Open-air Pits Research Articles

Legitimating the environmental injustices of war: toxic exposures and media silence in Iraq and Afghanistan

During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the US Department of Defense burned the majority of its solid waste in open-air pits or trenches, producing large amounts of potentially hazardous emissions. While journalists have covered stories of US service members who link their illnesses to these fumes, they have almost entirely ignored potential civilian impacts. However, satellite images demonstrate that pollution from open-air trash burning on US bases could not have impacted US personnel without also harming Iraqi and Afghan civilians living near bases, indicating that burn-pit pollution is an important, if unacknowledged, environmental justice issue. Content analysis of news articles shows the extent to which civilian impacts have been left out of mainstream US media reporting on burn-pit pollution. This selective attention is symptomatic of the way military violence is legitimated, which involves a complicit news media that typically overlooks the humanitarian impacts of war.

Assessing worker exposure to inhaled volatile organic compounds from Marcellus Shale flowback pits

Natural gas drilling sites employing hydraulic fracturing present a potential source of inhalation exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) via the use of flowback pits. These open-air pits are used as a means of storing flowback water, a waste product of hydraulic fracturing, and represent an understudied source of VOC exposure for workers. The objective of this study was to assess this worker exposure and the resulting health risks for 12 VOCs present in flowback water stored in such an open reservoir on a drilling site. Flowback pit VOC mean, 2.5 percentile, and 97.5 percentile concentrations were used to model aqueous phase concentrations, and two models of volatilization were applied to estimate flux to the gas phase. A mass-balance approach was used to estimate gas phase concentrations that were, in turn, used to estimate worker exposure. A literature review was performed to determine VOC health effects, exposure limits, and worker protection methods. Neither model demonstrated an increased risk of adverse effects due to subchronic exposure at the 2.5 percentile and mean concentration values for the 12 VOCs as indicated by hazard quotients, hazard indices, or excess lifetime cancer risks; however, 97.5 percentile hazard indices approached 1 in one model and did demonstrate unacceptable risks in the evaluation of limitations. Either model may apply to worker health assessment depending upon industry practice; however, differing weather conditions, industry practice, and the small number of VOCs evaluated necessitate further research regarding worker risks and health effects.

Outposts: Literary Landmarks & Events

outposts LiteraryLandmarks& Events Bubanza, Burundi Withgratitudeto the Honorable Etienne Ndayishimiye, Evariste Ndikumana, and Claude Nikondeha. Editorial note:Towatch a video demonstration of the grass-oven firingof pots, and toviewadditional photos of traditional Batwa dances, visit theonlineversion of this Outpost on our website (www. worldliteraturetoday.com). To read moreof the/Xam poetry byDi?lkwain,see TheStarsSay "Tsau" (2004), ed. Antjie Krog. David Shook isfinishing his graduatethesisat theUniversity ofOxfordunderthesupervision of Jamie McKendrick. His work has appeared in PEN International Magazine, Poetry, and elsewhere. He lives in Los Angelesbuttravels frequently through Africaand Latin America. He isa frequent contributor to World Literature Today. Composing less than 5 percent of Burundi's totalpopulation, theBatwa were itsorigi nal inhabitants, colonized and displaced since the turnof the first millennium by theHutus, and later by the Tutsis as well. Originally a for est-dwelling culture, theBatwa survive today as a landless people, their forcedmigrations across the region subject to thewhims of theBurundian gov ernment.The Batwa are related to other communi ties throughout theCongo, commonly referred to as Pygmies, a term theBatwa reject as derogatory. The community experiences routine tribaldiscrimi nation at all levels of society, especially within the educational system.Many were murdered indis criminately during the ethnic conflicts that have plagued the region, culrninatingmost recently in the 1990s. Their permanent exile from theirhome forests is a crucial influenceon their identityas a commu nity, and it is reflected in their art and literature. The Batwa continue to produce their traditional pottery, despite decreasing economic incentives to do so.With imported plastic replacing most of thepottery's domestic uses, most Twa potters earn well under a dollar per pot, which can take up to a week to produce. The coiled pots aremade from local clay, fired in grass-fed, open-air pits. These self-incineratingkilns harden the clay and temper it with a slight smokiness. Although nowritten Batwa literatureyet exists, theBatwa storyand song traditions thrive.Though seldom recognized, Batwa music and dance has deeply influenced Tutsi and especially Hutu tradi tions. "We like somuch todance. Itgives us peace/' says Evariste Ndikumana, one of a handful of Twa students to successfully complete postsecondary education. "We put on the leg-bells and play the ingoma drums, we wear special clothes and a cap with longhair, and we sing and dance." In Batwa culture, dance is considered less per formance than ritual. Characterized by rhythmic foot stomping, hopping, and shoulder swaying, the contemporary dance tradition is centuries old. It connects the Batwa to the forests fromwhich they'vebeen expelled. It is an expression of longing fora homeland no longer theirown. Their situation echoes thatof the /Xam bush men from South Africa, who were displaced to thepoint of theirdisappearance in the late 1870s. German philologist Wilhelm Bleek and his sister in-law Lucy Lloyd collected /Xam poetry and art, including thework ofDi?!kwain, who wrote of the homeland thatno longerbelonged tohim: theplace does not feel to me as theplace used to feel to me ... theplace feel strange to me The Batwa have chosen to continue to create and survive inexile; both their physical and cultural survival depends on theirresourceful responses to exile, and theyare succeeding. - David Shook ...

First Paleoparasitological Analysis of a Midden in the Aleutian Islands (Alaska): Results and Limits

Excavations on Buldir Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska, have revealed the remains of several features dated between the 13th and 17th centuries A.D. Soil from an open-air workshop, represented by 2 excavated pits, and a structure built of whale bones were sampled for evidence of parasites and microfloristic remains. Two groups of helminth eggs (Diphyllobothrium and Ankylostomidae) were identified in samples from the open-air pits; microfloristical remains were found in all samples. This is the first paleoparasitological analysis conducted on an Aleutian midden.