Pollution and its effects on the Indigenous population

Pollution is a crucial problem and issue that we as a society have been facing for many years. It has made our air poisonous, contaminated our waters, and deteriorated many communities. Although some of the effects are permanent, more and more are people actively trying to prevent any further pollution. Although pollution has affected everyone as a whole, there is one community that has been affected all too much. The Indigenous community has faced much abuse from America over many years such as the taking of their land, resources, and money. Although there are many indigenous reservations across North America, many of them are greatly affected by pollution. Although the problems with pollution in the indigenous community may seem simple, it is a much more deeply rooted, systemic issue. To truly understand this issue entirely, we must look at the past, present, and future.

Native Americans have been disproportionally affected by pollution for decades. Many think that reservations are safe and have plenty of resources to function. However, as a result of years of coal and nuclear plant building, it has resulted in the air and water becoming toxic for these reservations. Many of these big companies who own the plants often profit off of the suffering that Native Americans and offer them money, in exchange for allowing them to dump toxic waste on their reservations. Because of this pollution, many Native Americans are ten times as likely to develop either COPD, asthma, diabetes, lung cancer, or even birth defects. In an article from the Berkley Political Review, Sanjana Manjeshwar, a third-year student at UC Berkley, highlights how years of abuse and discrimination from the government against indigenous communities have resulted in decades of pollution. For example, the Yakama Nation, which is a tribe located in Washington, is located right next to superfund sites, which are some of the most polluted areas in the entire country. The nearby Portland Harbor has been contaminated with pesticides, petroleum, and other toxic chemicals. The harbor is the Yakama Nations' primary source of fish and other resources. Even though the Yakama people have been asking for decades for companies to clean up the Portland Harbor, they have continually delayed the cleanup plans. Similarly, the Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne has fished at the St. Lawrence River in New York for many years. Because of the massive amounts of hydraulic fluids from aluminum factories that leak into the river, the Mohawk people are found to have raised levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in their bloodstream. This primely shows how leakage of pollution can adversely affect indigenous communities' health. In Alaska, tribes were found to have four times the amount of PCBs in their blood than the local people. As we see here, there is a direct correlation between longstanding environmental hazards and the personal health of people. During the 1940s and 80s, the Navajo Nation had one of the biggest uranium mining sites in the country. At the time, uranium was an extremely valuable material. As such, the U.S. government decided to extract nearly four million tons of uranium from this mine to make nuclear weapons. The extremely harmful effects of uranium were unbeknownst to the Navajo people and as a result, they experienced lung cancer, leukemia, kidney disease, birth defects, and much more. The Navajo people still suffer from these problems from uranium mining. In another instance, the people of the Skull Valley Indian Reservation were exposed to the testing of VX, an extremely toxic military gas, at the Dugway Proving ground. In 1968, almost 6,000 people died as a result of this toxic gas. For decades the government still tests on this reservation full knowledge of the extremely harmful radiation that still lingers on from decades ago. Nevertheless, Native Americans seek to gain justice and compensation for everything that has been done to their lands from pollution. The Navajo Nation gained a settlement of nearly 600 million dollars.

We must recognize that Native Americans are not the only people part of the indigenous community. There are indigenous tribes in Africa, as well as the Samoans of Hawaii, Tonga, and Oceania, and the indigenous tribes of Canada. Clean, drinkable water is a basic human right, but indigenous tribes of Canada do not have access to clean drinking water as a result of the Canadian government's lack of promise. The Canadian government is only allowed to issue a certain amount of money to these reserves. Some of these reserves are farther than others, which in turn makes everything cost more for the reservation. Along with this, some of these reservations are located far from their sources of water. As a result, they must travel to great lengths to get unsafe water. Grassy Narrows of the Ojibwe Nation had a chemical plant that dumped over 10 tons of toxic mercury into their water reserves, which resulted in decades worth of environmental damage and pollution. Many of these communities lack the funding to keep clean water, as the maintenance systems help filter out harmful pollutants. Many of these maintenance systems need to be kept up to par, which costs thousands of dollars, and some communities are not able to keep up with it. Many other ways that this affects the Ojibwe nation and the indigenous community include violation of cultural rights, financial burden, lower quality of life, and dependence on the government.

Pollution is a very complex issue and is not solely from gas-producing power plants, cars, or factories. Pollution can come from the environment itself. In Michigan, there is an epidemic of toxic algae that plagues Saginaw Bay. For years the people of Saginaw have relied on the bay for fishing and water. But as a result of this toxic algae, the water has become too toxic for fish to live in, and for the indigenous people of Saginaw Bay to drink. Along with the volatility of this form of algae, it spreads very quickly throughout the waters. As a result, much of the bay has become inhabitable for any sort of aquatic wildlife. Although this algae is not a result of man-made pollution, it still is a form of pollution that is plaguing Michigan. We must recognize that pollution can come in many forms and not just from direct sources. For example, many non-direct sources such as salt mines, crops, and farm animals majorly contribute to the ongoing pollution problem in our country. Crops are oftentimes saturated with fertilizer and pesticides to preserve them. When it rains, often the fertilizer and the pesticides from the dirt will wash off and flow into nearby waterways. Because of the toxicity of pesticides and fertilizer to the water, it spreads very quickly and can very well make the water toxic. With farmland animals, excrement from these animals is in huge numbers. Furthermore, excrement as well can fall into the nearby waterways, which also pollutes the water. Finally, another example of a non-direct source of pollution that can damage the environment is coal mines. Coal is a fossil fuel, and the vast amount of mining that happens in the U.S. in some ways can contribute to the everlasting pollution problem we are facing. Many times, miners will mine farther than they should, which accidentally opens a hole for coal that is mined to seep into, which ultimately pollutes the water as well. We must recognize all different sources of pollution, regardless of how small. Moreover, recognizing these different types of pollution can help us fight the systemic problem of pollution more effectively.

As I have said before, we must recognize that the indigenous community is not solely Native Americans. The indigenous Samoan and Tongan people of Australia, New Zealand, and other neighboring islands make up a vast part of the indigenous community. Although these communities still face their struggles, it seems that Australia and New Zealand have created and executed excellent programs to reduce the amount of pollution they have. For example, New Zealand has over 30 companies in the country that are currently focused on alternative energy sources in the fields of wind energy and geothermal energy. The country's move towards clean and renewable energy has received praise from many nations. Henceforth, the leaders of the New Zealand government made an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from 2005 to 2030. Members of the New Zealand government are taking into account the indigenous community. Not only will these efforts help reduce pollution and climate change for the whole country, but especially the indigenous communities.

This year, the call to help indigenous communities with their environment has increased drastically. This has come in the form of people taking to social media to discuss these issues. Many content creators, especially ones of the indigenous community, tirelessly spread information about the many environmental problems that the indigenous community faces. One such content creator, who I find to be the most influential, goes by the name of Lance Tsosie. Lance Tsosie, better known by his online alias "Modern Warrior", is a content creator on TikTok who is an extremely vocal advocate for Native Americans and Indigenous people. Tsosie was born in the Navajo Nation in Arizona. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Denver and was the president of the university's Native Student Alliance. Although he has thousands of followers across all social media platforms, he is most active on TikTok, where he boasts 3.1 million followers. His content revolves around spreading awareness of the Indigenous community and the problems it faces. Most notably, he talks about the many pollution issues that they face, such as the many pipelines that are illegally constructed without the consent of the community themselves. Although he faces much backlash, he is an extremely vocal advocate for the Indigenous community as a whole and environmental equality.