One of the ideas that Pellow contributes well to the debate of global environmental justice is the ideas of a global North and South. It is brought up in the first chapters but is best explained in the events of chapters 3/4. The idea of a global North is the nations that are well developed and maintain the majority of both consumption and waste production in the world. These nations are generally seen to be the key exploiters and constantly take advantage of the underdeveloped, unprivledged global South nations. These nations frequently are swamped with debts from loans, corruption, and national poverty. They also, for the most part, have populations made up of people of color and low economic status. These nations are noted as having very little government concern for the people and a general consensus that the health of the people comes second to economic boosts. These nations frequently have lower environmental standards and so are the target of businesses who want cheap products. By building a factory in a South nation, companies can pay low labor and resource prices as well as avoid costly environmental restrictions on the production process. In the event of environmental injustices, the debate turns into a North vs. South issue. The people and governments of North countries for the most part have very strict and costly regulations on production and waste. For this reason, companies with markets in the global North will lower their consumers prices by taking advantage of the global South’s need for economic stimulus. They will bring outside money to a needy nation in return for the ability to exploit the people of that nation at every turn.
Chapters 3/4 provide nice examples of the best way for the South nations to fight back. The idea of the boomerang effect has given these people the ability to go outside the unbalanced system and take action against their oppressors. When TSMOs are able to put pressure on governments in ways that the people themselves are not, the people are given a chance to fight back. The best example of this was shown by Pellow with Project Return to Sender. This example showed exactly the problem of North vs South as well as the South fighting back. When the Pennsylvania mayor was turned down by other nations in efforts to dump their ash waste, they went to the little island of Haiti and left their waste for the people of Haiti to take care of. It took many years and lots of work by the people in TSMOs across the globe to create enough pressure, but eventually the state was made to pay for the cleanup. This shows the true power of the people. Project Return to Sender brought the idea of international dumping to the global public eye. It showed just how devious and dirty people of the global North can be. If they can get away with dumping their problems on someone else, they will take every opportunity.
This makes me wonder where humanity has gone. When and how did money take precedence over people? What then is the best way to fight against such injustices? As shown by this example, a global push for humanity through SMOs seems like the best method, and this means the best way to peronally help is to get involved in such an organization.
