Reflection: Weeks 7 & 8

Reading 16: Ill Winds: The Chemical Plant Next Door
This autobiographical article talked about one woman’s experience growing up in a small rural town. It was quite a shock to read and dealt with concepts of environmental injustice and the “NIMBY” (not in my backyard!) mindset that relate to the placement of hazardous chemical plants in areas of low population. I couldn’t believe the lack of regulation that some companies seem to get away with! Just because a town may be small, doesn’t mean that the residents can be treated as less than human! For a more in-depth look at my opinion about this reading, please read my article review.

Green
We watched this documentary last Tuesday and Thursday in class, and it exposed us to another example of environmental injustice. Green told the stories, town by town, of residents living in Cancer Alley in Louisiana. These people are facing all sorts of horrific situations including many types of rare cancers because they are forced to live so close to a high number of chemical plants and refineries. I found this documentary to be quite depressing due to the absolute unfairness of it all. Realizing the situations other people have to deal with every day made me feel rather spoiled, and greatly increased my appreciation for my current living situation here in Duluth. I also had to think about how all of my choices affect someone else – the products I buy and the chemicals they contain have to come from somewhere. Unfortunately, my cheap products are made at the disadvantage of other people. This was a concept I had never thought of before, and to be perfectly honest, it was one of those “ignorance is bliss” situations. For a more thorough look at this movie, take a look at the documentary review I wrote about Green.

Eye Opener
This activity introduced me to the Environmental Working Group, a group that "works to expose threats to your health, and the environment, and to find solutions." I used their Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database to test my favorite lotion, and learned that perhaps it isn’t doing my body as big of a favor as I thought it was! I liked this database because although it lists all the dangers of products, it also lists products with “safer” environmental scores. I find it to be quite unsettling how unsafe products seem to be… is there ANYTHING that’s not carcinogenic these days?

Reading 31: Privatizing Water
This reading discussed the pros and cons of privatizing water and focused on the story of Cochabamba, Bolivia. In this city, the government gave in to World Bank and allowed its water to be privatized, but immense pressure from citizen protests led to the cancellation of the contract. This is an issue I was previously unfamiliar with, and I found it hard to relate to. I think my disconnect stemmed from the fact that water is so abundant where I live that I am spoiled and can’t even imagine what it would be like to not have enough water.

Thirst
We began watching this documentary in class this week, but unfortunately were unable to finish it. It, too, discussed the concept of water privatization. The concept of water being an economic good vs. a human right was raised, and overall I just found this to be a confusing topic. How can someone say they own the water? I know the idea is that companies own the cleaning, transportation, etc. of the water, but still. It seems a little power-hungry to me. I was impressed by some of the ways communities in areas that receive low amounts of precipitation are able to collect their rainwater, and I wish everyone would be that responsible. If there’s one thing I’m sure about, it’s that the idea of a world-wide water shortage is a very scary one. Also, I believe everyone deserves access to affordable potable water.

Blogging
After blogging for almost eight weeks so far (this semester seems to be going so quickly!), it’s definitely become commonplace to check Google Reader almost every time I check my email now. Even though the blogging concept has gotten a lot easier, it’s still overwhelming because there always seem to be so many posts! Sometimes I just feel bombarded by information, but I do enjoy reading everyone’s Share and Voice posts. I feel like I have been introduced to so many neat products and ideas because of the informative posts from my classmates – great job everyone!

A Few More Thoughts
I think it was beneficial for me to be exposed to the topics we discussed in class these past two weeks. Although it’s difficult to hear about such grand-scale problems that seem impossible to fix, I think it’s important for everyone to be aware of them. Even though we may not feel directly impacted by such issues now, the time is probably not too far off when they will start hitting a little closer to home for many people. I thought it was interesting how the concept of privatizing water tied into environmental injustice with how poor people in rural areas were paying MORE for water than higher-income residents of cities. That is so unfair!

Also, today in class we briefly talked about how certain technology is in place (such as the air-powered cars), but the problem lies in the implementation of such technology. The layouts of cities and the mindset of our nation will need to be altered before some of these new concepts can become more mainstream. I think this shift towards “greener” technology is definitely underway, and hopefully it won’t be too much longer before some massive changes take place.

Thanks for reading, have a great spring break everyone!


(Photo taken by me near Split Rock Lighthouse, MN. September 2006.)