Toxic Waste in the Neighborhood: The Love Canal Disaster
The toxic waste at Love Canal transformed the small suburb of Niagara Falls, and raised questions that still resonate today.
In the spring of 1978, Lois Gibbs, a local housewife, read a local newspaper story and discovered she was living a few blocks way from some 20,000 tons of toxic waste buried in an old landfill, located in the center of the Love Canal community.
That waste had been dumped and covered up in an old canal in the 1940s and 1950s by a local chemical company, and was now leaking into backyards and basements of nearby homes. Some residents claimed those chemicals had given them a gamut of health problems.
Gibbs soon organized a grass roots movement that eventually compelled the state to evacuate some 900 families. It laid the groundwork for Superfund legislation in 1980, which aimed to prevent future “Love Canals"—and provide funds to remediate those that had already happened. Love Canal was among the first to be addressed.
By 1990, the state of New York declared portions of Love Canal inhabitable, and put some 200 refurbished homes up for sale at below market prices. Nearly all the homes found a buyer.
But now, decades later, the battle over Love Canal has resurfaced.
Educators, click below for this video’s accompanying lesson plan and check out our Environmental Education Collection.
Sign up for our newsletter to receive resources related to this video.
Browse through dozens more lesson plans and videos here.
More Like This

A disastrous oil spill off the coast of Alaska and massive explosion of a rig in the Gulf of Mexico revealed a pattern of unsettled standards and inconsistent oversight that cast doubt on the oil industry’s preparedness for future accidents.

About half a million children have dangerously high lead levels in their blood, mostly from exposure to peeling paint and contaminated dust. The fight over who should clean it up has lasted for decades.

The mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder has pushed honeybees into the public eye. But the story of their plight – and its impact – is much more complicated.

In the latest installment of our “What Happens Next” series examining the future of society, we visit Medellín, Colombia—a city that has reinvented itself over the past few decades, turning its violent past into a sustainable future by transforming its slums.