Your Stories: Submitted Stories
- Right To Be Heard
In June 1994, citizens in Lock Haven, PA formed AIR, Arrest the Incinerator Remediation, to try to change EPA's decision to burn 9 acres of highly toxic soil at the Drake Superfund site in downtown Lock Haven. Since the late 1940's the Drake Chemical Company had been producing chemicals for industry, including Beta naphthylamine (BNA), a known bladder carcinogen, and various herbicides and pesticides.
Since moving to this area in 1981, my health started to decline. I was eventually diagnosed with fibromyalgia, and later, chemical sensitivities. As the earth was being moved in preparation for burning, I developed a severe ear infection that lasted for 11 months. Then, just as the incinerator was beginning to burn, I developed a severe sinus infection that has not abated. Many people in our community of 30,000 are seriously ill. Many children have been born with birth defects. Many have high lead levels. Our children have very high incidences of behavior and attention problems. I see them every day in my work as a speech therapist. Babies born apparently healthy have mysteriously died within a few months. Many couples are experiencing fertility problems. For five years AIR tried to stop the burning. Now all the soil has been burned and the incinerator has been packed up to be moved to another site, perhaps in NJ. But we will live with the contamination of dioxin, BNA, Fenac, arsenic, chromium, lead, cadmium and other heavy metals for years....
AIR took their case to court.... After two and a half years the Third Circuit Federal Appeals Court agreed that citizens do not have the right to be heard in Superfund cases until AFTER the "clean-up" has been completed! What kind of justice is that?
- Vicki
Jersey Shore, PA
- Sea Suds
June of 1963. I was a midshipman at Mass. Maritime, and I remember the first time I learned that the earth is all connected -- all of it. The school ship, Bay State, was moored at State Pier, Buzzards Bay, Mass. The current of the Cape Cod Canal was very strong and the pooling of the water caused sudsing. Not bubbly foam. But sudsing from phosphate detergents. Suds were so thick, they actually supported debris. The sudsing was occurring in Sea Water. Very cold sea water. The suds were from cesspools and septic tanks, leeching into ground water and finally reaching the sea.
The second time, I was reading Thor Heyerdahl's exploits on the Kon Tiki and the Ra. The Kon Tiki sailed from Ecuador west to the islands of the South Pacific. The Ra sailed from Morocco to the West Indies. Heyerdahl explained that on the Kon Tiki, it took about a day of sailing and the Kon Tiki was out from the Flotsam and Jetsam of civilization. The Ra sailed continually in the stuff of humanity. From Morrocco, to the West Indies. The Kon Tiki trip was in the late 40's, the Ra was in the late 50's. The description of those stories reminded me of an incident I experienced when I was an Ordinary Seaman on the USNS Blue Jacket. A reefer cargo ship of 8,500 Gross Tons. It was a Saturday, I had the lookout post on the bow. It was a gorgeous day in the North Atlantic. We were a day out from Lands End,UK.
We were travelling WSW, bound for Norfolk Va. at about 16-17 knots. From a distance of 1/2 mile or so, I spotted a Wisk bottle, complete with yellow cap. That was 1966, I wonder if that Wisk bottle is still out there, bobbing around somewhere. We should be so resilient. We are bound to leave the way we came into this world, but our stuff lives on forever.
- Paul
Waikoloa, HI
- Black Death Comes to Alaska
I'll never forget the day that the Exxon Valdez ran aground. I was getting ready to go to school that morning; it was very early, a Sunday. I had awakened to my radio and there was a newsflash interrupting regular programming and telling a harrowing tale that would only get worse as the days progressed.... When I heard of the gargantuan amounts of oil spilling unfettered into a pristine region, I wondered how people were going to survive. Of course humans have not died as a result of the spill, but in many ways all of us have died just a little. We have lost something precious, something that can never return to the way it was. What affects the earth affects all of us. Our very lives depend on nature supporting us every step of the way, from the air we breathe, the food we eat and knowing that wild creatures still roam the earth. I was changed that day. I have never been to Alaska, but I knew that I lost something. We all did.
- Elizabeth
New York, NY
- Cleaning Up Our Planet
In 1993, I was poisoned due to indoor air pollution, caused by a quick dry oil enamel paint that we had used to paint our condo with. My family was forced to move from the condo due to the severe syptoms I was experiencing. My symptoms from the paint included chest pains, nausea, and disorientation. Since that time, I have developed sensitives to other chemicals as well, including perfume, household cleaners, laundry detergents, pesticides, tobacco smoke, etc. What disturbs me is the lack of knowledge among the general population about the potentially harmful effects of what most people consider to be harmless products. Just because products are sold at the supermarket or hardware store, people assume they are safe. It's time that the public be educated about the products they use, so we can have a healthier planet. I live a very isolated life right now, because there are so few places I can go where chemicals are not present in a form that will make me ill if exposed to them. Education and awareness is needed so more people won't end up going down the same path I have. Knowing what I know now, I have rid my life of all potentially toxic chemicals. I use "safe" products now such as vinegar and baking soda to clean with, as well as natural products in the maintenance of our yard and home. If people continue to use so many chemical products in their daily lives, we will continue to endanger wildlife and human beings. The salmon in the Pacific Northwest where I live have already been put on an endangered species list, partially because of the high levels of pesticides found in the streams and waterways. We, as a society, need to wake up and start making wiser choices in our lives so as to protect our planet for the health and well-being of future generations!
- Janine
Snohomish, WA
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