Earth Day and 2020 Norilsk Oil Spill in Russia for Kids

1.

What is Earth Day?

People all over the world made one special day to help keep Earth clean and healthy. It’s April 22, Earth Day. On Earth Day people around the world find ways to help keep the environment healthy in many ways. They plant trees and pick up trash. They turn off all the lights for an hour and have a car-free day. On a car-free day people walk or move around by riding bicycles instead of driving cars.

 

 

 

2.

Why did people make Earth Day?

 

In 1969 there was a large oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Black oil spread all over the ocean and covered the ocean, rocks, and beaches. The animals and plants that lived in the ocean, on rocks, and on the beaches got badly hurt. Their bodies were covered with black oil. They couldn’t move and breathe. People got infuriated by this accident and wanted to do something special to protect the environment. That’s how Earth Day first started. The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, the next year the oil spill happened.

 

 

  

3.

2020 Oil spill in Norilsk in Russia

 

Recently 20,000 tons or diesel fuel leaked from a fuel tank in Norilsk power plant in Russia. The diesel spread into two rivers-Ambarnaya river and Daldykan river- and a local water reservoir which is a man-made lake used for storing water for agriculture and people in cities and towns. The diesel fuel in the river has turned the water into crimson and spread more than 12 kilometers down the Ambarnaya river.

 

 

4.

How did the spill happen?

 

The area that the power plant was built is permafrost. Permafrost is a layer of ground in Arctic and Antarctica that remains permanently frozen and never melts. However the permafrost in this area is beginning to melt. The world is getting warmer and warmer and the climate change causes the permafrost to melt down slowly.

 

The officials in Norilsk said in a statement that the cause of the collapse of the fuel tank is the thawing permafrost in the area. The ground is melting and getting weaker and weaker. One of the pillars of the fuel tank that had been built on the permafrost collapsed this time and made the fuel tank itself collapse too.

 

 

5.

What do people do to prevent the damage?

 

The company dispatched(sent) hundreds of personnel to clean up the mess. They installed special barriers in an effort to prevent the spill from spreading.

 

The spill will have long-term effects in the area because it is soaking into the permafrost and dissolving in the water in the rivers and reservoir. It can affect the animals and plants around the place badly. People all around the world should keep watching how the Russian government act to clean up the mess and what the people do to reduce the damage it can bring to the nature.