Thoughts on the destruction of a community.

I'm a chemist. I remember well the warnings my chemistry professors gave me on Mercury toxicity. They even told of a fellow professor who was working in the lab with a component of Mercury and had later been diagnosed with Mercury poisoning. Unfortunately, the period for treatment had passed and the professor died due to his exposure.

Mercury poisoning is extremely toxic because even parts per billion are lethal and destroy entire communities. Here is one article about detection in the human body as well as symptoms.

https://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/mercury/tab/test/

The following article is about reducing environmental impact by reducing concentrations of mercury in aqueous solutions. It also touches on airborne contaminants.

http://www.nist.gov/tip/wp/pswp/upload/137_aqueous_phase_mercury_removal_strategies.pdf

This is merely the tip of the iceberg. Social, economic, communal and environmental concerns are daunting at this point in this micro-situation which seems to mirror all the other micro-situations of artisan mining in Africa and Asia.

Ultimately, I stand by helpless watching from a distance as a community embraces its own destruction gleefully. Joyfully. Somehow, it smacks of perfect evil, of greed.

I spoke with a young man from the community who is originally from the community pictured here. He has his degrees and is employed by an organization that monitors oil companies across Uganda, who are drilling for oil, ensuring that they do not destroy native habitat in the process of extracting oil. I asked him about this new development in his community. He responded, "Yes my father is a leader in this community and the caretaker of this property. But I am but a child in the eyes of my people and they would only say I am trying to keep them from gaining any wealth should I protest in any way at all about the artisan mining."

What does one solitary person do to stand up against the crush of a whole village of extremely eager people as well as more powerful greedy people stand waiting to exploit those people?