Page 119 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

96 K. Love et al.

Beargrass Creek, which carries them to the Ohio River. There are stops on
Beargrass Creek, which represent a sampling of almost every water-quality prob-
lem that can be imagined. The Ohio River and the McAlpine Lock and Dam are
where students hear about why Louisville’s location is a poor choice because of
drainage and flooding problems, and because Louisville’s excessive energy
demands cheap coal that can be easily transported by barges on the river. There
is the Trolley Barn brownfield site, representing a success story, where city
cleanup resulted in the redevelopment of a Russell neighborhood and African
American Heritage Center. Finally, there is Distler’s Warehouse, where illegal
storage and hazardous waste disposal took place unknown to the owner. Even
those students who have lived in Louisville their entire lives are surprised by what
they see and hear. They begin to have a better sense of the complexity of
Louisville’s environmental justice issues and the ideologies implicitly endorsed
and embedded within many of these issues. For example, consider the illegal stor-
age and disposal of hazardous wastes at Distler’s Warehouse and the resultant
reduction in property value and health issues in an already poor neighborhood.
A man convicted had been under investigation for illegal dumping at two other (now
Superfund) sites when he decided to store the hazardous wastes at the warehouse.
He received a 2-year jail sentence and a $50,000 fine. The owner could not rent
or sell the warehouse because of the contamination, and he stopped paying prop-
erty taxes. The responsibility of the cleanup was passed on to the state and federal
governments, where it does not rank as a high priority and the state the annual
budget for all cleanups is less than what it would cost. Contamination signs on
the property are seen by students as they walk to a middle school located across
the street. Students have mentioned in their portfolios that not only were they
naïve in thinking about what justice issues are comprised of and the degree to
which they occur in their city, but they were also surprised by a lack of simple
solutions readily available.
Building on the EJ-tour, ecojustice theory concepts of worldview, globaliza-
tion, hyperconsumerism, the cultural and environmental commons, and sustain-
ability are much better understood and developed with students. Understandably,
we connect the information garnered by walking the banks of the Ohio River and
McAlpine Lock and Dam when we discuss local consumption of energy and how
excess energy needs also have endorsed mountain top removal. Kentucky’s electri-
cal energy costs are the fourth lowest in the USA, and 92.2% of Kentucky’s
electricity is generated from coal. Further, surface (mountain top removal) mines
accounted for 39% of Kentucky’s production of coal in 2006 (Expanded Online
Kentucky Coal Facts 2008). As a result of lower electricity rates, Kentucky’s
energy consumption rate per capita is among the highest in the nation (Iyer et al.
2007). Corporate industry is attracted to Louisville and other parts of Kentucky
because of these advantages, but Louisville leads the state in energy demands.
The increasing need for energy creates more demand for the coal locked in the
mountains. Most students in my environmental education courses have developed
environmental sensitivity and awareness but are naïve in discussing solutions.
They blame the coal company and the coal miners, but seldom think about how