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Mothers Facing Pollution Risks Find Allies in the Religious Right

The religious right and environmentalists are teaming up to protect women and their babies from the dangers of exposure to pollution and toxic waste.

By Teresita Perez
March 12, 2007

Tuli Hughes's first three pregnancies ended in miscarriage. During her fourth pregnancy, she gave birth prematurely to a baby with a fatal birth defect who died a few minutes after being born. On her fifth try, Tuli again gave birth prematurely; the baby weighed about one pound and also died within minutes.

An explanation may be found in the environmental conditions in Tuli's neighborhood of Bayview-Hunters Point, which is home to San Francisco's main power and sewage treatment plants and the now-closed Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, a Superfund toxic waste site.

Bayview-Hunters Point, a low-income, predominantly African-American community in southeast San Francisco, has one of the highest infant mortality rates in California, comparable to rates in the developing world. Between 1992 and 2001, the area's infant mortality rate averaged 11.8 per 1,000 births, well above the national average of 6.8 per 1,000 and the average for San Francisco, which has the nation's lowest infant mortality rate among large cities. Recent studies also show that women in the community suffer from high rates of miscarriages and premature births, as well as breast and cervical cancer.

Low-income women of color like Tuli not only reside disproportionately around chemical dumps, power plants and other polluting facilities; they are also plagued by other socioeconomic handicaps such as lack of quality health care that exacerbate their reproductive health problems. These other handicaps undoubtedly contribute to the elevated reproductive health risks in areas like Bayview-Hunters Point, but they do not fully explain them. Research points to environmental contamination as a major part of the story.

Exposure to even small amounts of toxic chemicals during the early stages of pregnancy can lead to miscarriages and premature births, while prolonged exposure can cause infertility, endometriosis (a condition in which tissue that normally lines the uterus grows in other areas of the body), cervical cancer, and other reproductive complications. Children born to mothers exposed to toxic chemicals are also at greater risk of birth defects, learning disabilities, and other developmental illnesses. The Center for American Progress recently released a paper titled "More Than a Choice" that urges a broader conversation about reproductive health and rights -- one that goes beyond the narrow but dominant issue of abortion. As the paper indicates, a key part of this conversation must be providing a safe environment for healthy pregnancies and babies. The debate over abortion, while important, has tended to distract from this and other pressing issues of reproductive justice like access to quality health care and child care to the detriment of women and families across the country. Issues like these have the potential to create common ground even among those who have butted heads in the past. Indeed, a shared concern for healthy babies and families and a healthy environment has helped forge one of the unlikeliest partnerships Washington has seen in years: the religious right and the environmental community.

Conservative evangelical Christians have begun to press for stronger environmental protections to ensure the health of vulnerable communities. Much attention has been given to recent efforts by prominent evangelicals pressing for action on global warming. But some are also taking on mercury pollution as a threat to the "sanctity of life."

Mercury emissions from power plants contaminate coastlines, rivers, and lakes, and "bioaccumulate" in fish. Nearly all fish contain traces of mercury, but fish at or near the top of the food chain contain higher levels of mercury that may harm a fetus or young child's developing nervous system. Children born to women who eat mercury-contaminated fish are at a higher risk for a number of neurological disorders including mental retardation and learning disabilities.

Because of this risk, the Food and Drug Administration recently recommended that pregnant women and women who may become pregnant avoid eating certain types of fish, including king mackerel, tilefish, and tuna. Last year, the Environmental Quality Institute at the University of North Carolina-Asheville released the largest ever biomonitoring study of mercury in the United States, finding that a shocking 20 percent of women of childbearing age contain levels of mercury in their blood that exceed the Environmental Protection Agency's recommended limit.

Religious conservatives are starting to take note of this reproductive risk. At an anti-abortion-rights rally last year, evangelical leaders from the National Association of Evangelicals and the Evangelical Environmental Network actually carried a banner that read "Stop Mercury Poisoning of the Unborn" and distributed fliers that urged Christians to speak out against President Bush's Orwellian "Clear Skies Initiative."

"Clear Skies" purports to clamp down on mercury emissions and other air pollution, but in fact relaxes existing protections under the Clean Air Act. EPA's Children's Health Advisory Committee concluded that the plan "does not sufficiently protect our nation's children." Congress has failed to pass "Clear Skies" legislation, but the administration is putting in place major elements through regulation.

Other environmental problems must also be better understood and addressed as threats to reproductive health. Superfund toxic waste sites, for example, can poison drinking water, pollute the air, and contaminate the soil, potentially leading to reproductive complications. The community around the infamous Love Canal site, which spurred passage of the Superfund law in 1980, suffered extremely high rates of birth defects and miscarriages, eventually prompting the town's evacuation.

Alarmingly, Superfund cleanups have plummeted more than 50 percent during the Bush administration as compared to the Clinton administration. Instead of protecting at-risk communities, the administration and Congress have declined to reinstate Superfund's expired "polluter pays" corporate tax that previously generated $1.5 billion a year, leaving fewer resources available for cleanups.

As sites await cleanup, tens of thousands of women are exposed to chemicals that could cause reproductive complications. Presently, one in four Americans lives within three miles of one of the 1,244 Superfund sites awaiting cleanup, including approximately three to four million children who live with one mile of a site.

The Center for American Progress and the Center for Progressive Reform recently profiled the five most dangerous Superfund sites in each of the 10 most populous states. According to census data, more than 50,000 women of childbearing age (between 15 and 44) live within the census tracts containing these sites. Of these communities, a disproportionate number are, like Bayview-Hunters Point, low income and minority.

Environmental health is vital to the well-being of women, their babies, and their families. With the election of a new Congress, there is now an opportunity to broaden the agenda for reproductive health and rights in a way that captures growing public support across the political spectrum. A good place to start would be passing strong legislation to curb mercury emissions in place of the president's "Clear Skies" initiative and reinstating the corporate "polluter pays" tax to fund Superfund cleanups. For women like Tuli who want nothing more than a healthy baby, such improvements in environmental quality could make all the difference.

This article was originally published in AlterNet.org.

This material also appeared for the Progress Report, the daily e-mail publication of the Center for American Progress. You can sign up online at www.progressreport.org .

Environmental Justice & Global Warming

Introduction

Our Seventh Principle calls us to affirm and promote "Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part." More than just a recognition of ecological interdependency, the seventh principle affirms our spiritual value that all beings are all mutually dependent. Where some of us suffer disproportionately, we are all diminished.

Our misuse of our world and its resources affects us all, in polluted air, water, and food and loss of arable land, species diversity and beauty. Often, many of us view such degradation as a trade-off for the benefits that we enjoy. Environmental justice is the recognition that this degradation disproportionately harms the poor and marginalized even though they have less access to the benefits and less to little control over how such resources are used. The harm is long-lasting, affecting the health, livelihoods, and cultures of people of color and the dispossessed. Thus, sustaining the environment is a social justice issue.

This is especially true of global warming/climate change. As weather patterns change, causing drought in some areas and flooding in others, poorer peoples lack the resources to compensate for/avoid these disasters and bear the brunt of suffering when they happen. Our spiritual values call us to act on both the personal, local, and national levels to adopt practices that will stem/reverse environmental degradation in general and global warming/climate change in particular.

History

When Henry David Thoreau lay on his deathbed with his loved ones gathered round him, one of them anxiously asked him whether he was ready for "the next world." Thoreau replied, "One world at a time." Our historical emphasis on this world has led Unitarians and then Unitarian Universalists to care about sustaining the resources of this world and promoting social justice in this world. Environmentalism, both in personal living practices and political activism, has been one of the hallmarks of Unitarian Universalism. Indeed, the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA), through its annual General Assembly (GA) and its Board of Trustees, has passed over a dozen resolutions in support of environmental justice since the merger of the Unitarians and Universalists in 1961. The recent passage of the Statement of Conscience on Global Warming/Climate Change represents a renewed commitment to taking action on one of the most important environmental issues of our time.

Why We Act

"Our environmental problems will not be fully addressed until we come to terms with the moral and spiritual dimensions of these problems, and we will not find ourselves religiously until we fully address our environmental problems." Steven Rockefeller interviewed in Fugitive Faith by Benjamin Webb, Orbis Books, 1998

Our legacy of General Resolutions, Statements of Conscience, and actions pertaining to environmental justice documents where Unitarian Universalists have stood on these issues and provides the theological/moral basis from which we act.

Take Action

Congregational Implementation of Global Warming S.O.C.—Our 2006 Statement of Conscience on The Threat of Global Warming/Climate Change has garnered positive attention (see article in The Christian Century ) and motivated many UU congregations and individuals to get informed and get involved to reverse the of global warming/climate change. Below are some suggestions on what you can do, mostly taken from the Study/Action Issue Resource Guide on Global Warming .

The Greening of GA: A Case Study

As individuals:

Make lifestyle changes that reduce our impact on the environment.
- Consume less fossil fuel by choosing fuel-efficient appliances, using alternative, renewable energy sources, choosing the most energy efficient transportation, reducing waste and recycling. (For ideas, see the Global Warming Action Kit from UU Ministry for Earth.)
- Pledge to reduce your "carbon footprint" (the amount of carbon you produce) through Carbonfund.org
Use financial resources to encourage corporate social responsibility with respect to global warming/climate change. (See UUA Committee on Socially Responsible Investing for suggestions.)
Advocate for environmental justice
- Support the "Climate Stewardship Act" (CSA), which calls for a reduction in emissions of heat-trapping gases to 2000 levels by the year 2010 and creates a market-based system of tradable allowances to achieve this reduction. Sign up for action alerts on this and other issues at the UUA Washington Office website.
Commit to continued education about the science, impact, and mitigation of global warming/climate change and sharing this knowledge with others.

As congregations:

Develop congregational policies/practices that reduce our impact on the environment
- Practice environmentally responsible consumption in planning congregational events and development and create an atmosphere that encourages individual congregants/families to do the same.
- Seek certification through the Green Sanctuary Program from UU Ministry for Earth
Use financial resources to encourage corporate social responsibility with respect to global warming/climate change. (See UUA Committee on Socially Responsible Investing for suggestions.)
Join or create an interfaith community group devoted to environmental justice
Incorporate reverence for life into congregational worship. (See suggestions from UU Ministry for Earth )
Incorporate reverence for life into religious education programs (See resources below.)

Contact Susan Leslie, Director of the Office for Congregational Advocacy and Witness, at sleslie@uua.org or (617) 948-4607 to learn about what other congregations are doing and to share your congregation's story!

UU Resources