Oil Washes Up on Tourist Beaches in ‘Brazilian Caribbean’. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.voanews.com/americas/oil-washes-tourist-beaches-brazilian-caribbean 

Date: 17 October 2019

In Maragogi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, crude oil has contaminated a popular tourist beach. This oil has been found along the northeastern coast of Brazil and has affected at least 178 locations in nine different Brazilian states. Dozens of people, including unsupervised volunteers, worked together with rakes and shovels to remove the oil-stained sand. Across the coast, these workers have been given little to no instructions or equipment to clean the beaches. “Just like with the spread of fires in the Amazon, the government again was late to respond,” said Ricardo Baitelo, coordinator of Greenpeace Brazil. Oceanographer David Zee stated that “The more time that passes with new oil appearing, it’s confirmed that the ocean is absorbing ever more toxic substances, some of which are carcinogenic. The contaminated zones will take at least 25 years to recover.”

This is one of the biggest environmental disasters in Brazil ever. This clearly relates to environmental science because these beaches are being contaminated by crude oil. It’s infuriating that authorities were not immediately getting to work to fix this issue. Environmental issues such as this are typically set aside, even though they are extremely important—these contaminated beaches are definitely hazardous and need to be taken care of properly. It is also clear that Brazil has no emergency backup plan of some sort to effectively deal with environmental issues.