A Cross‐Cutting Approach for Relating Anthropocene, Environmental Injustice and Sacrifice Zones

Abstract

The Anthropocene is an uneven phenomenon. Accelerated shifts in the functioning of the Earth System are mainly driven by the production and consumption of wealthy economies. Social, environmental and health costs of such industrialization, however, bear on low‐income communities inhabiting severely degraded territories by polluting activities (i.e., sacrifice zones). How global, national and local socio‐economic and governance processes have interacted in perpetuating socio‐environmental inequalities in these territories has been rarely explored. Here, we develop an historical quantitative approach integrating a novel chemostratigraphic record, data on policy making, and socio‐economic trends to evaluate the feedback relationship between environmental injustice and Anthropocene in sacrifice zones. We specifically outline a case study for the Puchuncaví valley ‐one of the most emblematic sacrifice zones from Chile‐. We verify an ever‐growing burden of heavy metals and metalloids over the past five decades paced by the staggering expansion of local industrial activities, which has ultimately been spurred by national and transnational market forces. Local poverty levels have declined concomitantly, but this path toward social equality is marginal as costs of pollution have grown through time. Indeed, national and international pollution control actions appear insufficient in mitigating the cumulative impact brought by highly toxic elements. Thus, our sub‐decadal reconstruction for pollution trends over the past 136 years from a sediment record, emerges as a science‐based tool for informing the discussion on Anthropocene governance. Furthermore, it helps to advance in the assessment of environmental inequality in societal models that prioritize economic growth to the detriment of socio‐environmental security.

Heavy Metal Depuration Steps for Gracilaria chilensis in Outdoor Culture Systems

“…Along the coast of Chile, there are several industrial parks; one of them is the industrial area of Quintero–Puchuncaví, located on the central coast of Chile (32°45′ S, 71°29′ W). This industrial park began operation in 1961, and it is characterized by high pollution levels due to historical discharges of petroleum, gaseous pollutants, and atmospheric particulates as well as the disposal of heavy metals from various industrial facilities [ 43 , 58 , 59 ]. During spring of 2021, we collected 15 kg of G. chilensis from a beach of this zone, namely Los Albatros Beach (32°46′57.21″ S, 71°31′27.52″ W), which is characterized by high levels of heavy metals in the seawater ( Supplementary Material Figure S1 ).…”

The Geochemical Sedimentary Record of a Historically Anthropogenically Impacted Coastal Lagoon (Rio de Janeiro State, Southeastern Brazil)

“…In addition, coastal management practices such as dredging (Fonseca-Viana et al ., 2019) or artificial bar openings (Suzuki, Ovalle, and Pereira, 1998) can influence biogeochemical processes in these environments (Esteves et al ., 2008). The increasing human populations noted in the last decades have led to increased sewage discharges and industrial emissions, resulting in chronic environmental contamination in coastal zones (Gayo et al ., 2022).…”

Viejos y nuevos caminos en una nueva era: arqueología del Antropoceno en el sur

“…En este sentido, el trabajo de Gayo et al (2019) aborda problemáticas concretas del Antropoceno en el marco del sur global. Sin embargo, en un trabajo más reciente (Gayo et al, 2022), además de la casuística se propone una problematización situada, que en este caso incluye conceptos como la injusticia ambiental y las «zonas de sacrificio» que atraviesan a la región. Este posicionamiento reconoce que la arqueología, entre otras disciplinas, puede aportar a la generación de conocimiento científico y contribuir a crear instrumentos con los que abordar las consecuencias del Antropoceno.…”