Part 2 When things go
bang
Ironically though
it appears Alfred Nobel’s invention now has another unforeseen implication of
its use, it seems his invention is one of the most notorious of all inventions
contributing to global warming now.
When manpower
and horsepower were the main moving force from removing overburden from over
shallow coal seams containing less dense higher sulfur coal, our coal usage was
restricted by mechanical means and the innovation of man to develop equipment
capable of ripping apart the earth’s innards to retrieve this less than
valuable product. Miners would be forced to lie on their backs in narrow coal seams
to extract the coal or ore. Sometimes these mines would collapse and miners
would be buried. Coal, gold, silver and other minerals and ores alike were
subject to the same restriction of being mined in shafts under the ground. With
the use of dynamite it now became economical to remove large overburdens in seconds
allowing equipment to mine what would have been not feasible before due to the
large amount of work involved. Vast tracts of land were and are being exploited
for use as sites where strip mining or mountaintop removal occurs. Also with
dynamite it became easier and safer to mine underground using dynamite as
opposed to the use of nitro, which in some cases would have exploded before ever
getting to the destination intended.
Cheaper coal
meant cheaper power and products associated with the use of coal. Steel was
cheap as coke a product of coal and limestone, and now could be mined at a
cheaper rate. Iron ore also was under the influence of dynamite in its
extraction process. As each new mine, gold, silver, lead, uranium, or whatever
is extracted, it depended on the use of dynamite as it played an important role
in its success or failure of a mine. This also contributed to wide spread
deforestation of areas over which these minerals and ores laid.
Construction of
massive earth building projects such as Hoover dam and our interstate system as
we know it today , as well the use of limestone to create stronger concrete
that would make the super towers of today and all the way down to the
reinforced concrete pipe that carries the sewage away from these massive
projects are also dependent on dynamite and things that go bang.
As buildings fall
dynamite plays a role in their death also. So we see that dynamite is embedded
in our society up to our ears and rarely do we hear much about it till someone
blows something up like the federal courthouse in Oklahoma City. Timothy Veigh
surely had to use dynamite to accomplish this task. I am not sure exactly where
he obtained his illegally, but it was needed to set off the ammonium nitrate he
obtained legally at the time. Not wanting to give away trade secrets or too
much information to the wrong person so will leave it at that.
Military usage is
widespread when it comes to dynamite. In World War 2 it was used to penetrate
the defensive wall the Germans built to allow soldiers to penetrate the Siegfreid
line, which allowed the Allies a chance to penetrate inland to the heart of Germany
as soon we were knocking on Hitler’s doors. Lately dynamite was one of the most
important factors in developing the most powerful bomb outside of a nuclear
device devised by man. The bunker buster designed to eliminate enemy forces underground
to a depth of 50 feet, basically leveling everything on the surface for an area
of 300 feet in diameter and cratering the ground. This was designed for use on
Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan as he retreated underground in his caves to
avoid detection. Dynamite is also used in a nuclear bomb in a shaped charge to force
the beginning of nuclear fission to occur resulting in an atomic explosion. One
look at the aftereffects of a nuclear explosion at Hiroshima or Nagasaki can
surely attest to the potential destructiveness of dynamite. This is one of many uses of dynamite in use
today within our military system. None of these explosions come without a side
effect of devastation of all plants and animals where it occurs.
So in perspective
one can see the beneficial aspects when it comes to mankind of all the positive
influence that dynamite has on development of man’s pet projects and how it
affects our species alone. But when taken as a whole, you can also see that it
has contributed greatly to the demise of earth as vast acreages have succumbed
to the effects of cheap and easy soil removal or displacement to yield
resources economically not feasible before. Not counting the environmental impact it has had in the flora and fauna that
shares the planet with us. It has destroyed rainforests decreasing the habitat
for primates, and other animals, increasingly daily the amount of land that is
basically turned upside down inside out and thrown back in a hole in the name
of progress. Wonder how Alfred would feel about his invention now?
To know that
greedy money hungry Wall Street vultures are dependent on dynamite’s continued presence
to fill the pockets of their Italian tailored suits with money from the profits
due in part to the use of dynamite in their day to day operations. So isn’t it
ironic that one invention designed first in part to save lives has contributed
greatly to destroying so much of what we call home. Namely our planet as man
continues on reshaping at will and without concern of consequence, to suit his
needs in terms of economic viability or profit taking. Nothing is built today
purely for the good of nature instead it is all built for profit. A new road
opens up possibilities of development in places that wasn’t there before. A risk
is taken as an investment knowing if we open a road to a pristine part of paradise,
folks will travel there. I recently read of a gold mine in South America where
they blasted a road to a peak 10000 feet high where gold was known to exist,
and where it was nearly impossible to build a road, but with the use of
dynamite they carved the road in, and were able to set up mining operations to
reclaim maybe a ton of gold daily from this mine. Millions of tons of overburden
will be moved and acres upon acres will be destroyed , mountain top vistas will
be wrecked as we pursue something that we cannot eat , or screw, or will ever
be shared by more than one percent of all the people on earth , but will be
coveted by the profit mongers. This is progress and we have Alfred Nobel to
thank us for it.
I am not saying he
is entirely responsible for all that has gone on. Had it not been for him, then
Dupont or some other company would have eventually developed dynamite as it was
bound to come about sooner or later. It is just a sign of the times. Man’s
unending quest to destroy our habitat and eventually ourselves in the process. Alfred
did do good when he thought of the peace awards and a lot of good has been done
in the name of them , but for all the good, we still have the undeniable fact
that dynamite in the hands of man is never good. Be it the Amish farmer trying
to blow stumps out of his pasture to the bunker buster designed for Osama. Wherever
dynamite goes nothing grows.
We are all
inclined as humans to make mistakes and hypocritically so for me, as I used to profit
from the use of dynamite also when I worked for Atlas Explosive Service Company.
That was until I was hurt unloading a truck load of dynamite, hence Day 125 of
days from hell. The day I was injured
and Atlas’s response to my injury. This I will continue with tomorrow.
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