DeepSummary
In this podcast episode, Simone M. Müller discusses her book "The Toxic Ship: The Voyage of the Khian Sea and the Global Waste Trade" which details the journey of a ship carrying incinerator ash from Philadelphia in 1986 as it struggled to find a place to dump its hazardous cargo. The episode explores the social, economic, and political factors that led to the global trade in hazardous waste, as well as the resistance and activism that emerged in response to the Khian Sea's voyage.
Müller provides insight into the urban waste crisis in Philadelphia in the 1980s, which prompted the city to seek alternative disposal methods, leading to the export of the incinerator ash. She also delves into the role of stricter environmental regulations in the United States and how they contributed to the rise of the hazardous waste trade, as companies sought cheaper disposal options abroad.
The episode examines the impact of the Khian Sea's journey on policy and activism, including the eventual adoption of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. Müller also discusses the limitations of the convention and the ongoing challenges in addressing the global waste trade.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- The journey of the Khian Sea, a ship carrying hazardous incinerator ash from Philadelphia, became a catalyst for discussions and activism around the global trade in hazardous waste.
- Stricter environmental regulations in the United States, combined with the desire for cheaper disposal options, contributed to the rise of the hazardous waste trade, with companies exporting waste to countries with lax regulations.
- The Khian Sea's voyage highlighted issues of environmental justice, as marginalized communities were disproportionately impacted by the global waste trade.
- The Basel Convention was adopted in response to the Khian Sea incident and concerns over the transboundary movement of hazardous waste, but it had limitations, including the lack of participation from major players like the United States.
- The story of the Khian Sea exemplifies the power of storytelling and successful environmental campaigning, but also the challenges activists face in maintaining momentum after achieving regulatory victories.
- Müller's future research project, "Toxic Commons," explores how humans can coexist with an increasingly contaminated planet and addresses the unequal distribution of exposure to pollution and contamination.
- The episode underscores the complexities of environmental issues, the interplay of social, economic, and political factors, and the need for continued efforts to address the challenges posed by the global waste trade and environmental degradation.
- The decline in public awareness and activism around solid waste issues, compared to the 1980s, highlights the need for renewed attention and efforts to address waste management and the production of hazardous materials.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “The story is one of the ship changing names, ship changing owners, from the chiancy to the Felicia to the palecano to the San Antonio. It is a game of cat and mouse. And it makes for such a good story for environmentalists that we learned a lot about clients successful environmental campaigning. You need a good story. And the client sea was such a good story that you could, no matter what actually was happening about that one particular ship, you could still tease out the fundamental themes and topics the global waste trade actually stood for.“ by Simone Mueller
- “So the end point of the story is that neither the United States nor Haiti, for that matter, did join the Basel convention. So we have a United nations governance tool in place where one of the most important, if not the most important player when it comes to the production of hazardous waste is not part of the agreement.“ by Simone Mueller
- “And the last thing that happens just to add to this is the bittersweet taste of success, is that once you have such a regulation in place, it becomes really hard for environmental campaigning to target something.“ by Simone Mueller
- “With toxic commons, I'm grappling with the questions of how do we live well with an increasingly contaminated planet, where it's actually a play in words with toxic commons, how our common pool resources become increasingly toxic, increasingly contaminated, and at the same time, it becomes increasingly common for us to be exposed to that contamination, albeit to very unequal degrees.“ by Simone Mueller
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Episode Information
New Books in Environmental Studies
Marshall Poe
8/8/23