Everything Has Unintended Consequences
Written By: Zachary Kai » Published: | Updated:
Expand For Other (Hopefully Useful) Metadata
- Reading Time: ~2 min (at 238 WPM)
- Word Count: 440
By pure chance, I found myself witness to the most delightful of unexpected scenarios: a fascinating conversation about a topic I knew almost nothing about.
All I have to do in these situations is show interest and ask questions, which folks always seem to appreciate. Huzzah for the occasional effortless moment of socializing!
In this instance, it was soil quality in regional Victoria, and how something undertaken for one purpose can, generations later, produce (often) catastrophic consequences nobody intended.
A Little Background
The area discussed is the Central Highlands, specifically the area around Ballarat, which is in Wadawurrung Country. If you aren’t aware, this is the site of one Australian gold rush (yes, Californians, fortunately/unfortunately, we had one too.)
If you’re ever in the area, and want an immersive introduction to the colonial perspective on the time period, I can’t recommend visiting Sovereign Hill enough. The light show is spectacular.
What The Study Found
Anyway! Someone brought up a friend of theirs who’d studied soil quality in that exact area.
They didn’t give any details (I forgot to ask) but it might’ve been Arsenic microdistribution and speciation in toenail clippings of children living in a historic gold mining area.
Note the following interesting snippet in the abstract:
To explore uptake, arsenic concentrations in children’s toenail clippings and household soils were measured, and the microdistribution and speciation of arsenic in situ in toenail clipping thin sections investigated using synchrotron-based X-ray microprobe techniques.
In simple terms, that means:
We checked how much arsenic kids were exposed to by testing their toenails and the soil at home, and used advanced X‑ray scans to see where the arsenic was and what type of arsenic it was.
According to the person telling the story?
Arsenic levels far higher than the World Health Organization considers safe.
But Why Arsenic?
What did arsenic ever have to do with gold mining?
Me being me, I asked the person who’d brought up the study, and they explained: many gold deposits contain arsenic-rich minerals. In trying to retrieve the gold, arsenic leaches into the ground. And if that weren’t concerning enough…so does mercury. As they also told me, mercury was (and still is) used to help separate tiny gold particles from pieces of ore or sediment.
Nobody digging around Ballarat in 1851 intended to put arsenic in the toenails of children born a century and a half later.
That’s the thing that’s only recently occurred to me: the reach of what we do isn’t measured by what we meant to do.
And I’d never have thought about any of it if I hadn’t wandered into an unexpected conversation.
•--♡--•
Tags: personal · reflection · history · science · environment
Copy + Share: zacharykai.net/notes/consequences