A protest at the US Social Forum in Detroit centered on the world’s largest incinerator.
Mining is destroying the land from above and below.
Daily images of the Gulf Coast destruction by BP Corporation are becoming a documentary right before our eyes.
It is crystal clear that the ecological destruction is a result of finance capitalist’s plan to maximize its profits even at the risk of destroying the very planet that we all must share as the human race.
The Detroit Incinerator is the world’s largest facility, turning nearly a million tons of trash annually into energy. The incinerator has become a billion dollar boondoggle and remains the single biggest debt of the city. Detroit was forced to sell the trash burning facility to two private corporations in a lease-buy back agreement which was designed to benefit the companies (of course). There are huge penalties for the city if they break the contract before time. While Detroit figures out what to do with this inefficient albatross, the facility emits hazardous air pollutants including mercury, lead, and dioxins to the black community around it.
Jihan Gearon is a Dineâ Navajo and African American. She grew up on the Navajo reservation in Arizona and is acutely aware of the devastation by man to the environment. Jihan is an organizer for Indigenous Peoples rights and environmental justice. Jihan often talks about the spiritual disconnect to the land facing native peoples when they are forced to take jobs that are ultimately destroying the very land, air and water that brings them their sustenance.
I got to thinking: this is a predicament facing more than just the Indigenous Peoples.
So is it with the workers at the Detroit Incinerator. So goes the miners who are destroying the land from above and below. And there goes the workers employed by the likes of BP, Chevron and Shell who aggressively drill for oil with no regard to harm it causes but especially when there’s a spill that devastates the environment as well as a way of life. And let us not forget the companies responsible for deforestation. Most of these workers will fight to keep their jobs, knowing that it is lethal to their own health and the health of the planet. These workers are demanding that President Obama lift the moratorium on offshore drilling.
As Gearon says, these corporations have us working against our own best interest for the sake of a paycheck. Workers are in some kind of schizophrenic cycle and think there are no alternatives. The general public always buys into the trap laid by a company promising to create jobs because we all know the importance of taking care of your family. The loss of clean air, clean water, forests, arable soil, and all forms of life cannot be sacrificed due corporate greed and poor planning.
There are alternatives to participating in our own destruction and bringing sanity to the maddening destruction of our Earth Mother. We need to minimize our own accumulation and consumption. We need to hold companies accountable for their harm and not just let them pay their way out (Cap and Trade). We need to explore the real green economy. That means conserving the earth’s resources and using creative, safe methods to make products. Finally, we must adopt renewable energy sources required to sustain a planet for generations to come.