In the 1960s a lot of people came here and they were all healthy.

But now there are very, very few healthy children being born here.”

Doctor Svetlana Golubkova
Norilsk resident

In my habitual scanning of news headlines for word of environmental disasters and missteps (does this mean I’m habitually morbid or that I consider the glass half-empty - should I not be looking for positive signs?), I came across THIS ARTICLE (thanks BBC News) that details the toxic nastiness that is the “secretive Siberian city of Norilsk.” The BBC team’s description of Norilsk reminds me a bit of the scene one encounters when driving into Los Angeles :

“From a distance it looks like a front of bad weather moving in and obscuring the otherwise pristine Arctic sky. But drive closer and the source of the long streams of “cloud” flowing over the city and far beyond becomes clear. To blame are the clusters of huge chimneys at three smelting plants which surround Norilsk. Twenty four-hours a day, seven days a week, the chimneys pump out a toxic cocktail of pollutants which the company responsible openly admits is mostly sulphur dioxide. Once in the atmosphere this gas turns into acid rain.”

All of that is bad news, right? Clearly the people, plants, animals and waterways miles around are going to be affected by this. In fact, the MILLION ANNUAL TONS of sulfur dioxide have created a 20 mile radius DEAD ZONE around the town. Nifty, no? Yet, this is happening way out in the middle of nowhere, in a town whose name I likely cannot pronounce correctly (although my Rocky and Bullwinkle pinball machine has trained me on the Russian accent fairly accurately. I do a mean Boris, as well as Natasha - yes, the machine is solar powered). I can read this article and give a shit, but ultimately, I don’t really - do I? I’m not about to fly over there and try to clean things up. I’m not calling my Congressperson to push for international superfund monies. In short, I read the article, sigh a heavy sigh, and move on to breakfast. Pretty fucking impotent, if you axe me. And that pretty much sums up how I handle 99% of that which ails the world. HOWEVER . . . in re-reading the intro paragraph I spot these words:

“. . . normally closed to foreigners that produces almost half the world’s supply of palladium.”

Now put out your hands and catch those words in bold, as that’s why I’ve clicked the big “B” button in my blogging software, to make ‘em really jump. Did it work? Did you see the word ‘palladium’? I sure did. Not because it sounds like a made up metal from planet Zaptron, but because I own about twenty ounces of the stuff. Yep. When my pop died a couple of years ago, turns out he was into collecting precious metals. Now they’re buried in my backyard for safekeeping - you know, with my guns and ammo and survival gear I keep in a giant underground locker for when the Ruskies come parachuting down. WOLVERINES!!! (If you caught the reference, I love you deeply and intimately. If not, you need to watch more Patrick Swayze movies.)

So what am I to do? There’s a pretty good chance the stuff caused a whole lot of damage when it was being smelted or whatever the heck happens to palladium after it arrives from Zaptron. I was innocent until moments ago. Now that I’ve read the article, my ignorance on the subject has evaporated and I am personally responsible for taking action based upon new information. But - what am I to do? Sell it? Launch it into the sun? Exchange it for “sustainable metals” like LEED-certified steel? This may be the best way to go: I’ll just swap my handful of ducats for a 400 foot length of square stock steel - my neighbors will love it!

Seriously: Now that I know, I’m stumped by the right thing to do. And this happens routinely, almost daily. The more I learn, the more I see the hypocrisy in my daily living. This, of course, leads to bouts of paralysis, which I’m sure some of you relate to (forgive the hanging preposition, I’m just lazy today). I own primarily leather shoes, even though I know the process is far and away more damning than that which manufactures hemp footwear. I’m typing this blog entry on a Macintosh, though it’s the world’s most environmentally-damaging computer. I drive a Volvo V40, when I should be driving a (no, not a Prius as that battery is some toxic business) biodiesel. I buy CDs instead of downloading on iTunes (I fucking hate iTunes and Steve Jobs who gives NOTHING of his great wealth to help the world). I shoot Polaroid film. My sought-after paperless office has yet to materialize. I have recreational sex (oh wait, that only violates my Catholic mores). The list is so, so, so long.

And now this damned palladium thing. Any thoughts on what I should do?

[tags]hypocrisy, patrick-swayze, leed-certified, steve-jobs, polaroid, norilsk[/tags]

Tags: environment, news, Ruminations

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