For the purpose of this article an environmental disaster is defined as a specific event caused by human activity that results in a seriously negative effect on the environment. Sometimes anatural disaster可以成为环境灾难，但这是在其他地方讨论的话题。
在大多数情况下，环境灾难是由人为错误，事故，缺乏远见，工业过程中的角落切割，贪婪或简单无能引起的。换句话说，没有某种人类干预，他们将永远不会发生。他们也经常以坚定的权威否认为特征，甚至发生了任何严重的事情。
Lack of foresight is a common cause of an environmental disaster. In agriculture a classic example of is the increasing salinity of soils in hot climates. With the need to produce more food, a warm climate seems ideal for European-style agriculture, once the existing vegetation has been cleared. The one proviso is that there must be plenty of water. Irrigation projects and deep wells are usually the answer, but as has been found in Australia, if this is not properly managed, salination can result and the land becomes effectively useless.
A further example of a catastrophic and misguided interference with nature resulted in thedust bowls1930年代袭击了北美。肥沃的土壤似乎是强化农业的理想选择，但是深层耕作和缺乏农作物旋转的结合削弱了土壤结构。经过多年的干旱，大风简单地消除了一旦肥沃的农田变成虚拟沙漠的所有表土和数百万英亩的土地。
Another unforeseen agricultural disaster was Moa Zedong's 1958 decree to eliminate sparrows. It was considered that because sparrows ate grain seeds they were robbing the people of the fruits of their labour. The campaign was very successful that it cleared the way for swarms of locusts to descend on the farms. Crops were decimated, leading to a famine that resulted in the deaths of 38 million people.
引入外来物种可能与消除本地物种一样灾难性。在澳大利亚，在1859年有12个进口英国野兔被释放，以便当地定居者可以去狩猎。随着时间的流逝，他们成倍增加，据估计，即使经过严格的努力来控制它们，澳大利亚兔子的种群仍在200至3亿之间。
除了负责失去农作物和放牧土地的大量土地外，兔子被怀疑是澳大利亚物种损失中最重要的因素，通过在树干底部吃树皮来杀死幼树。他们在吃本地植物时也负责严重侵蚀，使表土暴露出来。
It is very easy to upset the fragile balance of nature. In June 1918 a steamship ran aground on a Pacific Island and while it was stranded, Black Rats escaped and got ashore. Here they thrived, causing the extinction of several of the island's endemic birds and other fauna. They also raided the crops of the islanders, particularly the seeds of the Kentia Palm, which was the islanders' only export commodity.
为了控制老鼠引入了蒙面的猫头鹰，但这简单地加剧了环境灾难。通过将另一个捕食者引入生态系统，结果是，许多剩余的海鸟被简单地被清除为繁殖物种。
工业的pollutionhas been the cause of so many environmental disasters that it is impossible to list them all. One of the most serious was the Bhopal disaster of December 1984 when a leak of methyl isocyanate resulted in at least 22,000 deaths plus various genetic diseases that will continue for generations. The chief causes of this disaster were negligence, corruption and the complete disregard of safety standards.
Videos: The Bhopal Documentary from National Geographic.
许多环境灾难也与石油生产行业有关Deepwater Horizon disaster2010年4月是想到的最新事物。根据白宫能源顾问卡罗尔·布朗纳（Carol Browner）的说法，泄漏是美国面临的“最严重的环境灾难”。
在这种情况下，sudden explosion on a drilling rig在墨西哥湾，旨在防止漏油的安全阀明显失败。泄漏被密封的几个月前，在此期间，数百万加仑的石油倒入了海中。
由此产生的污染不仅来自石油，还来自用于散布它的化学物质。所有的生态系统were destroyed along with the livelihoods of countless people. Many endangered species are not expected to恢复。
In West Africa the Niger Delta covers 20,000 km2在70,000公里的湿地内2，主要由沉积物沉积形成。它是来自40个不同种族的约2000万人的家。它的洪泛区占尼日利亚总土地量的7.5％，是非洲第三大排水盆地。
Its ecosystem contains one of the highest concentrations of生物多样性在地球上。除了支持各种各样的动植物外，还有可耕种的地形可以维持多种农作物，热带森林与西非的任何其他生态系统相比，淡水鱼的种类更多。
Unfortunately for the Niger Delta, oil was discovered in the region. Since drilling began in 1976 there has been a complete lack of concern by the尼日利亚政府or the oil operators to exert any control of the environmental problems associated with the industry.
尼日利亚国家石油公司承认，每年大约有300个单独的溢出物，将近2300立方米的石油被抛入了环境中。但是，这并不考虑所谓的“次要”溢出物，一个估计值将1960年至1997年之间的总溢出量为1亿桶（1600万立方米）。
这些溢出物的主要原因仅仅是维护不良的结果。管道既旧又腐蚀，尽管估计的寿命约为15年，但许多寿命已使用约25年。泄漏管道和使用旧油轮的使用占所有溢出物的50％。
Understandably there has been a major impact on the ecosystem. Enormous tracts of mangrove forest have been destroyed along with most of the flora and fauna that were once found there.
The倾倒废物is obviously a serious issue and international regulations put strict controls on this. Unfortunately there will always be unscrupulous people who will try to get around the regulations.
A classic example occurred in 2006 when a Panama-registered ship offloaded 500 tonnes of toxic waste at the Ivory Coast port of Abidjan. The company concerned apparently wanted to avoid paying the 1,000 euros per cubic metre disposal charge it would have to pay in Holland.
后来发现在城市内外的12个地点的废物被发现含有燃料，苛性苏打和硫化氢的混合物。这种致命的鸡尾酒散发出有毒的气体，除了严重的头痛和呕吐外，还引起了肺和皮肤的灼伤，据说造成17人死亡并严重病了。
该公司最初否认了所有责任，声称废物只是肮脏的水。只有在英国广播公司（BBC）进行了一些调查新闻之后，全部事实最终才浮出水面。
Nuclear accidents can have serious environmental effects. Prior to 2011 the 1986Chernobyl disasterwould probably have been regarded as the most serious after an enormous explosion sent radioactive ash into the atmosphere covering most of Northern Europe, along with Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. 350,000 people had to be resettled.
然后在2011年来Fukushima 1 accidentin Japan when an地震其次是海啸袭击核电站。地震淘汰了为水泵送以冷却反应堆的公共电力供应。地震发生后不久，海啸摧毁了将在公共电力供应发生故障时启动的紧急备用发电机。然后意识到，设计师未能考虑到这种可能性。
As a result a catastrophic situation developed and 14,000 people had to be evacuated from the immediate area. After several weeks a勇敢的工人人数, struggling in appalling conditions, managed to bring the situation under control, but as with so many environmental disasters, once again official information was misleading, sketchy, or simply non-existent.
环境灾难通常是由某种形式的人类行动或某种形式的人类过失造成的。一个经典的例子是气候变化。目前，大量的温室气体正在向地球大气中释放出来，可能通过加快全球变暖对我们的环境造成无数伤害。同时，人们完全忽略了警告信号，并关闭了前方的后果。
We don't know what these consequences will be, but they are not likely to be pleasant. The world seems to be on course for what is likely to be the worstenvironmental有史以来的灾难。仍然有时间减慢过程，但这需要迅速而全球的行动。
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