LIKE MOST, I was under the illusion that our society had advanced, creating a safer world for us to live in.
Antibiotics and new medical breakthroughs, modern agriculture, electronic technology and a trustworthy justice system, are the pinnacle of modern civilization and the reason we call ourselves advanced.
In the last few years, several disturbing reports about ‘the state of the environment’ have revealed that up to 66% of the World’s ecosystems are degraded.
Our bodies carry a load of toxic chemicals, some that haven’t been legally used for decades, like DDT. The legacy of industrialisation is all-pervasive, crossing the barrier of our own skin!
Surely this couldn’t be the cost of establishing a superior advanced culture?
Exploring the matter further, I discovered that many environmental indicators point to a world that is not beaming with progress, but one that is chronically ill.
The economic crisis of 2009 is proof that even the health of our so-called advanced economies is not that was previously thought.
The environmental justice movement, has for years, described a world where women, certain ethnic groups and ecosystems bear the externalised costs of the developed world.
Suffering from illnesses and social problems caused by the chemicals and processes of rampant industrialisation and the breakdown of traditional cultures, – these vulnerable stakeholders are locked into a system where they are always on the receiving end of a raw deal.
When developed nations realised they were polluted, they responded by shipping their polluting industries offshore making it ‘somebody eles’sproblem’. In doing this, they failed to realise the truth of biophysical reality. The world doesn’t work like that. Environmental pollution has a way of spreading itself out round Globe. It travels far and wide through the water cycle, weather systems, through soils and into the food that we eat.
A problem in one part of the world soon becomes a problem for another part of the world.
Remember Chernobyl? Few people know that it took over 600,000 people to clean up the mess. Fewer people know that just weeks after the meltdown, the dispersal of radioactive particles was almost global.
Toxins released into the environment ultimately make their way into our bodies through Earth’s biophysical processes. This is a fact from which we cannot escape. Ultimately we are all affected. There is no somebody else’s problem – there is only OUR problem. Eventually all of us end up paying the price for the advancement of a few who are profiting at our expense.
The relationship between ecosystem health and human health is widely acknowledged. Many people are unaware that their health is already being affected by technological changes that have taken place in the last 70 years. We all have DDT in our blood, even though it was banned in Australia years ago. DDT causes cancer and disruption of hormonal processes. There are many chemicals, potentially as damaging as DDT, still in use, in industry today.
Many synthetic chemicals take decades to break down in our bodies and the environment, so the fact that we keep on producing more and more of them means that we are giving our bodies and the environment a heavier and heavier burden to carry.
Tasmania is no exception. The host of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides used by industry and those available over the counter are slowly poisoning us, and the environment. Just remember that if a
chemical has the word ‘cide’ in it’s name, that means that it is designed to ‘kill’ and it is not safe! While some chemicals are more toxic than others, ultimately they all do damage in some way or other.
Triazines, Sodium monofluroacetate (1080 poison), glyphosate, alphacypermethrin, sulfometuron methyl and clopyralid are just some of the chemicals that are widely used in Tasmania.
Most people think that glyphosate is safe, but it is toxic to small birds and can enter the food chain this way.
Tasmania is no longer clean and green. Like everywhere else, it is toxic. Dioxins and PCBs are some of the most toxic chemicals known to man. They are produced as the bi-product of many industrial processes, incineration and burning off. Forestry’s use of chemicals in combination with large-scale burning would be a source of increased dioxin contamination in Tasmania – a serious health concern to our community.
These chemicals have been linked to relatively ‘new’ health problems like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and baffling conditions like endometriosis and certain neurological conditions. Worst of all they
cause life-threatening illnesses like cancer.
It is not fair, nor is it just that we are paying the price for ‘somebody else’s’ actions. Our modern environmental law supports the ‘polluter pays’ principle, but realistically how are we going to ask the offenders to pay us for our declining health? And what price is your health worth anyway?
Before it gets to that point, surely we should be working on ways to stop this ridiculous cycle of poisoning ourselves?
Why are our industries and government alike barging full-steam ahead as if there is nothing wrong? Why aren’t they speaking openly about such serious issues. Too scared to rock the boat of change the distribution of wealth and power, our society is continuing without adjusting any of it’s damaging behaviour.
Instead of practicing denial, or sinking into a helpless apathetic state, we should be working towards changing this sorry situation. We should be demanding that toxic chemicals are banned.
The Tasmanian community has proved itself strong with the capacity to rally behind a worthy cause. What could be more important than our health?
We need to create a shift towards a sustainable Tasmanian society and work towards delivering environmentally just outcomes for or community and the ecosystem.
We need to develop toxic-free agricultural and forestry practices, consumption patterns free of toxic chemicals and fight for our rights to a healthy, toxic-free future.
Malini Alexander is 27; with an undergraduate degree in chemistry and mathematics and a Master of Environmental and Business Management. He has lived and worked in India for 3.5 years on a number of environmental projects in rural areas: “Through this I gained experience in traditional Indian sustainable practices. My special interests are toxicology, (pesticides, waste management, toxic chemicals in industry), Indian medicinal plants and ecological anthropology.”
Meanwhile,
A Silent Forest; Watch David Suzuki on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5rHZE9H7OA&feature=related
