Lake Michigan Oil Spill

For the first few days of my Spring Break, my friends and I went to the beautiful city of Chicago and stayed with my brother and sister-and-law.  Although I've been to Chicago before, I still find it both a fascinating place and very welcoming each time I'm there.

However, just a week prior to our arrival in Chicago, there was an oil spill in Lake Michigan caused by BP.  As much as 1,638 gallons, or 39 barrels, of crude oil spilled into the lake from a refinery on the coast (Huff Post Green, 3/31/14).  By locating themselves on the coast, BP is able to process the Canadian Tar Sands (which are a big issue for climate change in and of themselves, as I've mentioned) to attain more oil.  However, they are in a precarious location, because the lake is a source of drinking water for "7 million people in Chicago and its suburbs" (Gustin, FOX17 West Michigan, 4/3/14). 

Luckily for BP, the spill occurred when the weather was still cold enough to freeze the oil and allow them to scrape it off before it could disperse throughout the entire lake.  Cleanup took about two weeks, and no drinking water was ever contaminated, according to Lake Officials.

Aside from the recent Oil Spill, though, Chicago is a very clean and green city.  While walking around the city with my friends and family, we saw many recycling bins and very little trash along the streets.  Most people seemed to be aware of current environmental issues, and sought to take care of them.

These are some of the signs I saw while walking around Chicago:

Recycling 30 tons of plastic saves 222 cubic yards of landfill space--that's the size of a backyard pool.  In addition to energy and material savings, the plastic recycling industry employs 52,000 American workers.  

The average American generates 4.6 pounds of waste every single day, a whopping 80% of which is recyclable or compostable. 

Chicago is one of my favorite places, but it too is affected by how society behaves.  Though it is making strides on becoming a one of the greenest cities, there are still many improvements that can be made.  And hopefully BP will keep its dirty oil out of Lake Michigan for good!