not quite a Potosi
December 30, 2015 8:53 AM Subscribe
Capitalism, yo.
Other economic systems don't remove the need for resource extraction and certainly the forms of socialism practiced in the former USSR and China came with massive environmental costs. I would blame regulatory capture and a weak state in a region of Peru that is extremely marginalized rather than the form of the economy.
It's a heartbreaking story and one that has been getting some attention in the last year or two, at least in journalism. Whether anyone cares enough to change anything is a different story and my expectations are low.
posted by Dip Flash at 9:25 AM on December 30, 2015 [13 favorites]
Other economic systems don't remove the need for resource extraction and certainly the forms of socialism practiced in the former USSR and China came with massive environmental costs. I would blame regulatory capture and a weak state in a region of Peru that is extremely marginalized rather than the form of the economy.
It's a heartbreaking story and one that has been getting some attention in the last year or two, at least in journalism. Whether anyone cares enough to change anything is a different story and my expectations are low.
posted by Dip Flash at 9:25 AM on December 30, 2015 [13 favorites]
I would blame regulatory capture and a weak state in a region of Peru that is extremely marginalized rather than the form of the economy.
and as we all know, "weak states" in "extremely marginalized regions" got that way because of Physics
posted by threeants at 12:19 PM on December 30, 2015 [6 favorites]
and as we all know, "weak states" in "extremely marginalized regions" got that way because of Physics
posted by threeants at 12:19 PM on December 30, 2015 [6 favorites]
It isn't just in third-world countries. Half the city of Butte, Montana was swallowed by the Berkeley Pitt copper mine.
We are now seeing the same thing occur in the North Dakata oil patch. Resource extraction industries treat all locations as third-world countries to be exploited, ravaged, and then abandoned.
posted by JackFlash at 12:20 PM on December 30, 2015 [11 favorites]
We are now seeing the same thing occur in the North Dakata oil patch. Resource extraction industries treat all locations as third-world countries to be exploited, ravaged, and then abandoned.
posted by JackFlash at 12:20 PM on December 30, 2015 [11 favorites]
and as we all know, "weak states" in "extremely marginalized regions" got that way because of Physics
The word I would use in this case is colonialism (first with Spain, and then internal), as a shorthand for the establishment of an extremely unequal system of resource extraction and human exploitation, with an overlay of racism. Modern capitalism came much later, though it fit the situation seamlessly.
posted by Dip Flash at 12:53 PM on December 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
The word I would use in this case is colonialism (first with Spain, and then internal), as a shorthand for the establishment of an extremely unequal system of resource extraction and human exploitation, with an overlay of racism. Modern capitalism came much later, though it fit the situation seamlessly.
posted by Dip Flash at 12:53 PM on December 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
worrrd. I'm so glad people have brought up Butte — I think one takeaway from this for most Americans has to be that we're more like the people living in the city that's getting swallowed than we're like the people running the companies that own the mine that swallows the city.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:54 PM on December 30, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:54 PM on December 30, 2015 [5 favorites]
> The word I would use in this case is colonialism (first with Spain, and then internal), as a shorthand for the establishment of an extremely unequal system of resource extraction and human exploitation, with an overlay of racism. Modern capitalism came much later, though it fit the situation seamlessly.
posted by Dip Flash at 12:53 PM on December 30 [1 favorite −] Favorite added! [!]
Primitive accumulation, to use Marx's language, isn't quite so primitive; it's always going on, it's just that more of it goes on at the fringes of the capitalist system than at the center. This is why David Harvey uses the term "accumulation by dispossession" rather than the more orthodox "primitive accumulation" formulation.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:57 PM on December 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Dip Flash at 12:53 PM on December 30 [1 favorite −] Favorite added! [!]
Primitive accumulation, to use Marx's language, isn't quite so primitive; it's always going on, it's just that more of it goes on at the fringes of the capitalist system than at the center. This is why David Harvey uses the term "accumulation by dispossession" rather than the more orthodox "primitive accumulation" formulation.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:57 PM on December 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
Another disaster not getting much meda attention:
The Aliso Canyon gas leak (also called Porter Ranch gas leak[1]) is an uncontrolled ongoing natural gas eruption from a leaking gas well at the Aliso Canyon near Porter Ranch, Los Angeles, California that started on October 23, 2015.
Local residents have reported headaches, nausea , and nosebleeds.[2] By December 25, 2015 more than 2,200 families from the Porter Ranch area had been temporarily relocated, while over an additional 2,500 households were still being processed.[5] The Federal Aviation Administration established a temporary flight restriction over the leak site until March 2016. On December 15, the county of Los Angeles declared a state of emergency,
The well releases about 1,200 tons of methane every day.[2] In terms of release of greenhouse gases, this output in a month has been compared to the equivalent of what 200,000 cars will emit in a year.[2] Methane is an important greenhouse gas, pound for pound 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.[4] Besides methane, the released gas also contains mercaptan and methyl mercaptan that give the gas the rotten-egg smell.
posted by futz at 1:14 PM on December 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
The Aliso Canyon gas leak (also called Porter Ranch gas leak[1]) is an uncontrolled ongoing natural gas eruption from a leaking gas well at the Aliso Canyon near Porter Ranch, Los Angeles, California that started on October 23, 2015.
Local residents have reported headaches, nausea , and nosebleeds.[2] By December 25, 2015 more than 2,200 families from the Porter Ranch area had been temporarily relocated, while over an additional 2,500 households were still being processed.[5] The Federal Aviation Administration established a temporary flight restriction over the leak site until March 2016. On December 15, the county of Los Angeles declared a state of emergency,
The well releases about 1,200 tons of methane every day.[2] In terms of release of greenhouse gases, this output in a month has been compared to the equivalent of what 200,000 cars will emit in a year.[2] Methane is an important greenhouse gas, pound for pound 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.[4] Besides methane, the released gas also contains mercaptan and methyl mercaptan that give the gas the rotten-egg smell.
posted by futz at 1:14 PM on December 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
This is a really great post. I used to live in Guanajuato, a town with a very similar history, but a very different outcome.
In Gusnajuato the miners were unionized and the mines are still underground.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:38 PM on December 30, 2015
In Gusnajuato the miners were unionized and the mines are still underground.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:38 PM on December 30, 2015
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This thing has destroyed the town, maimed children and rendered the surrounding area unfit for human and animal habitation...and yet people still want it there because they have to make a living somehow. Capitalism, yo.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:13 AM on December 30, 2015 [7 favorites]