Smack in the center of densely populated Europe, an environmental disaster occurred Monday and threatens to spread. According to Dan Bilefsky and Judy Dempsey of the New York Times, in an article appearing in today's Gainesville Sun, a flood of about 185 million gallons of caustic, toxic red sludge covered several towns around an alumina production company in Ajka, Hungary Monday when a reservoir containing the substance broke. The article reports 4 dead and 5 missing, along with hundreds of homes destroyed and thousands affected. And this toxic sludge could spread into the Danube River and contaminate other parts of Europe.
I'm glad that my local newspaper saw fit to print this important story that rivals the BP Gulf Oil Spill for its impact on the environment and the people. I'm glad because, although I do tend to watch the cable news channels a lot over the course of a day, I have yet to come across any televised reporting of this calamity. Instead, all I'm getting is tedious spinning on the various political candidates and nitpicking about this gaffe or the other. Not to mention endless reactions to each dinky public opinion poll that comes out. Hey you "journalists" out there, there is more to the world than just America! But it seems to me that unless our news media can make a direct link between our country and events happening elsewhere in the world, no matter how significant they may be, they tend to be ignored. Maybe there WAS some coverage, but if so it was so sparse that it slipped past me.
As Sister Sarah might put it, go ahead and try to refudiate me!
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