This photograph shows a group of children who were playing around the coal burning fires. For almost a century now coal mines have been burning in the state of Bihar, India. As the fires spread at a rate of fix to six meters a month, thousands of people live with the ground beneath them burning every day. Refugees collect the coal and pre-burn it in order to improve its quality. This coal will be sold at local markets for about a dollar a basket. However, the consequence of burning coal is far more dangerous. As a result, those refuges live under the polluted atmosphere containing carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and fine coal dust which strongly affect their health. Their lives and jobs become part of the carbon culture.
Those children in the photo also suffer from the poisonous air. They have no choice because selling illegal coal is the only way to survive. They have no future because the terrible conditions destroy the chance to gain the skills they will need in their future lives. Everyday can be a struggle just to survive.
Works Cited
Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. "Migrations: Humanity in Transition [Leaving the Land for the Cities]". Legends Online. PDN and Kodak Professionals, n.d. Web. 25 Feb 2010.
Thanks for your post My Do. I have two cousins who were adopted from India, and its very interesting to know what their lives could have been if they stayed over there. What kind of health problems does the average coal mining child suffer from? Do you know the life expectancy for these people who are forced to live in this environment?
ReplyDeleteMiu
ReplyDeleteI thought it was very interesting the way the direction that you took on your blog post this week. I loved how you centered more on the environment and the reasons why they are burning coal and the side effects. Reading it helped me to feel the pain that these children are going through because coal is very dangerous for those who are constantly around it and are burning it. The only thing I really didn't notice throughout your post is inside citations. You have the works cited at the end but I didn't know specifically where you had used that information in your post. Nevertheless, it was very interesting.
In response to Aaron, “The average life expectancy in the coal mines for those starting work at 15 y was found to be 58.91 y and 49.23 y for surface and underground workers respectively (Sun).” Now this statistic is for miners in China, and the starting age of miners was 15. In India people Start as children and work their whole lives. I would assume that the harmful toxins would affect the development and growth of children much more than someone who is almost an adult. The fact that these people have to expose themselves to these harmful working conditions is terrible.
ReplyDeleteSun, ZQ. “Expectancy of working life of mine workers in hunan province.” Public Health. 11 November 1996. Web. 26 February 2010