A Quote by Elizabeth Esty
The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, has shown us what can happen when we ignore the warning signs of lead poisoning and corroding pipes.
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Flint is a city of a hundred thousand that was having a rough go of it even before its water was poisoned by lead. And when the water crisis finally grabbed national headlines this winter, the Democratic presidential candidates noticed. Hillary Clinton sent senior staff to investigate and asked her supporters to donate to a fund for Flint's kids. Bernie Sanders called on Michigan's Republican governor, Rick Snyder, to resign.
We now know from a Princeton study that Superfund sites are causing higher rates of birth defects. We now know that there's no excusing the lack of moral urgency to do something about this environmental crisis. We see Flint, Michigan, for example, and the attention it's gotten, but what most Americans don't seem to realize is that this lead problem is not confined to just Flint. There are over 3,000 jurisdictions that have twice the lead levels in people's blood than Flint does. We're now seeing more people being exposed to the truth about environmental injustice in our country.
Water from clay pipes is much more wholesome than that which is conducted through lead pipes, because lead is found to be harmful for the reason that white lead is derived from it, and this is said to be hurtful to the human system.
The environmental catastrophes we're presently seeing are considered "normal" though they're horrific. Fracking has made drinking water flammable, families are dying from planned lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan, mountaintop removal is killing families throughout Appalachia, and oil/mining companies continue to denigrate Native American and indigenous rights throughout the world (see North Dakota Pipeline presently). This is horrific - and yet we somehow consider it normal.
I’m just some white guy in California, and nobody in Flint is going to pay any attention to what I’m saying. I don’t blame them. Nor do doctors want to publicly agree with me, because nobody wants to downplay the effects of lead poisoning. I get that too. I can already imagine the number of tweets and emails I’m going to get demanding to know why I think Flint is no big deal.
Capitalism would have never let me be a filmmaker, living in Flint, Michigan with a high school education. I was going to have to make that happen myself.
I had a newspaper in Flint, Michigan called the 'Flint Voice,' and so it was a, you know, underground, alternative newspaper that I edited and put out for about ten years.
I mean, think of Flint. I mean, think of the lead poisoning of thousands of poor and black children across the United States.
In some cases, newlyweds want so badly for things to be perfect that they ignore warning signs, both in themselves and each other.
This is America, but the way that the people of Flint are being treated with this water crisis is like a third-world country.
When people are in crisis and pose a threat to themselves or others, those closest to them are often the first to see the warning signs.
The goal is to make sure everyone has got their lead pipes replaced, and I know that's moving forward in the city of Flint. My job is to make sure that we have accountability and ensure we are getting the job done.
May be the truth is, that one pipe is wholesome, two pipes toothsome, three pipes noisome, four pipes fulsome, five pipes quarrelsome; and that's the some on't.
Can we get out of this system something good for us? We could, if we were united with an intelligent self-interest that we could push, we might be able to get something. But, America is out to destroy the little man - I'm talking about those in the highest places. Flint, Michigan [contaminated water supply] was not an accident, that's by design.
Future generations will look back on TV as the lead in the water pipes that slowly drove the Romans mad.
I'll do everything I can to ensure the Clean Water Act is enforced here in Michigan, and I'll work to ensure everyone in Michigan has access to safe, affordable water, regardless of where they live.
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