ジョン・スタンメイヤーさんのインスタグラム写真 - (ジョン・スタンメイヤーInstagram)「A few years ago, I was in Mari Mustafa on a previous @natgeo project, a global narrative on how we feed ourselves for the story, End of Plenty. Returning ten years later to this town in the Punjab where the Green Revolution began, health problems related to excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers are as problematic as they were in 2008. Walking around the alleyways of a village I remembered too well, I came upon Chand Singh, laying on the ground. I did not know whether it was the heat from the hazy afternoon where fields had been burned after harvesting, or whether he was just tired. Behind Chand was a younger man in a self-propelled wheelchair, the type that looks a bit like a three-wheel bicycle but powered by hand. A man walked up to me, introducing himself as Balvir Singh, and I asked if he knew these two gentlemen. “Yes”, Mr Balvir said. “That is my son in the wheelchair. He was born unable to walk because of the water in our village.” I then asked if he knew Mr Chand. “Of course. In recent years he has been having severe epilepsy and can not easily move.” I ask Balvir if this was connected to the toxicity of the water, with his immediate reply being, “Yes. We all are affected in Mari Mustafa”. I met many who were sick, wandered down the main street of Mari, where more than 20 percent had cancer. This history of such problems goes back to the 1960s, during a time called the Green Revolution, when pesticides were introduced to grow more food, helping bring India out of famine after independence. No one paid attention to what was being sprayed on crops that seeped into the water table. Decades later, similar fertilizers and pesticides are still being used in this area of Punjab, often called the Breadbasket of India. Mari Mustafa also has some of the highest rates of illness in the north of India, that scientists connect to groundwater contamination. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ India’s Daunting Challenge: There’s Water Everywhere, And Nowhere - Chapter 8 of the @outofedenwalk, my latest story in the August 2020 issue of @natgeo magazine. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ @natgeo @outofedenwalk #walkingindia #edenwalk #india #punjab #marimustafa #wheelchair #epilepsy #greenrevolution #groundwater」8月1日 12時56分