Actually, in the U.S. we have what is termed "Environmental Justice" incorporated into environmental policy. It requires the federal government to consider such minority groups as you describe to be given just consideration. In fact, a decision such as this, if made in the U.S., would certainly be challenged under the auspices of environmental justice, especially considering that there is absolutely no evidence that government policy is supported by science. However, this would be a federal policy and not a state or local policy. Therefore, unless states or local entities are tied to this policy through agreements, or have similar policies of their own, the action could be implemented by these lower levels of government.
Malcolm McCallum On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 5:57 AM, William Silvert<[email protected]> wrote: > When I saw this in yesterday's paper I wondered about posting it to the > list, since there is so much discussion about recycling. Then on the TV this > morning there was a story about waste collectors in Cairo who are being > devastated by government policy - they are members of the Christian minority > who feed pigs on waste and sell them as a large part of their income, and > the government had all the pigs killed to halt swine flu even though there > was no evidence of infection in Egyptian pigs. As a result, the edible > garbage is piling up in the streets and the vermin population is exploding. > And the children of the waste collectors are suffering from malnutrition > because the poverty of their families has gotten much worse. > > The two stories point up a little-known aspect of recycling, that it is > largely the domain of the poorest and most despised members of society who > are at the mercy of forces beyond their control and subject to arbitrary > from government and from economic pressures. Yet they form an essential > component of the human ecosystem and play a vital role in recycling and thus > in resource management. > > I suspect that the members of this list know more about dung beetles and > other detritivores than about the humans who have the same function. In Addo > Elephant Park there are signs all over the place warning drivers to slow > down and look out for dung beetles, but I have never seen any evidence of > similar concern for people who struggle to keep our cities clean. Maybe they > deserve some thought and attention. > > Bill Silvert > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > August 5, 2009 > NY Times Op-Ed Contributor > A Scrap of Decency > By BHARATI CHATURVEDI > Delhi, India > > AMONG those suffering from the global recession are millions of workers who > are not even included in the official statistics: urban recyclers - the > trash pickers, sorters, traders and reprocessors who extricate paper, > cardboard and plastics from garbage heaps and prepare them for reuse. Their > work is both unrecorded and largely unrecognized, even though in some parts > of the world they handle as much as 20 percent of all waste. > > The world's 15 million informal recyclers clean up cities, prevent some > trash from ending in landfills, and even reduce climate change by saving > energy on waste disposal techniques like incineration. > > They also recycle waste much more cheaply and efficiently than governments > or corporations can, and in many cities in the developing world, they > provide the only recycling services. > > But as housing values and the cost of oil have fallen worldwide, so too has > the price of scrap metal, paper and plastic. From India to Brazil to the > Philippines, recyclers are experiencing a precipitous drop in income. Trash > pickers and scrap dealers in Minas Gerais State in Brazil, for example, saw > a decline of as much as 80 percent in the price of old magazines and 81 > percent for newspapers, and a 77 percent drop in the price of cardboard from > October 2007 to last December. > > In the Philippines, many scrap dealers have shuttered so quickly that > researchers at the Solid Waste Management Association of the Philippines > didn't have a chance to record their losses. > > In Delhi, some 80 percent of families in the informal recycling business > surveyed by my organization said they had cut back on "luxury foods," which > they defined as fruit, milk and meat. About 41 percent had stopped buying > milk for their children. By this summer, most of these children, already > malnourished, hadn't had a glass of milk in nine months. Many of these > children have also cut down on hours spent in school to work alongside their > parents. > > Families have liquidated their most valuable assets - primarily copper from > electrical wires - and have stopped sending remittances back to their rural > villages. Many have also sold their emergency stores of grain. Their misery > is not as familiar as that of the laid-off workers of imploding > corporations, but it is often more tragic. > > Few countries have adopted emergency measures to help trash pickers. Brazil, > for one, is providing recyclers, or "catadores," with cheaper food, both > through arrangements with local farmers and by offering food subsidies. > Other countries, with the support of nongovernmental organizations and donor > agencies, should follow Brazil's example. Unfortunately, most trash pickers > operate outside official notice and end up falling through the cracks of > programs like these. > > A more efficient temporary solution would be for governments to buoy the > buying price of scrap. To do this, they'd have to pay a small subsidy to > waste dealers so they could purchase scrap from trash pickers at about 20 > percent above the current price. This increase, if well advertised and > broadly utilized, would bring recyclers back from the brink. > > In the long run, though, these invisible workers will remain especially > vulnerable to economic slowdowns unless they are integrated into the formal > business sector, where they can have insurance and reliable wages. > > This is not hard to accomplish. Informal junk shops should have to apply for > licenses, and governments should create or expand doorstep waste collection > programs to employ trash pickers. Instead of sorting through haphazard trash > heaps and landfills, the pickers would have access to the cleaner scrap that > comes straight from households and often brings a higher price. Employing > the trash pickers at this step would ensure that recyclables wouldn't have > to be lugged to landfills in the first place. > > Experienced trash pickers, once incorporated into the formal economy, would > recycle as efficiently as they always have, but they'd gain access to > information on global scrap prices and would be better able to bargain for > fair compensation. Governments should charge households a service fee, which > would also supplement the trash pickers' income, and provide them with an > extra measure of insurance against future crises. > > Their labor makes our cities healthier and more livable. We all stand to > gain by making sure that the work of recycling remains sustainable for years > to come. > > Bharati Chaturvedi is the founder and director of the Chintan Environmental > Research and Action Group. Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company > -- Malcolm L. McCallum Associate Professor of Biology Managing Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology Texas A&M University-Texarkana Fall Teaching Schedule: Vertebrate Biology - TR 10-11:40 General Ecology - MW 1-2:40pm Forensic Science - W 6-9:40pm
