Environmental Destruction and Our Descendents' Fate
by Bill Totten
Nihonkai Shimbun and Osaka Nichinichi Shimbun (September 22 2005)
(I've written a weekly column for two Japanese newspapers for the past three years. Patrick Heaton prepared this English version from the Japanese original)
People have been falling ill and dying of lung cancer and mesothelioma in areas of Japan surrounding asbestos factories and in facilities that use asbestos. Victims of asbestos poisoning began to appear in the 1960s, but the government did not begin taking measures to prohibit the use of white asbestos, a much weaker carcinogen, until last year. Even with the ban, the government still allows asbestos to be used when no alternative materials are available. A complete ban on all uses of asbestos will not go into effect until 2008.
Giving Priority to Industrial Profits
Asbestos is an inexpensive, natural mineral fiber. For many years it has been a very convenient resource for many different manufacturing industries, which have used the fibers in a number of ways. When the small fibers are inhaled into a person's lungs, however, there is a high risk that the person will develop cancer or an asbestos-related disease twenty to fifty years later. For this reason, many countries have already outlawed its use. The fact that the Japanese government still allows some uses of asbestos even while its health risks are so well known can only be because the government's main concern is for the welfare of the companies that have made profits using this material.
Money is required to do what is best for people's health, such as preserving or improving the environment. Conversely, the easy way for companies to make profits when manufacturing products is to use cheap materials like asbestos, or to not use purification processes so that pollutants that are harmful to human health are released into rivers and the ocean.
Each of us must face the issue of deciding which is most important: preserving corporate profits for the benefit of a small number of rich people, or preserving the welfare of most ordinary citizens. In everything from modes of transportation to foodstuffs, there are cases when the choice is good for one group, but not for the other.
In 1992, when the former Japan Socialist Party drafted a legislative proposal to prohibit the manufacture and sale of asbestos, the Japan Asbestos Association opposed the effort, preventing the initiative from becoming law. The labor unions involved were concerned that sudden new regulations would destabilize employment for their members. The proposal to prohibit the use of asbestos was then withdrawn. It should be obvious that it is counter-productive to protect employment if in the process the very lives of those involved are jeopardized.
As a result of the Japanese government continuing to allow the use of asbestos during the thirty years its devastating effects have been known, thousands of Japanese citizens have been exposed to the dangerous fibers. Estimates are that during the next 35 years, deaths from asbestos-related diseases could exceed 100,000. Senior health minister Nishi Hiroyoshi says that turning a blind eye to this problem was a "crucial mistake". Considering the long, painful death that asbestos causes, this tragedy is more than a "mistake": it is a national disgrace.
Cutting Their Own Throats
Another striking example of putting corporate profit before citizens' lives and protection of the environment can be seen in the American car culture. In the US, where there is no extensive public transportation network, if a person does not have a car, it is almost impossible to function in that society. This is especially true in the suburbs, where there simply is no other way to go anywhere other than by automobile. Urban planning in America relies entirely on the private automobile, which is why the United States has become so dependent on oil.
In Los Angeles, which had a system of tram cars in the 1930s, the tracks were ripped up, and the roads repaved to accommodate private automobiles. The resultant air pollution caused by exhaust from the growing number of vehicles on the road gradually began jeopardizing people's health. This turn of events was not a choice made by the citizens of Los Angeles, but by the automobile industry, the biggest employer in America. Thus the efficient, low-cost public transportation system was purchased and privatized, and in the process destructive environmental damage to the earth resulted.
It is becoming clearer that at a fundamental level movements to build societies that take into account environmental issues and sustainability are not compatible with capitalism.
Environmental issues are not given priority in a capitalistic system and sustainable production is not based on planning. Under the greedy laissez-faire capitalism that predominates today, over-consumption is artificially promoted, and economic growth is desired at any cost.
The priority of capitalism is maximization of profits at maximum price, not low-profit, environment-friendly energy systems. Through this type of profit-worshipping capitalism, humankind has found a way to cut its own throat. Rather than the health of earth and development of humanity as a whole, what is emphasized is individual wealth and development of individual capital.
Perhaps it is the audacity of humankind that has led to the attempt to conquer nature. But humans, who must live in a finite world, must never forget that they too are a part of nature. As Engels pointed out a century ago, humans have resorted to pulling up the forests in places like Mesopotamia and Greece in order to cultivate the land. In every case, the conquerors had to learn that control of nature did not lead to control of other peoples.
Breathing the Same Polluted Air
Although we think of history as linear, and believe that we have progressed significantly since ancient times, in reality we have not evolved at all: human nature remains constant. Our disproportionate emphasis today on maximum-profit capitalism is depleting the earth's resources and polluting the environment at a rate never seen before. The asbestos issue is just one of many examples of the capitalist system placing profits over the health of the citizens.
No one can assert that it is not asbestos that is contributing to cancer being the number one cause of death in Japan. But it would probably be impossible to prove this statement, and the industrial enterprises that created the problem in the first place would never acknowledge it anyway. Tragic as the asbestos problem is, however, one bright spot is that the situation gives new incentive to environmentalists to advocate better safety for the country's citizens.
Leaders of the political and financial worlds must be made to realize that their decisions today affect not only average citizens, but also their own children and grandchildren. Perhaps only when they realize this fact will they understand that they also have to breathe the same polluted air that they make everyone else breathe.
Bill Totten http://www.ashisuto.co.jp/english/
Nihonkai Shimbun and Osaka Nichinichi Shimbun (September 22 2005)
(I've written a weekly column for two Japanese newspapers for the past three years. Patrick Heaton prepared this English version from the Japanese original)
People have been falling ill and dying of lung cancer and mesothelioma in areas of Japan surrounding asbestos factories and in facilities that use asbestos. Victims of asbestos poisoning began to appear in the 1960s, but the government did not begin taking measures to prohibit the use of white asbestos, a much weaker carcinogen, until last year. Even with the ban, the government still allows asbestos to be used when no alternative materials are available. A complete ban on all uses of asbestos will not go into effect until 2008.
Giving Priority to Industrial Profits
Asbestos is an inexpensive, natural mineral fiber. For many years it has been a very convenient resource for many different manufacturing industries, which have used the fibers in a number of ways. When the small fibers are inhaled into a person's lungs, however, there is a high risk that the person will develop cancer or an asbestos-related disease twenty to fifty years later. For this reason, many countries have already outlawed its use. The fact that the Japanese government still allows some uses of asbestos even while its health risks are so well known can only be because the government's main concern is for the welfare of the companies that have made profits using this material.
Money is required to do what is best for people's health, such as preserving or improving the environment. Conversely, the easy way for companies to make profits when manufacturing products is to use cheap materials like asbestos, or to not use purification processes so that pollutants that are harmful to human health are released into rivers and the ocean.
Each of us must face the issue of deciding which is most important: preserving corporate profits for the benefit of a small number of rich people, or preserving the welfare of most ordinary citizens. In everything from modes of transportation to foodstuffs, there are cases when the choice is good for one group, but not for the other.
In 1992, when the former Japan Socialist Party drafted a legislative proposal to prohibit the manufacture and sale of asbestos, the Japan Asbestos Association opposed the effort, preventing the initiative from becoming law. The labor unions involved were concerned that sudden new regulations would destabilize employment for their members. The proposal to prohibit the use of asbestos was then withdrawn. It should be obvious that it is counter-productive to protect employment if in the process the very lives of those involved are jeopardized.
As a result of the Japanese government continuing to allow the use of asbestos during the thirty years its devastating effects have been known, thousands of Japanese citizens have been exposed to the dangerous fibers. Estimates are that during the next 35 years, deaths from asbestos-related diseases could exceed 100,000. Senior health minister Nishi Hiroyoshi says that turning a blind eye to this problem was a "crucial mistake". Considering the long, painful death that asbestos causes, this tragedy is more than a "mistake": it is a national disgrace.
Cutting Their Own Throats
Another striking example of putting corporate profit before citizens' lives and protection of the environment can be seen in the American car culture. In the US, where there is no extensive public transportation network, if a person does not have a car, it is almost impossible to function in that society. This is especially true in the suburbs, where there simply is no other way to go anywhere other than by automobile. Urban planning in America relies entirely on the private automobile, which is why the United States has become so dependent on oil.
In Los Angeles, which had a system of tram cars in the 1930s, the tracks were ripped up, and the roads repaved to accommodate private automobiles. The resultant air pollution caused by exhaust from the growing number of vehicles on the road gradually began jeopardizing people's health. This turn of events was not a choice made by the citizens of Los Angeles, but by the automobile industry, the biggest employer in America. Thus the efficient, low-cost public transportation system was purchased and privatized, and in the process destructive environmental damage to the earth resulted.
It is becoming clearer that at a fundamental level movements to build societies that take into account environmental issues and sustainability are not compatible with capitalism.
Environmental issues are not given priority in a capitalistic system and sustainable production is not based on planning. Under the greedy laissez-faire capitalism that predominates today, over-consumption is artificially promoted, and economic growth is desired at any cost.
The priority of capitalism is maximization of profits at maximum price, not low-profit, environment-friendly energy systems. Through this type of profit-worshipping capitalism, humankind has found a way to cut its own throat. Rather than the health of earth and development of humanity as a whole, what is emphasized is individual wealth and development of individual capital.
Perhaps it is the audacity of humankind that has led to the attempt to conquer nature. But humans, who must live in a finite world, must never forget that they too are a part of nature. As Engels pointed out a century ago, humans have resorted to pulling up the forests in places like Mesopotamia and Greece in order to cultivate the land. In every case, the conquerors had to learn that control of nature did not lead to control of other peoples.
Breathing the Same Polluted Air
Although we think of history as linear, and believe that we have progressed significantly since ancient times, in reality we have not evolved at all: human nature remains constant. Our disproportionate emphasis today on maximum-profit capitalism is depleting the earth's resources and polluting the environment at a rate never seen before. The asbestos issue is just one of many examples of the capitalist system placing profits over the health of the citizens.
No one can assert that it is not asbestos that is contributing to cancer being the number one cause of death in Japan. But it would probably be impossible to prove this statement, and the industrial enterprises that created the problem in the first place would never acknowledge it anyway. Tragic as the asbestos problem is, however, one bright spot is that the situation gives new incentive to environmentalists to advocate better safety for the country's citizens.
Leaders of the political and financial worlds must be made to realize that their decisions today affect not only average citizens, but also their own children and grandchildren. Perhaps only when they realize this fact will they understand that they also have to breathe the same polluted air that they make everyone else breathe.
Bill Totten http://www.ashisuto.co.jp/english/
posted by Bill Totten at
7:57 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home