Once and for all: eradicating the yellow fever mosquito in Aruba
The yellow fever mosquito in South America transmits several diseases in large numbers, including the dengue virus, the yellow fever virus, chikungunya and the Zika virus. The cost of dengue on Aruba is high and many agreed on the need for these actions. It was not possible to raise the intended amount; more than half was promised, but that was all. More parties were sceptical and eventually the project was stopped.
Failed cleanup of Gulf of Mexico
Due to an accident at BP, a lot of oil unintentionally ended up in the sea near the Gulf of Mexico. In order to ensure that this would disappear more quickly, chemicals were thrown into the water that were supposed to make the oil droplets smaller and speed up the decomposition process. Unfortunately, the chemicals had the opposite effect: the chemicals caused microorganisms to flourish and drive out the microorganisms that were breaking down the oil.