This page is a list of environmental disasters.
In this context it is an annotated list of
specific events caused by human activity that
results in a negative effect on the environment.
== Environmental disasters by category ==
=== Agricultural ===
Mismanagement and shrinking of the Aral Sea
Salinity in Australia
Salinization of the Fertile Crescent
The Dust Bowl in Canada and the United States
(1934–1939)
The Great sparrow campaign; sparrows were
eliminated from Chinese farms, which caused
locusts to swarm the farms and contributed
to a famine which killed 38 million people.
Africanized bees, known colloquially as "killer
bees"
"Dirty dairying" in New Zealand
Salton Sea California, U.S.
=== Biodiversity ===
Chestnut blight
Extinction of American megafauna
Extinction of Australian megafauna
Deforestation of Easter Island
Destruction of the old growth forests
Rabbits in Australia
Red imported fire ants
Dutch Elm Disease
Devil facial tumour disease
Reduction in the number of the American Bison
Introduction of the Nile perch into Lake Victoria
in Africa, decimating indigenous fish species
The Saemangeum Seawall
Emerald Ash Borer
Environmental threats to the Great Barrier
Reef
2006 Zakouma elephant slaughter
Invasive species in New Zealand
The loss of biodiversity of New Zealand
Ghost nets
Grounding of SS Makambo on Lord Howe Island
Shark finning
Decline of vultures in India due to Diclofenac
leading to increased incidence of rabies
Extinction of the Tasmanian tiger (thylacine)
=== Human health ===
Introduction of the bubonic plague (the Plague
of Justinian) in Europe from Africa in the
7th century resulting in the death of up to
60% (100 million) of the population.
Introduction of the bubonic plague (the Black
Death) in Europe from Central Asia in the
14th century resulting in the death of up
to 60% (200 million) of the population and
recurring until the 18th century.
Introduction of infectious diseases by Europeans
causing the death of indigenous people during
European colonization of the Americas
Health effects arising from the September
11 attacks
Goiânia accident, human deaths resulting
from dismantling a scrapped medical machine
containing a source of radioactivity
Agent Orange use by the United States during
the Vietnam War, resulting in lasting serious
health effects on the Vietnamese population,
such as cancer, nervous system disorders,
and countless related fatalities.
=== Industrial ===
Coordinates of the Industrial Environmental
Disasters found on this page, shown in Google.
Complete with the Wikipedia descriptions listed
below built into each location.
Spring Valley, a neighborhood in Washington,
D.C. which was used as a chemical weapons
testing ground during World War I.
Minamata disease – mercury poisoning in
Japan (1950s and 1960s)
Ontario Minamata disease in Canada
Itai-itai disease, due to cadmium poisoning
in Japan
Love Canal toxic waste site
Seveso disaster (1976), chemical plant explosion,
caused highest known exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin
(TCDD) in residential populations
Times Beach, Missouri (1983) the town was
completely evacuated due to a dioxin contamination
Bhopal disaster (December 3, 1984, India),
leak of methyl isocyanate that took place
in 1984 resulted in more than 22,000 deaths.
Sandoz chemical spill into the Rhine river
(1986)
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Superfund sites in the United States
AZF Explosion at a Toulouse chemical factory
(2001)
2005 Jilin chemical plant explosions
The Sydney Tar Ponds and Coke Ovens sites
in the city of Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada,
known as the largest toxic waste site in North
America.
Release of lead dust into Esperance Harbour.
Release of cyanide, heavy metals and acid
into the Alamosa River, Colorado from the
Summitville mine, causing the death of all
aquatic life 17 miles downstream.
Release of 20,000 gallons of lethal chemicals
(metam sodium, tradename Vapam) into the Upper
Sacramento River near Dunsmuir, causing the
death of all aquatic life within a 38-mile
radius.
Release of CFCs resulting in ozone depletion
Release of sulfur dioxide after a fire at
the Al-Mishraq plant in Iraq
The Phillips Disasters
Health issues on the Aamjiwnaang First Nation
due to chemical factories
Environmental issues with the Three Gorges
Dam
Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry
spill
The Great Smog in London in 1952
1948 Donora smog
==== Mining ====
The Ok Tedi environmental disaster in Papua
New Guinea beginning in 1984
The Aberfan disaster in Aberfan, Wales, 1966
Lead dust from the Magellan Metals mine in
Australia, 2006
Failure of a toxic waste dam at the Aznalcollar
mine in Spain, 1998
Uranium mining controversy in Kakadu National
Park in Australia, 1981 to 2009
The tailings dam from the now abandoned Tui
mine in New Zealand, 1960s to 2013
1947 Centralia mine disaster, Illinois
Centralia mine fire, Pennsylvania, 1962
Phosphate mining in Nauru, beginning in 1906
Phosphate mining in St. Pierre Island
Talvivaara gypsum pond leak, Finland, 2012
Mount Polley mine disaster, British Columbia,
2014
Bento Rodrigues dam disaster, Samarco mine
tailings dam failure, which spread for over
2 states, Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo,
all the way to the Atlantic sea.
Brazil, 2015
Darvaza gas crater in Derweze, Turkmenistan,
beginning about 1970
===== Coal mining =====
Martin County sludge spill
Mountaintop removal mining
Upper Big Branch Mine disaster
==== Oil industry ====
Environmental issues in the Niger Delta relating
to the oil industry
Lago Agrio oil field issues
Exxon Valdez oil spill
Arctic Refuge drilling controversy
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Sidoarjo mud flow triggered by Lapindo Brantas
gas exploration in 2006; East Java, Indonesia
Leaded gasoline introduced 1920s; phased out
globally by 2012.
Vila Parisi (Brazil)
MV Braer oil spill; Shetland Islands
=== Nuclear ===
Chernobyl disaster in 1986 in Chernobyl, Ukraine
killed 49 people and was estimated to have
damaged almost $7 billion of property".
Radioactive fallout from the accident concentrated
near Belarus, Ukraine and Russia and at least
350,000 people were forcibly resettled away
from these areas.
After the accident, "traces of radioactive
deposits unique to Chernobyl were found in
nearly every country in the northern hemisphere".
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster: Following
an earthquake, tsunami, and failure of cooling
systems at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant
and issues concerning other nuclear facilities
in Japan on March 11, 2011, a nuclear emergency
was declared.
This was the first time a nuclear emergency
had been declared in Japan, and 140,000 residents
within 20 km of the plant were evacuated.
Explosions and a fire have resulted in dangerous
levels of radiation, sparking a stock market
collapse and panic-buying in supermarkets.
Mayak nuclear waste storage tank explosion,
(Chelyabinsk, Soviet Union, 29 September 1957),
200+ people died and 270,000 people were exposed
to dangerous radiation levels.
Over thirty small communities had been removed
from Soviet maps between 1958 and 1991.
Windscale fire, United Kingdom, October 8,
1957.
Fire ignites plutonium piles and contaminates
surrounding dairy farms.
Soviet submarine K-431 accident, August 10,
1985 (10 people died and 49 suffered radiation
injuries).
Soviet submarine K-19 accident, July 4, 1961.
(8 deaths and more than 30 people were over-exposed
to radiation).
Nuclear testing at Moruroa and Fangataufa
in the Pacific Ocean
Fallout from the Castle Bravo nuclear test
at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands
The health of Downwinders
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Within the first two to four months of the
bombings, the acute effects killed 90,000–166,000
people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in
Nagasaki, with roughly half of the deaths
in each city occurring on the first day.
Hanford Nuclear, 1986 – The U.S. government
declassifies 19,000 pages of documents indicating
that between 1946 and 1986, the Hanford Site
near Richland, Washington, released thousands
of US gallons of radioactive liquids.
Radioactive waste was both released into the
air and flowed into the Columbia River (which
flows to the Pacific Ocean).
In 2014, the Hanford legacy continues with
billions of dollars spent annually in a seemingly
endless cleanup of leaking underground
=== Air/land/water ===
Proliferation of plastic shopping bags
Hong Kong Plastic Disaster
==== Air ====
The Donora Smog of 1948 in Donora, Pennsylvania
in the United States
The Great Smog of 1952, which killed 4,000
Londoners
The 1983 Melbourne dust storm
The 1997 Southeast Asian haze
The 2005 Malaysian haze
The 2006 Southeast Asian haze
The Great Smog of Delhi in November 2016
Yokkaichi asthma in Japan
Health problems due to the Jinkanpo Atsugi
Incinerator in Japan
Kuwaiti oil fires
==== Land ====
The Dust Bowl of Canada and the United States
Contaminated soils in Mapua, New Zealand due
to the operation of an agricultural chemicals
factory
Basin F, a disposal site in the United States
for contaminated liquid wastes from the chemical
manufacturing operations of the Army and its
lessee Shell Chemical Company
Exide lead contamination in southeast Los
Angeles County, California, United States,
from a battery recycling plant that emitted
lead, arsenic and other dangerous pollutants
2006 Côte d'Ivoire toxic waste dump
Nigeria gully erosion crisis
==== Water ====
Sandoz chemical spill, severely polluting
the Rhine in 1986
Selenium poisoning of wildlife due to farm
runoff used to create Kesterson National Wildlife
Refuge, and the artificial wetland
The Jiyeh Power Station oil spill in the Mediterranean
region
Effects of polluted water in the Berkeley
Pit in the United States
Ignition and conflagration (13 times from
1868 to 1969) of the Cuyahoga River in Ohio,
United States
Cheakamus River derailment which polluted
a river with caustic soda
Draining and development of the Everglades
Loss of Louisiana Wetlands due to Mississippi
River levees, saltwater intrusion through
manmade channels, timber harvesting, subsidence,
and hurricane damage.
Lake Okeechobee is heavily polluted and during
extreme events releases large volumes of polluted
water into the St. Lucie River estuary and
the Caloosahatchee River estuary.
Amoco Cadiz oil spill off the coast of France
in 1978
Draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes in the
1990s
===== Marine =====
Coral bleaching
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone due to high-nutrient
fertilizer runoff from the Midwest that is
drained through the Mississippi River.
The artificial Osborne Reef off the coast
of Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the United
States
Dumping of conventional and chemical munitions
in Beaufort's Dyke, a sea trench between Northern
Ireland and Scotland
Marine debris
Environmental threats to the Great Barrier
Reef
Nurdles, plastic pellet typically under 5mm
in diameter
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Minamata disease, mercury poisoning in Japan
Mercury in fish
Ocean acidification due to anthropogenic greenhouse
gas emissions
Industrial waste dumping in Central Vietnam
from Formosa Ha Tinh Steel, which kills tons
of marine creatures and destroys the ecosystem
== See also ==
Natural disaster
List of environmental issues
Timeline of environmental events
Index of environmental articles
Ecophagy, the consuming of an ecosystem
List of Superfund sites in the United States
