CRISIS

May 2017

issue 01

CRISIS an environmental magazine for those living in consumer driven culture

inside: what’s up with fracking?/ environmental racism/ how buying the newest iPhone ruins lives

CRISIS CREATED BY ANNA BOSWORTH

This magazine was deisgned as a final project for a class called “Media and the Environment” at Hampshire College in Amherst MA in Spring of 2017.

The publiction was intended towards an audience who cared about environmental issues but constantly found their morals coming to head with the capitalistic systems in their lives. CRISIS was also intended to be a funny but educational look at pressing environemtal issues.

This piece opperates on the scientific basis that humans are animals, and that by defining ourselves as “other,” we put view ourselves as more important than other animals. Non-human animals is a term used by theoreist David Pellow to refer to living beings that are usually classified as “animals” in common vernacular.

issue 01

CONTENTS May 2017

02 WHAT THE FRACK Exploring the worldwide trend of frackingwhat is it, how is it done, and why is it bad?

05 WHO DOES CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT? A deeper look into the intersection of climate change and racism 06 YOUR IPHONE IS RUINING THE PLANET Where do your devices go when you are done with them?

08 EDITORIAL A look into what it is like to be “that friend” 09 BASIC WEB OF WHITE SUPREMACY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

features

what the frack?

Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is a practice used by energy companies to release natural gas and oil from thousands of feet under the ground.

Natural gas, which emits 50% less climate-warming carbon, is considered “clean” energy when compared to oil. However, natural gas is still considered a fossil fuel. The gas is under the earth because throughout millions of years, buried organic (animal and plant) matter is exposed to intense pressure and heat. Because the organic matter stored energy from the sun, the gas created also has solar power. Currently, the United States has the largest natural gas industry in the world.

WORDS BY ANNA BOSWORTH

How is it done?

Companies dig wells that are up to 4,000ft deep and steel casings are put inside the wells.

The sides of the well are then coated with cement. This is supposed to stop gas leaks and prevent chemicals from seeping into the groundwater. This process is repeated to a depth of 6,000ft or more as the pipe becomes smaller.

Fractures are created in the shale, and then fracking fluid, which is made of mostly water and sand, is pumped at a high pressure into the fractures to release the gas.

When the pressure is released, gas escapes through the top of the well, where it is collected, along with some of the water used.

So is this bad?

Yes- but not completely. The United States has the largest natural gas industry in the world, which CRISIS 02

employs over half a million people. It also emits 50% of carbon emissions that coal does. However, this does not mean that natural gas is good for the environment or sustainable. Instead of carbon, natural gas is made of mostly methane, which traps more heat than carbon dioxide. This will accelerate climate change. Fracking can also cause earthquakes. The land that companies frack on is often near neighborhoods or on First Nations land, and is used without permission. There is also frequent chemical leakage into groundwater, even though companies claim otherwise. This is in part because there are very few fracking regulations.

Still, if all regulations were in place, natural gas would still not be sustainable due to the fact that it traps heat in the atmosphere.

Natural gas is also a finite r esource, meaning that once humans use all of it, it will not replenish for millions of years.

Humans using natural gas are iving on borrowed time.

So now what?

• Watch Gasland by Josh Fox • If you have the means, convert your home to solar or wlind energy • Walk as much as possible, take public transit • Be aware of what you consume- the less it has to travel, the better • Spread the word • Write your congressperson • Join a protest- be aware that you have done your research before going • Organize people who care about similar issues and start a movement

drill, drill baby Life in a heavily fracked area can mean loss of access to clean drinking water, possible earthquakes, and lowered air quality. The presence of toxins used in fracking cocktails can also cause other complications, although to what extent is unknown. Neighbors of fracking sites usually have no say in the matter, and only bear the harmful effects of the practice.

CRISIS 03

“WE ARE STUCK BECAUSE THE ACTIONS THAT WOULD GIVE US THE BEST CHANCE OF AVERTING CATASTROPHE—AND WOULD BENEFIT THE VAST MAJORITY—ARE EXTREMELY THREATENING TO AN ELITE MINORITY THAT HAS A STRANGLEHOLD OVER OUR ECONOMY, OUR POLITICAL PROCESS, AND MOST OF OUR MAJOR MEDIA OUTLETS.” NAOMI KLEIN THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING: CAPITALISM VS THE CLIMATE- P18

CRISIS 04

who does climate change impact?

Many countries that drive climate change, such as the United States, Europe, Canada, and Australia, will see the impacts long after less financially prosperous countries have already suffered the consequences. Climate change has begun to impact weather patterns, causing storms such as Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy in New Orleans and the Northeastern United States respectively. Although these storms were highly publicized throughout the United States, other far more detrimental weather events have occurred, including a typhoon in the Philippines and hurricanes in Haiti, that killed or displaced thousands of people. Scholar Nicholas Mirzeoff writes, “While climate change certainly affects the entire planet, its impact is very different in different places, consistent with the usual indicators of wealth” (5).

The negative impacts of climate change on yjrdr countries is interlinked not only with wealth but also with race and power dynamics. Environmental science has a long history of “othering” people of color and equating POC to non-human animals (Mirzeoff). Within this white supremacist framework, marginalized groups and animals that are not human are affected unevenly and more drastically by climate change (Pellow 7-8). Primarily, it is important to note that while the entire planet is impacted by climate change, marginalized groups are more likely to suffer consequences and less likely to be a cause of the problem.

CRISIS 05

features

your iPhone is ruining the planet Today, having the newest piece of technology is more than a necessity; it is a status symbol. With new technology coming out all the time, it is easy to disregard what happens to old gadgets. Many live years in drawers before being recycled or thrown into landfills. The idea of the “technological sublime,” or that technology is the height of human progress, often allows us to disregard the fate of our devices and who our ease may be affecting.

WORDS BY ANNA BOSWORTH

AGBOBLOSHIE GHANA- The air is black from putrid fumes that encircle the heads of children as they work, burning the plastic outer casing off computers, cables, and more in an attempt to salvage the small pieces of metal within. In countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia, consumers are rarely exposed to the nasty production or disposal process that is necessary in the technological age. Scholar Jonathan Sterne notes that devices “are designed to be trash, to make room for future profits, additional hardware sales, and performance upgrades” (Label 1). Because consumer technology is supposed to fail, electronic waste (e-waste), is piling up faster than ever before.

As a cost-effective strategy, many companies, recycling and CRISIS 06

technology alike, send the used devices overseas. Although it is illegal to send trash to other countries, companies get around this by claiming that they are sending used electronic donations. These “donations” must be salvaged by workers, who make a profit by burning off the plastic casings to reach the metal underneath, which can be sold for a few cents a piece.

The fumes from the plastic are a health hazard, both to workers, and to other surrounding living beings. Toxins such as mercury, lead, solvents, and flame retardant (Maxwell and Miller 94) fill the air and join the water system. Human and non-human animals also ingest these carcinogens through the food they eat. Although many people in Ghana and other e-waste processing areas such as China, India, and Afghanistan, do

not have enough money to purchase these technologies, they bear the brunt of the harm that the products cause. The United States and Canada are two

the e-waste problem continued: planned obsolesence WORDS BY ANNA BOSWORTH countries who have not ratified the rich countries from sending their Basel Convention, which prohibits garbage to poorer countries. As a result, these countries are two of the biggest e-waste offenders on the planet.

Beginning after World War II, the

culture of disposal began to take hold of the country (Gabrys 81).

Products became more readily available “to the point of market saturation” (Gabrys 81), and technology such as televisions and phones were more accessible to the general public. Within the system of capitalism, creating a large quantity and updating products frequently was rewarded with more money made by manufacturers. To convince consumers that they needed new products, goods were made with a lifespan. Author Jennifer Gabrys writes, “The duration of electronics has dwindled from at least a decade to, in some cases, a matter of hours” (81). Further, be-

cause technology became easier to mass-produce, it also became less expensive to buy a new product than to replace the old model (Gabrys 82). With the addition of a booming advertising culture, technology became inseparable with culture, and consumers were pressured to buy new devices in order to have the latest technology.

Because of planned obsolescence, there are now millions of products in circulation, and even more headed to dumps in places like Agbobloshie, where their toxins kill innocent people.

CRISIS 07

editorial I’ve lost all my friends due to “the inevitability of planetary destruction under capitalism shit” I am “always talking about”

“

Every class will be hot yoga, people!

Pay attention!

CRISIS 08

”

All my friends flew the coop after, for the fourth time, I had one too many rough days and began telling anyone who would listen in the vicinity about the inevitability of climate change. Although it is great to have friends, in the end, I’m not convinced that I am the one who is losing in this situation.

Where are my “friends” going to hear about how colonization and capitalism lead to a system where people are encouraged to not care about others or the environment?

What are they going to do when they realize that their complacency is killing millions of innocent people? While they sit back and bemoan my constant ranting, I will be off reminding new friends that bickram yoga will be pointless if the temperature continues to increase. (Every class will be hot yoga, people! Pay attention!)

At least as our beach side homes sink into the slowly rising ocean, I will be ale to shout out a final, “I told you so!”

CRISIS 09

WHAT CAN YOU DO • consume less • become a more conscious consumer • write your politicians • educate others • donate to environmental causes • volunteer CRISIS 11

Websites • freegeek.org • https://greatist.com/happiness/ways-help-environment • cooleffect.org • onegreenplanet.org

RESOURCES Text Resources • • • • •

This Changes Everything- Naomi Klein Towards Critical Environmental Justice Studies- David Pellow It’s Not the Anthropocene its the White Supremacy Scene- Nicholas Mirzeoff Wasting the Future: the Technological Sublime, Communications Technologies, and E-Waste- Sabine LeBel Digital Rubbish- Jennifer Gabrys

Image Resources • • • • •

Online Resources • • • • •

•

• • • •

• •

http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2014/06/06/ the-fracking-facts/ http://www.livescience.com/52715natural-gas-not-as-clean-as-peoplethink.html http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/24/investing/fracking-shale-oil-boom/ http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-14432401 https://thinkprogress.org/new-studyconfirms-fracking-contamination-thatthe-epa-walked-back-on-in-2011fed819c47296 http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/ inpictures/2014/01/pictures-ghana-ewaste-mecca-2014130104740975223. html http://www.globalchange.gov/news/ white-house-issues-methane-reductions-strategy https://abudhabiecochicks.files. wordpress.com/2014/11/ghana_ ewaste_2008_32_large.jpg https://motherboard-images.vice.com/ content-images/contentimage/noid/1433876853025882.jpg http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-before-and-after-photos-show-how-we-are-killingthe-planet-a6726041.html https://www.thinglink.com/ scene/738494375901790208 http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2010/ msu-researchers-study-climatechange-food-production-in-east-africa/

• • •

• •

• • • • • •

http://fortune.com/2016/03/07/clinton-sanders-slam-fracking-in-flint/ https://datumize.com/introducing-dark-data-fracking-webinar/ https://mountainwestnews. org/the-great-tradeoff542b090f8685?gi=144b2ded51c0 http://www.momscleanairforce.org/ blm-fracking-standards/ http://ecomerge.blogspot. com/2014/12/agbogbloshie-african-e-wasteland.html http://nokturnaltimes.tumblr.com/ post/142889829300/riggu-electronicwaste-dumpsite-by-renée-c http://nokturnaltimes.tumblr.com/ post/142889829300/riggu-electronicwaste-dumpsite-by-renée-c https://www.earthtouchnews.com/ conservation/human-impact/agbogbloshie-welcome-to-the-worlds-digital-dumping-ground-part-1/ http://eciu.net/briefings/uk-energy-policies-and-prices/does-fracking-have-a-future-in-the-uk https://www.usatoday.com/story/ money/business/2014/02/05/ceres-report-fracking-water-supplies/5230583/ https://rcngrants.org/content/design-and-implementation-sustaining-wildlife-populations-ne-forests http://urbanizehub.com/e-wastegrowing-problem/ http://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/global-warming-climate-change/ https://www.perc.org/2014/06/16/ hot-air-on-climate-change/ https://www.bayer.com/en/response-to-climate-change-straightforward.aspx http://wallpapers4screen.com/it/paesaggi/durdle-door-rocce-4k-cielostellato-il-mare-33193