Shadowing Practice: One Man Single Handedly Creates Environmental Disaster | Plainly Difficult - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Waste unfortunately is an inevitable part of humans existing on the blue and green ball thing we call home.
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Waste unfortunately is an inevitable part of humans existing on the blue and green ball thing we call home.
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It's hard to argue against that we've done some damage.
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I know Mother Earth will eventually fling us off like a monkey picking a flea.
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Anywho, one such example of mankind defecating on its own doorstep was the Love Canal.
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It's widely regarded as the initiating event that created the Superfund,
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or as I like to call it,
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the plainly difficult content mine.
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My search for new and exciting ways we've buggered things up aside,
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the Superfund program's beginnings can also be attributed to today's subject,
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the Valley of the Drums.
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Yes, I know it sounds like an ancient burial ground for kings long forgotten,
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I mean I wish it was,
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but you are watching a plain difficult video after all,
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so instead it was a big old dumping ground for toxic chemicals.
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Juicy content aside, this story very appropriately shows the reasons why landfills need proper regulation.
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So my name is John and welcome to Plainly Difficult.
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Forward.
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So ever since my video on the Love Canal disaster I've received requests for this video
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and can I just point out that the Love Canal video was all the way back in May 2020.
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Anywho, and nearly four years later, here we are.
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So this video will be based off various reports and papers published by the EPA,
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as well as some other contemporary newspapers and the like.
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And as always, the linkies will be in the description below.
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So sit back, relax, and for the love that all is high and mighty,
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don't touch the rusty waste barrels.
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Background.
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So our story is about this place,
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here, just a few miles away from Louisville,
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Kentucky,
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it's located in north bullet county it is a 23 acre site
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and is owned by this guy a mr taylor i don't actually have a picture of him
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so i took some artistic license to create our own mr
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taylor it's much like the rest of bullet county in
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that it's got some steep slopes thus creating valleys it's the mid 1960s
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and mr taylor can see dollar signs his unused tract of land has presented itself as a potential moneymaker.
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That is a dump site.
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Not only that, but an unlicensed and unregulated dump site.
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Taylor was willing to take on anything and everything to dispose of on his site.
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This made his operation rather popular with some of the more toxic rubbish producers.
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I should say that being unlicensed wasn't necessarily a big of a deal at the time,
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as dumping laws were rather lax in the 1960s.
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His biggest customers were from the paints and coatings industries based around Louisville.
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Soon enough, drum upon drum of waste arrived on his dump site and quickly started stacking up.
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During the early years of the dump,
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which as the EPA would state as starting in 1967,
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Taylor found another little side hustle,
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selling off the used drums for scrap.
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But what to do with the contents of those drums?
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Well, Taylor had a cunning plan.
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He would dig a hole,
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a really big hole, and pour the sweet,
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tasty, and totally safe material out into it.
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This simple and ingenious plan allowed Taylor to scrap out the drums,
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but to a surprise to absolutely no one,
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Taylor didn't line the excavations with any protective coverings,
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allowing the toxic material to permeate into the soil and eventually to the groundwater.
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Nothing good was in those drums as an estimated 140 chemicals made their way into the soil including polychlorinated biphenyls
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which was a carcinogen.
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Now the unlicensed chemical dump site didn't go unnoticed after Taylor was caught burning solvents.
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Contaminating the ground was clearly not enough for him.
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The Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection ordered the burning to stop.
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This resulted in the pits being filled in for soil from the valley.
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The filled-in pits became the foundation for drum storage out in the open,
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which caused leakages as they degraded and rusted away.
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Neighbours of the dump site frequently reported strong pungent chemical odours coming from within.
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In 1975, the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection began legal proceedings against Taylor after a release of heavy metals
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and carcinogenic chemicals into the nearby Wilson Creek was found.
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Taylor had a cunning ace up his sleeve which allowed him to dodge all responsibility and that was dying in 1977.
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At least the dump site stopped taking in more waste after Taylor's stopping of being alive.
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Now the site had no known owner,
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causing a somewhat awkward legal situation,
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which would slow down any hopes of a clean up.
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Although eventually potential responsible persons were found,
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funding of any clean up would be difficult.
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Plainly difficult.
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For another two years the chemicals would seep into the groundwater,
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be washed off by rainfall and sink deep into the soil around the dump site.
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During this time the EPA was aware of the chemical catastrophe that was just happening in Kentucky,
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and at the request of KDEP would undertake surveys of the dump site.
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The EPA would end up doing some emergency works to slow
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down the chemical release as stated in the EPA record of decision.
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By constructing interceptor trenches and a temporary water treatment system,
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securing leaking drums and segregating and organising drums on site.
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During the emergency work the EPA tested the site and found this list of chemicals.
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The The work the EPA had done so far was not the be all
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and end all and thus a more permanent solution was needed.
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Cleanup.
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So the site was home to tens of thousands of drums of chemicals.
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By the 1980s the site had degraded further still
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and started in 1981 the EPA led a clean up program of removing and disposing of the drums.
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This took nearly 8 years over 4 removal actions.
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The drainage system was updated and handed over to KDEP to manage and maintain.
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But although a large amount of the contamination had been removed,
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nothing had been done about the thousands of tons of buried chemicals and drums.
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This would require a new plan.
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Multiple options were suggested in the 1986 record of decision,
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including complete removal and disposal of the material, either on-site or off-site.
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but the option preferred was to keep the material on site
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and contain it this would involve a perimeter drainage system a program of soil monitoring wells for groundwater monitoring
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and importantly a clay cap to stop runoff all of
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which would be fenced
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and gated off from public access now this would cost in
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the 1980s an estimated 795 000 just for the clay cap design and install a loan.
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So who was to pay?
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Well, this is what would lead to the super fund.
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You see, after Taylor had died,
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tracking down anyone able to pay was very difficult.
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Essentially, this left the EPA holding the bag.
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This, and along with other waste sites,
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led the federal government to seek an alternative way to pay
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for clean-up works this would be the comprehensive environmental response compensation
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and liability act of 1980 or circular
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which placed sites requiring remediation on a national priorities list
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which would be funded by the superfund now there's a lot more to it
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but that will be maybe for another video for me to describe
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so remediation at the valley of the drums would continue into
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the 1990s with the site being removed from the national priorities list in 1996.
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Even though off the list issues continued right up until 2008 when more waste was discovered just off site also requiring removal.
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KDEP continues to maintain the drainage monitoring system to this day
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and regular checks are done on the clay cap and so far it mostly looks okay.
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The site is still fenced off from the the public and thankfully so far no contamination has migrated into nearby Wilson Creek.
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Amazingly, there has not been a massive human cost.
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Nearby properties don't use their wells due to poor yield and because of this many are linked up to the municipal water.
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The Valley of the Drums became less known compared to the Love Canal disaster which happened around the same time.
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This is because, well, the human cost.
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A whole suburb didn't need to get relocated and as such it was much easier to forget.
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The environment was still pretty damaged requiring a lot of money to fix
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and it could have been far worse if left to decay.
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It does highlight the risks of unmanaged dump sites.
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Luckily with the value of the drums it was contained but at a cost.
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So what did you get on your bingo card?
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This is what I've got and I'll put the value of the drums on a number two on my disaster scale.
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Do you agree?
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i'd like to say thanks to art from gamer from mars
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for his cameo this is the plain different production all videos
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on the channel creative commons attribution share like license plain videos
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are produced by me john the currently very cold corner of southern london uk i don't know
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if you can tell but i've got a pretty nasty cold at the moment
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and as such my voice is sounding pretty haggard
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but anyway i'd like to thank my patreon
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and youtube members for your financial support
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and all that's left to say is thank you miss thank you for watching and mr music play us out
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Why practice speaking with this video?
Engaging with this video titled "One Man Single Handedly Creates Environmental Disaster" is a powerful way to practice your English speaking skills. It presents a complex narrative about environmental issues, allowing learners to grasp various contexts through captivating storytelling. By shadowing the speaker, you not only improve your listening skills but also get to practice pronunciation and intonation, essential components of fluent speech.
This particular video offers a rich context for discussing environmental topics, which can be a great conversation starter during real-life discussions or debates. The scenarios described encourage learners to think critically and articulate their thoughts in English. Furthermore, by using a shadowing site that features this video, you can enhance your fluency while becoming more informed about global issues.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
The speaker employs several useful grammatical structures and expressions, which learners can adopt in their own speech:
- Passive voice: Phrases like "was created" and "is regarded" highlight the passive voice, useful for discussing actions without focusing on the doer.
- Conditionals: The phrase, "if you touch the rusty waste barrels," showcases a conditional form that is often used to discuss potential outcomes.
- Descriptive language: Terms like "unlicensed" and "toxic waste" provide a way to effectively convey complex ideas and details about a subject.
- Informal conversational style: Expressions such as "I mean" and "anywho" reflect casual speech, enabling learners to understand how to communicate naturally in English.
Common Pronunciation Traps
As you practice speaking with this video, pay attention to specific words and phrases that may pose pronunciation challenges:
- “Environmental”: This word can be difficult; ensure to emphasize the middle syllable—en-vi-ron-men-tal.
- “Toxic”: The ‘x’ can be tricky; practice saying it with a clear ‘ks’ sound—tox-ic.
- “Regulation”: Be mindful of the syllable stress here, ensuring to stress the third syllable—reg-u-la-tion.
- “Drums”: This word, when spoken quickly, can blend into surrounding words; practice saying it clearly.
By focusing on these elements, you can improve your English pronunciation and become a more competent speaker through shadow speech techniques. This way, you can learn English with YouTube in a practical and engaging manner.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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