Environmental Justice

[AstusAleator]

You may think most environmental problems hurt the little fuzzy animals in the woods, or the slimy things in the water. You're probably aware that they effect humans too. What you might not be aware of is that environmental degradation often unfairly impacts the poor and/or minority interests.

I'm reminded of a bit I saw on PBS about a village in Central America plagued by disease and birth defects. It is located just downstream of an industrial complex that disposes its chemicals directly into the watershed.

[MichaelXY]

That makes sense, The more wealthy would not tolerate such things, and have the power to yield their opinion.

[mith]

You should also read up on poly-brominated products too

[AstusAleator]

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/nr ... dpb_e.html

Interesting stuff mith. I've probably got a bunch of the stuff in my system from my fire-fighting gear :/.

[mith]

The thing with this stuff is it's plastic so its used everywhere and the bromination is considered pretty harmless since bromine is less reactive..however there may be some bacteria involved in de-brominating it, releasing halogens into the environment.

[AstusAleator]

Hm, so in areas where there is a lot of trash sitting around and rotting - such as northern Mexico - , the communities in the area might be getting very unhealthy doses.

[mith]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/world ... yt&emc=rss

But sometimes you have to wonder where concern for the environment ends and being humanitarian starts, albeit this case is more economics.

[AstusAleator]

It's interesting that the U.S. was trying to encourage them to not subsidize fertilizers. Our government indirectly subsidizes fertilizers and companies that use corn products by paying the difference below a certain value if corn prices go below it (which they always do). This is great for corn production, since it encourages corn farmers to achieve economies of scale by converting to mass industrial agriculture, increasing their production. But it's not so great for small farmers who can't make enough to keep their farms, even with the subsidies. Once again, the little man is getting pushed aside.
Like you said, this is more of an economic issue, but still...