Stephen P. Broker
I begin the unit by presenting my students with an environment/health problem, a toxic chemical spill at Aznalcollar, Spain, as reported in the May 2, 1998 issue of the New York Times. The article, entitled "Big sludge spill poisons land in southern Spain," announces what some call the most serious environmental disaster to occur in Europe. To my students, I state that this is an issue of concern to our study of environmental science and human health. We are now beginning a several week study of the topics which emerge from this article, and from other written and visual materials which will become available to us. The article is read aloud in class by a succession of student readers. Following completion of the reading, discussion ensues. I pose several questions to guide the discussion. Where does the news event take place? (Wall maps are available in the room.) What is the specific incidence that threatens the environment? What are the potential consequences of the event? How might the natural environment be affected? What are the short term and the long term impacts of this toxic spill? What might be the consequences to people living in or visiting the region? Do you foresee any short term or long term health consequences for people? Who do you think the principal players will be as this story unfolds? How would you go about investigating the story further?
The following issues should emerge directly from the article in the class discussion:
-
1. A large zinc mine in southern Spain has experienced a break in its mine tailings sedimentation basin, and at least 150 million cubic feet (a billion gallons) of toxic industrial sludge has contaminated previously pristine lands;
-
2. The waste consists of acid sludge and heavy metals, particularly zinc, cadmium, and arsenic;
-
3. There is an immediate impact on at least 15,000 acres of farmland;
-
4. The mine is owned by a Canadian company, Boliden Ltd, part of a larger, multinational corporation;
-
5. Local rice, cotton, and fruit tree farmers, such as Jose Antonio Alvarez, are in a state of shock; 6. People in a nearby village are experiencing burning sensations in eyes and throats;
-
7. The river that received the sludge connects via a larger river to Donana National Park, a wetland environment of international significance;
-
8. The spill occurred during the spring breeding season, and a large number of birds, some of them rare and endangered, are threatened as the heavy metal pollution enters the food web;
-
9. Spain's Environment Minister, Isabel Tocino, terms the waste spill a "terrible catastrophe";
-
10. Many environmental threats to Donana existed prior to the disaster, including fertilizer and pesticide seepage into groundwater, expansion of agricultural fields, and increased development of land for a new tourism industry;
-
11. Environmentalists have been concerned a long time about Spain's lack of interest in environmental protection;
-
12. The owners of the mining company have agreed to pay for the cleanup; they have begun an assessment of the spill.
I state that this New York Times article is the starting point for student research into historical and cultural, biogeographical, ecological, environmental, and human health issues. After presenting the central problem of the case study, I inform the students that we will put aside the story of the toxic spill for awhile, and we will begin to consider the broader context for the environmental problem. I believe that some historical and cultural context needs to be developed to understand the problem and to allow it to take on a human dimension for my students. The following questions come to mind. What does a chemical spill in Spain have to do with us? How does it affect the livelihoods of people? What is the cultural background, the socioeconomic level, the method of employment of the Spanish people living near Donana? Did they bring this environmental disaster on themselves? What were the environmental and health risks that were being taken at the mine, and what were the potential and actual benefits to the local people for having the mine in operation? How long has mining been practiced here? What parallels might there be for residents of the United States, of Connecticut, of New Haven? Are there any other issues that the students feel should be investigated?
The next step in the process of student research is to develop background information on the region of Spain where the toxic spill has occurred. The environmental disaster that occurred will have little meaning to students if they have no understanding of the country where the pollution occurred. While I do not suggest conducting an in-depth study of Spain, its history and culture, I do want to construct an image of the southern European country where Donana National Park and the zinc mine are located. As a tourist who recently visited Spain, I began my learning process about Donana National Park and southern Spain by reading travel guides. My students will do the same. There are many excellent travel guides on Spain, and the two guides I have selected for use are Rick Steve's Spain & Portugal 1998 (John Muir Publications), which describes itself as a distillation of essential travel knowledge, and Lonely Planet Spain (Lonely Planet Publications, 1997), a more comprehensive guide for the traveler. Students are presented with copies of these two guides, and they are asked to gather information on pertinent geography, history, and culture of the region. They will in effect plan a trip through southern Spain within some guidelines that I present. Rick Steve has information on Andalusia, the region of southern Spain where the spill occurred, and three of its major cities, Granada, Sevilla, and Cadiz. Lonely Planet has 150 pages of travel information on Andalusia, presented by province. Granada, Sevilla, and Cadiz are the principal cities of the three provinces of the same names.