June 22 – A River Catches Fire!

nPostednon June 22, 2016

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Howndoes a river “catch fire”? By being polluted. Really, reallynpolluted. n

nOnnthis date in 1969, a river fire on Ohio’s Cuyahoga River caught thenattention of the folks at Time magazine.

nThis river was one ofnthe most polluted in the United States. Some sections of the rivernhad no fish; the surface was covered with a brown, oily film, andnmasses of trash and debris sometimes floated atop of the oil slicks. n

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!!!

nAndnthere had been many other fires on the river, from 1868 to 1969. Thenphotos used in the Time magazine article were from the largestnCuyahoga River fire, in 1952, because there are no known photos ofnthe 1969 fire.

nBut the Time article hit people when they werenstarting to have concerns for the environment. There was a suddennrush to clean polluted rivers and stop pollution from furtherndamaging waterways. The Clean Water Act was passed, the EnvironmentalnProtection 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.

Learnnmore about water pollution at eSchool Today.

nHerenis a short video about water pollution.

nFinally,nhave you heard about the 19 year old student who invented a waynto clean plastic debris out of the ocean? This article willnshow you his idea, and this update shows that work is beingndone to bring the idea to life! (The inventor is now 21, I think.)