Download Gulf War Oil Spill

gulf war oil spill
Globalization is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies,
and governments worldwide. Trading overseas, keeping contact with our friends and
family in overseas or any type of connection between other countries counts as
globalisation. This can even lead to a negative relationship between countries. It results
in war, terrorist attacks, nuclear radiation, and other cultural disasters.
The Gulf War oil spill was one of them. The Gulf War oil spill was one of the largest oil
spills in history, resulting from the Gulf War in 1991. The apparent strategic goal was to
foil a potential landing by US Marines. It also made commandeering oil reserves
dangerous for US and Coalition forces as visibility and movement were inhibited.
Starting in January of 1991, large quantities of oil began to spill into the Persian Gulf.
Early reports from Iraqi forces claimed that the spill had been caused by the United
States sinking of two oil tankers. It was later revealed that in a desperate military move,
Iraqi forces had opened oil valves of the Sea Island pipeline, releasing oil from numerous
tankers. The goal of this spill was to impede US troops from attempting beach landings,
but in the end the spill simply resulted in over 240 million gallons of crude oil being
dumped into the Persian Gulf. This spill is one of the first times in military history where
a natural resource and specifically pollution was used as a tactic of war.
Most of the crude oil that was spilled in the Gulf travelled south down the coastline.
Most of it remained behind Abu Ali Island located north of Jubail, Saudi Arabia. 706
kilometres of coastline in Saudi Arabia were covered in oil; 366 km were categorized as
heavy and 220 km as moderate. Much of the clean-ups were hindered due to wartime
conditions and the reconstruction that followed. Oil continued to spill out of
contaminated coastal sediments for over a year after the war; though by the end of July,
most of the floating oil had been removed. Lighter bits of oil continued to seep into the
Gulf for over a year after all the floating oil had been recovered. In 1991, the estimated
cleanup costs of the Gulf alone were $210-540 million. If you consider all the burning oil
wells, it is likely that hundreds of millions of barrels soaked into the earth from January
to November of 1991 (about the amount of motor gasoline burned in California in
1989).
In 1991, Iraqi forces committed one of the largest acts of ecological terrorism the world
has ever seen. A year after Kuwait's liberation (setting someone free from slavery),
hundreds of miles of coastline were still slathered in over a foot of oil, and fires fuelled a
smoke cloud covering 1.3 million square miles. All these harmful pollutants were in the
water, land, and air. Some of the oil spilled deep into the sea, burrowing up to 40 cm in
the sand and mudflats. It remains there to this day. This disaster does not just highlight
the responsibilities humans have in managing oil wells, rigs, pipelines, and tankers, it
demonstrates how carelessness with a non-renewable energy source and pollutant,
purposeful or not, can have devastating long-term environmental impacts that cannot
be undone.
Sources:
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2018/ph240/barber1/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_oil_spill
http://www.environmentandsociety.org/tools/keywords/gulf-war-oil-spill-man-made-disaster
Adidas
Adidas, a brand that has come a long way and is one of the best sportswear brands in
the world. Adidas was founded by Adolf "Adi" Dassler who made sports shoes in his
mother's scullery or laundry room in Herzogenaurach, Germany after his return from
World War I. In July 1924, his older brother Rudolf joined the business, which became
Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory (Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik). The electricity supply in
Herzogenaurach was unreliable, so the brothers sometimes had to use pedal power
from a stationary bicycle to run their equipment.
Dassler assisted in the development of spiked running shoes (spikes) for multiple
athletic events. To enhance the quality of spiked athletic footwear, he transitioned from
a previous model of heavy metal spikes to utilizing canvas and rubber. In 1936, Dassler
persuaded U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens to use his hand made spikes at the 1936 Summer
Olympics. Following Owens' four gold medals, the name and reputation of Dassler shoes
became known to the world's sportsmen and their trainers. Business was successful and
the Dasslers were selling 200,000 pairs of shoes every year before World War II.
Both Dassler brothers joined the NSDAP in May 1933 and became also members of
the National Socialist Motor Corps. Furthermore, Adolf took the rank of Sportwart in
the Hitler Youth from 1935 until the end of the war. During the war, the company was
running the last sport shoe factory in the country and predominantly supplied
the Wehrmacht with shoes. In 1943 the shoe production was forced to cease operations
and the company’s facilities and workforce was used to manufacture anti-tank weapons.
From 1942 to 1945 at least nine forced laborers were working at both sites of the
company.
When you hear the name ‘Adidas’, the first thing that comes to your mind would be
sportwear equipment. Their most famous products are footwear. Adidas has been
producing footwear since it was founded with a lot of different variety and for different
occasions. Adidas works with more than 1,200 independent factories from around
the world that manufacture their products in 65 countries. Most of the factories that
deal with raw materials are in Asia, countries like Pakistan, India, Indonesia, and
Vietnam. The most used sustainable materials Adidas use to make shoes are “Better
Cotton”, recycled polyester, recycled nylon, recycled rubber, algae-based EVA, TENCEL,
water-based polyurethane (PU), and recycled thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). All
original Adidas shoes are made either in Vietnam, Indonesia or China. Adidas has more
than 450 factories based in 55 countries for sourcing and manufacturing of footwear
and apparel.
Adidas has been one of the best sportswear company for some time now and are still
growing. Adidas has its roots in Germany, but we are a truly global company. Around
the world we employ over 59,000 people. Employees from about 100 nations are
working at our global HQ in Herzogenaurach, Germany. I would still continue to buy
from Adidas after knowing the materials they use and where its waste goes, it is really
ethical.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas
https://www.adidas-group.com/en/group/history/
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/0d35596e64a24022b01d73c8c2ea19ca