In January 1990, four oil spills occured in New York’s Arthur Kill and Kill Van Kull waterways, popularizing the heavily traversed channel.
On 3 June 1979 the Ixtoc I oil rig exploded in the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico, and a continuous flow of oil released into the marine environment for nine months. Oil pollution reached coastlines and beaches, and damaged local shrimp populations.
During the Gulf War, Iraqi Military dumped oil from tankers and pipelines into the Persian Gulf to ward off United States military landings and operations.
On 15 February 1996, the oil tanker Sea Empress ran aground. Approximately 72,000 tons of crude oil spilled into the Milford Haven waters in Southern Wales, contaminating 200 kilometers of coastline. Swift implementation of environmental regulations, such as temporarily prohibiting mussel harvesting, successfully protected the coastal populations.
This is a chapter of the virtual exhibition “Welcome to the Anthropocene: The Earth in Our Hands”—written and curated by historian Nina Möllers.
Together with the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, the Deutsches Museum hosted a major special exhibition on the Anthropocene from December 2014 – September 2016, which was curated by Nina Möllers. Coined by the atmospheric chemist and Nobel Prize laureate Paul J. Crutzen, the term “Anthropocene” describes the idea of a new geological era shaped by deep interventions into nature by humans as biological and geological agents.
Nina Möllers
Soft Energy Paths serves as an important historic milestone: an intelligent and convincing argument for conservation and the use of renewable energy.
The refining process of the Canadian tar sands causes dangerous groundwater problems and creates massive amounts of greenhouse gases, toxins, and pollutants that are causing increasing cancer rates and massive destruction to wetlands and forests.
When the oil tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground on 24 March 1989, it releases 41.6 million tons of crude oil along the coast of Alaska. The spill causes enormous damage to local ecosystems and wildlife.
The United States and Canadian governments sign the “Agreement on the Conservation of the Porcupine Caribou Herd”, which protects the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from potential damage caused by nearby offshore oil drilling.
