remember Bhopal?

Hello hello,

So we still have not slept and Holly is melting like an ice cube in heat - and it is hot, maybe New Orleans in August hot - so serious sweaty dehydration is almost inevitable.

But we've been learning lots, even in our half awake half jetlagged state, and experiencing delicious delicious dosas and sambars along the way.

India has no regulations for air pollution. None. Not even one. This means that when air samples, taken with the EPA air buckets I described in the first post, come back with 20-30,000 times the US EPA standards of carcinogens and toxins like Benzene and Toluene, there is little to no recourse for the afflicted communities. It also means that so much of this work (clean air campaigning) must be started from scratch in a place that is dealing with what appears to be a conflict between growing an economy and protecting the health of the people and the environment.

As the reality of global warming sets in, the parameters of the debate take on an even starker view. But to those whose livelihood depends on the outsourcing of toxic industries to less regulated areas, survival does not come with the question of a human right to clean air.

But shouldn't it?