Truth of Mining Toxins :: essays research papers

The Truth of the Mining Toxins In this novel Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver is based on two sisters figuring out where they belong in life. They grow up in a small Native Latino American city named Grace, Arizona. In this small town there is a river that runs through the town. Codi, the older sister, is a teacher at the local school. She decided to take her students to the river to look at the water under a microscope and discovered that the water is contaminated. She ended up discussing this problem with a small group called the Stich Bitch Club. This group is only women and they discuss things about the town and many problems that occur in their everyday life. While the men of the town couldn’t get involved, the women solved things from the environment to help the town by being powerful feminists.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After Cody was brought into the group she known she would have to tell this information to the woman about the Black Mountain mining. The mining has been running sulfuric acid in the water through the town of Grace that is causing trees to die, including microscopic animals in the river. This sulfuric acid can also be used to kill rats and pond algae and many other small things in the river, but not the fish.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mining toxins are something that is released into the environment by the businesses throughout the United States. In my research I discovered that the mining industry toxins that were most released was in the year 1998. Some things were, â€Å"metal mining:3.5 billion pounds, Gold mining:1.23 billion pounds, Air: 2 million pounds, coal mining: 13.3 million pounds.† (Drillbits, 1) For example, â€Å"Toxin gas released from a Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal that killed 2,500 people in India, in 1984.† (Drillbits, 1) All these different toxins are causing damage in the water, but most of all it is killing innocent people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the book it shows that Codi did discuss this problem with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and they also discovered the sulfuric acid in the river. According to the Stich and Bitch Club they know they had to stop the company from building a dam and polluting the river. A certain woman from the Stich and Bitch Club suggested that, â€Å"My husband used to be a crane operator when the mine was running; he would know how to fix up the bulldozers from hell to breakfast.