Publikacja z okazji nadania Pani Jolancie Wadowskiej-Król godności Doktora Honoris Causa Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach.

Publikacja z okazji nadania Pani Jolancie Wadowskiej-Król godności Doktora Honoris Causa Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach.

Publikacja z okazji nadania Pani Jolancie Wadowskiej-Król godności Doktora Honoris Causa Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach.

Publikacja z okazji nadania Pani Jolancie Wadowskiej-Król godności Doktora Honoris Causa Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach.

Publikacja z okazji nadania Pani Jolancie Wadowskiej-Król godności Doktora Honoris Causa Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach.

Publikacja z okazji nadania Pani Jolancie Wadowskiej-Król godności Doktora Honoris Causa Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach.

Publikacja z okazji nadania Pani Jolancie Wadowskiej-Król godności Doktora Honoris Causa Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach.

Publikacja z okazji nadania Pani Jolancie Wadowskiej-Król godności Doktora Honoris Causa Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach.

This article offers an overview and preliminary arrangements of literary texts, chosen paintings and films (most of them from the past three centuries) which feature the motif of lead. The presence of lead as a symbol has been detected in poetry which treated the problem of war and peace; occasionally this use of lead has occurred in relation to printing, typesetting, and – less frequently – children’s toys. Much more often the motif of lead has been used in literary works to introduce the topic of melancholia and to express artists’ interest in alchemy. An analysis of literary prose at the turn of the 20th century related to zinc and lead metallurgy shows that lead did not occur in the context of mining, chemistry, and medicine until the 19th century. On the basis of studies of the press, historical literature, and contemporary reportage, the article shows the toxic nature of lead and its harmful effect on people and the environment, about which artists and authors try to warn the public at the turn of the 21st century. The article shows that the parallel between melancholia and saturnism is a well-documented phenomenon.

The publication describes issues related to the natural occurrence of lead in the environment and its secondary, anthropogenic concentrations in soil, water and atmospheric dust. The changing directions of the use of lead in the last several thousand years are presented. It is pointed out that relatively low temperature of metallurgical production and favourable properties fostered a large-scale use of lead, one of the seven earliest known metals. The article indicates that one reason for the rapidly increasing lead mining was the extraction of silver from the galena ores. The lead geochemistry and mineralogy are then discussed in terms of the concentration and forms of this element in various lithospheric environments. The strong tendency to bind with sulphur causes it to be the most common in a Pb sulphide, galena. In the oxidation stage, a Pb carbonate, cerussite or Pb sulphate, anglesite are formed, and much less frequently ions of other elements, e.g. P, As, Mo, V, Cr, form lead phosphates, arsenates, molybdates, vanadates and chromates. The geology and mineralogy of the Silesian-Cracowian Zn-Pb ore deposits are characterised. A relatively low geochemical activity of lead Pb2+ ions makes a transfer of lead to the living organisms limited in the natural conditions, although it increases dramatically for synthetic minerals or lead compounds.
Methods of processing Zn-Pb ores and metallurgical lead production are described, which has been associated with rapidly increasing zinc production since the 19th century, so one significant source of lead emissions is zinc smelters. The significant role of the Silesia–Cracow region for the global production of lead, zinc and cadmium in the nineteenth and early twentieth century is stressed. The volume of lead production in the world and Poland is presented. In terms of various uses of lead (car batteries, alloys, dyes, the addition of Pb tetraethyl to petrol, along with others), the most important sources of emissions of lead and its compound to the soil, water, and atmosphere are indicated. Sources and volumes of Pb emissions in Europe over the period 1955–2010 are summarised.
More detailed information related to lead emissions to the environment refers to the Silesia–Cracow area. Numerous smelters had produced lead, zinc, and alloys of non-ferrous metals for 200 years and associated with the local and regional contamination of the environment with heavy metals. Lead has powerful toxic effects on living organisms, especially its synthetic forms emitted by smelters and factories using this metal. Periods of the greatest prosperity of the Silesian lead, zinc and cadmium smelting were associated with the increase in employment, economic progress and enormous profits for their owners. On the other hand, they contributed to the catastrophic contamination of the environment and difficult to estimate the scale of illness in children and adults due to lead poisoning.

Heavy metals that pose a threat to the environment include lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni) and mercury (Hg). Biomonitoring of environmental quality using plants is widely accepted as a reliable and inexpensive way of obtaining information on contamination also by heavy metals. It allows the assessment of the direction of changes in the natural environment and development of prognoses and methods for early warning related to predicted transformations in ecosystems. This paper presents the results of field and laboratory studies on floristic biodiversity in the areas of southern Poland related to extraction and processing of Zn and Pb ores. The paper also shows the selected plant defence mechanisms against the excess of heavy metals and the results of bioindication studies using different plant species, including the selected metallophytes related to the assessment of contamination levels and the most frequently used plant ecophysiological parameters. It is necessary to monitor contamination level, popularize knowledge and take action at the level of local authorities to mitigate adverse effects of human activity, bearing in mind possible bioaccumulation of heavy metals in the food chain and the adverse health effects associated with environmental contamination.

The novel Zinky Boys (1989; Polish editions in 2007 and 2015) by Belarusian author Svetlana Alexievich is more than just a story of the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan (1979–1989) told from the perspective of the soldiers who participated in it. It also confronts readers with the contractual nature of the line that separates “artistic” and “documentary” prose and probes the complexities of the discourse on memory in Russian culture. This article discusses the key motifs of Zinky Boys: “zinc coffins” and “lead soldiers”. It also examines and ponders the reasons for the lawsuit against the author for the publication of passages from the novel. Drawing on Michael Rothberg, Anna Artwińska argues that, in order to be able to understand the drama of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, one needs to assume the position of an “implicated subject”, i.e., of a person who understands the need for shared ethical responsibility for traumatic past events, even though they neither participated in those events nor witnessed them.

The essay answers the question of whether ecocide occurred in the region of Upper Silesia. The paper includes a brief discussion on the concept of ecocide. The paper presents two cases of ecocide – one in West Papua and the other in Darfur. The prognosis of climate genocide in the future is also presented. The text argues that there was no intentional ecocide of Silesians in Upper Silesia, although ecological discrimination against them was observed.

Katarzyna Pyka discusses lead as a substance which for centuries has made possible stained glass glazing both in sacral and secular buildings. This article focuses on the uses of lead and compares the work of stained glass artists in the past and today. Contrary the associations of this craft with vivid multicolored compositions, Pyka has decided to keep her discussion in grayscale; her purpose has been to emphasize the importance of this silvery metal, which has enriched the history of art from the Middle Ages by making possible the beauty of stained glass compositions.

Publikacja z okazji nadania Pani Jolancie Wadowskiej-Król godności Doktora Honoris Causa Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach.

Publikacja z okazji nadania Pani Jolancie Wadowskiej-Król godności Doktora Honoris Causa Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach.