Posted
on June 22, 2016
How
does a river “catch fire”? By being polluted. Really, really
polluted.
On
this date in 1969, a river fire on Ohio's Cuyahoga River caught the
attention of the folks at Time magazine.
This river was one of
the most polluted in the United States. Some sections of the river
had no fish; the surface was covered with a brown, oily film, and
masses of trash and debris sometimes floated atop of the oil slicks.
 |
| This is an actual, unretouched photo of what happened, back in the 1960s, when you dipped your hand in certain parts of the Cuyahoga River!!! |
And
there had been many other fires on the river, from 1868 to 1969. The
photos used in the Time magazine article were from the largest
Cuyahoga River fire, in 1952, because there are no known photos of
the 1969 fire.
But the Time article hit people when they were
starting to have concerns for the environment. There was a sudden
rush to clean polluted rivers and stop pollution from further
damaging waterways. The Clean Water Act was passed, the Environmental
Protection Agency was created, and an entire movement was born!
 |
| After decades of clean-up efforts, the Cuyahoga River is well on its way to complete recovery, with more than 40 species of life. |
Learn
more about water pollution at eSchool Today.
Here
is a short video about water pollution.
Finally,
have you heard about the 19 year old student who invented a way
to clean plastic debris out of the ocean? This article will
show you his idea, and this update shows that work is being
done to bring the idea to life! (The inventor is now 21, I think.)
Also
on this date:
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