2008-01-22 - 7:50 p.m.
I had the most intense dream last night. In fact, it was so intense that I had a hard time telling if it was actually about something that had really happened which I had just suppressed the memory of or whether it was a complete fabrication. It wasn�t quite as real-or-not as the dreams I had when I was homeless, but it was still pretty vivid. Nya says I have boring dreams now, as if I already blew my wad of interesting ones. I�ll recount it here and let you be the judge.
I dreamed about an urban planning group I had worked for in the summer and fall of 2004. Although we actually didn�t work with such clients, in my dream we had a deal with a private corporation. They had just shut down a manufacturing plant or factory of some sort. We were analyzing the property for potential �brownfield� issues, to see if the parcel were polluted so a disclosure could be made when it was sold. I guess this was at the end of my time there because I had only worked on the matter one day.
We apparently found the property pollution-free. Apparently this was a big mistake. The federal EPA found that the site was contaminated with no less than nuclear waste. A federal lawsuit was brought against the company. My former employer was named in it as also partly liable for failing to discover such an egregious problem. I don�t think there was any accusation that they actually had discovered it and just covered it up. Still, the incompetence is astounding (and not at all what I recall from working there). Let me repeat: nuclear waste!
I wasn�t held liable personally or blamed by the folks I�d worked for since I�d only been involved with the project one day. But the guilt I felt was overwhelming. I had played a part (the smallest part, but still) in letting toxic sludge fester. Maybe I�m making too much out of this. Maybe environmental impact statements aren�t usually life-or-death matters. But occasionally they are.
In any event, I was very happy to remember on waking that it wasn�t true.
� 2008 Geoff Gladstone
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