I was reading in the Washington Post an article on the EPA fining businesses on their pollution. The whole article was about the businesses complaining about how much the fines were.
Who else should pay for the pollution let loose? For example, hog farms can pollute easily. You can smell the pollution as it drops. And their pollution gives us cheaper bacon in the grocery store. But eventually we pay for the pollution, too. It has to be cleaned; or someone gets sick; groundwater becomes undrinkable; waterways become polluted. You may not live near a hog farm and then think that it isn’t going to harm you, let someone else suffer. But eventually we all pay.
Whether it is in higher insurance premiums, higher taxes, more demand for less potable water, we all pay. And I for one do not want to think that while I am not paying in the short term, someone, maybe some kid, is getting sick from pollution that is out there, far away from me.
Do the dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay come from just one hog farm? No. But which hog farm was the last straw? Each farm damages the area around it. And it all adds up.
Way back when, I was a boy scout. Every time we went camping, we had to clean up the area before we left. “Leave it better than when we got here.” was the rule. Back and forth we would walk looking for trash at the campsite. And there would always be more trash. Gum wrappers. Small pieces of foil. String. We left it better than we found it. So should these hog farms.
This means our bacon, our ham sandwiches, our pork chops will cost more at the grocery store, but in reality, they will cost the same if not less. I know from having four daughters that it is easier to keep a clean house than it is to clean a dirty one.
