Marvin Gaye once sang, “Oh, mercy mercy me/Oh, things ain’t what they used to be/No, no/Where did all the blue sky go?/Poison is the wind that blows/From the north, east, south, and sea/Oh, mercy mercy me…” This song came to mind after reading a horrifying story by The Miami Herald on the obscene number of birth defects caused by coal ash pollution in the small rural town of Arroyo Barril, Domincan Republic.
Some still have the audacity to question whether the dumped coal ash off Arroyo Barril’s coast was responsible for the several babies born there with no arms and eyes, severe cranial deformities, organs outside the body, or with two heads. Yes, it sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, but this is the gruesome reality for the residents.
According to the Miami Herald article, “The ash, a concentrated form of naturally occurring contaminants, is what is left over from burning coal for power. It usually contains arsenic, lead, cadmium, chromium and nickel.” Back in 2003, U.S. based company AES, with the permission of three Dominican authorities, shipped to the Arroyo Barril port barges containing loads of ash rocks that were supposed to be turned into material for asphalt and shipped to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, within 90 days. Instead, according to the report, “More than 50,000 tons of coal ash laden with heavy metals was left at a port abutting local homes for years while the company, politicians, prosecutors, environmental activists and bureaucrats argued — and residents got sick.”
Why was it left there for years? Simple. The residents near the port were impoverished. They were invisible to the profit-hungry corporation, corrupt public officials, and many of us. AES and others didn’t consider the consequences this ash might have after falling in the ocean and affecting the water supply of the people. Nor did they think about the danger of contaminants seeping into the ground. Nor did they care about the effect it might have on ocean life. Since these people were not economically and socially powerful, their lives were considered dispensable.
Let’s turn the tables and see what would happen if a cargo ship arrived at Cape Cod with toxic waste to dispose. The residents would immediately clamor that a cargo ship was making their precious land unsightly. The rich and powerful would then hire lawyers and mobilize politicians to get rid of the ship. The media would capture the story and air it globally. Thanks to the media, people in the U.S. and around the world would feel disgusted that a toxic waste cargo ship attempted to dump coal ash in such a pristine location. The negative press, coupled with the global attention, would eventually force the cargo ship to leave with all its coal ash accounted for. One dropped coal ash, even by mistake, would result in severe persecution.
Back to reality. We all know that this would never happen at Cape Cod, where the economically and socially privileged maintain vacation residences. But it can and does happen in economically poor areas all around the world. These people call the toxic dump sites home. But these residents are dispensable, for they are not power players in the world economy.
We continue, at our own peril, to ignore the plight of the Arroyo Barril residents and the several billion oppressed and marginalized people across our planet. By denying their humanity, we deny ours. It is easy simply to blame multinational corporations and national governments as responsible for social injustice and environmental devastation. But in the end, we, as citizens of the world, are responsible for ignoring the situation and thereby allowing it to escalate.
We like to enjoy the gifts of globalization but we must also accept our responsibilities in a world made increasingly smaller by communication and travel technologies. Just because people in the Dominican Republic are suffering and we live in the U.S. does not give us license to dismiss them. Rather, with today’s tools of communication, we are more responsible than ever for all our neighbors. We are interconnected and interdependent in the web of life to all humans and to the natural world. But we render some people and the natural world invisible by disregarding their rights and, in some instances, denying their struggle. Will we have the courage to become responsible global citizens by opening our eyes to reality? The fate of many depends on our eyes and hearts opening to acknowledge their existence and struggle.
César J. Baldelomar is a graduate student at Harvard Divinity School. He is also the executive director of Pax Romana Center for International Study of Catholic Social Teaching. You can visit César at his Web site (www.cesarjb.org) and read his blogs at www.holisticthoughts.com.
