The country of Jamaica is typically associated with an environmental landscape that is well-regarded for its beauty; the ideal weather and inimitable beaches draw the attention of tourists who make up this nation’s most profitable industry. However, beneath the surface—literally—lies Jamaica’s second largest market: bauxite, also known as aluminum (Haughton, 2011). This product is Jamaica’s most sought-after natural resource; when it was identified almost seven decades ago, the bauxite-alumina industry became the country’s ticket to financial stability.
During the Second World War, demand for aluminum skyrocketed. Similar to the remainder of Caribbean countries colonized by the British, Jamaica was regarded as a country that retained economic leverage through plantation labor, and therefore, there was little attempt to search for bauxite outside of developed nations, such the United States (“Jamaica’s bauxite and alumina industry,” 2017). However, in the 1940’s, three America-owned aluminum companies—Alcoa, Reynolds, and Kaiser—made the effort to search for inexpensive sources of bauxite overseas, where they soon learned about Jamaica’s rich reserves.
The nation gained a positive reputation for its cheap raw materials. According to Sherry Keith and Robert Girling (2007), “The island soon became a key link in the companies’ strategy to internationalize their operations…. Moreover, the ease of mining bauxite in Jamaica – where ore deposits are located 6 to 12 inches below the surface as compared to… 50 feet in Guyana – gave the siting of mines on the island a further economic advantage for the companies.” As proclaimed, extracting bauxite in Jamaica was less strenuous than in additional Caribbean nations; the efficiency of the mining process contributed to the exploitation of this resource in that it gave the aluminum companies more leeway to set up operations on the island.
In addition to that, economic exploitation was also an issue, given the fact that these operators were determined to take advantage of Jamaicans’ desperation for economic prosperity. Knowing that the country had relatively little experience with the bauxite market, the companies had jurisdiction over the training and fixed wages for workers (which was approximately $13 a week by 1950) (Keith & Girling, 2007); they also inveigled the government into implementing a lower tax rate on the resource than other countries had agreed to. For example, according to Keith and Girling (2007), “As compared to Surinam, where the government tax on bauxite was $2.04 per ton in 1950, in Jamaica it was set at a mere 0.40.” By accommodating an expansion on the bauxite market, the Jamaican government made the economic and environmental conditions optimal for them, rather than the natives, who were now being compelled to join a labor force that narrowed their skills to only satisfy the industry while earning insufficient wages.
Despite these circumstances, the aluminum companies bought extensive land that were laden with bauxite in the 1940s. By 1943, Alcan Aluminum, which was originally partnered with its parent company Alcoa, created Jamaica Bauxites Ltd. as a method of establishing a stake in the country’s product. Soon after, additional companies followed. According to Keith and Girling (2007), by the 1950’s, “Kaiser built a huge mining complex on the southwest coast of Jamaica… where the ore could be stored, loaded, and shipped to Louisiana for processing. Both Reynolds and Alcan also made large investments in mining and port facilities… Alcoa continued to rely on its reserves in the U.S., Guyana, and Surinam until 1960, when it too opened operations in Jamaica.” Seeking to expand bauxite production based specifically on Jamaican reserves, these companies had successfully executed measures in proving that the country was worthy of these investments.
The aluminum was so valuable that the American government financed the aluminum companies to entice them to extract more: for instance, Kaiser received $8.5 million dollars, while Alcan received $5 million (Keith & Girling, 2007). The interference of the United States led to a drastic change in the country’s trade relations with Britain, even though it was still under British control at the time. The colonizers relied on Jamaica for food products, such as sugar and bananas, but not so much on aluminum (Haughton, 2011). Eventually, by 1957, according to the Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI) (2017), the country has become the chief producer of bauxite out of all other competing nations, as it had sold approximately 5 million tons of the product per year at that point. The ties between Jamaica and Britain slackened. When the third-world country gained independence in 1962, the aluminum companies pounced on the opportunity to use exploitative tactics to attain more access to bauxite.
Jamaica faced a quagmire of financial instability due to internal and external influences that made the country even more susceptible to an onslaught of ordeals that accompany newly acquired power. To make matters worse, the country itself did not reap the benefits that the industry produced because it was foreign-owned. By 1968, Jamaica acquired less than 15 percent of the capital that came from the market in tax revenues, and the labor force saw increasing deterioration once the aluminum companies made their way into the island (Keith & Girling, 2007). In addition to the fact that vast acres of land that was bought for bauxite came from small business farmers (who took the money to leave Jamaica), the labor force that was formerly needed to make this venture thrive was no longer a necessity, as the aluminum companies—which only mined for the raw material in open pits— depended on machines instead of people.
But, as a way of reclaiming their power, in 1974, Jamaicans established the International Bauxite Association (IBA), which is now called the Jamaica Bauxite Institution (JBI), to regulate the bauxite industry (“The Giants are Vulnerable,” 1980). They wanted to evade being low-balled by American corporations, which had already taken enough from a country that has so little; the organization is still effective in the present-day, as Jamaica has now fallen to sixth place in bauxite market due to extreme exploitative measures; they have exhausted the land for their own selfish purposes. Therefore, Western influences, in terms of colonization and capitalism, placed strains on Jamaica in terms of coercing the government into relenting a vast amount of land for a low tax rate, but also for the fact that impoverished individuals had to succumb to the plight of the environmental deprivation that occurs thereafter.
SCIENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HARM & STUDIES
Despite the fact that Jamaica has fell from its former placement as the foremost bauxite producer in the world, the country still relies heavily on the resource. Even though the product has given Jamaica the economic leverage that it needed, the aluminum extraction comes at a high cost when it comes to the environment; the extraction may just have dire consequences on the island’s preservation. Jamaica has been subjected to portentous signs of climate change. In the parishes of St. Ann, St. Elizabeth, Clarendon, and Manchester particularly, the land has suffered from the consequences of this quarrying in the following ways:
Geologist/Mining engineer Oral Rainford speculates that the large scale removal of vegetation, as required by the open cast method, may be causing abnormal rainfall patterns and prolonged droughts… Severely degraded mining areas have experienced abnormal weather patterns including prolonged droughts and changes in the rainy season. Island-wide, rainfall has decreased by 20 percent over the last 30 years, dry spells are longer and harsher and the temperature has risen by one percent. (Neufville, 2001)
Bauxite mining has not been accommodating to Jamaica in that it has led to problems that are characteristic of global warming. The increasing shift in weather patterns are already calamitous because maintenance of the bionetworks that have long been established in this country is required for sustenance.
The native Jamaicans need to be able to rely on climate conditions that are favorable to the crops that they grow themselves, which, for some of them, are their only source of food or income. According to Zadie Neufville (2001), “Bauxite mining is the single largest contributor to deforestation in Jamaica. In 50 years of operation, the industry has stripped 5,099 hectares land of trees, including some 3,218 hectares… [to open] access roads into forests.” In any case, removing forest land disturbs the quality of life within the areas in which the eradication transpires. But in this case specifically, aluminum marketers have exacerbated Jamaican land for financial purposes, turning grasslands into commodities. Especially since the bauxite is removed through open cast mining, this excavation completely desecrates the soil and foliage that should be grown and supported. Acres of land have vanished, aiding to the environmental bearings that ascended due to the bauxite mining.
However, tree loss is just the beginning; the mining expansion does extensively degrade Jamaican land, but with the help of red mud residue, this defilement is even more deleterious. Red mud can be defined as the mineral residue that is produced from bauxite, and it contains “toxic metals like arsenic, chromium, cadmium and nickel… [as well as] aluminium oxide (Al2O3), silica (SiO2), some titanium dioxide (TiO2), sodium hydroxide (NaOH)” (Woods, 2011; Buchanan & Justiz-Smith, 2018). As they are by-products of bauxite, these toxins are essential to the pestilential aspect of this resources. The high levels of acidity that these metals contain do harm to those who are exposed to them; constant contact with these contaminants can be a major factor in weakening efforts to maintain sustainability. According to Maurice Miller and Dionne Miller (2016), “In Jamaica, this red mud waste is distributed over six locations covering a total of 650 hectares.” In regions where trees are still present in spite of the relentless deforestation in this country, red mud infiltrates the soil; as a result, the toxins subsist within the ground, thwarting the preservation of crops that are subject to rotting before they are even ripe. So, even when trees are not being tampered with for the purposes of the bauxite industry’s economy promises, the soil itself is still affected in that it cannot be used to nurture growth of crops.
In addition to that, their bodies of water are also greatly tarnished due to the red mud deposits that are excreted in the aftermath of extraction. As stated by Buchanan & Justiz-Smith (2018), research from the JBI revealed that the bauxite quarrying that took place from 1990 to 2004 is responsible for the over 76 million tonnes of red mud that has secreted into lakes, ponds, and water tanks; while most residents have completely deserted these meres, desperate Jamaicans still rely on them, even as they are past their point of consumption. Some of them have no choice but to succumb to this plight because extreme poverty that has been aided by governmental indifference and corruption only leaves these people with few options to survive. But even Jamaicans who do try to avoid areas that have been desecrated due to sufficient environmental damage are still plagued by these consequences; residents cannot circumvent these toxins, as they not only invade their soil and water, but also their air; these people breathe in toxins on a daily basis.
The soot from the bauxite mines drifts through the air, accosting unsuspecting residents, who cannot afford to make their health their top priority. In conjunction with the fact the healthcare system in this country is unresponsive to the plight of impoverished individuals, Jamaican government and law enforcement officials also demonstrate their indifference toward residents’ livelihood, brushing them off as “isolated complainers, and [contending that] their claims of ill health as nothing more than anecdotal” (Williams, 2004). Essentially, Jamaicans have no support system to ensure that their basic human rights are not violated; the likelihood that they can continue to withstand such dire circumstances is minimal. Though there has not been enough focus on gaining empirical date on this issue—considering that Jamaicans, like most individuals living in third-world countries, do not have the support of their own government to safeguard their longevity—some studies have been instrumental in acquiring an accurate assessment of the anguish that these people endure. Therefore, in order to evade claims of mendacities, Jamaican locals must rely on research to prove that their quandaries are tangible and must be resolved.
From 2009 to 2013, in a study done by the National Environment and Planning Agency, researchers monitored Jamaica’s air quality for particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and carbon dioxide (CO2) (Marston, 2015). These toxins have the potential to engender perilous risks to human health, especially when combined. Researchers came to the conclusion the most prevalent source of these poisonous gases derives from the bauxite industry, which accounts for 73 percent of these emissions. Bauxite emits 12,290.47 tonnes of PM10, 29, 754.59 of SO2, 5,042.59 of NO2, 1838.62 of CO, and lastly, 1,663,186.45 of CO2 (Marston, 2015). Given this information, Jamaicans, who have direct contact with this contaminated air over an extensive period time, suffer from noxious exposure that can and does take a toll on their lives.
Bauxite is steadily destroying the health of natives. Red mud, for example, has the tendency to cause the eyes to burn and the skin to itch (Woods, 2011). Since Jamaicans are compelled to inhale, drink, and consume substances that have been laced with this toxin, then they continually ingest substance that has the capacity to corrode their bodies from the inside. Even if the reactions to these internally problems can go unnoticed—especially if the victims are used to the effects of damaging health—they can exacerbate to the point where they can no longer be ignored. According to Carol Williams (2004), the dust that is emitted from these bauxite mines exhibit “fresh evidence of a link between emissions and respiratory illness, coupled with a rising militancy among those who say the industry is poisoning its neighbors.” Unfortunately, those who are situated near these extraction sites have been inundated with a litany of symptoms that are affiliated with exposure to toxins that accumulate in the air, forming its unpleasant smell and its detrimental quality. This air pollution causes residents to suffer from respiratory issues, such as asthma, bronchitis, and lung cancer; their illnesses are only prone to worsening, as the bauxite industry expands within the country.
Hearing the cries of her fellow Jamaicans, University of West Indies medical student Patrece Charles-Freeman decided to investigate these emissions (Williams, 2004). In doing so, she compared her results with medical records from people who live at a maximum of a ten-mile radius from a bauxite mine in parish of Clarendon. According to Williams (2004), “In her study of 2,559 people, Charles-Freeman found 37 percent of adults and 21 percent of children living within [6] miles of the facility suffered sinusitis. Asthma afflicted 23 percent of adults and 26 percent of children. Allergies, likewise, were markedly more prevalent among those who lived closest to the plant than in control groups [7] to 10 miles distant.” In simpler terms, the closer people are to these alumina plants, their likelihood of contending with respiratory issues becomes greater. These findings indicate that there is substantial evidence that the bauxite industry can be held accountable for their role in causing detriment to nearby residents, who must bear ailments that came about as a result of their proximity to mining sites. Those who are not located near bauxite-rich parishes may be better off than those who are, but even when they are not close by factors such as debris drift and soil spoilage also harm remote Jamaicans’ chances of living lives that are poison-free; so, the whole country—with the exception of the oppressive few (the government and law enforcement)—deals with this crisis. Sadly, people in power neither address these problems nor do they take them seriously; since the consequences of the bauxite industry’s spate are dire, residents must take matters into their own hands.
RESISTANCE & SOLUTIONS
Even as their health diminishes as a result of these gases, Jamaicans are subjected to mistreatment from governmental agencies, which would rather dismiss their grievances as insignificant than address their grave concerns in a humane manner. Despite the fact that the detrimental effects of the bauxite industry are virtually ignored by Jamaican officials, locals are willing to challenge this issue head-on. While they do not have the proper resources to bring about change in a positive way, they have resorted to violence in order to seek comeuppance. A combination of two factors finally led to the clashes, and both are not only revealed in the research that Charles-Freeman had done, but they are also violations of their basic rights.
In the first reason, as a way of providing solace to Jamaicans who were affected by the industry, the JBI coerced the alumina industries to reimburse residents, especially farmers, for the land space that they procured from them and the medical bills that they acquired subsequent to the incessant mining. These costs, as one would guess, are considerable, but protesters were given checks that amount to an average of $17 dollars (Williams, 2004). As mentioned previously, Jamaicans have been conditioned to live in extreme impoverishment; the fact that they are expected to cover the charges of necessary doctors’ visits and land restoration without sufficient assistance from their second-most profitable industry is absurd because—just as the elitist class in this country must depend holistically on foreign money from a life-threatening industry to stay afloat—the proletariat is even more so ill-equipped to handle the expenses that accompany this market.
In addition to that, the second cause of the revolt was actually a direct result of Charles-Freeman’s study. In spite of the fact that the Ministry of Health, which is a governmental department in Jamaica, gave her the access to medical records and the additional staff that she needed to complete her project, government officials still attempt to foil her research. She explained that Jamalco, which is one of the industries that is owned by both Alcoa and the Jamaican government, “threatened to cut off water to people if they cooperated with the study” (Williams, 2004). As it seems, government agencies in this country cannot join forces to do what is best for their people; though, similar to the views of a plethora of other countries’ leaders, like the United States, environmental research and protection is not beneficial to the economy. This partnership between the government and the bauxite companies exudes a conviction that profits are of a greater priority relative to people. Instead of providing actual solutions to bauxite conundrum, the government reprimands complainers for attempting to gain some more knowledge on the reasons why they suffer from maladies, such as difficulty breathing. This punishment, also, is one of the most vindictive violations that could be placed on people who need help in every way conceivable; they are not in the best shape—given their destitution—and clean water is essential since red mud continues to permeate into their water sources. As a method of proving that they were not intimidated, Jamaicans not only participated in the study, but they also declared war on their administrators.
Economic as well as moral woes have forced residents to lash out. According to Williams (2004), the demonstrators brawled with police officers and went on to set bauxite company trucks on trucks on fire. While there is no established protest group in Jamaica that has sparked a social movement surrounding this issue, Jamaicans have just relied on their collective frustration to prove that they want improvements to their communities; in order to do so, they have been obliged into doing illicit actions to prove just how adamant they are to attract the government’s attention. Too often, they ignore and provoke the poor until, finally, they retaliate in ways that are not appreciated. Even if they did resort to violence, this effort was successful in some cases. In the parish of St. Ann, the Noranda bauxite company was on the receiving end of this opposition when miners tried to transport the alumina out of the region; they were unsatisfied with the way in which this company (as well as all other bauxite companies) refused to consider their concerns. As stated by Alesia Edwards (2011), “They used stones and their bodies to block the private road and prevented several trucks, laden with rich red dirt, from leaving the area for its Water Valley location. Other trucks scheduled to transport dirt from the area were forced to abandon those plans.” Eventually, this time, there was triumph on the residents’ side, but that taste of victory was only temporary. Of course, the bauxite miners still moved into and out of the area, and even if they were met with confrontation, they have the support of the government, who can go to extremes and threaten to confiscate basic human necessities, like water. To be truly successful, the bauxite companies would be the ones to give in to their victims, which came in due time.
Finally addressing these issues will not be a simple matter because bauxite extraction has been a long-standing issue for decades now. However, the mere desire to resolve some of the most pressing concerns of these residents is a step in the right direction. The plans that are in the process of being implemented, which has fallen into the hands of the JBI in conjunction with the People’s National Party senators Wensworth Skeffery, Sophia Frazer-Binns, and Layton Smith, are the following:
Skeffery, Frazer-Binns and Smith spoke of the need for “partnership” between the Government and the new owners of Alpart, to deal with a range of issues including the delivery of clean, drinking water to residents… Most of communities closest to Alpart are without piped water from the National Water Commission. The Essex Valley Water Scheme, first launched in 2001 and meant to supply domestic piped water to more than a dozen communities… is yet to be completed… Currently, Alpart delivers trucked water to those nearby, but residents say it is often not enough. (Myers, 2018)
The politicians aim to make it Alpart’s responsibility to provide filtered, unsullied water to the Jamaicans who no longer have that resource available to them; the owners of this bauxite company played a major part in obstructing these residents from attaining substances fundamental to their livelihood, and unlike most of the political leaders in Jamaica, the three mentioned above want to see them fix the messes that they have made. In addition to that, providing these people with installed tap water can limit their time and effort spent collecting water from lakes, ponds, and communal water tanks, which is beneficial for two reasons: 1) lessens their exposure to toxins in water and 2) relieves them of the need to travel to for an extensive period of time and miles to obtain water. Lastly, the water delivery method is also effective not only for the obvious reason that residents are being given water in a considerable measure, but also because some of the company’s truck are being put to good use; personally contributing water to the locals can be a lesson in empathy: delivers and owners alike can recognize that they have in a hand in destroying their homes for the benefit, and their desperation for something as simple as water is indicative of their inability to take on additional strife. Even though these plans are crucial to positive changes in the industry, they are not answering the problem; as mentioned before, these strategies either have yet to be completed or are insufficient. The senators, JBI, and the alumina industries all have a chance in righting a number of wrongs done to the people, starting with their drinking water, and there is no palpable effort to turn these ideas in actual corrective measures.
Two supplementary plans have come forward to make this issue obsolete, but again, they are just words, not actions. First, according to the JBI website, a Water Catchment and Greenhouse Cluster Project initiative is supposedly underway in St. Ann and Manchester (“JSIF Water Harvesting,” 2018). In this venture, the JBI and the Jamaica Social Investment (JSIF) want to collaborate in order to reimburse farmers whose land spaces and irrigation water have been devastated by the bauxite mining. This goal will be attained through two innovative sustainability techniques: conversion of open pits into ponds and rainwater harvesting (“JSIF Water Harvesting,” 2018). According to the same source, “Under the project, [160] farmers from [8] communities in St. Ann and Manchester are set to benefit from the $192 million project… 20 greenhouses are being constructed… with a mined-out pit at each site to be converted into a surface water reservoir to be used for irrigation purposes.” The cost of this project, unfortunately, is money that Jamaica does not necessarily have; even though the site claims that the project is currently in process, there is no indication of that statement being accurate. In addition, the site also claims that nearby bauxite industries are keen on assisting with the conversions of the pits and land refurbishment for farmers, which only adds to the skepticism that this program will be triumphant. Nonetheless, residents are anxious to see some long-awaited changes in their communities, and they are looking forward to these plans coming to fruition. The problem here, though—like with the other initiatives listed above—does not lie in when this project will be completed, but rather if it will ever start. Secondly, as stated by Fox News (2017), “Jamaica’s government says it will protect nearly 75,000 hectares (185,000 acres)… [from] mines that feature forests, rivers and cultural sites. Prime Minister Andrew Holness says all mining will be banned in the area known as Cockpit Country [which] is home to a critically endangered frog species, a large population of the black-billed Amazon parrot and the largest butterfly in the Western hemisphere.” If these plans were to happen, Jamaican ecosystems would be saved from total destruction: by prohibiting mining, rampant deforestation would come to a halt and animals would no longer face the threat of inevitably becoming endangered or extinct.
In order to truly gain some leverage over the bauxite company, though, there needs to be realistic ideas that can effectively address all of the problems that Jamaicans face. These proposals can be summed up into the four R’s: relief, restoration, reforestation, and reparations. In terms of the relief plan, Jamaicans are in need of measures that will improve their air and water quality. There should efforts aimed to lower the levels of pollutants in the air, and in doing so, gas emissions need to be cut back sufficiently; the mining process, which releases these gases into the air, should be restricted altogether, as Prime Minister Holness had suggested. But seeing as that suggestion might not be plausible in this corrupted country, there should definitely be regulations imposed on bauxite mining companies to limit the release of toxins into the air either by limiting the frequency or extraction or refining. Also, the quality of bodies of water that surround Jamaican bauxite plants has been depleted beyond recovery, but essentially, residents can surely benefit from an expanded water delivery and installation program. Again, bauxite companies should still be held accountable for ensuring that locals obtain clean water, and owners should utilize their resources to distribute it. Moreover, in order for this plan to be effective, the bauxite companies need to maintain progress by transporting this water not only routinely, but also in copious amounts.
Second, in the restoration plan, land should be reimbursed to farmers who have suffered from the unethical possession of their acreage. The owners of these companies have an obligation to return what they have stolen; they have a duty to ensure that this land is productive for crops by preserving fertile soil to abstain it from erosion, and in addition to that, they can contribute to the reforestation initiative, which would have a positive effect on reducing the amount of CO2 in the air and refurbishing damaged soil. Lastly, the reparation plan is a method of making the bauxite extractors and the government literally pay for what they have done; through this proposal, Jamaicans who have been affected by the bauxite mining in any way should receive payments for their recovery. These expenses should cover, for example, medical bills and farmers who have lost income due to bauxite plants moving on their land; desperate and impoverished residents can handle these payments on their own, so not only should bauxite companies be involve in the payouts, but also the Jamaican government for their decision to ignore the pleas of the constituents and obstruct valuable research that would help evaluate the root of the “complainers” problems. If these plans are complete and execute properly, then Jamaica has the potential to retain its good reputation with tourists as well as natives.