URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Winter_2015_Melissa-McCarthy

and dangerous the pollution would be,” he says. “When they did, shortly after arsenic mining began in Toroku in 1920, government authorities did little about the harm to people, but sent a veterinarian out of concern for harm to cows and horses.” Toroku arsenic poisoning victims and their supporters suffered in obscurity until pollution awareness developed in the 1960s and exposure of pollution cases such as Minamata disease mercury poisoning, about which George published a book, gained attention. The people of Toroku protested, petitioned and sued. Yet, each victory in their favor drew appeals and strung- out the process. Still, the case worked its way through the courts and ultimately led to a settlement imposed by the Japanese Supreme Court in 1990. That decision provided payments from the mining company to victims officially certified as Toroku arsenic poisoning patients. “Environmental history is becoming an important field of history,” George says. “I would like to show how any full history of a place, time or theme has to take environmental history into account. I’d like to raise awareness of how all parts of the world are connected, how pollution in one place affects others.” A Lifelong Connection George has spent 17 years in Japan, and his ties to the country extend back to his childhood, when his father’s job with 3M landed the family in Japan for four years. Early on, George says he wanted to be an astronaut and focused his studies on mathematics and science. That changed during his junior year in high school. George signed up for an innovative, team-taught, U.S. history course. “History was appealing because there were no simple, right-or-wrong answers,” recalls George.

“Environmental history is becoming an important field of history.” -Timothy S. George

continues on next page

Safe water from a well provided by the Asia Arsenic Network, Bangladesh. | Timothy S. George

Closed mine and cart, Toroku, Japan. | Timothy S. George

winter / 2015 page 13