I recently watched a bike tour on YouTube
where the hosts traveled along the Mississippi River
from New Orleans to the Kenner area
once in Kenner
they spoke on an area referred to as ‘cancer alley’
a stretch of land along the Mississippi River
where multiple petrochemical plants operate
it encompasses portions of three different parishes
St. Charles, St. James, and St. John the Baptist
the residents of this area are
predominantly poor and black
since the 1970’s numerous diagnoses
of cancer and sickness have been reported
hence the moniker ‘cancer alley’
residents in the affected areas have a
16% greater risk at developing cancer
than the surrounding whiter and higher-income
one area in St. John the Baptist Parish
has been recognized by the EPA as having
the likelihood of getting cancer from
air pollution over 700 times the national average
it has been labeled a ‘sacrifice zone’
a term taken from the cold-war era
it is disgusting the blatant environmental racism
occurring in plain site without any repercussion
the earth has thrived for
approximately 4.5 billion years
then enter the Industrial Revolution
reprehensible damage with no reversal in site
burning of fossil fuels
carbon emissions from car exhausts
methane and nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture
deforestation and urbanization
also the sickening lack of
compassion for our own people
all point to the actual problem at hand
we as humans
are the terminal cancer of earth
Gloomy Forebodings 