Delayed Wounds Time Remembered by Soil Late 1990s to Early 2000s

Delayed Wounds Time Remembered by Soil Late 1990s to Early 2000s
The sense that contamination manifests itself in time delays finally began to become part of society's vernacular in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Soil contamination and combined contamination do not have the immediate impact of an explosion or accident. Thus, detection is delayed, and the damage progresses quietly. The topsoil is leveled, buildings are rebuilt, and cities are renewed. But the chemicals that remain inside the soil spread their effects over time through groundwater and vegetation. By the time one realizes what has happened, the path back to the original state is closed.

In this period, the enactment of the Soil Contamination Countermeasures Law was discussed in Japan, and the idea of measuring, managing, and containing contamination began to be institutionalized. On the other hand, the land with the strongest memories of growth tended to be more ambiguous, as notification of contamination would cast a shadow over redevelopment and land prices. The concept of "combined contamination" was also an attempt to finally put into words the commonplace notion that air, water, and soil are all connected.

Pollution that appears at different times blurs the locus of responsibility and delays decisions on how to deal with it. At the same time, however, it illuminates the true nature of environmental problems. Environmental destruction is not an incident, but an accumulation of everyday choices. The time that soil remembers is longer than human convenience. The moment we realize that length of time, the sense of not being able to return rises not as fear but as ethics.