Becoming a World's Most Polluted Place

How do we wrestle with the toxic social relations that can result from designating a place "toxic"? La Oroya became a globalized toxic place when international organizations like the Blacksmith Institute publicized its toxic measures, barren hillsides, and gas-emitting smelting infrastructures in news media like Time magazine. Putting La Oroya on the toxic map of international environmental NGOs and press outlets did much to pressure Peru's national government to eventually shut down the smelter, pending a new, greener buyer. Yet, the new distinction of La Oroya as one of the world's "most polluted places" also humiliated and angered the majority of the city's residents, many of whom took pride in living in the country's metallurgic capital despite its atmospheric discomforts. Despite growing awareness of La Oroya's toxic harms, the volatile divide between local residents and NGOs made allied relations with any outsider concerned with "environment" or "toxicity" strained and most often impossible.