GEOG 1350 Lecture 9: Environmental Hazards
3 Nov 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
They can vary from a single toxic chemical accident to an entire industry (e. g. nuclear energy). Other examples may include exposure to pollutants or hazardous waste. Hybrid disasters may fit into this category. Example: an earthquake that causes an oil or chemical spill from a pipeline. Technological disasters involving the environment are included in this category as well. Example: sinking of the titanic, explosions of the challenger and columbia space shuttles. Typically, the death tolls from environmental hazards are relatively low. Vulnerability is greatest for those involved in industry or transportation systems. Workers in resource industries in hinterlands are at higher risk (e. g. miners). Widespread: long term (nuclear accidents, hazards leading to cumulative effects. Rare events: airplane crashes, mine collapses, shipwrecks. These are conditions that worsen slowly over time as exposure to a concentration increases. Eventually, the concentration reaches a threshold critical to human health.
