I slept through the oil disaster. It gushes still, and has not stopped for two months. But I had to sleep through some of that. And work. I've seen a couple of good movies in that time too, and went away for a few days. I've been out to dinner, the gym, played some tennis, and done laundry and dishes. And while I was thinking of other things, that oil did not stop spewing for a single second.
Even during an event as staggering as BP's monumental screw up, we must put it out of our minds some of the time, and simply live our lives.
Another - the mother of all gushers - forces a similar disconnect. Chemical change accelerates still. But the collective eruption of industrial pollution is rarely top-of-mind. And if we were steadily tuned in, the non stop saturation of our flesh, blood, air, and water with toxins might drive anyone insane.
Even though;
"American babies are born pre-polluted, their bodies laced with as many as 300 industrial compounds, pollutants, plastics, pesticides and other substances that threaten public health." - April 16, 2010, - Richard Wiles, Environmental Working Group
We have to put that out of our minds most of the time.
Those babies are polluted as a result of the non-stop spewing of toxins at chemical plants, power plants, factories and agricorp operations around the world.
Every day of the week, new reports link that fact to a chemical plague of illnesses - for example this peer reviewed study at Environmental Health Perspectives indicating cause and effect between nonstick coatings, stain-resistant fabrics and food package coatings, and one of the most common neuro-developmental disorders in children: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
The study, by researchers at Boston University and the Harvard School of Public Health, also found higher risks for children exposed to other similar perfluorinated chemicals.
That group of chemicals are a tiny fraction of the hundreds that Mr. Wiles spoke of, and those polluted babies face many more exposures, from birth on.
That is just one of a long list of greater and lesser on-going damages.
We sleep and work play in a toxic gusher - we have no choice for the moment, it rains down upon us. If that sounds overstated - reread Mr. Wiles statement of fact above, and think it over.
We are necessarily oblivious to this most of the time. But we should be thinking about it, and we need not be resigned to its consequences.
Let us not ignore, but change. We can mitigate our family's exposures to a degree - through lifestyle choices. And we can do something towards addressing the problem. Through politics.
Elect representatives who will not facilitate the accelerating status quo, but diligently work to stem the toxic flow.
cross-posted at http//www.worldforallpeople.org