Recently, I read an article by Matthew Knight titled "Hungary's toxic sludge torrent." It spoke of how a toxic sludge recently burst through the walls of the reservoir containing it on the outskirts of Akja, a small town in Hungary. The sludge spill is being labeled as an ecological catastrophe, capable of burning trough flesh and bone. If breathed in as dust, it can also damage the lungs.
Reading this made me think of how many times I have heard or read stories just like this one. The gulf spill, Chernobyl, and now this. The thing is, the damage from these disasters never affects those who are responsible for them. I'm not talking about loosing money or respect, I'm talking about people loosing their entire lives to these terrible events. Many people have had to evacuate, and they will probably never be able to come back, seeing as how the cleanup will take at least a year. Even if they do return, what will they find? A crumbling wreck of what was once their life. I believe that we must truly step up our protocols for cleaning up after these disasters, and more importantly to make sure that they never happen.
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