Rivers and children!

Two days ago, another landslide occurred in İliç. Since there were no deaths or injuries in the incident, it did not receive extensive coverage in the news. However, in the near future, we will gradually begin to see the effects of the “İliç disaster” in the region. Unfortunately, the toxic pollution mixing into the Euphrates river and the region's groundwater and surface waters will once again hit children first. Yet, we are a country that cares more about the profit obtained from gold mining than the health of children.

The value placed on gold is greater than the value placed on human life. The greed for profit does not listen to nature, children, soil, water, air, or health.

There are 22 gold mines in Turkey, 19 of which are active. In the near future, along with the ecological pollution created by gold mines, extreme weather conditions caused by the climate crisis will leave the regions where production takes place vulnerable to major disasters such as floods. However, no public preparation is being made for this situation either.

Fortunately, there are scientists who care about children's health and their future. One of them is food engineer Bülent Şık. In our country, where national and international publications are becoming stagnant and conducting research is becoming increasingly difficult, Bülent Şık drops a bombshell on Turkey's agenda with one publication every year. Bülent Şık's latest research, which he penned with a literary style, is Rivers And Children!

It is of a nature that will make parents' hair stand on end!

The report titled "Rivers And Children - Appearances of Slow Violence in the Büyük Menderes Basin” reveals that the toxic pollution caused by gold mines, coal mines, and geothermal power plants in the Büyük Menderes Basin, which is Turkey's largest wetland basin, seriously threatens the health of our children.

It draws attention to the destruction, pollution, and the narrowing of living spaces—not just for humans but for other living beings as well—caused by coal and gold mining in the provinces of Aydın, Denizli, and Uşak, as well as the lack of water and air, and the very major problems that will be experienced in the near future.

SLOW VIOLENCE

Bülent Şık defines the toxic substance pollution that children are being exposed to as “Slow Violence.” The report, which describes the dimensions of “slow violence”—a toxic substance load that cannot be understood or noticed unless looked at carefully, and whose effects on children will lead to fatal results over time—has been shared with the public. Anyone who wishes can download and read it from the internet.

The research, carried out in cooperation with the Foundation for Living Together Education and Social Research (BAYETAV) and the Spatial Justice Association (MAD), points out that there is an urgent need for an approach that protects water basins and prevents pollution.

Stating that lead is a toxic substance that causes great harm to children, and noting that while lead is cleared from the metabolism in adults in 5-6 hours, this period can extend up to 24, 36, or even 40 hours in children, Bülent Şık emphasizes that there is a need for a very strict monitoring and inspection system regarding toxic chemicals and that pollution should be handled as a policy priority. He underscores that a “Health and Pollution Action Plan” should be prepared to address pollution problems and create a roadmap for solving pollution.

Rivers And Children! When we close our eyes, what a beautiful picture actually comes to mind. Bülent Şık also makes an entry with this beauty. He describes his childhood, which was spent in a neighborhood very close to the Seyhan River, saying, “Even though it was dangerous and forbidden for us children, we would secretly go to the Seyhan River.” As those who spent their childhood near a river know well, there are rivers we return to time and again. “When we are in pain, we return to certain riverbanks.”

“Rivers And Children” hits us with the bitter results of capitalism's insatiable appetite.

And the author asks;

“Is it only a river that is dying, that is dead? When a space that surrounds us, that contains us, is destroyed, when it is made uninhabitable, what happens to us, to those who live there?

What remains of us?

What remains of the children?

Is it only the Büyük Menderes river that we have lost?”