“Rose Moon”, Sandra Steingraber
This article was one that was almost disturbing to read, yet a reality that so much of the world has ignored. The idea of toxicities in the enviroment, and how these chemicals physically affects the people living in this enviroment, but more importantly to Steingraber, how we as a society handle the awareness and reality of how sick these toxins are making the people living in the enviroment, and how this affects the future children of the generations to come. Steingraber not only brings up how toxins are brought to the public attention, but more importantly how vital and aware these toxins are shared with society, in which the government ultimately controls, until people can use their voices to fight the constant term used: “ In ignorance, abstain” (550). What are we ignorant about? What does it mean to be ignorant when it comes to the health of one’s own baby? How do we as a society handle ignorance? Do we ask more questions, and find why the answer of “ignorance” is so easy to use? Or do we simply follow “ignorance is bliss”, and look no further into the problem, because that would make the problem a reality. This is the main message I received from Steingraber’s article, behind the intense and disturbing stories about the toxicities in the earth, particularly lead, and the lead in lead paint, and the extreme effects it has had on generations and generations of children and families, and still happens today, the government has so many times turned a blind eye. Steingraber brings up these tough realities, realities we as society are not willing to face, because then it makes it true. It makes it a real problem that we as a society have control over, we have the ultimate power to not use lead, to fund companies to extract the toxicities that are imbedded in the soils and walls of these towns and areas so devastatingly affected by these poisons. Yet the easy way out is ignorance, because then in the mind set of so many there is no reality to such a huge issue. We as a society utilize science to the fullest in so many ways, yet the information we release to the public, and the way the information is released is what we need to question as a community that could be affected by toxins, and unborn children could be affected by these toxins, because that is what will give the people the power to find ways to bring the realities to the surface, and more importantly, fix these problems, not feed into more ignorance.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You write, "the easy way out is ignorance." I completely agree with this statement. There are so many times when we have opportunities to make a difference in the impact we leave on the environment, but we don't. How many people could recycle or choose biodegradeable products, but don't. This is disturbing because it results in horrible things like the subject of this article. You also write, "especially lead (the worst impact on the environment)" With lead, we definitely know what products have lead in them. There is no excuse to use lead anymore, because we do not have that ignorance. It is unlike something like the long-lasting lightbulbs that people use now which contain harmful amounts of mercury. I just think with the issue of the environment, we could be doing so much more to prevent the terrible stories of death and suffering. This is a great blog!
ReplyDeleteThanks
Candice
Great post!
ReplyDeletePeople are so consumed with their lives, that they do not pay attention to their surroundings. They do not care about the affects of the environment and only take themselves into consideration. I'm sure for many people the environment is the last thing on their worry list, they really can't afford to. For instance people who struggle to provide for their kids, people under unfortunate circumstances because survival is their main priority, but then again does that excuse them? For other people they just simply do not care; they do not care to be aware of the toxins that are harmful. Why? I don't understand. These toxins affect them. Maybe they do not know how serious the problem is, ignorance of the issue's severity. People need to be more informed about these hazardous toxins and actually take action to improve the health of the environment, the people, and future generations. Even small things like recycling, updating yourself about hazards, and even simply not purchasing a product that may have a toxic ingredient helps. If everyone had that mentality so much could change.
In the article, Steingraber cited that many companies that fund the research into these types of toxins actually have a stake in the outcomes. This essentially is the problem; arbitrary third parties are the ones that should be funding these types of endeavors. Public health should not be relegated to this type of manipulation and corruption. When as many as 1 in 20 people have an abnormal content of lead in their blood even with all the information we have about it today, there is a huge problem.
ReplyDeleteRegarding how people choose not to recycle or buy biodegradable and environmentally-friendly products: I definitely don't think it's because people choose not to, I think it's a matter of whether or not we have the means to. Buying recycled paper products and environmentally-friendly things are expensive; you will not convince people to make these types of purchases without making them more reasonably priced. Personally, when I'm at Target buying notebooks for school, I see regular, unrecycled notebooks for $1.99 and notebooks made from recycled paper for $9.99. Hmmm....which of these is the more reasonable price? Now, if they made recycled paper products cheaper than unrecycled, or even the same price, people could actually make the conscience choice to buy these sorts of products. Don't even get me started on how expensive it is to create a "green" house."
If you ask me, this is the reason why so much garbage is accumulated in the U.S, because we are not given a fair chance at converting our lives to being environmentally friendly.