Polygomy: Who Decides if a Marriage is Unconstitutional?

Sister Wives. Mormons. Utah. I hear jokes about polygamy fairly often. But honestly, I feel like the concept of multiple spouses is a civil rights issue that does not get examined by the public often. Polygamy is certainly atypical in the United States, but I don't think that should be enough to stop us from questioning whether it should be legalized.

Polygamy was outlawed in the United States in the late nineteenth century. During this period, the Mormon church was gaining prominence in Utah and most members of the government saw its practices as outdated and disturbing. Still, many Mormons continued to practice polygamy, believing they should be protected by the constitution’s establishment clause, which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Polygamy is still outlawed in all 50 states.

Current bigamy laws in the United States. The colors indicate

the level of crime bigamy is considered with yellow meaning

misdemeanor, red meaning felony, and maroon meaning that

all forms of cohabitation are outlawed.

A recent court case involving Kody Brown and his four wives (better known as the stars of the reality TV show Sister Wives,) brought an important concept into the public eye. Their trial pointed out the difference between acquiring several marriage licenses and simply cohabitating. The Browns felt pressured to leave their home in Utah in 2010, after their local police started an investigation into their lifestyle. Federal judge Clark Waddoups ruled that Utah’s ban on cohabitation for polygamist relationships is indeed unconstitutional. This serves as a precedent for future cases, as it points out that having multiple partners is not technically illegal.

I have never seen Sister Wives, but from what I have read of the Brown family, I think the show presents a lifestyle different from that which we, too often, associate with polygamy. A lot of polygamy’s bad rap comes from unfortunate historical scenarios in which women were oppressed and forced marriages were very common. It is important to acknowledge that there are still closed-off towns in the United States in which women and girls are given little freedom because of the religious beliefs of their communities. But the Browns seem to represent a more healthy (though I guess healthy can’t really be measured, it’s more of an opinion) and respectful type of marriage. The Browns are devoted members of a Christian church and are simply trying to embrace their religion.

The issue of polygamist marriage is often compared to that of gay marriage. While more and more people are starting to believe (well, realize­) that being homosexual isn’t really a choice, the idea of one naturally being a polygamist doesn’t seem to be as widely accepted. Considering polygamy forces us to try and figure out where it becomes a government’s place to interfere with the personal lives of its citizens.

Personally, I feel that polygamy should be legalized. Our government doesn’t tell us who we can and cannot have relationships with, and I don’t think that marriage should be any different. I think it’s kind of lame that people who are legally in relationships that aren’t considered normal do not have the right to be recognized as legal partners. I don’t see any negative side effects brought on by polygamy itself, as there are healthy and unhealthy cases in all types of relationships. I think if we truly upheld freedom of religion, there wouldn’t be restrictions on who is allowed to marry.

 Sources:

 http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/pioneers_and_cowboys/historyofpolygamy.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-winkler/are-polygamy-bans-unconst_b_4454076.html

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/12/16/sister-wives-defeat-polygamy-law-in-federal-court

Graphics:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/162689/record-high-say-gay-lesbian-relations-morally.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_polygamy#mediaviewer/File:Polygamy_laws_usa.png

Volcanic Geothermal Energy

In 2009, scientists who were part of the Icelandic Deep Drilling Project (or IDDP) set out to determine whether supercritical water (water that is too hot to be called a liquid or a gas.) They intended to use this extremely hot water as a source of energy. But while drilling, the engineers struck magma under the Earth's surface. At first, the public thought that this ended the IDDP. But in January of this year, Geothermics magazine announced how engineers had instead developed a geothermal energy system around the hole that they had accidentally struck magma in. Instead of discovering supercritical water, they had let water from the area flow over the hole they had drilled and create a reservoir of super hot water, and were able to draw energy from it. While this original drilling site was cemented over, a door had been opened to developing a powerful source of geothermal energy.

Volcanic energy basically works by pumping water into a channel in which its molecules are constantly forced to bang up against each other. This motion spins a turbine, which can generate electric power.  It is a clean source as well, with virtually no carbon emissions aside, perhaps, from the production of extraction materials. Generally, there is little room for explosions in the operation as the hole through which magma is pumped is small and well-controlled. Nevertheless, engineers are generally uncomfortable with the idea of installing a volcanic energy plant near towns and cities.

It will take a considerable amount of funding to bring volcanic geothermal energy into the realm of public consumption. Over the past few years, the Icelandic government has put $22 million into the project.

Scientists have not yet figured out how to build a geothermic station atop of a volcanic well. But once they do, the energy will be able to be transported through a grid to peoples' homes. It's difficult to say how the new energy source will fit into existing grids, but I don't think it will be very hard to incorporate volcanic energy in a place like Iceland, in which one third of the citizens already get their power from some sort of geothermic source. Once volcanic energy can be marketed, it will definitely help cut down carbon emissions from transportation if partnered with electric and hybrid cars.

The scientific community, it seems, remains generally optimistic in thinking that volcanic energy will soon be developed to its full potential. In fact, engineers are making great progress in Nicaragua, the nation that is considered to have the highest potential for geothermal energy. Obviously, volcanic geothermal energy is not an option for every nation. But in nations that have potential for a volcanic energy grid, it is a very important development.

 

Icelandic Deep Drilling Project website: http://iddp.is/

Sources:

http://www.ibtimes.com/nicaraguas-volcanoes-fuel-green-energy-drive-1467202

http://qz.com/172642/why-volcanoes-are-the-energy-source-of-the-future/

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/icelandic-drilling-project-opens-door-to-volcano-powered-electricity/

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/can-volcanic-magma-power-future-180949789/?no-ist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jARDdWuFpK8

The Love Canal Disaster

 

  In the 1890’s, William T. Love produced a vision of a dream community. He envisioned a canal that would connect the Niagara River to Lake Ontario, providing a town in between the two with hydroelectric power (which had just come to prominence because of Nikola Tesla.) But when Congress passed a law banning the removal of water from Niagara Falls, he changed his plans. Production of a shipping lane to his proposed city was started, but due to lack of funding the project was never completed. A few houses and roads were built, but Love’s dreams of a perfect model city were never realized. His "grand canal" ended up being only a small stretch of water in which the neighborhood's residents would swim.

    It did not take very long for the water to become a dumpsite for residents of the City of Niagara Falls (which had purchased the site for this purpose.) In the 1940’s, Hooker Chemical Company was granted permission to use the canal as a dumpsite for the toxic waste from their factory.

    This was long before we had an understanding of any methods to contain chemicals. The waste from the Hooker factory was dumped in a site that was uncapped. Their chemicals were able to directly enter water sources. Local water was not tested for any hazardous material. By 1953; 22,000 tons of toxic chemicals had been deposited into Love Canal. When the company decided the site was no longer needed, they covered the pit with 25 feet of soil.

    It seems as though Hooker Chemical Company knew the dangers of this careless management, because they initially refused to let Niagara Falls School District buy the site, due to safety concerns. But the district desperately needed new space and was adamant. So, the same year that they covered the canal, Hooker sold their land to the school district under a disclaimer for any safety issues that would arise because of the chemicals.

    Since the conception of a neighborhood around Love Canal, residents had reported chemical appearances in their homes. Some reported goo that was strangely colored in the basements of their homes. Pieces of phosphorus would rise from underground to the surface. Children would come home from school burned by the chemicals present in their schoolyard. 

   In 1976, severe weather conditions forced chemical pockets to rise above the ground. Over the course of the next few years, residents of the community began to report striking numbers of birth defects among children in their community. These included children who were born with mental handicaps as well as children with two rows of teeth, extra fingers, and extra ears. Concerned mothers, led by protest leader Lois Gibbs, took matters into their own hands by conducting a study of children born in the area. They found that 56% of babies born in the Love Canal area had some sort of birth defect. A horrific number of miscarriages occurred in the area as well.

    In 1978, President Carter declared that Love Canal was in a state of emergency. Because of this, around 600 families were relocated from their homes. Blood tests of former residents found that extensive chromosome damage had occurred that could cause these people to suffer from diseases in later life. Only two of fifteen babies born at the Love Canal site were healthy. Studies of the health of residents forced Carter to make a second declaration of emergency in the area. It was only then that efforts were started to create a mass relocation in the area. FEMA started to purchase homes and find permanent homes for residents elsewhere. Most of the area was evacuated. Even so, the damaging health effects of their time at Love Canal still continue to affect former residents.

      

The Love Canal area post-evacuation.

    The Love Canal disaster led to the creation of the Superfund program, which taxes chemical companies in effort to reduce the amount of toxic waste that enters the environment. Throughout the 1980’s, cleanup of the area involved lining a huge pit to contain the toxic waste. The effort cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Hooker Chemical Company itself put $130,000,000 into cleanup. The pit was capped and covered with clay, and thousands of tons of toxic waste still sit in the middle of the community. Many applaud this as a miraculous triumph for environmentalists, but many are not so optimistic and doubt that this massive cesspool can truly be contained.

    In the 1990’s, homes were built at the site and, amazingly, people moved in, lured by promises of safety and the cheap housing. But over the past couple of years, health problems have once again began to arise. In 2013, there were several lawsuits against the city, which now is called Black Creek Village. An EPA spokesperson recently stated that this is due to chemicals that were never contained in the capped pit that was constructed in the 1980’s. The EPA assures us that the pit has been completely effective.

 

  A street that is currently blocked off from 

the neighborhood.

    It is amazing to me that people continue to live in this area. The Love Canal disaster has been called the quietest disaster in American history. We can see how much time and how many millions of dollars it took to “clean up” the area, but exactly the amount of damage the disaster did to resident’s health will take a long time to become known.

Sources:

http://www.bu.edu/lovecanal/canal/

www.damninteresting.com/the-tragedy-of-the-love-canal/

http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/154300/

http://www.nyheritage.org/collections/love-canal-images

http://nypost.com/2013/11/02/love-canal-still-oozing-poison-35-years-later/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1VzX5MvjXY