ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF CHICAGO AREA

A. MODIFICATION OF ECOLOGY & LANDSCAPE

1) EARLIEST & LATER "INDIGENOUS" HUMAN SETTLEMENT


•PLEISTOCENE LOSS OF MEGAFAUNA
•FIRES & PRAIRIE-WOODS MOSAIC

2) EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT AND FRONTIER


•CONTROL OF INDIANS
•1770 DU SABLE
•1803 FORT DEARBORN
•1832 BATTLE OF BAD AXE

3) ECONOMIC BOOM & CRASH

4) TRANSPORTATION


•1840-1850'S EARLY RAILROADS
•1845-1911 RIVER MODIFICATIONS

5) INDUSTRIALIZATION / GATEWAY CITY


•1880'S STEEL, OIL REFINING, SHIPS
•GRAIN, LUMBER, MEAT

B. RELATION TO ENVIRONMENT MEDIATED BY:

1) BELIEFS:
•SUPERABUNDANCE
•HUMAN ROLE AS CONQUROR
•INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM
•NATURE VALUABLE ONLY WHEN USED
•CATEGORICAL DIFFERENCE OF INDIANS

 2) SOCIAL ORGANIZATION:
•MONOPOLY CAPITALISM
•CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH
•UNACCOUNTABLE POWER
•IMMIGRATION

3) TECHNOLOGY:


•IRON
•COAL
•SYSTEM OF INNOVATION

TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY URBAN INDUSTRIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

Scale of human activity relative to the biosphere:
The kinds of substances & use of resources began to STRESS local natural systems -- a prelude to the situation we have on a global scale today.

Early Perception of limits:

Urban: human health and welfare

Frontier: resource depletion

URBAN INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS:

POLLUTANTS IN THE LIVING ENVIRONMENT

SMOKE

OFFAL (PACKING HOUSE WASTE)

MIASMAS (WATER - TYPHOID & CHOLERA)

NIGHT SOIL

ASH, RUBBISH, GARBAGE

WORKING CONDITIONS

INDUSTRIAL POISONS

CHILD LABOR

SWEATSHOPS

WORKING HOURS AND ENVIRONMENTS

An externality is a cost of an activity that is not included when accounting for the cost of an activity.
(More on this later!)

URBAN PROBLEMS - RESPONSES:

SETTLEMENT HOUSE MOVEMENT

• JANE ADDAMS, ELLEN GATES STARR

• HULL HOUSE

• PUBLIC BATHS, PLAYGROUNDS, VISITING NURSES, GARBAGE COLLECTION, COOPERATIVE LIVING FOR WORKING WOMEN

LAWS, REGULATIONS, COMMISSIONS

• FLORENCE KELLY

• 1881 FIRST SMOKE ORDINANCE

• 1893 FIRST FACTORY ACT - SWEATING SYSTEM, CHILD LABOR, LIMITED HOURS OF WORKING DAY.

• 1914 GARBAGE COLLECTION CENTRALIZED

PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH

• DR. ALICE HAMILTON (1869-1970)

• 1908 STUDIES OF WHITE PHOSPHORUS, LEAD

• 1912 CHLORINATION OF WATER
HISTORY OF EVENTS AT THE PCB INCINERATOR NEAR ALTGELD GARDENS

1929 Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) produced

1972 PCB's banned in all but electrical uses

1981 Chemical Services buys Calumet incinerator

1984 Chemical Waste Mgmt. buys it

Incinerator licenced to burn PCB's (one of 3 in US)

State of Illinois issues permits under

Clean Air Act
RCRA
Clean Water Act

1985 levels of PCB found to be 16x greater downwind

Citizen groups watchdog the incinerator & its permits

1986-87: five violations of CAA permit in 6 months

Court ordered citizen & expert oversight committee

1988 Clem Balanoff elected to State legislature

34 violations found through July 1989

Illinois EPA renews permit

US EPA levies $4.47 million fine; Illinois imposes $340,000 penalty

1990 Johnson, Byrnes & other activists chain selves to trucks blocking entrance

13 Feb., 1991 16 gallon drum explodes

State and US EPA investigate and shut down plant. State levies record $3 million fine.

Site is now on Superfund (CERCLA) list & operated by Clean Harbors

SOME DEFINITIONS:

RISK = THE PROBABILITY OF INJURY, DISEASE, OR DEATH UNDER SPECIFIC CONDITIONS

HAZARD = ADVERSE CONSEQUENCE, USUALLY A HEALTH HAZARD

TOXICS

 LONG LATENCY PERIODS
BIOACCUMULATION IN FOOD CHAIN
HIGH POTENCY
PERSISTENCE & TOXIC BY-PRODUCTS

HAZARDOUS WASTE: IGNITIABLE, CORROSIVE, REACTIVE, or TOXIC

S. CHICAGO - ALTGELD GARDENS -

TYPES OF RESPONSE

INDIVIDUAL REMEDIES:

TORTS - Personal injury lawsuits

COMMUNITY RESPONSES:

RESEARCHING, EDUCATION, PROTESTS, MEDIA

ORGANIZING, ELECTIONS, TESTIFYING

See Project Vote Smart for your own voting!

CREATING ALTERNATIVES

eco-villages

new products and processes

sustainable industry

GOVERNMENTAL RESPONSES:

1) REQUIRE DISCLOSURE

COMMUNITY RIGHT-TO-KNOW ACT (SARA, 1986, Title III)

Requires Toxic Release Inventories made public by polluters

The Right-to-Know net

2) DIRECT REGULATION
(FEDERAL LAWS ARE ADMINISTERED BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) or STATES) eg -


•Clean Air Acts (CAA), 1963, Amd. 1970, 1990
•Clean Water Act (CWA), 1972
•Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), 1976, 1984
•Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), 1980

3) POLICY TOOLS:

a) Command and Control:


•CWA: end of pipe regulation
•CAA: best available technology
•RCRA: cradle-to-grave regulation

b) Depletion Quotas - regulate the inputs to processes that cause pollution

c) Pollution Limits

d) Improving regulation & enforcement: EPA'S 1990 self-assessment, Unfinished Business found these issues had been overlooked:


•Exposure to multiple hazards
•Synergistic effects
•Multiple health effects (cancer, birth defects, neurological, endocrine, etc.)
•Localized hazards & high-risk groups
•Pollution prevention - life-cycle analysis
•Risk analysis has been too narrowly defined. What level of risk is acceptable?

e) Environmental Impact Assessment. Required of any federal action by National Environmental Policy Act (1970). Study and avoid possible impacts in advance. Note that this involves a shifting of the burden of proof.


•See notes on the Precautionary Principle on the page on human dimensions of environmental problems.
List of Environmental Impact Statements in Western's Library

f) Incentives: the positive and negative conditions (benefits and costs) surrounding behavior


•Reward environmentally positive behavior immediately (the preferred approach)
•Prevent those who have not done anything to help from getting benefits
•Punish harmful behaviors (results less predictable)
•Correct perverse incentives
•Related Principles:
•A Negative Externality is a cost of an activity that is not included when accounting for the costs of that activity.

•Principle of Internalization: Whoever undertakes an activity that gives rise to a cost should bear the cost. (The Polluter Pays Principle.) This is both equitable and efficient. The means to accomplish it include: i) Pollution Taxes
ii) Emission Allowance Trading

OBLIGATIONS TO REDUCE ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE

PRINCIPLE OF EQUITY: ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS AND BENEFITS SHOULD BE DISTRIBUTED FAIRLY IN SOCIETY.

EVIDENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE

1) LOW SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS & POLITICAL POWER, COMBINED WITH ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION

2) CORRELATION OF RACE AND/OR INCOME WITH ENV. QUALITY

3) "RACE TO THE BOTTOM": Offering lowered taxes, energy subsidies, environmental waivers. Leads to competition between communities to offer the most favorable package of these benefits to industries.

4) SEQUENCE OF HISTORICAL EVENTS:

1) UNDERPRIVILEGED POPULATION IS SETTLED IN AREA
2) SOMETHING KNOWN TO BE A HAZARD
3) IS SITED IN THAT AREA

RESPONSES TO ENV. INJUSTICE:

(Know the history from Bullard reading; know international examples from Sachs)

1) STARTING WITH COMMUNITY'S OWN RESOURCES: E.G, ECO-VILLAGES:

"A human scale, mixed-use neighborhood in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy human development and can be continued into the indefinite future."

2) COMPONENTS OF ENV. JUSTICE (R. BULLARD):

A. ALL INDIVIDUALS HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE PROTECTED FROM ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION
B. PUBLIC HEALTH MODEL OF PREVENTION
C. LAY BURDEN OF PROOF WITH THOSE WHO DO HARM, DISCRIMINATE, OR DO NOT GIVE EQUAL PROTECTION
D. REDRESS DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACT

3) GOVERNMENT ACTION: Clinton Executive Order ( Sept. 30, 1993) requires Federal agencies to codify what environmental justice should mean for policy.

4) SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRY


1) JOBS AND QUALITY ENVIRONMENT
2)COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN DECISIONS

5) EPA "BROWNFIELDS" PROGRAM
US EPA Brownfilds homepage
Learn about EPA's "Brownfields" projects in the Chicago area
More information on EJ