Climate change activist Diane Wilson hasn’t eaten for weeks – as an act of protest.
Wilson – who has been fighting against corporate contributions to current climate woes for years, and who has garnered distinctions for her activism, such as the Goldman Prize – embarked upon a hunger strike on March 2 as a public demonstration against the Dow Chemical Company.
The multinational corporation has urged lawmakers in Texas to permit the discharge of microplastics from its Seadrift-based operations into nearby waters that feed into both San Antonio Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Wilson, who has lived in Seadrift for her entire life, launched a public hunger strike to counter that request.
“For decades, plastic pellets called ‘nurdles’ have been flowing from this plant into our waterways – ending up in our bay, on our shorelines, and in the fish, birds and oysters that call these waters home,” Wilson said in a statement, adding that through the research efforts of she and others, “107 pounds of plastic pellets” were discovered nearby. “That’s not ‘trace amounts.’ That’s reckless disregard. That’s ‘We don’t care.’”
She continued: “That is why I am so enraged by the cavalier and unspeakable reckless language in Dow’s new wastewater permit – Dow is asking Texas to legalize plastic pollution from its Seadrift facility.”
The problem of microplastic contamination extends well beyond U.S. waterways. Research estimates that between 82 and 358 trillion plastic particles, weighing up to 4.9 million tons, are currently floating in oceans around the world. And ingesting these pollutants is harmful for all living creatures, experts say – including humans.
In Louisiana, which borders on Texas, fellow activist Sharon Lavigne says she’s living proof of this. She joined the climate-change fight after being diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis, which she blames on nearby pollution. It’s why she launched RISE St. James, a grassroots environmental organization that aims to limit harm done by nearby petrochemical plants.
Her message in founding the nonprofit is simple: “Stop building all these industries that’s poisoning us.”
Wilson, in that same spirit, is now determined to turn the (metaphorical) tide for Texans – even if it means starving.
