joseph Wu

Roughly two years ago, scientists at University of Colorado found that out of 123 fish caught in Boulder Creek, which is downstream from the Boulder sewage treatment plant, 101 were female, 12 were male and 10 had both male and female characteristics.

And, more recently, University of Pittsburgh research scientists investigated fish populations in the Allegheny River near storm sewer outflow pipes and discovered the same types of deformations. This is noteworthy as that region is dependent upon the Allegheny system for clean and safe drinking water.

Dr. Conrad Daniel Volz from the University of Pittsburgh Center for Environmental Oncology even warned that this significant rise in steroid hormones in drinking water throughout the Pittsburgh area is a real threat to human health. Numerous studies have now shown a link between contraceptive estrogen and hormone problems and cancers, including testicular and breast cancers.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that other study results have also shown ambiguous gender in as much as 85 percent of the catfish caught on the Allegheny, Ohio and Monongahela rivers. In fact, chemicals extracted from 25 randomly sampled fish caused the growth of estrogen-sensitive breast cancer cells cultured in a laboratory, out of which 11 produced very aggressive cancers.

Of course, scientists and environmental groups alike are very careful to avoid making recommendations for restricting artificial contraceptives.

As we all know, most of us would not take kindly to the suggestion of restricting or banning hormonal contraceptives. In today’s modern world, it has become not just an issue of economic necessity, but also an issue of personal choice and freedom.

However, while estrogenic chemicals are affecting and altering the reproduction and gender of aquatic life, it should be natural to wonder what lasting and long-term affects these popular drugs are having on the future reproductive ability of humans.

It seems a cocktail of dangerous chemicals are leaking into our fresh water supply, and we all need to consider tougher safety margins and practices that will better protect the planet and all who live on it, both the wildlife and humans.

The land of the Somali people, much of it arid and inhospitable, has been close to civilization and international trade for thousands of years.

Situated on the Horn of Africa, jutting out into the India Ocean, Somalia’s harbors are natural ports of call for traders sailing to and from India. Somalia’s coastline is frequented by many foreigners, in particular Arabs and Persians. But, in Somalia’s interior, the Somali are on their own.

Most urban households use charcoal for everyday cooking. It has been estimated that some families use a full sack of charcoal every four days due to their large family size. And, with this exacerbated charcoal use comes a significant amount of environmental fallout.

Because of an insufficient and cheaper alternative to charcoal and a large former refugee population, tree felling and a great dependence on charcoal in the self-declared republic of Somaliland are adversely affecting the environment. A 2007 study by the Academy for Peace and Development reports that greater than 2.5 million trees are felled each year and burned for charcoal in Somaliland. The report further stated that each household in Somaliland consumes an average of 10 trees a month.

Considering this extensive use of trees, the serious affects of deforestation should be noted. Deforestation not only exacerbates soil erosion, it also reduces rainfall availability. In addition, trees are a vital component in carbon fixing, which is the natural process of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Interestingly, the demand for charcoal remains very high, despite charcoal prices going up since 1991 with the resettlement of former refugees. Roughly 10 years ago, one sack of charcoal cost Somalis only about 5,000 Somaliland shillings, or 0.76 US dollars, but now the price is about 30,000 Somaliland shillings, or 5 US dollars. And, this price is only aggravated by rainfall, because when it rains, the trees become wet and the charcoal becomes more expensive.

It is not difficult to see that the ever rising gas prices have helped to encourage charcoal use. In past years, gas was actually cheaper than charcoal, but the price has increased dramatically. Now, one liter of gas costs approximately 4,000 Somaliland shillings or 0.61 US dollars, which is up from 1,500 Somaliland shillings or 0.23 US dollars.

Nowadays, charcoal is even the preferred fuel in hotels, which obviously consume even larger quantities of this valuable and environmentally important commodity. It has been estimated that some hotel chefs even use a full sack of charcoal for a single day’s cooking.

It is no wonder that researchers have determined that one of the main driving forces of African deforestation is the need for fuel.

It is also estimated that in sub-Saharan Africa, only 7.5 percent of the rural population has access to electricity. A 2009 report on the state of the world’s forests reports that “as household incomes and investment in appropriate alternatives remain low, wood is likely to remain an important energy source in Africa in the coming decades.”

Going back as far as forecasts made in 2001, it was suggested that there will be a 34 percent increase in wood fuel consumption from 2000 to 2020. However, as the price for fuel continues to rise, this increase is likely to be even greater. In other words, the share of wood fuel in the total energy supply is likely to decline, while the number of people dependent on wood for fuel and energy is likely to grow.

The report goes on to say that “the forest situation in Africa presents enormous challenges, reflecting the larger constraints of low income, weak policies and inadequately developed institutions.”

With this ever-increasing demand for fuel, many environmentalists are concerned that the trade in charcoal will eventually wipe out some species of trees. For example, one species of trees used for charcoal production is the Acacia bussei tree, which can produce between eight to 10 sacks of charcoal per tree. Researches are worried because the Acacia is the most preferred tree specie for charcoal production, timber and fencing, and its extensive use could force it to the brink of extinction in the Somaliland territories.

Efforts are being made, however, to stop or slow down the felling of Somaliland trees. On April 30, 2009, concerned with the impact of charcoal burning on the environment, Maroodi Jeeh, regional governor of Hargeisa (a city in the northwestern Somaliland region of Somalia), banned trade in charcoal as well as the burning of trees. Other attempts at protecting the environment have included the introduction of gas stoves and solar cookers in the main urban centers of Burou, Las-anod, Gabiley, Wajalea and Borama.

Since January, Somgas Company has been supplying gas to residents. A typical household uses an 11-kilogram cylinder for approximately six weeks. Although initial gas and cylinder prices remain high, an 11-kilogram gas cylinder plus gas costs $44.50 and is recharged at just $19.
This is certainly not expensive compared with the monthly charcoal consumption of about $15 for three 20-kilogram sacks of charcoal per household. (The gas cylinders range from two to 22 kilograms.)

According to Somaliland’s Ministry of Pastoral Development and Environment, there is still great cause for concern, even though charcoal consumption fell in 2008 compared with 2007.

Mohamoud Ibrahim Mohamoud currently heads the forestry section in the ministry. He says he is concerned about environmental degradation caused by the charcoal trade, and is working with several organizations to search for alternatives to charcoal energy. The problem that seems to drive the tree felling and forest burning for charcoal is the poverty throughout the countryside and the high demand for charcoal energy in the urban areas.

Overall, the demand for charcoal appears to be increasing daily and the burning of trees is also increasing. But, many leaders and environmentalists are now trying to encourage awareness and education among the people of Somalia and give them other sources of income, such as helping young people become involved in alternative activities such as bee-keeping.

It is obvious that other sources of income and further education and research are needed if the problem of deforestation and charcoal burning will be successfully addressed and redirected in Somalia.

In the 1920s, farmers succeeded in conquering The Great Prairie Plains of the Midwest. The plains were then transformed into the “amber waves of grain” we know today. However, this transformation came with a heavy price.

In fact, the agricultural triumph over The Plains was the tipping point that changed a typical La Nina-type drought cycle into an enormous environmental disaster that we now know as the Dust Bowl.

Depending on where you are in the world, a drought can have different meanings. According to the United States Weather Bureau, a drought is a period of 21 or more days during which rainfall is no more than 30 percent of the average rainfall for a specific geographical area at a designated time of year. 

The Dust Bowl was an area in the United States that experienced an extended and intense period of drought, which lasted from 1931 until 1939. The states that made up the Dust Bowl were Kansas, southeastern Colorado, northeastern and southeastern New Mexico, and the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma. 

Throughout the Dust Bowl, soil from roughly 150,000 square miles of farmland was blown by the wind into huge dust storms. Immense clouds of dust filled the sky as far east as New York City, New York and Baltimore, Maryland.

While the Dust Bowl occurred during a period of drought, researchers know that the Dust Bowl drought, while much hotter and drier than a typical drought, did not fit the profile of the periodic droughts that generally hit farther to the south. Actually, while regular climate oscillations may have triggered the initial drying, the contribution of human land degradation played a big part in this atypical disaster.

In the absence of modern agricultural techniques, large-scale crop failures at the drought’s onset reduced vegetation cover, which only exacerbated the heat. Then, the resulting dust storms brought on by the badly eroded croplands also affected the atmospheric moisture content enough to further intensify drought conditions.

In 1931, dust from the seriously over-plowed and over-grazed prairie lands began to blow. And, it continued to blow for eight long, dry years.

As the storms blew across the plains, it came in a yellowish-brown haze from the South and in rolling walls of black from the North. This just wasn’t any wind, this dust-filled wind made even the simplest acts of life difficult. Taking a walk, eating a meal and breathing were no longer easy and they couldn’t be taken for granted.

Most children wore dust masks to and from school, people started hanging damp sheets over windows in feeble attempts at stopping the dirt and farmers could only watch as their valuable crops were blown away. The agricultural devastation that resulted from the Dust Bowl windstorms helped to lengthen The Great Depression, whose effects were already being felt worldwide. 

During the years of normal rainfall, the grasslands in the Dust Bowl states had been deeply plowed and the land had produced bountiful crops of wheat. However, as the drought of the early 1930s worsened, farmers continued plowing and planting, even thought very little could thrive in the parched soil.

The ground cover that once held the soil in place was now gone. The winds had whipped across the fields pulling billowing clouds of dust and dirt into the skies often reducing visibility to just a few feet. The skies would be darkened for days, and it became common for even the most well-sealed homes to have a thick layer of dust on the furniture. In some of the hardest hit areas, dust drifted like snow and covered whatever was in its path, including farmsteads, cars and city streets.

In 1932, there were 14 reported dust storms, also referred to as “black blizzards” or “black rollers.” As conditions worsened, in 1933, the number of black blizzards jumped to 38. These devastating dust storms spread from the Dust Bowl area and affected the entire country. The extensive drought that accompanied the dust storms is said to be the worst drought in United States history because it covered over 75 percent of the country and severely affected 27 states.

The Yearbook of Agriculture for 1934 says, Approximately 35 million acres of formerly cultivated land have essentially been destroyed for crop production; 100 million acres now in crops have lost all or most of the topsoil; 125 million acres of land now in crops are rapidly losing topsoil.

Because this ecological and human disaster caused millions of acres of farmland to become useless, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes. These people became known as “Okies” because so many of them came from Oklahoma. Countless Okies migrated to California and other states in hopes of better living conditions and jobs.

However, what they found were economic conditions little better than those they had left behind in the Dust Bowl. Because they didn’t own land and had no home, many people traveled from farm to farm picking fruit and working in the fields for only starvation wages.

With no rain clouds in sight, the drought continued and so did the Dust Bowl storms. On Sunday, April 14, 1935, the worst black blizzard occurred, causing extensive devastation and turning the day to night.

Shortly after Black Sunday, the United States Congress declared soil erosion “a national menace” and established the Soil Conservation Service in the Department of Agriculture. The SCS developed extensive conservation programs, which helped to retain topsoil and prevent irreparable damage to the land.

Farming techniques, including strip cropping, terracing, contour plowing, crop rotation and cover crops were promoted. Farmers were now paid to practice soil-conserving farming techniques.

The SCS and these new land-friendly farming techniques was a great step in the right direction, but the storm was not over yet. By the end the year, experts estimated that about 850,000,000 tons of topsoil had blown off the Southern Plains during 1935 alone. The fear was that if the drought continued, the total area affected would increase from 4,350,000 acres to 5,350,000 acres by the spring of 1936.

Because the Dust Bowl black blizzards raged on and the drought continued, President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the Shelterbelt Project in 1937, which called for large-scale planting of trees across The Great Plains, stretching in a 100-mile wide zone from Canada to northern Texas. The goal was to protect and preserve the land from erosion.

Native trees, including green ash and red cedar, were planted along fence rows separating properties, and the farmers were paid by the government to plant and cultivate these trees. Ultimately, the project cost roughly 75 million dollars over 12 years, and had somewhat limited success.

However, as time passed, even thought the drought continued, further land conservation efforts began to make progress. The extensive work re-plowing the land into furrows, planting trees in shelterbelts and other conservation methods had finally resulted in a 65 percent reduction for soil blowing.

In the fall of 1939, after nearly a decade of drought, the rain finally came. This brought an end to the black blizzards of the Dust Bowl and allowed The Plains to recover and once again become golden with wheat.

In today’s ever-changing world, in areas where vegetation loss often leads to increased wind erosion, it appears that history could repeat itself and we could experience Dust Bowl-type droughts again in the future.

Researchers with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center report that, although it is not possible to predict the exact time, history suggests that another great drought could certainly occur in the future.

The first step for anyone wanting to predict the risk of a future catastrophic climate event is to look at past occurrences. Unfortunately, however, good rainfall records only go back about 100 years, and accurate atmospheric records only exist for the last 50 years.

With that said, historical measurements do suggest that droughts have been a fairly regular event in this country. North America experienced a dry spell during the 1950s and another in the late 1980s. NASA’s research suggests that there was almost a drought in the 1970s, but for some reason it did not happen.

On a much longer timetable, sediment records, tree rings and other alternative evidence of climate change suggest that The Great Plains has actually weathered multiple droughts, which lasted significantly longer than the Dust Bowl.

These severe droughts appear to have happened once or twice a century over the last 400 years. Some evidence even points to droughts lasting over a decade during the late 13th and 16th centuries, which were much more devastating than the droughts of the 20th century.

It seems that history indicates that we can expect much worse than the 1930s Dust Bowl in the future, but knowing when and where remains anyone’s guess.

For the people of the densely populated city of Bhopal, India, December 2 and 3 of 1984 mark a very dark anniversary — a time that left thousands dead and thousands more deathly ill and clinging to life. 

It all started in the late 1970s when Union Carbide India Limited constructed a pesticide plant in Bhopal. Their initial goal was to produce pesticides that would help increase production on local farms. However, the sale of pesticide did not pan out and the plant soon began losing money.

Then in 1979, the factory began producing huge amounts of the highly toxic methyl isocyanate, or MIC, because it was a cheaper way to make a pesticide known as carbaryl. In an attempt to further trim the company’s budget, employee training and factory maintenance were radically cut.

This is when many factory employees began complaining about working in potentially dangerous conditions. Many warned of possible deadly disasters, but management appeared to turn a deaf ear to these warnings.

Late in the evening of December 2, 1984, something began going desperately wrong in storage tank E610. E610 just happened to be the tank that contained some 40 tons of MIC. Water leaked into the tank, which ultimately caused the MIC’s temperature to rise dangerously high.

Some sources report that water actually leaked into the tank during a routine cleaning of a pipe, and the safety valves inside the pipe were faulty. The Union Carbide company claims that a saboteur placed water inside the tank. To date, there is still no proof to back up the company’s claim. It has further been posed that some of the workers may have thrown water on the tank once it began overheating, not realizing they were only making matters worse.

Whatever the cause, by 12:15 in the morning on December 3, MIC fumes began leaking from E610. There should have been six safety features, which would have either prevented the leak in the first place or, at the very least, contained it. Each of the six safety features failed that night.

The cause of the incident has been extensively researched. As water began causing the exothermal reaction, which released an amount of gas big enough to open the safety valves, the scrubbers failed. Under safe working conditions, the scrubbers would intercept any escaping gas.

Research also shows how factory personnel neglected numerous safety procedures. There were no valves to prevent water from entering the storage tanks in the first place, and the cooling installation of the tanks and the flaring installation that might have burned the escaping gas were also out of order.

In short, compared to its other locations, safety was very low on the priority list for this Union Carbide factory. As is often the case, imperative safety procedures were neglected because of budget cuts.

An estimated 27 tons of MIC gas escaped from E610 and began spreading across the densely populated city of roughly 900,000 people. In an attempt to warn the citizens of Bhopal, a warning siren was turned on; however, it was quickly turned off again to prevent people from panicking.

So as the gas began and continued to leak from E610, most Bhopal residents slept. Many only awoke when they heard other family members coughing and trying to get their breath, or when they found themselves choking on the mysterious, noxious gas.

It is reported that many people felt severe burning in their throats and eyes as they frantically got out of their beds. Some even choked on their own bile, while others fell to the ground in anguish and pain.

As panic ensued, thousands of people ran from their homes, but they did not know where to go for safety and help. Many families were separated in the mass confusion, and numerous people fell to the ground, became unconscious and were then trampled.

It is important to note that estimates of the death toll vary greatly. Most sources, however, report that at least 3,000 people died from immediate exposure to the gas, with higher estimates going up to 8,000. In 14 years following this terrifying and deadly disaster, about 20,000 more people have died from damage caused by the MIC gas.

Yet another 120,000 people are still living every day with the effects and fallout from being exposed to MIC. These people suffer from various ailments, including blindness, extreme shortness of breath, cancers, birth deformities and early onset of menopause.

To date, chemicals from the pesticide plant and from the leak have infiltrated the water system and soil near the old factory. Because of this, people who live near the factory site are still being poisoned.

Just three days after the disaster, the chairman of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, was arrested. When he was released on bail, he fled the country. Although his whereabouts were unknown for many years, he was eventually discovered living in the United States with one home in the Hamptons in New York and another in Florida. Anderson continues to be wanted in India for culpable homicide for his role in the Bhopal disaster.

One of the worst parts of this tragedy is actually what has happened in the years following that fateful night in 1984. Although Union Carbide has paid some restitution to the victims, the company claims they are not liable for any damages because they blame a saboteur for the disaster and claim that the factory was in good working order before the gas leak. The victims of the Bhopal gas leak have received very little money. Many of the victims continue to be in poor health and are unable to work.

Union Carbide was accused of deliberate evasion of regular safety procedures. During legal proceedings, where victims demanded compensation, solid evidence was shown that proved Union Carbide used untested technology in the Bhopal factory on a regular basis. In fact, when the gas leak occurred local physicians were not told anything about the gas. This resulted in a serious delay in getting proper treatment for exposure and developing emergency safety measures.

After long legal proceedings, in February 1989, a settlement was achieved. Union Carbide promised to pay 470 million dollars in compensation, but only a small part of this compensation was ever paid to the survivors.

However, Union Carbide states on its website that it paid the full settlement to the Indian government within 10 days time. In 2004, the Supreme Court forced the Indian government to pay the remaining 330 million dollars compensation to the victims and their families.

Eventually, Union Carbide sold the Indian factory to a battery maker. Then, in 2001, Dow Chemical Company took control of Union Carbide. This takeover led to discussions on who should be responsible for cleaning up the tons of poisonous waste that is still present.

Environmental activists are trying to convince Dow Chemical Company to clean up this massive toxic mess, which could lead to serious nervous system failure, liver and kidney disease, and cancer for many years to come.

December 3, 1984 will likely always be memorable for the city of Bhopal in Madya Pradesh county, India. The day when a cloud containing at least 15 metric tons of methyl isocyanate covered an area of Bhopal of more than 30 square miles.

Approximately 100,000 people still suffer from chronic disease related to gas exposure, and ten more people die from this exposure every year. This event is now known as the worst industrial environmental disaster to ever have occurred.

Today, the location is still polluted with thousands of tons of toxic chemicals, such as hexachlorobenzene and mercury. These chemicals are stored in open barrels. Rainfall causes rinsing out of pollution to local drinking water sources. Research also shows that some wells still contain up to 500 times the legal limit of these toxins.

From the evening of June 6 to the morning of June 7 2008, Central Indiana was pounded by severe thunderstorms and heavy rain. Amounts of nearly 11 inches were recorded in some areas. This rain quickly led to record-breaking flooding in some areas during the week after.

These storms were produced when strong winds above the ground interacted with an outflow boundary left over from the storms that produced severe weather earlier in the day of June 6. This left the region with too much water, mud and debris, which ultimately resulted in catastrophic damage, destruction and devastation around Columbus, Indiana and its surrounding counties.

Across the nation, people learned about the City of Columbus, possibly for the first time. While many didn’t realize there was a Columbus, Indiana, those who live there were experiencing flooding that had not been seen in about 100 years. Travelers stranded by rising, swift-moving floodwaters learned of Columbus as they became stranded on Interstate 65 and roads leading to and from the city.

Photo: American Red Cross

With all of the national coverage, however, nothing did the flood’s power justice. Nothing can quite prepare you for the sight of such devastation. Areas never known to flood were suddenly submerged in several feet of water and once quaint neighborhood streets and avenues were reduced to boat-only travel.

It wasn’t until the flood waters began receding that Mother Nature’s true force and devastation could be seen. What was left in the wake of this flood made many areas of the town virtually unrecognizable. Driving or walking through neighborhoods that had been completely saturated and submerged under tons of fast-moving, dirty river water was like moving into another time or place into what looked like a battle zone.

As I-65 South became passable again, major water trouble became apparent quickly. Excessively high levels of all the creeks and rivers leading into Columbus were found. Farmer’s fields were soggy with standing water. For many of these farmers, their livelihoods were drenched and showed no signs of drying out. Many of these crops were completely or partially lost.

Mud, dirt and river debris covered virtually every road and highway affected by the flood. Remnants of the flood were everywhere. Random objects sat in fields, including propane tanks from a local fuel company. Cars and trucks floated away during the flood and got scattered in fields waiting to be discovered by their owners.

Photo: American Red Cross

Life’s everyday-items were strewn about. Laundry baskets, grills, furniture and trash bags littered the county’s waterlogged corn and soybean fields. 

As the water continued to recede, many businesses were considered a total loss and too-numerous-to-count homes were completely destroyed. Business, like Burger King, McDonalds and several gas stations were closed and had their inventory in their parking lots to see what, if anything, could be salvaged.

But the most sobering sight, by far, was traveling through the streets of Columbus and surrounding communities severely affected by the unforgiving, record-breaking flood waters. In some neighborhoods, piles of debris began appearing in front of every home.

The amount of ruined personal possession was staggering. It was an eerie sight to see peoples’ lives destroyed and piled up, just waiting to be hauled off the to the landfill. Photographs, cloths, toys, tables, chairs, beds, computers were everywhere. Just about anything found in a typical American home was lining the streets of Columbus following this epic flood. The devastation was overwhelming.

As it turned out, the June 2008 Midwestern United Stated floods were part of an on-going flooding event that had profound affects on a large portion of the Midwest. After several months of heavy rainfall, a number of rivers and creeks crested and overflowed their banks for numerous weeks at a time. Levees were broken at several locations and flooding continued into July.

The midwestern states affected by the flooding included Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri. During this flooding crisis, the American Red Cross came to the aid of tornado and flood victims and the National Guard was mobilized to assist in disaster relief and evacuation efforts.

In Columbus, as the food waters rose, marines temporarily stationed at Camp Atterbury were called to assist in rescue and evacuation efforts.

During this period, flooding continued for about two weeks with central Iowa and Cedar Rapids hardest hit. In Missouri and Illinois, estuaries drained massive amounts of floodwater into the river. This devastating flood left 13 dead and damage region-wide, which was estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars.

As for Indiana, central and southwestern Indiana was particularly hard hit with damage costs expected to make the flood of June 2008 the costliest disaster in the history of the state. Commencing on June 4, rain saturated parts of south-central Indiana leading to initial floods in and around Bloomington.

On June 7, additional rain brought the worst of the flooding to larger portions of south-central and western Indiana. The highest recorded rainfall amount was in the small town of Edinburgh, which saw 10.94 inches (278 mm) of rain in a short seven hour period. Another Indiana town, Paragon, saw 10 inches (250 mm) of rain in just a few hours, which left 90% of the town underwater.

Not only were the East Fork of the White, the Driftwood and the Flat Rock Rivers rapidly rising above their banks, all creeks and streams were also on the rise. Haw Creek, which snakes through the city rose so rapidly and unexpectedly that the only hospital in town was flooded and had to be evacuated. 

In fact, the major flooding in Columbus came from Haw Creek, which overflowed its banks following the torrential downpour encompassing central Indiana. Columbus, isolated by floodwaters, was shutdown because many city streets were under water.

During this flash flood along Hawcreek as well as the steady rise of all local rivers and streams, many people had roughly 15 minutes to evacuate from their homes and businesses. Most people had no time to gather their belongings and had to wade through rapidly rising, murky water and debris.

Many Indiana counties saw flood levels exceeding the records set in 1913. On June 9, President George W. Bush declared 29 counties in central Indiana a major disaster area opening up the region to receive federal aid and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance.

IMPACT

At this time, the county hospital remains closed and many businesses and homeowners are still in the process of recovering from this disaster. It will be months before many people can move back into their homes and before business will reopen. Some homes and business, however, have been condemned and will likely be bulldozed.

Governor Mitch Daniels estimates and expects total damages to top $1 billion.

Surprisingly, only two deaths were reported as a direct result of the flooding in Columbus, Indiana.

Apparently, it is true that desperate times call for desperate measures. Reportedly, Beijing’s 17 million residents are now under very limited and restrictive driving, manufacturing and constructing guidelines. These restrictions are all being imposed in an attempt to clean up one very polluted city.

It is reported that major construction is to stop, factories are to be shut down and half the automobiles are to be grounded every day until after the Olympics.

While the Beijing Environmental Bureau said that the air “will be safe, everyone can be at ease,” many athletes, environmentalists as well as authorities from numerous countries attending the Olympics have significant concerns.

Chinese officials, however, contend that safety is of the utmost importance. Officials seem to have a lot of confidence that they can effectively control the country’s air pollution problem, even if that means trying to control Mother Nature herself.

By using possibly the world’s most sophisticated computer system, Chinese authorities are not only watching the weather and wind patterns surrounding Beijing, they are prepared to attempt to try to change what Mother Nature dishes out.

By tracking pollution from as far away as India, China is focusing heavily on surrounding provinces and their big pollution sources. At one steel plant located 300 miles from Beijing, the boss is poised to close the plant if high winds start blowing this distant, but dangerous, faraway pollution into or near Beijing where it would likely be trapped by mountains.

Once the pollution is entrapped by the mountains, the only viable solution would be rain. And, according to Chinese authorities, scientists are prepared to try that too. How would they do this? Simple. Artillery shells filled with a chemical thought to trigger rain showers would be shot into the sky with hopes of rain.

No one, however, can adequately control the weather. So, with apparent good reason, regardless if China says it’s a good-air-quality-day or not, there are many doubters in the crowd.

Consider this. Some pollution monitors have been relocated to the suburbs, where cleaner air can twist daily pollution results and make the overall contamination numbers look better than they really are.

Legitimate concerns for the health of the Olympic athletes and visitors, not to mention the Chinese citizens, remain. While the government has recently spent millions to clean up the city, the pollution problem in China simply cannot be fixed with a few quick, and possibly temporary, fixes.

The City of Beijing has undergone numerous improvements for the games. In fact, the government spent approximately $57 million to renovate more than 5,000 public restrooms. Also, thousands of Olympic volunteers are learning English and the ABCs of interacting with foreigners.

Chinese officials have also taken environmental actions aimed at dissipating Beijing’s air pollution before the games by spending more than $15 billion on drastic antipollution measures, including relocating 200 factories and steel mills outside the city limits.

According to a recent Mother Jones article, China has spent $3.6 billion and taken some extreme steps to clean up the capitol before the summer games. One of the changes China has made is building four new subways in order to encourage more public transportation and cut down on traffic. One million vehicles will also be banned during the Olympics.

However, the truth is that no amount of vitamins, regimens or athletic stamina will prepare many of the world-class competitors for the sort of severe air pollution they will face in Beijing. Numerous health and athletic experts have long been concerned whether athletes’ lungs will be able to adjust to all the smog and chemicals that plague the entire Chinese environment.

While these actions are a great step in the right environmental direction, China needs more than a quick-fix for its crippling environmental issues. According to FinancialNirvana.com, many environmental experts believe China’s problems may be attributed to a weak legal system and corruption, poverty, government policies that put job growth ahead of having a healthy environment as well as two decades of double-digit industrial growth.

In addition to this, Worldwatch Institute’s State of the World 2006 report notes that acidification has spread to approximately 30% of China’s cropland. The Report also states that China has 16 cities with the worst air pollution in the world.

Even more remarkable and astonishing is the fact that China’s Ministry of Science and Technology estimated that roughly 50,000 of the country’s newborn babies die every year due to the unhealthy consequences of air pollution.

Sometimes it’s the little things that say the most

Consider the latest news of a keel-crippling algae bloom that covered about a third of the Olympic sailing course in Qingdao, China. This algae overgrowth resulted in the deployment of a small army of workers, a large fleet of boats and a full brigade of dump trucks and bulldozers that have been desperately trying to clear up this embarrassing, yet expected, component to China’s assertion of hosting a ‘green games’ Olympics.

What this means is that numerous international competitors desperate for practice have been forced to stay in dry dock until this dangerous mess is cleaned up. While this kind of environmental roadblock may be foreign to many Olympic competitors, it is far from atypical in the world’s most polluted nation.

Today, fully 70% of China’s seven major rivers are severely and dangerously polluted. In addition, 80% of its rivers fail to meet standards for fishing and 90% of China’s cities suffer from some degree of significant water pollution. What this means for those who live in China is that over 700 million Chinese drink fetid water of a quality well below World Health Organization’s standards.

Meanwhile, liver and stomach cancers related to water pollution are among the leading causes of death in the Chinese countryside. And, 21 cities along the Yellow River are now characterized by the highest measurable levels of deadly pollution.

As for this particularly extensive algal bloom in Qingdao, the cause is clear — a massive misuse of agricultural fertilizer. A not-so-well-known-fact is that China is the world’s largest fertilizer user, consuming more than 50 million tons each year.

This problem is exacerbated by untrained peasants applying far too much fertilizer to their meager plots with the false hopes and dreams of boosting their already scanty yields. The obvious result has been a new kind of flooding crisis — a flood of excess and unneeded fertilizer runoff that ultimately ends up flooding into neighboring rivers and streams.

With this toxic runoff mixture, fertilizer nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphates have triggered an explosion of algal blooms as part of a broader process of eutrophication. This eutrophication process quite literally sucks the oxygen out of the water and kills all of the plant, fish and aquatic life.

The obvious catastrophic environmental result is an extremely foul-smelling and murky body of water incapable of sustaining life.

Another perfect example of this algal bloom epidemic is the blooms that keep pounding China’s third-largest lake, Lake Tai. This notable lake has long been famous for its classic beauty and is considered a favorite tourist attraction. Lake Tai also supplies water to approximately 30 million people.

The cost of cleaning up of the lake alone is estimated at more than $14 billion. In addition to this expense, many Chinese citizens have been buying bottled water at a feverish pace as a result of Lake Tai’s repeated algal blooms. This increased demand for fresh drinking water has driven up the price of bottled water.

China’s algal bloom epidemic is not restricted to its rivers and lakes. China’s coastal shorelines are also suffering severely from a growing occurrence of red tides, an oceangoing version of eutrophication.

This problem is particularly relentless in the relatively shallow Yellow and Bohai Seas off northern China where Qingdao is located and where there is less tidal exchange. The red tides are rapidly destroying fish and devastating valuable marine life. China has seen an astonishing 40-fold increase in the incidence of red tides in the past few years.

The overall picture being painted by China’s pollution woes is one of a large country choking to death and drowning on a wide variety of deadly pollutants. Because of the country’s toxic environment, many Olympic athletes have chosen to train in adjacent countries, like Japan and South Korea, and will only fly into China for brief stopovers during their specific sporting events.

What that says about today’s China speaks volumes. This country’s need to deal with its very real pollution crisis is obvious and is emerging as one of the most far-reaching and irresponsible environmental disasters the world has ever seen.