The Donora Death Fog
“D-Town!” Back home in Canonsburg, a small suburb outside of Pittsburgh, this is how we refer to Donora. We joke that the only thing in Donora is the roller skating rink, but even this is inaccessible to anyone who’s not a D-town native because when you are at the age to want to go roller skating you aren’t brave enough to enter into the Donora city limits. Only dedicated roller-skaters are brave enough to dare the elements of Donora. Of course, one, particularly a girl, would never think of going to Donora alone. But for me, I was never really that scared of Donora because my grandparents live nearby and we used to have dinner at the Ponderosa that has since closed. But, I never missed the opportunity to poke fun at that “rough” territory. Recently, I drove through D-town. The shops are boarded up. There’s graffiti everywhere. In addition to the roller rink there are a few bars and decrepit restaurants. I always assumed that it was the gigantic Wal-mart that had caused this once thriving town to fall to shambles. But, this town, as I recently learned, was the site of the “worst recorded industrial air pollution accident in US history” (The Donora Fluoride Fog). This disaster intrigued me, so I decided to do some research regarding what happened.
My investigation first led me to find that twenty people died from October 26-31, 1948 (Pennsylvania DEP). According to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation website, the town population was about 14,000 at the time of the disaster. Devastatingly, about half-7,000-of those people became ill or hospitalized. My investigation led me to discover that this disaster was “created by unchecked industrial emissions and stagnant air conditions” (Donora’s Killer Smog Noted at 50). These conditions led to a smog fog hanging around the area. The American Steel & Wire Co., a subsidiary of the US Steel Group, was the local plant responsible for producing these emissions and conditions. It is also widely accepted that the weather conditions were prominent in producing the disaster. In October of 1998, spokespeople for the industry agreed that the disaster was unfortunate and tragic, but did not fail to note that, at the time of the disaster, clean air acts did not exist. If any good could come from this disaster it was the funding for research about clean air and the eventual passing of clean air acts and legislation.
In the book Heat Wave A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago, by Eric Klinenberg expose how a number of social, political, and economical factors created one of the largest and most traumatic events in recent history. The Chicago heat wave in 1995 was a disaster, which led to over 700 heat-related deaths in Chicago over a five days period creating. Most of the victims of the heat wave were poor elderly residents of the city, who didn’t have any relative or were neglected by the public officials and was unable to purchase air-conditioning units for their home. Most of the elderly isolated themselves and refused to open windows or sleep outside in fear of crime. Alot of lives were loss or in destress because of isolation, poverty and media who played a major role by portraying the countless deaths on the natural disaster and highlighting of negative activities especially in the urban area
Gulbinas, Vilija. “On the Road to Recovery: an Angelino’s Guide to Smog”. Los Angeles, CA: US. 1998. www.ben2.ucla.edu/~vgulbina
The main plot of Shakespeare's Hamlet centers around Prince Hamlet's desire to repay King Claudius for his evil deeds. Around this central action revolve the stories concerning the minor characters of Polonius and Ophelia. Though they do not motivate Hamlet's actions towards the King, these characters act as forces upon Hamlet himself, trying to spur him to do things he does not want to do. Both Polonius and Ophelia try, unsuccessfully, to manipulate Hamlet into a place of inferiority.
The energy producing market has always been a staple in Pennsylvania's history. Being rich in coal, natural gas, and other forms of energy, Pennsylvania has produced much of the nation's fuel or electricity. With a location so rich in coal, companies began to open many mines in order to either stay ahead of competitors, improve production, or for easier transportation of the commodity. The large amounts of coal being mined ushered in the many railroad systems bringing another powerful business to Pennsylvania. Coal barons, mine owners, made gross amounts of money off of the hard work from miners. Coal had played such a integral role in the Keystone State that it led to some towns being named after the industry such Carbondale and Minersville. Pennsylvania quickly became associated with coal in America and whenever there was news about the state, coal was mentioned with it. Especially during both World Wars, Pennsylvania was looked to for providing energy used both at home and in the war effort. This supply shock meant mine operations needed to run efficiently and both the Federal government and the presidents during each respective time ensured the productivity would meet the great demand. Coal mining was at an all time high until tragedy struck on 22 January 1959, when the River Slope mine's roof collapsed because of the Susquehanna River causing flooding to the mine killing many workers. The disaster marked the beginning of the end to deep mining in Pennsylvania. To this day however, Pennsylvania remains strongly associated with the harvesting of many energy sources.
In the early twentieth century, San Francisco, a bustling city full of people with diverse cultures, stood in the midst of the Second Industrial Revolution. At this time, the brilliant inventions of airplanes, automobiles, and radios were changing the everyday lives of many. San Francisco had just recovered from the four-year burden of the bubonic plague (“Bubonic”). However, right when things were getting back to normal, a destructive earthquake hit the city on April 18, 1906. Although the shaking lasted for less than a minute, the devastated city had crumbled buildings and a substantial loss of lives. The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 had a lasting effect on the city and its people, and it proved to be one of the most catastrophic disasters in history.
Socrates devotes a generous amount of The Republic to creating a Utopian society wherein philosophers rule. As he believes that philosophers ought to lead a city, Socrates first defines a guardian by unmasking elements belonging to philosophers. Above all, philosophers have a hunger for wisdom, and are individuals, “capable of comprehending what is eternal and unchanging,” (Sterling and Scott 174). Additionally, Socrates categorizes truth, pleasures in the soul, generosity, magnificence, courage, grace and temperance, (Sterling and Scott 174-177)...
On April 17, 2013, the community of West, Texas, suffered a devastating and heartbreaking event in the evening hours. After a fire broke out inside the West Fertilizer plant, a massive explosion leveled the facility, caused millions of dollars in damage to surrounding buildings, and took the lives of over a dozen people. Sadly, the majority of those killed were volunteer firefighters who had responded to the fire and were unable to retreat to a safe distance before the explosion. Nearly 200 injuries were also reported to have been treated at local hospitals (Wood, 2013). The explosion was said to be caused by the combination of the fire and large stores of ammonium nitrate fertilizer at the plant.
Olga Bautista is a mother of two, she’s a Chicago resident and another problem has just been added to her list, one she can’t do anything about by herself. Her daughter attends elementary school along with nine-hundred other children and the school is being polluted by a dust that is full of heavy metals, petcoke. This dust is being stored only half a mile from the school and Bautista’s home. She along with Suzanna Gomez and many other South Chicago residents fear for their health and their families’ health “she worries about one of her sons, who’s asthmatic, but doesn’t have the money to move” (Webber, 1)
22. In America, periods and commas always go inside the quotation marks. (The opposite is true in England.) Example: In the short story “The Swimmer,” the main character feels that . . . . Do not confuse this rule with note #12 mentioned above. A citation being inserted makes a difference.
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was one of the largest disasters in American history. Practically overnight the great city of Chicago was destroyed. Before the fire there was a large drought causing everything to be dry and flammable, then a fire broke out in the O’Leary’s barn and spread throughout the city. Many attempts were made to put out the fire but there were too many errors and problems in the beginning. After the fire many people were left homeless and had to help build their city again (Murphy, 39)
" The air was blue with smoke and this plus the tremendous heat from the boilers drew off the oxygen. Everyone suffered from the headaches and men who'd lived outdoors all their lives passed out because they couldn't breathe." (Findley, 58)
It was clear that the governments in America would not issue a permit to Union Carbide plant under such circumstances, which lacked severe environmental standards and permitted slum dwellers to live near the plant and so on. Such actions were the ones that led to more deaths. Before the major gas leakage from the MCI unit on December 3, 1984, some people were killed because of phosgene gas leakage. However, no one took it seriously, despite the media report. One of the reasons that people ignore this was because people didnt know the potential danger of the chemical plant.
Although Socrates returns regularly to the concept of justice in his statements on the perfect city-state, much of it seems off topic. One of his main points, however, is that goodness is doing what is best for the greater good, rather than for individual happiness. There is a real sense in which his ideals turn on the concepts of virtue, and his belief that ultimately virtue is its own reward.
The health effects due to the toxic waste dump are numerous and fatal. There was a high incidence of miscarriages and birth defects in children in the 239 families that lived here. The incident rate was so high that in 1978 New York State of Health issued a “recommended temporary relocation of ALL pregnant women and children under two” (Gibbs 22). In May of 1980 President Carter declared a health emergency because of the abnormal amounts of chromosomal breakage in the Love Canal residents. In October of the same year the President signed a bill to evacuate all families permanently from Love Canal.
During the winter of 1952-1953, London came face to face with the “heaviest winter smog episode known to men.” (Environmental disasters) During the weeks leading to this even London had been experiencing colder than usual weather. Because of the cold weather, households were burning more coal to keep their families warm. This caused “additional coal combustion and many people travelled only by car, which caused the occurrence of a combination of black soot, sticky particles of tar and gaseous sulphur dioxide.” (Environmental disasters) During this event the numbers of deaths per day increased to a nine times the normal number in some cities. The smog approximately killed 12,000 people. Most of the victims were children and elderly people.