The Politics of Pollution
by Christine Maccabee
I am certain most people would agree with me when I say that clean water and air are precious resources for us, and we must protect them for future generations. As far as I can tell, clean water is as important as money, if not more important. So, for me, when I consider my political and economic priorities, my bottom line is always the water and the air. How there can be any debate about this, I am not sure. Perhaps people would have to have seen what I saw years ago to begin to feel as I do.
I lived in Western Maryland and West Virginia in the 1970s. Being the nature lover that I am, I took long walks in places most people never go. One day, I heard the sound of rushing water and, thinking that it was a stream, I ran to see it. What I witnessed startled and shocked me beyond belief. I saw a swift stream running bright orange in color. I stood there transfixed, thinking it was just a temporary problem, but the orange water just kept coming. At the time, I could not figure out why it was orange, but knowing I was in coal country, it soon became clear to me that it must have been due to the waste dumped into it by the coal company upstream.
Ever since that day, I have not been the same. I became semi-political but did not know how to get my voice heard, so I wrote songs. I am in good company as a nature lover/song writer. Jean Ritchie, a songstress who grew up in Eastern Kentucky, wrote a song called “The Last Old Train’s a Leavin,’” which spoke of the mountaintop removal that tore up her grandfather’s land. Jean chose to stay, and fight, and sing her songs.
While living in Frostburg, Maryland, I, too, witnessed a mountaintop removal and, in the aftermath, felt like I was walking through the end times of utter devastation. A group of students and community members like me attempted to plant saplings on the rocky mountaintop, but many of the trees died. Unlike Jean, I did not stay and have not been back since. However, I took away with me a desire to rectify environmental problems wherever I live.
Recently, I heard that an important Stream Protections Rule, which had finally been put in place seven years ago, is being abolished. Now coal companies will once again be permitted to discharge their toxic waste into the nearest streams as they were doing during the 1970s and before. This will save the companies money, they say. I became sick at heart when I heard this news, and this is just the beginning of a process of deregulation, which will certainly be continuing over the next number of years. Unfortunately, the bottom line is no longer purity of water and air, but money and convenience.
The way I see it, pollution is not really a political problem. It is actually a human problem. We contemporary humans have every opportunity to help with the pollution problems by using less energy in our homes and businesses. We can learn to use less electricity by using energy efficient light bulbs; turning off unnecessary lights; keeping temperatures a bit lower during the winter; using air conditioners only as needed; and yes, using solar energy, which people are starting to do more. All of this, and more, is the inside work.
I recently watched a Maryland Public TV film, Keeping the Potomac: the Politics of Water,” and was sickened when I saw a paper mill along the upper Potomac constantly spewing its waste into the river, killing off all aquatic life below the issuance point. It is beyond disheartening to see the brown gunk coming out of the pipes and the harm it is doing downstream. Regulations are and have been needed there, badly. Question is: Why are there no regulations to control such a travesty?
Fortunately, as humans, we have built in problem-solving skills. We can recycle our waste paper and buy more recycled paper products. Also, perhaps coal and paper company managers need to do more problem solving on their own, do more inside work, and some real soul searching regarding their priorities. That way, they can come up with solutions of their own rather than relying on governmental regulations or deregulations, as the case may be. Or, perhaps, it is time someone knocked on their door.
As a friend of mine said recently, “this is the inside work we all must do, whether it be in our homes, at our jobs, or in our relationships with others.” Outside will be fine so long as we all do the inside work. First, we must examine our spiritual callings to be caretakers of this planet, and of each other, and then we must learn, teach, and act.
So, the true politics of pollution resides in the human heart. That may be our only hope.
