Adam Romero provides coal products tree to Atlantic article

coal products tree

An archival image collected by IAS faculty member Adam Romero was recently highlighted by environmental sociologist Rebecca Altman in The Atlantic. Altman's article, "How the Benzene Tree Polluted the World," explores the use of tree metaphors in naturalizing the products of the chemical industry. Professor Romero acquired the image titled, ‘Coal Products Tree’ at the National Archives a couple years ago as part of a book manuscript project exploring how US agriculture became a profitable sink for toxic industrial waste. A large version of the image can be found on the door to his office.