“If this nation is to achieve environmental justice, the environment in urban ghettoes, barrios, reservations, and rural poverty pockets must be given the same protection as that provided to the suburbs.”
-From the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit 1991 at Washington D.C.
After spending a winter at Tufts, students quickly become familiar with the chills, the blizzards, and, of course, snow days. Oftentimes, students take into account the use of road salt in anticipation of these days off. But do most students know where that salt comes from before it is used to de-ice our campus? Do they think about what happens to it after? With the snow and the application of this salt comes the need to examine the creation of not only environmental damage, but also issues of social justice. The salt industry has effects including undesirable working conditions and threats to human health—and, as with all issues of environmental justice, specifically negatively impacts lower income communities of color.
The city of Boston, Tufts campus most likely included, gets all its winter road salt from the Eastern Salt Company’s Chelsea Terminal located in Chelsea, Massachusetts, a predominantly Latino community. The ice is deposited from barges along the waterfront 200,000 tons at a time onto docks that span six acres along the Chelsea Creek. Though these massive piles of salt are required by law to be covered, Chelsea residents report that this often is not the case. When uncovered, the salt is easily blown into the air as fine particles that not only damage surfaces, but also cause bodily harm when inhaled. Chelsea residents have a higher incidence of asthma than the general population of Massachusetts, and it is hard to imagine that the location of the salt storage does not factor into this prevalence. In fact, the EPA has recently allocated $25,000 to Chelsea to fight asthma. It is significant that the EPA has acknowledged that asthma is directly related to the environment in the area, but this acknowledgment has not change the placement of the salt mountains and their effects on the community.
Salt piles in Chelsea. Source: http://www.gazettenet.com/home/4318222-95/friday-patrick-state-stay
Most students and faculty at Tufts do not know where the salt comes from that melts our snow each winter. This ignorance is a privilege. We do not have to see the mountains of salt or feel their effects on our air quality. Yet, we conveniently reach for the salt when our sidewalks and streets are slick with ice. This “out of sight, out of mind” concept can be extended beyond the salt stored in Chelsea to other aspects of our lives; for example, our trash, food waste, and old laptops. When we recycle electronic waste and toss old granola wrappers into the garbage, they are essentially no longer our problem. We conveniently isolate them from our lives when they are no longer visible to us. Rather than mindlessly consuming and tossing out products, it is important to look for connections. Whether we, Tufts students, see the links or not--our actions certainly impact other communities and individuals nearby and far away.
With this “out of sight out of mind” phenomena employed throughout the winter, it is easy to forget that people have to work with the road salt and ice melters daily. And while Tufts generally relies on ice melters to help melt the snow on campus, road salt stored in blue barrels is often used on the streets. Both the ice melters and road salt can be hazardous to work with, as many of the materials cause dusty particulates to fly up and be inhaled by workers handling the materials. Throughout a snowy night, Tufts Facilities and DTZ contracted workers start plowing with Bobcat machines, oftentimes into early morning to make sure the roads and walkways are clear enough for the next day. And once everything is plowed, the shoveling begins with more Bobcat machines clearing the walkways further. Yes, facilities is aware that using the ice melters and road salt salinates the groundwater and can be damaging to the surrounding soil environment. Yes, the use of plowing and shoveling machinery emits greenhouse gases into atmosphere and is damaging to air quality. But since the campus safety and access to dining halls and the gym is a priority over the particulars of sustainability, this practice of snow removal has continued for years out of a practical necessity.
By Savannah Christiansen
Overall, as responsible and active members of the Tufts community, we have a responsibility to search out the problems and impacts that we have been trained to overlook. Whether we do this by asking facilities important questions or researching them for ourselves, these small individual actions can lead to a greater awareness of our roles as privileged bystanders. More importantly, after becoming more mindful of our connections, it is crucial to take more steps to make sure our campus is not only a sustainable and “green” place, but more importantly a community that promotes environmental justice. The salt used on campus is just one example of the many injustices that we reap the benefits of on campus. Can you find any more?
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