Evidence of Widespread Green Victimization and the Treadmill of Production:
Areas of Concern Uniting Radical Criminology, Green Criminology and the Political
Economy of Environmental Crime.
Michael J. Lynch
Department of Criminology
University of South Florida
The daily news brings with it an alarming number of stories of widespread green
victimization of humans, animals and the ecosystem and it components. These harms
have long been ignored by orthodox criminologists who, restrained by a traditional
definition of criminal harm that requires a violation of the criminal law, fail to appreciate
the enormous volume of violent green crimes that occur across the face of the globe in
the modern world. These harms far exceed those caused by criminal violence on the
streets. But in recent years, even critical criminologists have ignored these green crimes
and many have preferred instead to focus on the culture of street crime and its making. In
the criminological community, few have taken up the challenge of exposing green
crimes, and criminologists have largely left the social justice implications of defending
the world and its species from green harms up to researchers in other disciplines.
This brief note addresses some recent examples of green harms that should be of
concern to criminologists. In addition to making these green forms of victimization and
the social injustice associated with these harms more visible, this review also calls
attention to the role the treadmill of production plays in this political economic process of
polluting the environment and the generation of green victims. Since the early 1980s,
sociologists have used the concept of the treadmill of production to address the
connection between the political economy of production, its increased reliance on
chemical manufacturing (both as agents in the manufacturing process and as products of
production), and the effect of those chemicals on the state of the environment. Treadmill
of production theory essentially argues that since WW II, the chemical treadmill of
economic production has increasingly led to environmental destruction and pollution.
The short review below provides the kinds of evidence that sits well with that
explanation.
Examples of the Modern Chemical Treadmill’s Effects
Recent research has uncovered a relationship between exposure to post-WW II
chemicals that became an important part of the treadmill of production and the chemical
revolution that changed the nature of production and consumption following WW II. The
treadmill of chemical production has become so widespread that it is difficult to avoid
contact with that treadmill. For example, with respect to pesticides alone, US agricultural
production and homeowners use nearly 900 million pounds of these chemicals annually.
Because these chemicals are so widely used and have become routine elements in the
manufacture of all kinds of products and are found in the foods we eat, their presence in
the environment is considered ubiquitous. That’s a disturbing thought because it means
that humans have changed the very nature of the environment by producing and expelling
chemicals using the treadmill of production. These ubiquitous chemicals are having
numerous effects on human and animal populations, and the very nature of the
environment in which they live.
Recent research by Virginia A. Rauh et al. (2012; “Brain anomalies in children
exposed prenatally to a common organophosphate pesticide,” in the Proceeding of the
National Academy of Sciences of the United States, 109, 20: 7871-7876) found that
chlorpyrifos (CPF), an organophosphate insecticide, previously associated with
neurobehavioral deficits in animals, has the same effect in humans. Rauh et al employed
MRI technology to examine the differences in the brains of children with elevated blood
levels of CPF compared to those lacking that condition. A number of physical brain
development differences were found between the exposed and unexposed populations of
children. When compared to those with low CPF exposure, children with high CPF
exhibited:
(1) physical changes in the structure of the brain of the children examined,
including enlargement of several areas of the brain (the superior temporal, posterior
middle temporal, inferior postcentral gyri bilaterally, superior frontal gyrus, gyrus rectus,
cuneus, and precuneus);
(2) exposure-IQ interaction effects that appeared to indicate that exposure to
elevated levels of exposure to CPF are associated with decreased IQ levels;
(3) the thinning of the frontal and parietal cortex. The parietal region of the brain
receives and stores information related to spatial location and navigation. The frontal
lobe contains the majority of dopamine receptors in the brain; and
(4) reversal of sex differences in certain regions of the brain.
Adding to these findings concerning exposure to post-WW II chemicals that have
become a central feature of the chemical treadmill of production, David Crews et al.
(2012; “Epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of altered stress responses,” Proceeding
of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, May 21; doi:
10.1073/pnas.1118514109) discovered that “ancestral” environmental exposure has long
term impacts that affect the life course of an individual. Using rats to examine the
hypothesis that even a single exposure to an environmental pollutant (in this case, a
common crop fungicide, vindozolin) can produce long term, intergenerational genetic
effects, Crews et al., found evidence of exactly that effect. Crews et al., fond that the
effects of vindozolin exposure continue to be seen in rats three generations removed from
the exposed rats. Evidence of that long term effect was seen in the fact that exposure
altered baseline brain development in rats.
Both studies briefly reviewed above demonstrate the import effects of chemical
exposures that produce green forms of violence and victimization. Both show how
common chemical pollutants found in the environment that have been promoted by the
treadmill of production can change the structure of the brain, and that those effects are
long term, and can be inherited across numerous generations. These, to be sure, are
important concerns, and demonstrate some of the ways in which green criminology can
employ science to further investigate the scope of harm caused by green vicitimization.
The International Treadmill
The treadmill of production, like the system of capitalism in which it is enmeshed,
has become increasingly globalized. As a result, numerous examples of the effect of the
chemical treadmill of production can be found in countries across the globe.
In South Kanara, India, evidence of the health effect of twenty years of biannual
spraying of pesticides in the nearby cashew fields is becoming more apparent. The
pesticide in question, endosulfan, was recently recognized as an extremely dangerous
environmental contaminant at the 2011 Stockholm Convention, leading to an
international ban on its continued manufacturing. Endosulfan is characterized by its
acute toxicity (the ability to cause death from either a single exposure, or several short
term exposures in a short time period, usually less than 24 hours), its tendency to
bioaccumulate and thus present long term health effects, and its classification as an
endocrine disruptor (endosulfan has been demonstrated to be an endocrine disruptor in
both animals and humans). It is estimated that the populations of 90 villages in the South
Kanara area were affected by endosulfan exposure. As early as 2000, evidence of the
effects of exposure to endosulfan had become evident in India, leading to social
movements there protesting the continued use of endosulfan. In response to those
protests, the Indian state of Kerala banned endosulfan use in 2001. While an
international ban on endosulfan was passed at the 2011 Stockholm Convention, the
Indian government asked for a ten year phase out allowance, which was not granted.
Within India, the banning of endosulfan remains controversial, and governments in
different Indian states have filed suit to seek rescinding the endosulfan ban.
Unfortunately, those exposed to endosulfan in India serve as further evidence of the
effect of the treadmill of production on humans, animal and environmental health, and
provided continued evidence of how producers in the treadmill of product attempt to
defend their products and maintain their inclusion within the treadmill of chemical
production.
In China, the chemical treadmill of production has been increasingly creating
threats to a large portion of the Chinese population. China’s longest river, the Yangtze, is
frequently used as a toxic waste dump. One-hundred and eight-six officially recognized
cities line the banks of the Yangtze. The Yangtze River basin is home to more than onethird of China’s population – about 500 million people. Official Chinese data produced
by the government indicates that more than 27 billion tons of sewage and industrial waste
are pumped into the Yangtze River annually. That’s a lot of waste dumped into a water
source that serves a significant portion of the Chinese people. That chemical treadmill of
production and waste produces green victimizations for an extremely large population – a
population that because of its size, produces a far greater number of green victimizations
than all the street crime victimizations in the world.
How polluted is the Yangtze? This May, 2012, the Chinese government
estimated that one-half of the country’s tap water is so polluted that it is unsafe to drink.
In May, it was reported that thirty-two dead finless porpoises were found in the Yangtze
over the previous two months. The finless porpoise is an endangered species, whose
existence is threatened by the high levels of pollution in the Yantgze. The finless
porpoise appears to be following the path to extinction of the Yangtze River Dolphin
(Lipotes vexillifer), which was declared “functionally extinct” six years earlier as a result
of high levels of pollution in the Yangtze. This evidence indicates that the treadmill of
chemical production not only affects humans, but animal species as well.
The Treadmill of Animal Harm
The treadmill of chemical productions effect on natural species is widespread. In
a new study released by Edward Bouwer found that wild dolphin living off the Atlantic
off the coast of Florida have significantly higher mercury levels than control dolphins
living at the National Aquarium. Mercury pollution in fish is a significant concern, and
has increasingly come under examination as a pollutant emitted by coal fired power
plants. Despite its significant environmental costs, coal has become an increasingly
important source of cheap energy in the treadmill of production.
The pollution produced by the treadmill of production has far reaching effects.
Because that treadmill is chemically linked, many of its pollutants are driven by and
include fossil fuel derivatives. One such is plastic. In the late 1980s, scientists from the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published a paper that,
unknown to them, had relevance to the sociological position on the treadmill of
production. Based on their knowledge of the widespread use of plastics in production
and the fact that plastics were increasingly becoming a waste disposal problem, and their
knowledge of ocean currents, these scientists predicted the existence of a great garbage
patch in the Pacific Ocean. Evidence of that patch was found soon thereafter, and various
smaller and larger plastic garbage patches have since been found in the Pacific Ocean.
Those plastic patches pose numerous health threats to wildlife and smaller ocean species
which digest micro-particles of plastic in their diets, producing numerous negative health
consequences. In particular, these plastic deposits contain PCBs, DDT and PAHs. Once
in the food chain, these pollutants also work their way into the diets of humans. The
most recent study published in May, 2012 on the Pacific Garbage Patch indicates that the
patch is much larger and more dense with plastic than previously believed or recorded.
The Treadmill in your Yard
The treadmill of chemical production has become so widespread and so integrated
into modern life that it is difficult to escape. As part of the treadmill of production,
chemicals intensify labor, minimizing the volume of work required of the laboring class,
and the proportion of the laboring class it can support. At the same time, the chemical
treadmill poisons the laborer and the environment. Since it has increasingly marginalized
the laborer, depressed wages, and increased competition among the working class, the
chemical treadmill can afford to poison the working class in its pursuit of profit. This has
long been known about capitalism, and in Capital, Marx wrote “Capital is reckless of the
health or length of life of the labourer, unless under compulsion from society.”
Recognizing the connection between capitalism’s unconstrained drive to produce profit
and expand, the abuse of workers, and of the environment, later in Capital Marx noted
“Capitalist production . . .develops technology, and the combining together of various
processes into a social whole, only by sapping the original sources of all wealth - the soil
and the labourer.”
At the same time, we must recognize that capitalism has driven this process
forward by also showing a disregard for consumers of its products. Just as Marx noted
that capitalism has no regard for the health and safety of its work force, it also has no
regard for the health and safety of consumers, and has everywhere been forced to protect
consumers by law and not from compassion. The treadmill of chemical production
continually exposes the modern consumer to harm, even in their homes.
A group of biologists who have been undertaking research on the causes of
declining frog populations had discovered that part of that problem was linked to
exposure to chemical pollutants humans routinely place in the environment -- pesticides.
In a recent study (McMahon, Taegan et al., 2012, “Fungicide-induced declines of
freshwater biodiversity modify ecosystem functions and services,” Ecological Letters
DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01790.x), these researchers found that a fungicide used
widely throughout the state of Florida on lawns and gold courses (and is the third most
frequently used fungicide in the US) – chlorothanlonil -- can have devastating
consequences for the environment. The US EPA estimated that in the late 1990s, 15
million pounds of chlorothanlonil was used in the US annually. The fungicide,
chlorothalonil (brand names, Bravo, Echo, and Danconil) is found in the same family of
chemical as the banned pesticide, DDT. McMahon and her colleagues found that
exposure to chlorothalonil in the environment increased mortality rates among
amphibians, gastropods, zooplankton, algae and a macrophyte species, and decreased the
taxonomic richness of natural areas. In addition to its effects on non-human species,
chlorothalonil has significant human health consequences, and is known to cause kidney
failure and is classified as a “probable carcinogen” by the US EPA.
Conclusion
Criminologists have neglected the study of green crimes and harms. That
criticism applies to critical criminology as well. While critical criminology has been
more willing than orthodox criminology to recognize green harms and crimes, these
issues are nevertheless understudied even within critical criminology.
One of the ways to draw attention to these green harms is to emphasize the
connection that exists between one form of critical criminology, radical criminology, and
green criminology. Using several examples, this brief note has demonstrated the variety
of green harms that critical criminologists can study, and how such studies can be
promoted by incorporating political economic explanations of green harms such as the
treadmill of production approach long used by sociologists.