Community Justice Involving Forever Chemicals
I have a family history of health issues caused by working with chemicals. Kidney cancer, breast cancer, testicular cancer, and thyroid issues are some of the things my family has experienced as a result. When I watched the film “Dark Waters,” starring Mark Ruffalo, I made my family watch it because it hit so close to home. If you haven’t seen that film, I highly recommend it. It really aligns with the content in this course, and it’s based on the true litigation behind DuPont’s lawsuit over the pollution they caused in the town of Parkersburg, West Virginia.
When my husband and I watched this film, I was pregnant with my daughter. Realizing how much PFAS was in our house alone, we were horrified. We were also in the process of renovating our home before I gave birth, so that we could have everything set up with a newborn. We researched every single purchase. We installed new flooring that was rated very low for chemicals and didn’t use PFAS in their processing. We purchased a stroller, car seat, glider chair, crib, and all kinds of things that were listed as PFAS free. We got rid of our couches, cookware, and other possessions that were marketed as “waterproof,” or “Teflon coated.” We invested in Keen and Patagonia for coats and shoes, which have both phased out PFAS in whatever ways they can. We started learning what each testing certification means, which brands test for chemicals, how often they test their products, what levels of these chemicals are considered safe, etc.
I had a great deal of anxiety when I was pregnant, realizing that I’m bringing a child into an incredibly polluted world (I realize there are a lot of other things wrong with the world, but for the sake of this post, I’m only going to discuss water pollution). I related to the mother in the PBS News Hour video “How a small community fought for justice after finding forever chemicals in drinking water.” When she talked about how people, especially children in the community, are being affected and that it hinders their rights, I really felt that deeply. Those people also mentioned that although they received settlement money, they can’t get time back with their family after some of them have died, experienced health issues, or will experience health issues and shortened lifespan in the future. It made me think – when families and communities are impacted like this, and they either get nothing or a small settlement payout, what WOULD make it better? When the damage is done, what can be done to fix any of it?
Aside from accountability, I believe cleanup, mitigation, and prevention are the solutions we should be after. I really liked the PBS New Hour video “Can AI help solve India’s food and water insecurity,” and it made me wonder if there are any ways we can use AI to help solve the PFAS contamination issues we’re facing. I think we could leverage AI to help us in a few different ways. PFAS testing is expensive – what if we used AI models to help us determine the areas that are potentially the most contaminated, and test fewer areas? Could we develop prediction maps using geography to understand the water cycle in a local area, as a way to figure out the best way for cleanup and mitigation efforts? There are also thousands of PFAS chemicals, very likely many that have never been identified. Is there a way we could use AI to help us create more tests that would detect more unknown chemicals and contaminants? PFAS chemicals have polluted our environments for a number of reasons, by many different military bases and companies. Can we use AI to determine patterns on how the chemicals were released, whether those different methods produce different pollutant results, and use that data to inform mitigation and cleanup efforts, as well as holding companies and organizations accountable for damages? Cleanup efforts create more future issues. For example, where do we put the chemicals once they’ve been collected? Can we use AI as a tool to forecast future solutions for problems we might not know we’re perpetuating? Are there ways we could speed up testing, resolution, litigation, regulation, and even having a shared collective information resource for the public? I feel like there can be several things we can do to improve life for our children, that can give us hope for the future even when we’re hurt by the pain it has caused our communities already.