Lead
A Cradle to Grave Analysis
Author: Jennifer So
Race Poverty and the Urban Environment
Professor Raquel R. Pinderhughes
Urban Studies Program
San Francisco State University, Spring 2003
Permission to use material herein, only if author, sources,
course, university, and professor are credited!
This presentation focuses on lead
It is designed to help you to understand how our
over-consumption of a natural resource touches
our lives and the lives of our brothers and sisters
around the globe. It takes you through the cradle
to grave lifecycle of lead, paying particular
attention to the social, environmental, and health
impacts of the processes associated with lead.
We start by looking at:
The lead extraction process
Where it is located and how it is taken
from the ecosystem
How much is extracted
Uses for lead
We then move on to :
The environmental impacts of lead
extraction
Water contamination, environment
disrupted, lead dust created
Followed by:
Lead workers
Health impacts
Types of jobs associated with lead
Case studies
This is followed by:
Impacts on the community
Near the smelters/mines
Low-income communities
Their access to resources
Such as lead removal
Next we will explore:
The Red Dog Mine in Alaska, A case study
The largest lead mine in the world
Who owns it?
The indigenous community
Their health affected, environment
affected, balance disrupted
Unfulfilled promises, “sneaky tactics”
We will also take a closer look at:
Lead-acid batteries, a global problem
Disposal of the product
Recycling
Secondary lead smelters
The lack of infrastructure needed to ensure
proper disposal
Loopholes in policies, corporate cover up (Basal
Convention)
Indigenous people
Finally we will examine:
Social and environmental injustice
Thoughts about race, class, and the
environment with regards to the lifecycle
of lead
Where Does Lead Come
From?
Lead comes from the mineral Galena
Galena is then mined from man-made
underground tunnels or mine shafts (Aber)
Mine Pits
The process is extremely costly financially and
to the environment
The Buick Lead Mine, MO spends:
$ 2 Million/Yr. To operate underground
equipment (Aber)
$ 3 Million/Yr. To operate equipment
above ground (Aber)
Lead in Galena Mineral
(http://www.ceia-
bc.com/connections/toxic.html)
Lead Mine pit
(http://www.northern.org/artman/publish/i
mages/reddog-pit.jpg)
Taking Lead From the
Ecosystem
Miners set off a huge explosion to “cut” galena
from the mine walls (Aber)
Blasts create pits, shafts or tunnels
Devastating the ecosystem
In some mines, water pumped in huge quantities
out of the mine to prevent flooding (Aber)
The Buick Lead Mine (Missouri) pumps over
8,500,000 gallons of water out each day (Aber)
Huge tractors load the galena onto transport
trucks (Aber)
Tractors use lead-acid batteries
“Blasting operation” to
form mine pit
(http://www.channel6.dk/native/uk/page21
3.html)
Truck in open mine pit
(http://www.channel6.dk/native/uk/page21
3.html)
Where does the lead go?
The galena is taken to
a mill and crushed in a
“rod and ball” machine
(Aber)
“Rod and Ball”
machine and crushed
Galena from lead mine
(http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/outreac
h/leadmill.htm)
(http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/outreach/leadmill.htm)
Large, uncovered trucks transport crushed galena
to the lead smeltering plant (Aber)
Dust flies off of truck
Truck uses a lead-acid battery
Lead Smelter
Crushed Galena put into suspension tank with:
Water
Dithiophosphate chemical
A “brown-black corrosive liquid with a pungent odor,
only slightly soluble in water” (www.chemnet.com)
Chemical reaction takes place creating froth
Separates lead from other ores (sulfides)
(www.chemnet.com)
Lead clings to froth (www.ldaint.org)
Froth hardens and is skimmed off (www.ldaint.org)
Result=90% lead concentrate
Lead roasted, forms clumps called sinter
(www.mynoranda.net)
Sinter mined with coke (made from coal) and blasted
with hot air (www.mynoranda.net)
Result from chemical reaction is lead bullion
(www.mynoranda.net)
Froth flotation cell
Lead froth waiting to be
skimmed off
Image:
(http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/outreac
h/leadmill.htm)
How much lead is extracted?
What is the lead used for?
How much?
In the year 2000, mining companies worldwide
responsible for producing 3,100,000 metric tons of lead
(U.S.Census Bureau)
Lead uses and examples:
lead acid batteries (car/truck batteries), cable
sheathing(insulation for wires, even christmas light
wires), lead sheeting, radiation shielding (x-ray bibs),
glass, ceramic glazes (old coffee mugs), pigments (lead
paint in older homes), stabilizers for PVC, solders and low
melting point alloys, lead shot (ammunition), weights,
bearings, seismic damping, stained glass windows (in
churches/homes, etc…) (www.brm.co.uk/lead/uses.htm)
Lead-acid batteries (also known as Start Light Ignition
SLI batteries)
account for 84% of all lead use
SLI batteries account for 84% of lead use
(http://www.ldaint.org/information.htm)
What happens to the unwanted
ores and waste?
Material leftover is called
tailings (EPA 2003)
Tailings composed of:
Wastewater
Dithiophosphate
Zinc ore
Sulfides
Garbage from mine
workers discarded on
landscape as well
Image:
(http://www.abyss.kgs.ku.edu/pls/aby
ss/pubcat.phdl)
Where do the Tailings Go?
After tailings accumulate, they are dumped
along with waste water, into tailing ponds
(EPA 2003)
Ponds are unlined holes in the ground
(EPA 2003)
Heavy metals and chemicals leech into
the soil!
Chemicals/metals migrate into the
water supply, especially when it rains
(EPA 2003)
Amount of waste
Amount of poisons dumped into ponds is
outrageous!
Doe Run Mine alone in 1998 generated
4,965,000 metric tons of process water into
“unlined surface impoundments” (EPA 2003)
The year 2000, Doe Run admitted to the release
of 2.2 million pounds of lead into the
environment (this excludes the amount they
failed to report) (Sierra Club 2003)
Cherokee County, KS, another mining company
left behind “tailings that covered 4,000 acres of
land (KGS 2003)
Lead contaminating
nearby stream
(http://www.kgs.ku.edu/extension/ozark/mining.
html)
Accumulation of
tailings
(http://www.abyss.kgs.ku.edu/pls/abyss/pubcat/p
hdl.selectphotoscounty)
Waste water
(http://www.osha-
slc.gov/SLIC/etools/leadsmelter/smelting/ind
ex.htm)
Damage After Mine Closes
Even after a mine closes, poisons continue to devastate the
land
There is tremendous geological damage
Remember, miners pump mass quantities of water out
of mine to prevent flooding
But, after mine is closed, mine often floods
Flood water contains: oil from equipment, sulfide
materials (EPA)
Chemical reaction takes place as water acidifies-
changing ore into heavy metals (EPA)
Contaminated water flows into streams and wells
Animals use to drink, humans use for recreation and
fishing, aquatic life contaminated (KGS)
“Man-made lake filled
with poisonous water”
(KGS)
(http://www.kgs.edu/extension/ozark/mini
Geological disruption
Mine pits, shafts, and tunnels unnaturally change
geologic structure
Example: Doe Run Mine, Missouri (Aber)
9 miles long
1,240 feet deep
700 feet wide
Why?
Because 3,400 tons of ore are mined
each day!
Mining activities leave huge holes in landscape
Many “holes” are filled in by the mining company
But the material used to fill often consists of
tailings and waste (EPA)
Backfill at Charleston Lead Mine
(azwww.az.blm.gov/mines/charleston.htm)
Devastating geological effects
(http://www.nothern.org/artman/publish/images/red-dog-pit.jpg)
Lead Dust
Can be from:
Mining activities
Lead smelting
Lead-based paint in older homes
Has great impacts on the community including:
Lead industry workers
Live in communities around lead mines
People that live in older homes with lead-based
paint
Lead dust from
lead-based paint
being scraped
htp:///lbl.gov/ehs/lead/html/exposure.htm
Lead Dust and Workers
According to the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA)
“Over exposure to lead is the leading cause of
workplace illness” (OSHA)
Lead mine/smelter workers may be exposed to
lead when:
Handling/cleaning the dust collection
system, from improperly maintained
collection systems, from settled dust in the
area, and from liquid containing lead that
may have splashed onto a worker or an object
and has turned into lead dust (OSHA)
Other Occupations That Expose
Workers to Lead
Occupations that involve the removal of lead coatings
(such as striping of old paint, demolition of old
structures, home renovation, house lead abatement
projects, steel bridge maintenance), jobs involving
heating, machining or spraying lead products (such as:
radiator repair, battery repair, welding, cutting,
brazing, machining, grinding lead alloys, repair or
removal of water lines using lead piping/solder,
electricians, stained glass window repair, and firing
ammunition), and jobs involving the making of lead
products (such as: lead-acid battery manufacturing,
glaze manufacturing, lead-glazed pottery making,
pewter production, cable production, stained glass
production, paint and ink manufacture, mixing and
weighing of lead powders, manufacture of lead
sheeting, ammunitions manufacture, glass blowing,
housing and construction and caulking manufacture)
(www.haz-map.com/lead.htm)
How Lead is Absorbed Into the
Body
Lead is absorbed directly into the body by:
Touching, breathing, swallowing lead or lead dust
(OSHA)
Or ingesting lead paint chips (OSHA)
Lead workers bring lead dust into the home on:
Their cars, clothing, skin, hair, and shoes
Lead then distributed to:
Blood, kidney, bone marrow, liver, brain, bones and
teeth (OSHA)
Constant overexposure to lead causes lead to build up
in the body (EPA)
Levels of lead above 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter
of blood (10 mg/dl)=danger to human body (EPA)
Lead in Body
(http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/leadsafe/body.htm)
Health Consequences of Lead
Exposure
Once lead is absorbed into the body, there are
numerous health consequences
Including:
Joint/muscle pain, high blood pressure,
memory loss, damage to fertility, nerve
damage, damage to internal organs (Finlay)
At high levels of exposure effects include:
Fits, coma, even death (Finlay)
Most humans are not adequately informed of
the health risks! (Finlay)
Health Consequences: Children
Effects even more devastating in children, especially
children under 6 yrs. of age (EPA)
Children pick up lead from playgrounds/soil, and ingest
lead when they put their hands in their mouths (EPA)
“Fetuses exposed suffer low birth weight, impaired
hearing, altered gestational age” (EPA)
Even trace amounts of lead can damage a child‟s still
developing body
“Affects developing nervous system, stunt growth,
affect attention span, learning disabilities (such as
ADHD), lower IQ scores impair hearing, cause
behavioral problems” (EPA)
Lead Workers: Case Studies
Man who specialized in lead abatement (lead
removal) became ill, experienced:
Nausea, confusion
Thought he might be lead poisoned, sought
doctors help, received no support
Only when a safety organization demanded
his blood lead levels be tested, worker found
to be poisoned
His blood lead level=110 mg/dl
(Remember, “safe” level is 10 mg/dl)
(The Lead Group 1996)
Case Study #2
A doctor reported that his patient, a
cadmium factory worker
Was collapsing
Blood lead testing determined:
Patient‟s blood lead level=24 mg/dl
(The Lead Group 1996)
Lead Also Affects Those Who Do
Not Work With Lead
Lead dust from smelters/mines become
airborne-deposit in and around the
community
Tailings from mining activities leech
chemicals and ores into water supplies-even
thousands of miles away
Wildlife: Case Study
Near Bunker Hill
Smelter
Swans lost their
ability to swallow
Due to lead
poisoning from
environment
Caused them (http://www.cv81pl.freeserve.co.uk/default.htm)
to starve to
death (Sierra Club
2003)
Town Near Smelter: Case Study
Deadwood Gulch
(town near lead
smelter)
Woman learns her 2
children have been
lead poisoned
Children‟s blood
lead levels=122
mg/dl and 111
mg/dl
(www.ldaint.org)
(http://www.glcac.org/lead.htm)
Organic Vegetables: Case Study
In Nebraska:
Barb Brunton
unknowingly poisoned
herself /her family
Via the organic
vegetables she was
growing in soil
poisoned by
ASARCO lead
smelter nearby (Sierra
Club 2003) (http://www.iol.ie/~niallob/green.html)
Low-Income Communities
There are more cases of lead poisoning in low-
income communities and/or communities of color,
than any other community (Bullard 1998)
African American children poisoned by lead at
2 times rate of white children (Bullard 1998)
At all income levels and at low-income levels:
“Over 28.4% of all low-income African
American children are lead poisoned”
(Bullard 1998)
“Compared to 9.8% of white children”
(Bullard 1998)
Overlooked Communities
Although agencies like the EPA and OSHA are
concerned with the environment/communities
There is a tendency to overlook low-income
communities of color while helping others
Lead based paints were banned in 1978, but:
38 million U.S. houses and apartments still
have lead based paint present (NLIHC)
25 million still have lead based paint hazards
somewhere in the home (NLIHC)
“Households with annual incomes below
30,000-twice as likely to as others to have
lead hazards in their homes” (NLIHC)
Families at higher income levels can either
afford to move or hire a specialist to
remove lead
Dr. Robert Bullard
“Government has been slow to ask the question
of who gets help and who does not, who can
afford help and who can not, why some
contaminated communities get studied while
others get cleaned up, why industry poisons
some communities and not others, why
preventable diseases (like lead poisoning) are
allowed to plague our children, why unjust,
unfair, illegal policies and practices go
unpunished”
(Bullard 1998)
Town of Alsen, LA: Case Study
Deemed “cancer alley”
Huge amounts of
documented/undocumented cases of cancer
due to ongoing presence of toxic industries
such as lead smelters (Greenpeace)
Town residents predominantly African
American-99% of the 1,500 residents
(Greenpeace)
It seems to be no accident that the town is
host to some of the biggest polluting
industries/constant recipient of new toxic
industries
Red Dog Mine, Alaska
Largest Lead Mine in the
World
On 2.3 million acres of land (Alaska Miners
Association 2003)
Largest producer of lead in U.S.
Also reason Alaska made top 5 list of most
polluted states (Indymedia)
Red Dog had 450,000,000 lbs. Toxic releases in
year 2000 alone (Indymedia)
Poisons destroy environment/community
members
Who Owns Red Dog?
Owned by Tech Cominco Ltd.
of Canada
Operated by joint venture
between Cominco and
Northwestern Alaska Native
Association (NANA)
NANA=corporation of (http://www.teckcominco.com/)
native shareholders that
owns land mine is built on
A for profit
organization, started by
native Alaskans and
indigenous tribe leaders
Owns the 2.3 million
acres Red Dog is on (http://www.nana.com/)
But: rights to minerals
discovered on lands held by
Tech Cominco not NANA!
(http://imcg.wr.usgs.gov/)
Kivalina community
Cominco, Ltd. promised jobs and community
services/benefits from mines
Most attractive offer-52 mile haul road=link to
coast/export of lead (http://imcg.wr.usgs.gov/)
But poisons from mines only caused devastation
Kivalina closest community to Red Dog (Planet Ark 2002)
380 people of Inupiat descent (U.S. Census 2000)
Mine employs only 21/380 Inupiat people (U.S. Census
2000)
More astonishing is that 60% of those Inupiat
employees are shareholders of NANA
Shareholding “employees” earn “wages
exceeding $15 million paid annually”
(www.bearingsea.com/)
Red Dog Mine Location
Red Dog Mine
(http://www.articcircle.uconn.edu/seej/Reddog/)
Red Dog Mine Near Villages
(http://www.nwartic.org/region.htm)
Who Benefits From the Mine?
With funds paid up front by Teck Cominco, NANA starts
Maniilaq (non-profit branch of NANA)
Maniilaq provides some jobs and services for
community
Yet according to census: median household income
in 2000=$0 and 37.93% of residents living below
poverty level (www.beringsea.com/)
Implies the jobs don‟t pay meaningful wage
68.8% of area around Red Dog is Native
Yet only Teck Cominco and shareholders stand to
benefit from the mine
Cominco‟s Version
Compare the Census facts against Teck
Cominco‟s version of the story:
“Alaskan state officials continually point to
Red Dog as a model of cooperation between
government, Alaskan Natives, and industry
in developing natural resources in a
responsible manner, building a strong
economic base and providing jobs with high
wages . Red Dog has fulfilled its original
mandate to create lasting, skilled
employment for the NANA people, provide
opportunity for NANA‟s youth, and act as a
catalyst for regional economic benefit” (Teck
Cominco, Ltd.)
(http://www.teckcominco.com/articles/operations/re-sharedvalues.pdf)
Red Dog Haul Road
The 52-mile haul road that
was originally so attractive is
now full of poisons
“Ore trucks (owned by
Teck Cominco) use the
road to transport 1.1
million dry tons of lead-
zinc concentrate annually
from mine to port site on
Chukchi Sea” (Ford and
Hasselbach 2001)
The trucks aren‟t
covered-lead dust flies
off onto road/into
nearby community Red Dog Haul Road
As road traveled over (http://www.chanel6.dk/native/uk/page213.html)
and over, more dust is
kicked up and
becomes airborne
(O‟Brien 2001)
Barges used to transport lead leave from port site at Kivalina
(http://www.channel6.dk/native/uk/page213.html)
Lead Levels Along Road
Lead levels along haul road =400 parts per million
(Greatly exceeding “safe” levels)
Yet the road can only be considered for clean up
if the levels exceed 1,000 parts per million
(Anchorage Daily News 2001)
Haul road classified as industrial site-means
amount of lead present can be higher than a
residential area (O'Brien 2001)
Kivalina Village
Inhabited by Inupiat tribe
They rely on hunting/gathering/fishing as
primary source of food and water (O‟Brien
2001)
Water supply greatly contaminated by
mining activities, Inupiat people are
being poisoned
But State of Alaska refuses to
industrial status of an area that‟s
clearly residential in order to get
area cleaned up (O‟Brien 2001)
Village of Kivalina Near Red Dog Mine
(http://www.arctic.com/kivalina.jpg)
Kivalina Council
Year 2001, Kivalina IRC Council, which
represents Native Village of Kivalina wrote,
“Even a housewife knows that with a
sweep, dust will fly” (Kivalina IRC Council 2001)
Council requests road be shut down,
the State of Alaska refuses
Too much money results from road
existence, but the opportunity costs are not
monetary, they are in the form of human
lives
Mine Contamination
Run-off from tailing piles at mine site kill
fish needed for food (Kivalina IRC Council 2001)
Chemicals from tailings piles leech into soil
used to grow food and to support
environment (Kivalina IRC Council 2001)
No fences to prevent animals from being
exposed to “festering contaminated mining
waste” (Kivalina IRC Council 2001)
Inupiat Question Drinking
Water
In Kivalina village, water from
infrastructure put into place is
contaminated with brown scum (Kivalina IRC
Council 2001)
When questions, a representative from
State of Alaska implies that the Inupiat
people are responsible and are too
ignorant to care for or store their water
That they don‟t store the water
properly and keep it too long (State of Alaska
2002)
But residents never experienced
brown scum before mining began
The Bottom Line
Teck Cominco saw an opportunity to mine
for resources in Alaska
Told Alaska Native population that they
would benefit greatly from turning their
land over to Teck Cominco
Could improve their standard of living by
putting a new infrastructure into place
But only thing Cominco succeeded in
accomplishing was political and
economic disruption of Native owned
lands
Completely disrupted balance of
environment and culture
Disposal of Lead Acid Batteries
Part 1
The problem of social/environmental
injustice affects not only us here in the
United States,
The problem is global
It links us to our brothers and sisters
overseas as well
Lead industry tells us that at the end of its
first life, a sound alternative to throwing
away lead acid batteries is to recycle
Lead Grids Inside SLI Battery
(http://www.greenhouse.gov/au.renewable/technologies/enabling/)
Disposal of Lead Acid Batteries
Part 2
Lead acid batteries (also called start, light,
ignition-SLI batteries)
Used to power: cars, trucks, tractors, forklifts,
and generators (Battery Council 2003)
SLI batteries account for 84% of lead use (Aber)
When battery is recycled, it is placed into
crusher to crack batteries open (Battery Council 2003)
Then, lead grid contained in battery is
removed mechanically (Battery Council 2003)
Melted down at secondary lead smelter
(Battery Council 2003)
Disposal of Lead Acid Batteries
Part 3
93% of all lead acid battery lead is recycled
This encourages people to recycle used
batteries
Battery council fails to tell you that it
takes huge amounts of energy to run
machines to crush battery, extract lead
grid, run smelter (EPA 1994)
Also, effects of secondary lead smelter
to environment and community are
similar to the original smelting
process (water run-off, lead dust, soil
pollution, water pollution) (EPA 1994)
Most Lead Acid Batteries are recycled, but
Recycling is not always the best option
(http://www.batterycouncil.org/recycling.html)
Contamination From SLI
Batteries: Case Study
Alaska Battery Enterprises site =superfund
site because of lead contamination (EPA 2002)
Soil had become contaminated:
ABE had been disposing of lead acid
directly onto the soil/burying battery
casings in the ground (EPA 2002)
EPA notes the town of Fairbanks, Alaska is
only 11 ½ miles away, population 22,600
people, “12 schools located within 3 miles of
ABE” (EPA 2002)
U.S. Connections to the
Philippines Part 1
Lead industry also fails to tell us that most of the
used SLI batteries end up at secondary
smelters/public landfills overseas “in guise of
recycling” (Inter Press Service)
Company called Philippine Recyclers, Inc.
(PRI) “Imports used car batteries from
developed countries, recovers lead from them
and molds them into the (lead) plated used in
new batteries” (Inter Press Service)
Since 1991, Philippines has imported 76,256 tons of
used SLI batteries (Inter Press Service)
But No infrastructure to regulate
extraction/disposal processes of overseas
recycling companies (Inter Press Service)
U.S. Connections to the
Philippines Part 2
Thus, environment becomes polluted,
communities health of people in nearby
communities affected (Inter Press Service)
Residents complain of: burning eyes/sore
throats (Inter Press Service)
Children swim/play in pools of toxic waste
formed outside PRI and its dumping sites (Inter
Press Service)
Another abhorrent fact is that some indigenous
adults and children in Philippines crack open
battery cases with their bare hands , sell them
to secondary lead smelter for only .38 cents a
kilo! (Inter Press Service)
U.S. Connections to the
Philippines Part 3
PRI‟s effluent water has lead level of 26,000 parts per
million! (Inter Press Service)
Basal Convention supposed to regulate
“transboundary movement of hazardous waste” yet
90% of exported waste continues to flow overseas
(Inter Press Service)
“Toxic waste trade flourishes in the developing world,
at a time when lead smeltering is becoming too
environmentally risky and costly for industrialized
countries to do at home” (Inter Press Service)
Residents have no say in what industries move
overseas, must endure countless health problems so
that the lead industry can flourish
So What Are We Willing to Give
Up? Part 1
True, there are many uses for lead that we
would want to keep in our lives
Such as: bibs made of lead that protect us
from x-ray radiation
But this does not mean we have to mine in
such excess
During colonialism, people felt the need
to overuse resources and exploit
indigenous people
But if we keep mining at this rate, there
will be nothing left to mine!
So What Are We Willing to Give
Up? Part 2
Nevertheless, the development model that
we know continues to treat small scale rural
organizations as unemployment
It says people who are living in ways that
do not allow them to use the natural
resource base don‟t count and can be
exploited
Sadly, the model is used all over the
world exploiting resources and people
So What Are We Willing to Give
Up? Part 3
A few have access to all the resources and all
have a similar experience
But many others have limited access to
resources depending on their social status
The few have decided that the world must
become industrialized and will put an
infrastructure into place for industrial growth
wherever they see an opportunity
The environment, you and I, and our brothers
and sisters all over the world, must suffer
because of industrial growth and greed
So What Are We Willing to Give
Up? Part 4
Access to resources combined with racism
is dangerous
Consequently, indigenous communities
and communities of color are being
displaced and exploited because they
“Don‟t count in our community”
(Pinderhughes 2003)
So What Are We Willing to Give
Up? Part 5
There is no denying the fact that there are well-
documented cases, such as the injustices done to
the Inupiat people and lands, that prove
communities of color and indigenous people are
intentionally exposed to toxins at a much higher
rate via,
“Rules, regulations and policies or government or
corporate decisions that deliberately target certain
communities for least desirable land uses,
resulting in the disproportionate exposure of toxic
and hazardous waste on communities based upon
certain prescribed biological characteristics”
(Environmental Racism Definition)
Can We Make A Change?
In order for change to happen, we need to see
and understand how the world is organized
In order to see where the opportunities for
change are
And we must see our own role in change
It‟s not hard to change the way we
produce, distribute and consume goods
But it is difficult to change the
ideologies we humans have
internalized for so many generations
We are all connected in direct and
indirect ways to the environment
and to our brothers and sisters all
around the world
We Are All Connected to One
Another, Part 1
Lead poisoning is not only happening in our
own backyards:
It‟s happening in overseas communities and
environments as well
It‟s so easy to say “out of sight, out of mind,”
but we are all experiencing lead exposure,
although at different levels
We Are All Connected to One
Another, Part 2
When I hang up Christmas lights made overseas
I am touching the same lead dust coating on the
wires that a lead worker somewhere far away
touched as well
When you get in your car and start the engine
You may be using the same lead that was sold by
a small child, to a secondary smelter in the
Philippines, for .38 cents
When the old apartment complex I live in sands off
the paint in the hallway, only for aesthetic purposes
My neighbors breathe in the same lead dust that I
inhaled and the painter inhaled
We Need to Realize …..
We are all participating in something so much larger
than ourselves (Johnson 1997) and we need to open our
eyes to the fact that there are so many who do not
have the opportunity to,
“Interact with confidence that their environment is safe,
nurturing, and productive…” “(Who cannot) realize
their highest potential, without experiencing „isms‟…,”
“(and who do not have access to) decent paying and
safe jobs; quality schools and recreation; decent
housing and adequate health care; democratic
decision-making and personal empowerment; (or)
communities free of violence, drugs, and poverty”
(Environmental Justice Definition)
References
Visuals Credits
1. Aber, Susan Ward, Missouri is a State of Lead Mines,
http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/outreach/leadmill.htm
(25 March 2003).
2. Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, Virtual Tour of the
Red Dog Mine, http://www.aidea.org/tour.htm (25 March 2003).
3. Arizona Bureau of Land Management, Charleston Lead Mine,
http://azwww.az.blm.gov/mines/charleston.htm (25 March 2003).
4. Arctic Circle, http://w2ww.arcticcircle.uconn.edu/seeJ/Reddog/
(20 March 2003).
5. Battery Council International, http://www.batterycouncil.org/recycling.html
(25 February 2003).
6. Channel 6 Television, Images from documentary “Native Experience,”
http://www.chanel6.dk/native/uk/page213.html (25 March 2003).
7. Chicago Lead.Org, Lead Dust Exposure Pathways,
http://www.chicagolead.org/educationtools/leaddustpathway.html (25 March 2003).
8. Communities: Red Dog Mine, http://www.beringsea.com/ (20 March 2003).
9. Conservation GIS Support Center, Map by David Pray,
http://www.conservationcenter.org/maps/html/reddog.html (20 February 2003).
10. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), http://www.epa.gov/region7/citizens/cbep/joplin.htm
(15 February 2003).
11. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Storage of Lead in The Body,
http://www.epa.nsw.gov/au/leadsafe/body.htm (25 March 2003).
12. Environmental Solution for Industry, http://www.ceia-bc.com/connections/toxins.html (20 February
2003).
13. Greater Lawrence Community Action Council, Inc. http://wwwglcac.org/lead.htm (20February
2003).
14. Green Party, http://www.iol.ie/~niallob/green.htm (15 March 2003).
15. Heart of England, http://www.cv81pl.freeserve.co.uk/default.htm (27 March 2003).
16. Kansas Geological Survey, http://www.kgs.ku.edu/extension/ozark/mining.html (26 February
2003).
17. Kivalina Alaska, http://www.geocities.com/cheermomtoo/kivalina.html (20 February 2003).
18. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, http://www.lbl.gov/ehs/lead/html (25 March 2003).
19. Mining, http://www.abyss.kgs.ku.edu/pls/abyss/pubcat.phdl.selectphotocounty?f_cnty=21 (5 May
2003).
20. NANA Development Corporation, http://www.nana.com/ (25 February 2003).
21. Northwest Arctic Borough School District, http://www.nwarctic.org/region.htm (15 April 2003).
22. Northern Alaska Environmental Center, http://www.northern.org/artman/publish/images/red-dog-
pit.jpg
(7 April 2003).
23. Teck Cominco, http://www.teckcominco.com/ (2 March 2003).
24. The Australian Greenhouse Office,
http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/renewable/technologies/enabling/
(20 February 2003).
25. The Lead Group, http://www.ldaint.org/information.htm (20 February 2003).
26. U.S. Department of Labor, Safety and Health Topics: Lead, http://www.osha-
slc.gov/SLIC/etools/leadsmelter/smelting/index (20 April 2003).
27. White Alice Project, http://www.arcticflash.com/kivalina.jpg (10 April 2003).