Which is the greater disaster? Chernobyl or the Macondo well blowout disaster?

[I am me, I am free]

Kindly vote

[Grand Master Melon]

Great Q. While I think the potential is there for this oil crap to be much worse I think we have to wait to see if they ever actually get the damned thing stopped before a thorough comparison can be made.

I like boobies too. ;D

[steyr_m]

By far it is Chernobyl. Oil is bio-degradable and will, in time, go away. Yes, I know the radiation will too, but it'll take much longer.

If you ask people on the streets or your friends they will probably say it's Macondo. 1. Because it's more recent. 2. It's happening here.

If it happen across the world people get disconnected. Remember how people freaked when 13 people die at the Fort Hood shooting, but it happened after 5,000+ deaths in Iraq and Afg.

[Ponce]

A lot of dirt from heaven to Earth will have to fall to cover all that which the oil will take away.

Chernobyl was the lost of three cities but the oil disaster will be that of almost an entire state.........or maybe more........plus ocean life.

I see disaster upon disasters ahead.........and not only because of the oil "leak".

Oil will soon start to go up and up and up.....no more oil from the sea in this part of the world.

[I am me, I am free]

By far it is Chernobyl. Oil is bio-degradable and will, in time, go away. Yes, I know the radiation will too, but it'll take much longer.

If you ask people on the streets or your friends they will probably say it's Macondo. 1. Because it's more recent. 2. It's happening here.

If it happen across the world people get disconnected. Remember how people freaked when 13 people die at the Fort Hood shooting, but it happened after 5,000+ deaths in Iraq and Afg.


There's only a 19 mile exclusion zone around Chernobyl, and within that exclusion zone wildlife is thriving (despite mutations), to the point of National Geographic stating "Even the site of the explosion seems to be bursting with life."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/04/0426_060426_chernobyl.html

[Ponce]

Good Mr Free, thanks for the info......I need one dog with four heads that can look everywhere at the same time....... I think that I'll be take a trip to Russia to find one.

[Ragnarok]

Googling "Chernobyl - 24 Years Later" brings up several articles related to the disaster, many with photos of the empty city of Pripyat and effects on surrounding areas.

Though messy, the results of the oil well blowout in the Gulf will dissipate far faster than many of the long-lived radioactive isotopes - and their induced genetic defects - in and around Chernobyl.

I voted for Chernobyl; lets see what the news says about Macondo 24 years from now.

R.

[optionT]

We'll have to wait and see. But I like boobies, sooooo........
;D

[the riot act]

Good Mr Free, thanks for the info......I need one dog with four heads that can look everywhere at the same time....... I think that I'll be take a trip to Russia to find one.


Now that's funny!

:ROFL:

[the riot act]

We'll have to wait and see. But I like boobies, sooooo........
;D


L00ks like it's just you and me that like b00bies!

[SLV^GLD]

I don't vote in polls. I used to until I met a guy named GIM. GIM would punish you for voting by dragging the damned thread up as new everytime someone voted regardless if a new post had been made. I decided then to never vote in an internet poll again.

So, anyway, my feeling is we have to wait to see. I think loss of life, displacement of people and long term pollution will be about the same, really. However, the potential for wide spread damage over a very long range is here with this one. With Chernobyl it was some fallout we all had to worry about. With Macondo a trail of death throughout the world's oceans is possible and the disruption of familiar current flows would be ultimately disastrous for the entire planet.

[steyr_m]

There's only a 19 mile exclusion zone around Chernobyl, and within that exclusion zone wildlife is thriving (despite mutations), to the point of National Geographic stating "Even the site of the explosion seems to be bursting with life."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/04/0426_060426_chernobyl.html


I've read about that before, too. I realize the foot print is smaller for Chernobyl, but it'll be longer lasting. Plus radio active material has made it's way into the water drainage system. Who knows what the long-term effects will be.

What I'd like to know is, how is the Exxon Valdez site looks now.

[the riot act]

Twenty Years Later, Impacts of the Exxon Valdez Linger

Two decades after the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s waters, the Prince William Sound, its fishermen, and its wildlife have still not fully recovered.

by doug struck

Shortly after the Exxon Valdez oil spill gripped the world with images of an environmental assault, the CEO of the oil company predicted that in a few years there would be “nothing” to evidence the disaster.

He was wrong. Today, 20 years after the largest spill in U.S. waters, the oil that gushed from the hull of the Exxon Valdez is still having effects.

Sea otters once again play in the waters of Alaska’s Prince William Sound, and salmon and some other species have rebounded. But killer whale populations have not recovered, and the huge schools of whirling herring that fed both fishermen and animals have not returned, reminding scientists that nature’s responses are complex and unpredictable.

Humans, too, have had a mixed response. Maritime safety agencies mandated key improvements: single-hulled tankers are finally on their way out, and some places, like the Alaskan town of Valdez, have created impressive spill response teams. But our thirst for oil — coupled with the steady disappearance of Arctic sea ice — is now prompting ambitions to drill across the Arctic, where a spill could bring a greater disaster.

More --> http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2133

[Ponce]

To those of you who say that this oil "leak" is no problem........I would like to make a bet with you all..........but...........you probably wont be around to pay me.

[Uncle Salty]

By far, the oil spill.

When it all plays out, this is going to be biblically cataclysmic. The toxic gases being released are going to be worse than the oil.

[Ponce]

Tell me in about two years which one was greater........oh, almost forgot...you will have to go to Argentina to tell me.

[Neuro]

I think the Macondo well disaster, has great potential. If they manage to cap it fairly soon I think it would not be considered as bad as Chernobyl. But if the blowout increases and it continues for years, which doesn't seem unlikely at this point, then the effects probably would be magnitudes worse than Chernobyl...

Long term though, the dropping of 1800 tons of depleted Uranium on primarily Iraq, could possibly be an even greater disaster.

[EE_]

Did Chernobyl displace millions, start the "Greatest Depression" or a global famine?
I'll check back when we see this oli volcano still spewing next year.
I don't think we will need this poll then.

[Large Sarge]

Did Chernobyl displace millions, start the "Greatest Depression" or a global famine?
I'll check back when we see this oli volcano still spewing next year.
I don't think we will need this poll then.


thats kind of my thoughts also

[Neuro]

Chernobyl probably sped up the collapse of the Soviet Union significantly, but the slow disintegration of Soviet Union economy prior was a major factor in the accident, they cut back on safety meassures because they couldn't afford it, they thought... Many similarities...

[Large Sarge]

Chernobyl probably sped up the collapse of the Soviet Union significantly, but the slow disintegration of Soviet Union economy prior was a major factor in the accident, they cut back on safety meassures because they couldn't afford it, they thought... Many similarities...


Yes, I guess this gulf oil disaster could speed along the disintegration of the U.S. Empire

[Neuro]

No doubt that this will speed up the collapse of the US, they will bail out the bankers who lose on the mortgages in the region, give resettlement house loans through Fanny May and Freddy Mac, which would prop up the real estate market in other regions, but it will be payed with the printing press, st the same time a major chunk of the economy related to the Gulf of Mexico disappears, all this equals to less production and more debt. Which was the major problem prior to the disaster, now accentuated.

[I am me, I am free]

Chernobyl probably sped up the collapse of the Soviet Union significantly, but the slow disintegration of Soviet Union economy prior was a major factor in the accident, they cut back on safety meassures because they couldn't afford it, they thought... Many similarities...


Yes, I guess this gulf oil disaster could speed along the disintegration of the U.S. Empire




You make that statement like you have doubts. lol

[Dave Thomas]

I'm sure if you killed off the most predatory and destructive species to date, man. The whole earth would be "bursting with life". LOL.

[Ponce]

I am glad to see that most of you are now seeing what I saw long ago.

"And many will die"... Ponce

[uranian]

did anyone mention the depleted uranium in iraq and further afield?

[Quantum]

The area around Chernobyl is teeming with life, including people who moved back.

The Gulf of Mexico affected by the BP spew will not recover for decades...it will remain a dead zone.

[Quantum]

Chernobyl probably sped up the collapse of the Soviet Union significantly, but the slow disintegration of Soviet Union economy prior was a major factor in the accident, they cut back on safety meassures because they couldn't afford it, they thought... Many similarities...


Chernobyl was a symptom of what brought down the USSR (corruption), not a cause of it.

[Neuro]

Certainly Soviet Union would have collapsed with or without the Chernobyl accident. And the accident was caused by the imperfections in the communist system. But I do think it is likely that the downfall happened earlier because of the devastating effect this had on the economy of USSR. How much? Maybe a couple of years... Probably the oil spill will have the same effect on the US, quite possibly the US system is less resilient to these types of disasters than the Soviet was.

[Ponce]

The situation in that general area will be worse by the new "rules and regulations" that the government will come up with.