The Palladium-Item looks to be starting a series on the environmental contamination at Springwood Lake near the industrial corridor on Richmond’s northwest side.
[T]he once pristine, spring-fed body of water has been fouled by decades of industrial runoff and spills. The water is relatively clean, but tests on the sediment beneath have revealed the ugly truth of its past as a catch basin for the city’s industrial northwest side.
When it comes to pollution, I have to keep returning to the notion that pollution is a form of externalizing the costs of production. When externalized, that portion of the cost of production isn’t reflected in the price, meaning that the market is not sending the correct signals. In this case, the future generations in the area – the ones who have to clean up the area, suffer from the health problems, and/or live with the mess – are subsidizing the consumption of the products made at that time and place.
I don’t know, and the article doesn’t say, but I have to think that the Alcoa plant in the area is one source of the contaminants. And that makes me a beneficiary of those subsidies. Dad made a good living at that plant, allowing him to support our family in a stable fashion. Mom was at home after school, we had good health benefits. He was able to spare the time to coach our sports teams, etc. etc.
So, thanks for the help neighbors of Springwood!
I hope you are kidding here.
Sounded kind of unsympathetic to people who have to suffer the negative effects of industrial pollution so you could have a fulfilling childhood.
Not kidding, exactly. But I didn’t mean to sound unsympathetic either. Mostly pointing out that I don’t necessarily have clean hands here.
Doug, saying you don’t have clean hands with this sounds very close to the idea of “original sin”, something you’ve really had a hard time with.
I think you can acknowledge that your family benefited from pollution at the expense of others without personal guilt as long as you don’t say it is a good thing to do, which I know you’re not saying.
The whole thing reminds me of the Upton Sinclair quote:
I’m pretty sure this quote applies to about every discussion regarding pollution.
I was good friends with a maintenance man that worked at dana, as did alot of my family. He said the contamination came from there and it was ‘ some bad stuff”
Does not surprise me. I heard stories, third hand, from the 1950s and 1960s about how they handled waste in that area, and it was not good.