The Pollution Blog

Solving Pollution Problems, Saving Lives

Mother’s Day in some of the world’s worst polluted places

May 9

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This Mother’s Day, as we celebrate, thank and honor our mothers for all the things they do for us, I thought I would share some images of mothers in some of the world’s worst polluted places.

I see them all the time when I visit polluted hotspots where, really, no one should be living.  I see them going about their daily, often back-breaking work, many times with children in tow.  Like many moms the world over, these women are often too busy taking care of daily necessities to do anything else, let alone ponder the extremely contaminated environment in which they happen to live.

But these women are often the key to change once they realize their children are being poisoned.  They are the ones we usually work with to raise awareness about pollution in their communities and what they can do to keep safe, until the cleanup is completed. So to these mothers on the frontlines of pollution… thanks. We are working on giving them the ultimate Mother’s Day gift – a poison-free home.

Taking a break from scavenging at a dumpsite in India

Mother and child living near the contaminated Kharkai river in eastern India

A woman extracting gold from ore in Senegal, with children and food nearby. There are over 4.5 million women and some 600,000 children who are involved in artisanal gold mining around the world, and who are exposed to direct contact with toxic mercury used in the process.

Daily housework in the middle of Ghana's notorious Sodom and Gomorrah e-wasteland - the Agbogbloshie market.

Mother sleeping with her child in the middle of Ghana's Agbogbloshie market, where most of the world's e-waste ends up.

A Blacksmith team can be seen in the background doing some site testing

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Incubating Ideas for Change at the Bellagio Center

Apr 18

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This July, we are returning to the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center in Italy to convene a third meeting of world leaders and experts on pollution, this time to create a global alliance to deal with legacy pollution at scale.

Our previous two meetings at the Bellagio Center, held in 2007 and 2012, were instrumental in bringing the issue of pollution to the world stage.  The Bellagio Center has incubated some of the most innovative ideas and has had a record of major impact, including meetings that led to the Green Revolution and the Global AIDS vaccine initiative.

As we get ready to take the fight against pollution to the next level, here is a look back at my statement about participating in that first conference as recounted in  Voices and Visions from Bellagio, which also includes contributions from other Bellagio Center participants such as Maya Angelou, Joseph Heller and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Creating change is difficult. Especially global change. Inspiration is one thing, but, as we have heard so often, 99 percent of work is really perspiration.

When we decided to tackle pollution at a global level, we knew we had an idea that was extremely important, that would save lives. But the problem is new to most people. The problem of pollution in developing countries has no think tanks, no networked conferences, no guest appearance presentations at Davos. But it kills millions, most of them children, and is inherently solvable.

To tackle this problem help is needed on all fronts. One organization cannot solve this on its own. Instead, we need to convince others that they can make a difference, and show them how. This has been Blacksmith’s strategy from the beginning, reaching out to decision-makers, showing them the problem and the solution, and coaxing them into action. Starting from zero, it’s a daunting process.

The Bellagio Center has been the most welcome partner in that process! We were fortunate to host the inaugural conference for the Health and Pollution Fund at the Center, which kicked off the process for dealing with global pollution. And because we had the resources of the Bellagio Center, we were able to attract the top people from many international agencies and governments to the conference, and gain their concurrence that this problem needs to be addressed. Our participants came from 12 countries, all at a senior level, and it was partly the thrill of visiting this beautiful and renowned place that brought them all together.

We are now well on the way to implementing a global strategy for dealing with pollution around the world. We could not have begun this process without Bellagio.

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Ancient City’s Lead Poisoning Problem – 40,000 Preschoolers At Risk

Mar 26

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This week’s blog post is from Andrew McCartor, Blacksmith’s regional program director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia:

Blacksmith was recently approached for help to raise awareness about the massive toxic pollution caused by an active lead smelter in the ancient city of Shymkent (Chimkent) in Southern Kazakhstan in the former Soviet Union.

A volunteer, Jeff Temple, working with an NGO that was planning the construction of a large children’s playground in the city, discovered that soil at the site contained 2,000 parts per million (ppm) of toxic lead (the U.S. standard is 400 ppm of lead in bare soil in children’s play areas). Some reports estimate that 40,000 preschool children are at risk from lead poisoning in Shymkent.

Unfortunately, this massive problem is not a new one. In fact, a lot of data has been collected over the past 10 years regarding toxic levels in the city. Blacksmith has also been working in the region.  In 2008, we reached out to teachers and staff at 22 schools and 12 kindergartens about the health hazards of lead. We also distributed brochures and posters to schools and medical institutions to help spread the word. Currently, we are working on securing funding for a project to train environmental professionals in Shymkent on lead remediation. (Read about a similar Blacksmith project in Russia removing lead from children’s playgrounds and schools).

While this problem has been known for at least a decade, it is still waiting to be discovered by many others.  As more concerned global citizens find out about it, change is bound to happen, especially if we all persist and work together. The children of Shymkent are waiting.

To learn more, here is a link to an article, A Poisonous Legacy, written by Jeff for The Chemical Engineer.

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Blacksmith’s Pollution Tipping Point with Karti Sandilya

Mar 13

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Karti Sandilya, Blacksmith Institute

Karti Sandilya, Advisor, Blacksmith Institute

In Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling book The Tipping Point, he describes how little things can make a big difference, and he points to “connectors” – people who provide links to others – as a crucial element for bringing something to a head. In Blacksmith’s case, that connector seems to be Karti Sandilya.  Over the last ten years, with his help, Blacksmith has brought the issue of pollution to a boiling point.  Governments and funders are now starting to pay attention.

An expert in development policy and strategy, and a former country director for the Asian Development Bank, Karti’s connections in governments and international institutions are extraordinary.  Through his efforts we have opened doors to the World Bank, the European Commission and governments all over the world to help in our efforts to eradicate toxic pollution in poor countries.

I recently got back from a trip with him to Tokyo, Honk Kong, Beijing, Manila, Sydney, London, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo seeking support for the World Bank’s Global Alliance for Legacy Pollution and Health initiative. Despite the grueling schedule of travel and back-to-back meetings, it was a delight to be around Karti and watch him work. He is one of the kindest and happiest men I have ever met, and his ability to make connections between people and projects has been invaluable.

I am writing about him today to reiterate Malcolm Gladwell’s point.  That small things do make a big difference. That one person, can have a big impact.  Not everyone can be Karti Sandilya,  but working together, we can all make things happen. Thanks Karti.

Related:  Karti talks about the changing global attitude towards the pollution problem and his work with Blacksmith

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Doe Run Peru – A Solution in Sight

Feb 7

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Kids in La Oroya

The embattled Doe Run lead smelting facility in Peru may finally be getting a break. We met with Dr. Juan Carlos Huyhua, the president of Doe Run Peru, in New York last week to get an update on the situation.

Three years ago, the plant was shut down by a mixture of politics and litigation. So work installing new pollution mitigating technologies at the plant stopped, cleanup was halted, and the people of La Oroya were left without work and a legacy of pollution. But not without income – we learned that the refinery has continued to pay salaries for 4,000 employees, even while the plant has been closed.  That good citizenship may now be paying off.

We’ve been told that the government of Peru is working to reach a consensus to approve a plan for Doe Run Peru within 60 days, by April 12. If everything goes well, the company expects the plant will reopen, appropriately, on May 1- labor day.

“It is a very positive message for the country that finally, working together – the state, the company and community – it is possible to solve an issue that is dated more than 90 years,” Dr. Huyhua told me.

After three years of no movement, he interprets the government’s actions as a “vote of trust” for his company.  And he is ready to go forward. Dr. Huyhua told us that Doe Run Peru plans to invest up to $200 million more in environmental projects within 30 months. The company has also continued to support the public health programs in La Oroya during the plant’s closure.

“We believe in the business,” he told me. “We consider that an investment because La Oroya needs technical people and we need to keep them.” He reiterated that it all depends now on the government. “Everyone has to work together to get results and what’s better for the country.  And that’s to reopen the plant.”

And we do agree. While corporations like Doe Run Peru are often vilified, and many are guilty of unspeakable pollution, they can be moved to make a difference because they have the resources to do so and the incentive.

This is the only way forward for the people of La Oroya, because the alternative is a stalemate in which nothing happens.  No one wins if the smelter is left shut down and contaminated. But finally installing state- of-the-art pollution management technology, and restoring livelihoods for thousands in the Andes is a goal worth reaching for.  And only then can the cleanup of legacy contamination around the town begin as well.

With the company and the government of Peru now on the same path, all this might happen.  It is the only practical solution to a massive problem.

Related:  Surprise – Corporations NOT the worst pollution problems

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A Solution To India’s Pollution Nightmare

Jan 30

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I recently came across the article India’s Pollution Nightmare:  Can it be Tackled?, in which the author, Govindasamy Agoramoorthy, talks about three big perils plaguing India – polluting tanneries, lead contamination from informal battery recycling, and riverside industries that dump toxic waste into the India’s waters. He closes his argument with a paragraph on what must be done in order for India to “escape its enduring environmental nightmare.”

Well, Mr. Agoramoorthy, I am glad to say that some the solutions you point out in your piece are already taking place. I know because we are involved. Blacksmith Institute has been cleaning up toxic sites in India for a decade now, working in partnership with the government and local communities.  In fact, the example you mentioned in Gujarat State – where worms were used to eat up the toxins in soil – was a Blacksmith project that we are indeed working to replicate.

This year, our work plan for India includes identifying polluted communities, starting more remediation, and raising funds – three things you mentioned.  In Tamil Nadu, working with the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, we plan to assess more lead battery recycling sites, work with the industry to improve recycling practices, and develop projects to address lead contamination. In Hyderabad we are presenting a workshop on remediation methods.

In the bigger picture, we are also assisting the government at the state and national levels to develop and implement a sustainable structure to deal with ongoing toxic pollution. And we are working on identifying and adding more information about toxic sites in India to our global database of polluted sites. This inventory will guide us in our cleanup.

So to answer your question, yes we think India’s “pollution nightmare” can be tackled. India is a big country. It will take time and we have to set priorities.  So we are concentrating our efforts first on the worst polluted sites where people are most at risk.  Then site by toxic site, we will begin to erase pollution from India’s memory.

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“Orphaned” Sites and Legacy Pollution

Jan 10

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When people talk of tackling pollution, they usually mean stopping pollution. But what if the pollution has already been halted, in some cases decades ago?  For example at numerous former Cold War weapons manufacturing sites?

Ghana's Agbogbloshie e-wasteland

Ghana's Agbogbloshie e-wasteland

See examples of legacy polluted “orphaned” sites.

Very often, these sites are simply forgotten. Or they are caught in a legal quagmire as different parties argue over who is responsible for the cleanup. In some cases, the original polluters are unknown or untraceable.  In other cases they are bankrupt or defunct and are unable to pay for cleanup. Sometimes, a large number of operators contributed to the pollution, making liability for cleanup nearly impossible to enforce.

In the meantime, the contamination left behind continues to poison everyone who lives close by. This is legacy pollution and the sites affected are “orphaned” – left on their own, abandoned. While the act of polluting may have stopped at these sites, the pollution and the poisoning remain.

Blacksmith just received a $700,000 grant from the World Bank to tackle this problem so we can start taking care of these “orphans.”  Sometimes, what is needed is less confrontation and more cleanup.  We don’t care who the polluter is. The past is over.  We are looking to a cleaner future for these sites and a better legacy to leave behind.

Related Event:  ”Sodom and Gomorrah E-Wasteland” Jan. 19, 2012, 6 pm.  FREE.  RSVP to geoffrey@blacksmithinstitute.org. Hear what life is like in Ghana’s Agbogbloshie market, one of the largest e-waste dumpsites in the world.  Find out what is being done there and at other e-wastelands.

“Sensationalist” claim about tanneries and pollution

Dec 20

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We were recently criticized by an industry group of leather manufacturers for listing tannery operations #5 on the 2011 list of world’s worst toxic pollution problems. The group called our report’s assertions “sensationalist and not appropriate.” (Read our response in Leather International magazine or link to the full download here)

The point they are missing is that even though segments of the industry, especially those connected to large corporations, may be operating responsibly to limit toxic pollution, there are enough polluting tanneries to cause a real and serious health threat to about 1.8 million people, and a black eye to the industry as a whole.

These are mainly small-scale operations (see my previous post – Surprise – Corporations Not the Worst Pollution Problems) that operate informally without much regulation. And since they usually do not have a voice or representation in unions and other leather industry groups or associations, their polluting actions sometimes fly under the radar.

So we would like to take this opportunity to invite the leather industry to work with us to solve the problem.  We know many tanneries are well run, but not all.  Help us reach out, clean up and save lives.

Here is a portion of our response:

…The Union’s primary assertion was that tanneries use non-toxic trivalent chromium in the tanning process, not toxic hexavalent chromium. Blacksmith Institute is fully aware and acknowledges this point, but it does not address the problem at hand.

Trivalent chromium is used in the tanning process to make leather more durable. Solid and liquid waste containing this non-toxic form of chromium is often discarded near tanning facilities. Unfortunately for those living near such waste, trivalent chromium easily oxidizes to become carcinogenic hexavalent chromium upon disposal.

In solid waste, this conversion requires just heat and oxygen. In liquid waste, the conversion takes place in the presence of other minerals. Hexavalent chromium is highly soluble in water and quickly contaminates drinking water supplies, causing widespread illness. The sites in Blacksmith’s database include poorly managed tanneries, abandoned chromium supplies manufacturers, and legacy waste dumps of chromium, all with credible soil and water sampling showing elevated levels of hexavalent chromium in pathways to human exposure.

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Surprise – Corporations NOT the Worst Pollution Problems

Nov 28

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Contrary to popular belief, large multinational corporations are NOT the worst pollution problems.  That was one of the more interesting findings revealed in our 2011 World’s Worst Toxic Pollution Problems report.

Kids in La Oroya

Of course large corporations are associated with pollution, like the well-documented case of the Renco Group and their Doe Run refinery, blamed for not doing enough to deal with the big lead pollution problem at their smelter in La Oroya, Peru.

But if you look at the data we’ve been collecting from thousands of hotspots we’ve assessed as part of our global inventory of polluted sites, you will see that there are just as many smaller polluting sites.  And in terms of public health, poorly regulated small-scale operations like artisanal mining and backyard metal recycling have the greatest impact globally.

Most large corporations, thanks to the efforts of tireless advocates, tend to behave as they work at managing pollution (and their image) in what is essentially a very polluting industry.

When Renco bought the previously state-run smelter in 1997, they took over one of the most toxic enterprises.  Over ten years, they have spent as much as $30 million on pollution mitigation.  They have put in water treatment, tailings management, and other controls, and were in the process of replacing the primary smelter with lower polluting and lower sulfur technologies. [Read an update of Doe Run/La Oroya's problems in Crain's New York]

Frankly, the main hope for La Oroya is if Renco/Doe Run Peru is given the chance to finish the job and complete the installation of new equipment.

They’ve been shut down by politics, the weak economy and also litigation.  The town’s livelihood has been adversely affected because the plant is not operating but in the long term, if the plant is to reopen, new equipment must be installed.

Regardless of news reports, the company has shown a lot of good faith. And for things to change, people need to work together.

With a new government in place in Peru, I hope common sense will prevail and Renco/Doe Run Peru will be able to install new equipment and finally continue the cleanup of La Oroya.

[See the Top Ten List of the 2011 World's Worst Toxic Pollution Problems report, released by Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross Switzerland at www.worstpolluted.org]

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Top Ten Things You Might Not Know About Pollution

Oct 20

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Pollution is a topic that often gets buried by talk of conservation, climate change, sustainability and energy issues.  Perhaps because it is a complex subject with lots of sources and lots of effects.  While all the above issues are important, let’s give pollution some of the talk time it deserves.

Think you know about pollution?  Read on:

Top Ten Things You Might Not Know About Pollution

1) Pollution is one of the biggest global killers, affecting over 100 million people.

It is comparable in population and risk to human health to problems like malaria and HIV.

2) Pollution is one global problem that can be solved in our lifetime

Life-threatening pollution has already been eliminated in much of the developed world through initiatives like the U.S.’s Superfund. The technology and know-how to clean up toxic pollution already exists. All that’s needed is resources and commitment.

3) There is a finite number of polluted sites in the world

While the number of polluted hotspots may increase, it is a finite figure. Currently, Blacksmith Institute’s database of polluted sites lists over 2000 of the world’s worst polluted places. Blacksmith is working to prioritize these sites for cleanup targeting the communities with the most at-risk populations.

4) Pollution solutions are relatively low-cost

The cost to save a human life through the removal of hazardous pollution on Blacksmith projects can be as little as $42. $20,000 is enough to start a project that saves lives.

5) Children are most susceptible to Pollution

While children only make up 10% of the world’s population, over 40% of the global burden of disease falls on them. More than three million children under age five die annually from environmental factors.

6) Pollution is mainly caused by small-scale informal operations rather than large multi-national companies

However, demand for consumer goods from high-income countries still drive pollution activities in low-income countries.

7) Pollution does not stop even when the source of the pollution is removed

For example when polluting factories are closed, legacy pollution remains. If it is not removed, legacy pollution continues to sicken and kill.

8 ) Pollution can vastly lower life expectancy

In some of the world’s worst polluted places life expectancy can be as low as as 45 years because of lung, throat and thyroid cancers.

9) Death is not the only end result

Pollution causes chronic illness, neurological damage and a range of diseases that might not kill but might incapacitate a person or result in irreversible damage. For instance, the presence of lead in children lowers I.Q. by an estimated 4-7 points for each increase of 10 μg/dL.

10) Pollution affects everyone

While pollution affects the immediate population the most, its effects are felt far and wide because of the globalized economy. In addition, some pollutants like mercury travels and drops into rivers and seas worldwide, poisoning the seafood supply.

Read my earlier post:  What is Pollution?

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