There has been a ideological confluence of posts lately. The last post insinuated how the middle of nowhere can sometimes provide the basis to the center of everything, and several previous posts shifted the midpoint focus a bit to the right. Or left. It's unclear which direction indicates something halfway around the world. But since most of us are growing weary of the pettiness (and otherwise wasting of useful energy) associated with determining the 'rightness' or 'leftness' of things, people, places, and ideas, this entry will focus on something neither right nor left. The island of Nauru.
[Image Credit: satellite image of Nauru - sprol.com]
There was an episode of This American Life about it several years ago. It was one of those audio experiences I think about often, like weekly, perhaps. The show told a Faustian cautionary tale of an island in the middle of nowhere that became the center of everything; involved in the bankrupting of the Russian economy, global terrorism, the protection of North Korean defectors, and ultimately an 'end of the world' scenario of a nation that digs up and sells off the interior of their homeland in order to compete in the new global economy.
[Image Credit: Nauru from plane - care4nauru.com]
The 30 km wide island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 1200 miles from the nearest land, contained an unprecedented amount of phosphate perfectly decomposed from centuries of petrifying sea bird dung. Opening up their tiny island to mining of the phosphate left them the richest country, per capita, in the world. The deluge of profits flooded the island with amenities - a golf course, western food, satellite television for everyone, a single circumventing road, automobiles, and the advent of diabetes. But then the phosphate ran out and their western investors robbed them blind. 90% of the island is now a mined out ruin, useless. Everything has been dug down to the structural coral reef. Some sand and trashy vegetation provides hunting grounds for feral dogs.
[Image Credit: Naura landuse model mined land - care4nauru.com]
This story has remained in my mind for about half a decade and has finally come to the fore as perhaps, for the first time ever, our country seriously begins to look towards non-exploitable resources (those with the impossibility of running out - sun, wind, geothermal, etc.). The petri dish of Nauru provides evermore reason to do so before our own much more vast exploitable resources really do run out.
Nauru is also of interest as I approach sustainable development work in Madagascar - a similar, although more complex island in the middle of nowhere. I seem to be attracted to islands, perhaps stemming from my ancestry in Atlantis (thanks Lester).
3 comments:
Having been to Nauru enough times to know better, I have to tell you that the place is far more complex than the cliche you have heardand echo here. Nauru is, in the end, another Pacific Island nation, and reflects all the good and bad of that. It is a catalyst for nonsense, such as the story about its population being the fattest in the world. That myth will probably never go away. Diabetes is a problem on every island in the Pacific. As for the mining, it's the issue in Nauru, but I guarantee you that, as it starts up again, there is no one on Nauru arguing against it, just that it not contaminate people's air and water. The center of the island was never used for anything in any case, and since no one lives there now either, the mining is largely out of sight and out of mind. As for the banks, Russian mafia money and the grand investment bust-ups, that is all now part of Nauru's claim to fame. They could have been wealthy, but they got robbed while they went about through good money after bad. The place is utterly fascinating, but symbolizes nothing but Nauru.
Hi Anonymous,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your first-hand perspective. You are correct that where I write from has no connection to personal experience with the place. However, it is not my intention to create or echo any sort of cliches.
I wish I knew who you are and what interest you write from, other than many personal trips to Nauru. I wonder if you had the privelege to experience the pre-mining ecosystem of the center of the island, what you claim was never used for anything in any case. From reading accounts of the amazingly productive habitats that existed there at one time, it's hard to believe it wasn't used for anything. The plants listed were prolific food producers (berries, etc.) that created a type of forest that would take centuries to reproduce. What has recolonized the mining areas are indeed not even native, but introduced species that provide significantly less air and water filtration (I assume you are referring to Carbon Sequestration).
So, all of this being said, I still believe that Nauru can and does affect many things beyond itself, such as the extensive mining replacing incredibly complex ecosystems in many other parts of the world and the way in which we approach how to manage such resources.
Anne
Anne
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