Health Consequences of
Environmental Degradation and
Social Injustice
Martin Donohoe, M.D., F.A.C.P.

A 1999 Utah anti-drug pamphlet warns:
“Danger signs that your child may be smoking marijuana include excessive preoccupation with social causes, race relations, and environmental issues”

Our Home


The earth spins at 1,038 mph at the equator, between 700 mph and 900 mph at mid-latitudes

The earth rotates around sun at 18.5 miles/sec

The solar system orbits the center of the Milky
Way Galaxy at 137 miles/sec

One rotation per 225 million years


The sun is one of hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy

The Milky Way is one of over one hundred billion galaxies in the known universe

The universe may be one of an infinite number of universes

Jupiter = one pixel, Earth = invisible

Sun = one pixel, Jupiter = invisible

Portland, Oregon
Mount Hood


The natural environment

The built environment

The social environment


Overpopulation

Pollution

Deforestation

Global Warming

Agricultural/Fishing Practices

Overconsumption / Affluenza

Militarization

Causes of
Environmental Degradation

Maldistribution of Wealth

National and Global Political and Economic
Institutions

Poor education

Media manipulation and inaccurate reporting

Unbalanced political influence

Citizen apathy

Consequences of
Environmental Degradation

Increased poverty and overcrowding

Famine

Weather extremes

Species loss

Medical illnesses

Infectious diseases


Death (40% of world’s yearly deaths linked to water, air, and soil pollution)

War

Ecological footprint (22 hectares/person) exceeds Earth’s biological capacity (16 hectares/person)

Malthusian chaos and disaster

Tragedy of the Commons

Economic Costs of Environmental
Diseases

Estimated at $132-165 billion/year in the U.S. alone ($1.25-$2.0 billion in
Oregon)

Does not count the psychological and emotional costs of the human suffering involved for the victims, their families, and their communities

Economic Costs of Environmental
Diseases: Oregon

Adult and childhood asthma: $30 million

Childhood asthma: $28 million

Adult cardiovascular disease: $342 million

Childhood cancer: $9 million

Childhood lead exposure: $878 million

Birth defects: $3 million

Neurobehavioral disorders: $187 million
Source: OEC, The Price of Pollution, 2/08


World population - exponential growth

1 billion in 1800

2.5 billion in 1950

6 billion in 2000

6.9 billion in 2009
 est. 8-10 billion by 2050

More people added to the planet in the last 40 years than in all previous recorded history


Africa, Asia, and Latin America primarily affected

Causes:

Poverty

Women’s rights issues – impaired access to reproductive health care and education, political/legal/economic/social marginalization


Urbanization

20-30 million people/year leave rural for urban areas

2007: first time in history that more than half the world’s population live in urban areas

World migrant population = 200 million
-economic, war and environmental refugees




“We simply need … wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope”


Top ten most polluted cities in the world are in
China and India

World’s Most Polluted Places (2007):

Sumgayit, Azerbaijan; Linfen, China;
Tianying, China; Sukinda, India; Vapi, India;
La Oroya, Peru; Dzerzhinsk, Russia; Norilsk,
Russia; Chernobyl, Ukraine; and Kabwe,
Zambia


Most polluted areas in US:

2001 – LA

2002 – Houston

2003 – San Joaquin Valley in Central
California

2004, 2006 - 2008 – LA


Cities usually in the top 10 include LA,
Bakersfield, Fresno, Phoenix, Houston,
Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, Charlotte

Most polluted cities in US:

By ozone: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside

By short-term particulate pollution: Phoenix-Mesa-
Scottsdael

By year-round particulate pollution: Bakersfield, CA






Air pollution causes asthma and impairs lung development and function

Deaths from cardiopulmonary diseases correlate with air pollution levels in US cities

Both day to day and over time


Increased admissions for CHF, asthma,
COPD, PVD, and cerebrovascular disease
(stroke and TIA)

Increased ventricular arrythmias

Increased lung cancer mortality

Decreased exercise tolerance, increased pulmonary symptoms


Increased risk of DVT

Increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis

Impaired sperm production

Increase in SGA and LBW infants

Increased risk of appendicitis

?Via link with inflammation?

Increased numbers of migraines


Coarse, fine and ultrafine particles

Ultrafines not regulated, may be most dangerous

Nanoparticles may contribute to health risks


Reductions in air pollution under
Clean Air Act Account for up to 15% of overall increase in life expectancy in major U.S. metropolitan areas


Ozone hole over Antarctic (2½X size of
Europe)

Increased cataracts (UV damage)

Increased lifetime melanoma risk

1/1500 - 1930

1/68 - today


Number of autos
-US: 1 car/2 people
-Mexico: 1/8
-China: 1/100 (increasing, surpassed
US auto sales in 2009)

Global auto population to double in 25-50 years, from 622 million passenger vehicles in 2008


Average miles traveled/car/year in U.S.

1965 - 4,570 mi.

1975 - 6,150 mi.

1985 - 7,460 mi.

1995 - 9,220 mi.

2010 – 12,500 mi.


Average fuel efficiency of U.S. autos stagnant

Cars: 27.5 mpg required by 2011, 35.5 mpg required by 2016

Light trucks / SUVs: 23.5 mpg by 2011, 28.6 mpg by 2015

European and Japanese standards higher

Relatively low oil prices (until recently)


Growing market for low-efficiency pickups, minivans, and sport-utility vehicles

Trucks 40% of all vehicles

Ford Model T – 25 mpg (1908); Avg. car today – 22.6 mpg (2010)


Rapid transit
-industry squashed in 1930’s and 40’s (GM,
Standard Oil, Firestone, etc.)
-Convicted under Sherman Antitrust Act




Car sharing
Pay-as-you-drive auto insurance
“ Peak Pricing ” and “ Congestion Fees ”

E.g., London → 21% decrease in traffic, 43% increase in bus ridership, cleaner air

Bicycles/walking

30% of all trips by bike in Amsterdam; 2% in
Portland, OR


Busses

Trains

15 x more efficient per passenger than autos

Amtrak receives 1/3 the amount of federal funding (adjusted for inflation) that it received 20 years ago


Electric cars
-killed by oil companies, automakers in early
20th century

Natural gas, gasohol, and biodiesel

Beware Jevon’s Paradox (Increased efficiency leading to increased overall energy consumption)

Telecommuting


Solar cars

Hydrogen-powered cars

Byproduct = water

Problem: Hydrogen production requires fossil fuels


Oil – 40% - peak oil production expected 2014

Natural gas – 24%

Coal – 22% - peak coal production 1920

Nuclear – 8.5%

Hydroelectric – 2.5%

Other Renewables (mostly biomass, small amounts geothermal, wind, and solar) – 4.5%


Coal – 50%

Nuclear – 19%

Gas – 19%

Hydroelectric – 6%

Oil – 3%

Renewables – 2%

Electricity generation utilizes 40% of US energy


Transportation – 29%

Industrial – 25%

Residential – 11.5%

Commercial – 8.5%



Federal funding for energy R&D (1974-2005, in
2005 dollars):




$50 billion: nuclear

Nuclear subsidies under strong consideration by Congress, supported by Obama (2010)
$20 billion: fossil fuels
$12 billion: renewable energy
$12 billion: efficiency
2010: increases in funding for renewable energy, possibly nuclear energy



Mergers squelch competition, drive up prices
Record-breaking oil company profits

The world’s 6 most profitable corporations in
2008 were oil companies (in 2010, 5 of the top 50)

Exxon: $45 billion in 2008, $19 billion in 2010

2008 profits largest in U.S. history (exceed
GDP of 2/3 of world’s nations)

Belridge, CA Oil Fields
Edward Burtynsky


U.S. consumes > 20 million bbl/d
 Produces 5 million bbl/d
 Strategic Petroleum Reserve holds more than
700 million bbl
 ANWR contains 4.3 – 11.8 billion bbl oil
 One year supply
 23 billion bbl under remaining U.S. territory


Countries that export oil are >40 times more likely to be engaged in civil war than those that do not

Gulf Wars I and II

The Future?



Industry - #1
Indoor combustion of coal and biomass (wood, charcoal, crop residues, and animal dung) for cooking, heating and food preservation

Used by almost 3 billion people worldwide

Associated with multiple pulmonary conditions

Solar cookers may replace




Common in inner cities, hospital wards
Average sound level 72dB in hospital wards

WHO recommends no more than 35dB
Adverse health effects include increased risk of
HTN, ischemic heart disease, delayed wound healing, aggressive behavior, need for psychiatric and pain medications, GERD symptoms, hearing loss in neonates, and increased rates of rehospitalization





American produce 4.5 lbs/d garbage

1,680 lbs/person/yr

Only 1.5 lbs recycled

In a lifetime, the average American will throw away 6500 times his/her adult weight in garbage








Paper and Paperboard - 34%

Average American receives 41 lbs of junk mail per year
Yard Waste - 13%
Food Waste - 12%
Plastics - 12%
Metals - 8%
Glass - 6%
Wood - 5%










Tires - 22%
Plastic containers - 25%
Overall plastics – 7%
Glass containers - 28%
Yard waste - 41%
Paper and Paperboard - 55%
Aluminum packaging - 54%
Steel cans - 60%
Auto batteries - 93%


One half of US has no curbside recycling pickup

Landfills

Incinerators

Garbage Exports

Between ¼ and ½ of rural Americans burn their trash

Accounts for 1/3 of U.S. dioxin emissions

Outlawed in some states


6 trillion tons of over 85,000 chemicals produced annually

2000-3000 new chemicals registered each year



2/3 of those introduced since 1983 marked “trade secret,” making investigation difficult
More than 90% have never been screened for toxicity
Consequence of 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act


The chemical industry is a $450 billion enterprise in the U.S. alone

Chemical manufacturers are not required to prove safety

The legal burden is on the government to prove that a product is dangerous


2.2 billion lbs/yr pesticides

Including agricultural pesticides, wood preservatives, and disinfectants

8.8 lbs/person/yr in US





Only 5 states (CA, LA, MI, TX, NY) currently track pesticide sales and use and/or collect data on pesticiderelated illnesses
2008: USDA axes national survey charting pesticide use
EPA, NAS currently allows pesticide testing in humans, despite strong opposition
Monsanto’s Roundup purchased by US government for aerial spraying in Colombia as part of “War on Drugs”


EPA: U.S. farm workers suffer up to
300,000 pesticide-related acute illnesses and injuries per year

25 million cases/yr worldwide

NAS: Pesticides in food could cause up to
1 million cancers in the current generation of Americans


WHO: 1,000,000 people killed by pesticides over the last 6 years

US health and environmental costs $12 billion/yr (2005)


Linked to autism, Parkinson’s Disease,
Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, obesity (with prenatal exposure), depression, ADHD

Children living on or near farms score 5 points lower on IQ tests and other mental and verbal tests

May be due to pesticide exposure

Anthropological Study of Children Exposed to Pesticides
Children from villages practicing organic agriculture
Children from villages practicing non-organic agriculture




$2.4 billion worth of insecticides and fungicides sold to American farmers each year
Pesticide runoff contributes to coastal dead zones

Baltic Sea, Mouth of Mississippi in Gulf of
Mexico

Red tides
Pesticides inhibit nitrogen fixation, decrease crop yields


Evidence suggests that pesticides promote pests (vs. natural pesticides)

30% of medieval crop harvests were destroyed by pests vs. 35-42% of current crop harvests

Implies organic farming more costeffective


The Dirty Dozen: peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, kale, lettuce, grapes (imported), carrots, pears

The Clean 15: onions, avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, mangos, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwis, cabbages, eggplant, papayas, watermelon, broccoli, tomatoes, sweet potatoes


Body burden of industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides high

Environmental Working Group (2004)found
287 pesticides, consumer product ingredients, and wastes from burning coal, gasoline, and garbage in umbilical cord blood

Many other compounds not even tested; numbers undoubtedly higher


Fetuses and children most vulnerable

Birth defects, learning disabilities increasing

Toxins play important role

UK Food Standards Agency has called for a phase out of 8 artificial dyes linked to hyperactivity in children




Sex ratio changing:


Normal = 105 boys/girls born (skewed by early male mortality)
Fewer boys being born in industrialized countries


Other causes include obesity, older parental age, stress, fertility aides
Situation far worse in Arctic
Cryptorchidism increasing

Risk factor for testicular cancer
Micropenis, hypospadias increasing




Found in construction materials, clothing, toys, cosmetics, pills, dental fills/sealants, added to PVCs in
IV tubing/other plastics

At least 47 million prescription meds

Exposure levels very high

FDA approves
5 million metric tons consumed by industry per year
(13% in the U.S.)
Exxon Mobil and BASF dominate the market




Wal-Mart, Target, Toys ‘R’ Us phasing out, San
Francisco, California, Europe, and Canada have banned phthalates; Australia phasing out use in baby bottles

MN, Chicago, and Suffolk County, NY have banned
BPA in baby bottles and sipper cups
Consumer Product Safety Commission reforms of 2008 eliminate lead and phthalates from toys and children’s products
Sugar-derived epoxy lining could replace BPA in cans


2009: Ban Poisonous Additives Act (to ban use of BPA in food and beverage containers and items used by young children) submitted in U.S.
House and Senate

2009: BPA_Free Kids Act (to ban BPA in food and beverage containers and utensils marketed for children aged 3 or younger) introduced into
U.S. Senate



90% of government-funded studies found adverse health effects
 vs. 0% of industry-funded studies
Associated with:
 demasculinization and alterations in genitalia in male infants




 low birth weight lower and higher testosterone levels
PCOS in women lower sperm counts in adults male sexual dysfunction


Associated with:
 childhood behavioral, emotional, and conduct problems
 obesity
 asthma
 heart disease
 diabetes
 elevated liver enzymes

Phthalates/PVCs and Medical
Devices



EPA regulations weak, based on 50-year old study
FDA has advised healthcare providers to use alternatives to DEHP-containing PVC medical devices, esp. in neonatal units
Banned by EU, CA, and WA

Federal legislation pending


Pesticide used as an antimicrobial in many soaps and hand sanitizers, including those commonly used in hospitals

Also found in toothpastes, deodorants, colognes

Linked to reproductive, endocrine, and developmental damage in animals


FDA: Antibacterial soaps are no more effective than regular soap and water in fighting infection

AMA: It may be prudent to avoid the use of antimicrobial agents in consumer products


None of the 9 artificial food dyes approved for use in the U.S. has been proven safe

E.U. warning labels required for six food dyes:
“may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”

Animal studies suggest some may be carcinogenic





Non-stick material made by Dupont
Chemicals released under high heat and when cookware damaged
Exposure linked with cancer, birth defects, and liver damage
Dupont hit with largest-ever civil penalty
($10.25 million) in 2006 for concealing health consequences and transmission from mother to fetus


Americans pay more than $55 billion annually for direct medical expenses plus special schooling and long-term care for pediatric diseases caused by lead

This excludes the greatest toxic pollutant tobacco


Affects brain development, associated with lower IQ, depression, panic disorder

No safe level for neurological development

Levels between 4 and 10 significantly increase risk of cardio- and cerebrovascular disease

Elevated levels associated with crime and violent behavior

Pre-natal and post-natal exposure




Poor, African-Americans, and Hispanics more commonly exposed
Levels declining in US

However 83,000 tons of lead shot into environment annually in U.S. (bullets)
Developing world at risk

Due to increased environmental exposure and, possibly, early umbilical cord clamping


Banned in Canada in 1990, US in 1996 (after 25year phase-out period), EU in 2002, Africa in
2006

Ban fought by industry for decades

Many countries still sell leaded gasoline:

Indonesia, Venezuela, North Korea, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Jordan, Syria, Yemen


Released into air by coal combustion, industrial processes, mining, and waste disposal

4500 tons/yr

Travels throughout atmosphere and settles in oceans and waterways

Bacteria convert it to toxic methyl-mercury

Travels up food chain via fish




16% of women of childbearing age exceed the EPA’s “safe” mercury level
Freshwater fish mercury levels too high for pregnant women to eat in 43 states
Fish intake decreases risk for SGA newborn, but mercury can cause SGA


Mercury dental amalgams pose health risks to pregnant women, unborn babies, and children (FDA)

Contaminant in high fructose corn syrup


New EPA ruling ineffective:

Allows cap-and-trade of power plant emissions

Removes power plants from list of pollution sources subject to federal
Clean Air Act



Contaminates groundwater in Bangladesh, also, India,
China, Mexico, Argentina, Thailand, and parts of the
U.S.

13 million Americans have drinking water exceeding
EPA’s “safe level”

Exposure also via seafood
Used to pressure treat wood in US and elsewhere

Primarily wooden structures built before 2005

Health Consequences of Arsenic Exposure

Pigmentary skin changes

Diabetes

Increased risk of lung, bladder, and skin cancers

Lead, mercury, or arsenic found in 1/5 of both
U.S.- and India-manufactured Ayurvedic medicines purchased via the internet


Manganese:

Welders exposed via fumes

Causes “manganism” (like Parkinson’s Disease)

Welding companies covered up link for decades (like lead paint, etc.)

Cadmium

Osteoporosis, periodontal disease


Melamine scare with Chinese milk products

Kidney failure

37/40 herbal dietary supplements tested by
GAO in 2010 contained trace amounts of at least one hazardous metal (lead, mercury, arsenic)

Supplements do not require FDA approval premarketing





Made from “crumb rubber,” derived from recycled tire bits
Contains lead, mercury, benzene, harmful bacteria
High levels of inhalational exposure among young athletes
New York City park officials will no longer use tire crumbs in artificial turf fields (alternative = sand-based product)


?Link to parotid gland tumors?

?Link to brain tumors?

Gliomas?

Acoustic neuromas?

Precautionary principle – hands-free headset

?Other safety benefits?



85,000 known or suspected hazardous waste sites in the U.S.

Plus up to 600,000 lightly contaminated former industrial sites (“brownfields”)
Will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to mitigate environmental impacts


1 in 4 U.S. citizens lives within 4 mile of a Superfund site (over 1600 sites listed; another 2,500 sites eligible)

½ live within 10 miles

Taxpayers paying increasing share of cleanup costs

Overall funding decreasing

Environmental Racism and Toxic Imperialism

Environmental Racism

Waste dumps/incinerators more common in lower SES neighborhoods

“Cancer Belt” (Baton Rogue to New
Orleans)

More cardiovascular disease

Toxic Imperialism

Toxic Pollutants:
The Basel Convention

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of
Hazardous Wastes (designed to control dumping of hazardous wastes from the industrialized world in developing countries)

Toxic Pollutants:
The Basel Convention

Ratified by 170 countries

Despite being the largest producer of toxic pollutants in the world, the U.S. has signed but not ratified this agreement

Bathtub, Toilet, and Source of Drinking
Water


Toxic, remain in environment longterm, resist degradation, can travel long distances

Bioaccumulate - higher concentrations as you move up the food chain

Most are endocrine disruptors


Linked to:

Obesity

Insulin resistance

Diabetes

PCOS, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, premature ovarian failure

Male and female reproductive tract abnormalities


Linked to:

Impaired fertility

Low birth weight, impaired fetal development and fetal anomalies

Multiple cancers (including breast, colon, prostate, testicular)

Thyroid disease

Neuroendocrine abnormalities


Endocrine Society, AMA, and APHA have called for policies to decrease public exposure to endocrine disruptors


UN Environmental Program organizing worldwide phaseout of top
12 through the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

Including DDT, PCBs, and dioxins

U.S. has signed, but not ratified


Floriculture

Diamond and Gold Mining

Cosmetics (see www.safecosmetics.org
)

Nanoparticles

Medical Waste


The 6,000 US hospitals generate 2 million tons of waste per year; clinics and doctors’ offices an additional 700,000 tons
850,000 tons incinerated

15% infectious waste
 incinerated pollutants include dioxin, mercury, cadmium and lead


One hospital bed generates between 16 and 23 lbs/day of waste

Outbreak of hepatitis B in India due to black market in medical waste and supplies
(2009)

Medical Waste

Solutions:

Strengthen EPA regulations

Segregation and alternatives to incineration would cost < $1/patient/day 80% of thermometers no longer contain mercury

Remove PVCs from medical supplies (e.g., IV tubing)


Organizations:

Health Care Without Harm

Green Health Center Movement

NAS: Hospitals built and operated on more environmentally sound principles save money and produce better patient outcomes



600,000 tons of electronic appliances discarded each yearOnly 5-10% of computers recycled
Most sent overseas

Some returns to U.S. in children’s jewelry


EU now requires electronics firms to recycle and to eliminate lead, cadmium and mercury from their products

Maine passed first law requiring electronic manufacturers to pay for recycling their discarded products


UN adopted water as a human right in
2002

International Covenant on
Economic, Social, and Cultural
Rights

US has signed but not ratified


Only 2.5% of the earth’s water is fresh

2/3 of this locked up in glaciers and ice caps

As glaciers and polar ice caps melt, this is mixed with sea water


U.S. water consumption: 81% irrigation, 6% domestic use

Worldwide freshwater supplies dwindling

Drying up: Aral Sea, Great Lakes, etc.


Clean Water Act of 1972 has decreased pollution in the US

But 80% of US waterways never receive any comprehensive testing for pollutants


In developing countries, 90-95% of sewage and
70% of industrial wastes are dumped untreated into the local water supply

13,000-15,000 deaths per day worldwide from water-related diseases

4/10 people worldwide have no access to any latrine, toilet, bucket or box


120 billion lbs of plastics generated each year, using 4% of world oil supplies

Every year more than 500 billion plastic bags discarded worldwide

Bioplastics made from agricultural waste using renewable energy could be carbon neutral or even carbon negative


Texas-sized “great garbage patch” in North Pacific holds estimated 3 million metric tons of mostly plastic trash




6 times the mass of plankton there
Most has degraded to microplastics, which bond with PCBs,
DDT, and endocrine disruptors, making this area a million times more toxic than surrounding areas
Harmful to marine life
Works its way up food chain


Out of 191 nations in the world, 10 nations share 65% of the world’s annual water resources

A woman in a developing country walks an average of 6 km/day to obtain water


Privatization schemes supported by the World
Bank and IMF lead to price increases, worsen poverty

5-10% of world’s water privatized - increasing

Privatization increases costs, incites social unrest
(e.g., Cochabamba, Bolivia)

15% of US water in private hands


Bottled water a $400 billion/yr profitdriven industry

Weaker standards, 1/3 is just tap water, dangers of plastics, energy costs/global warming, reduction of local water tables, recycling rate of plastic bottles only 25%


“Water is an efficient product.” It is a product which normally would be free, and it is our job to sell it.”

Suez CEO Gerard Mestrallet


Ratio of amount of water needed to produce 1 plastic bottle to amount of water in the bottle = 2:1

San Francisco has banned city purchases of bottled water

Water expected to be the major cause of wars by 2050 or sooner

Water Pollution –
Increased Beach Closings



Minimata, Japan, 1920s-1970s (Chisso Corporation) methylmercury poisoning
-400 dead; 10,000 injured
Bhopal, India, 1984 (Union Carbide, purchased by
Dow in 2001) - methyl isocyanate gas


7000-10,000 dead within 3 days, 15,000-20,000 more over next 10 years; 150,000+ with resulting health problems
Persistent water and soil contamination

U.S. has refused Indian government extradition request for
Warren Anderson

Minimata Disease
W Eugene Smith


Chernobyl, USSR, 1986 - nuclear power plant explosion

200 times the radiation of Hiroshima +
Nagasaki
-25-100 died immediately, up to 1,000 injured acutely, NCI estimates 10-75K thyroid cancers
(other estimates much lower)
- some estimates as high as almost 1 million deaths


Higher risk of neural tube defects and childhood leukemia among those living near nuclear power plants

Anxiety a major problem

Ukraine still spends 6% of its GDP each year on Chernobyl-related matters




Alaska, Exxon Valdez, 1989 - oil spill
-wildlife devastated, $5 billion damage

Punitive damages overturned by U.S.
Supreme Court
2006 BP Alaskan pipeline ruptures
2010 BP Gulf disaster (and Michigan oil spill)



1.3 million metric tons of oil enters oceans each year


46% seepage from natural deposits
8% tanker spills

Exxon Valdez 38,800 metric tons

ABT Summer disaster off southwest coast of
Africa (1991) – 260,000 metric tons

Remainder = industry, runoff
UN phase-out of single-hulled tankers begins 2010

Oil Pollution is Expensive to Clean
Up


Love Canal:

Hooker Electrochemical Company (parent company Occidental Petroleum) dumps over
21,000 tons of chemical waste in 1940s and
1950s

Miscarriages, birth defects, cancers

Occidental found liable


Leads to Superfund Law

Today only seven states prohibit construction of schools on or near hazardous waste sites

Half-million children attend schools within ½ mile of toxic waste dumps in
NY, NJ, MA< and MI alone


Tropical forests constitute 7% of land surface area, contain > 50% of plant and animal species

Majority of tropical forests destroyed

One acre of world’s forest cut down every second

50% of global wetlands destroyed (54% in U.S.)

100,000 acres lost per year in U.S.




Historical
-Easter Island (Polynesians), Middle East, U.S. Southwest
(Anasazi Indians)
Contemporary
-Mauritania, Ethiopia, Haiti deforested
-Philippines and Thailand are now net importers of forest products, looking at Latin America
Next?
-Indonesia, Burma, Papua New Guinea, Russian Far East,
Amazon, B.C., Alaska, many others


New agricultural settlements (overpopulation, poverty, unsustainable farming practices)

Logging

Oil and gas exploration

Drilling in ANWR would drop gas prices 4 cents per gallon, after a 15 year waiting period, and assuming companies sell oil to U.S. consumers

Cattle ranching

Drug cultivation
-Peru, Bolivia, Columbia

Clearcutting


Greenhouse effect

30% increase in atmosphere CO2 since industrialization began (6.25 billion tons/year)

Fossil Fuels (CO2)

Methane, choloroflurocarbons, nitrous oxide, sulfur oxides

Methane 25 times more heat than CO2, large amounts stored in permafrost

Obesity


80% of carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels; 20% from deforestation, other land use changes

CO2 currently being released at almost twice the rate it is being removed

Plants and soil absorb 1/3, ocean waters about ¼, the rest stays airborne




The last 20 years have been the hottest ever recorded (data go back to 1856)

2005 hottest year on record (most other years between 2000 and 2009 a close second)
Average global surface temperature = 58.3
°

Hottest temperature in last 10,000 years
Far North, Pacific Northwest warming up faster than other parts of the planet


160,000 deaths and 5.5 million disabilityadjusted life years lost per year

WHO, UN Environment Program

Expected to double by 2020


↑ weather extremes/natural disasters/insurance claims

$200 billion in 2008

Floods, cholera, rising malaria zone

Dengue fever, malaria, yellow fever, even plague now being seen in Europe

Weather Extremes
Headline from “The Onion”
Hurriphoonado Cuts Swath Of Destruction
Across Eastern, Western Hemispheres

Consequences of Global Warming

Polar icecaps/glaciers/Greenland ice sheet/Himalayas/permafrost melting, sea levels rising

Artic ice pack has lost 40% of its thickness compared with 1960

Glacier National Park’s glaciers melting

Snows of Kilimanjaro down 85% compared to 1912; will be gone by 2015

Greenland’s Ice Cap Melting: 1992

Greenland’s Ice Cap Melting: 2002

Greenland’s Ice Cap Melting: 2005


Increased allergies/asthma/anaphylaxis

Rising temperatures increase smog/ground level ozone

Ozone stunts plant growth

Higher levels of CO2 favor growth of ragweed and other pollen-producing plants




The top 1/5 of the world’s largest 145 countries account for 63% of global C0
2%)
2 emissions (lowest 1/5 =
The countries likely to be most affected by global warming are those least responsible for the increases in global temperature
Climate refugees

Disappearing locales: Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Kivalina
(Alaska), Male (Maldives)

Global Warming Increases Droughts

Agriculture

Global per capita cropland down over 50% from 1961 to 0.6% acre

Soil erosion exceeds soil formation

In the past 40 years, 1/3 of U.S. topsoil has eroded

Takes 1,000 years to “grow” 1 inch of soil


Livestock responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transportation sector

Methane, CO2, and NO

Grass-fed cattle healthier, produce less methane, contain less saturated fat


Water use has tripled since 1950, up 6-fold over 20 th Century

70% of freshwater use in agriculture

Large scale irrigation projects
(e.g., China’s Three Gorges Dam)

China’s Three Gorges Dam


Household food waste adds up to $43 billion/yr in the U.S.

40% of all food produced in U.S. wasted

An average American family of four tosses out $590/yr food

Americans discarded 3 times as much food in 2005 as in 1985

96 billion lbs/yr in America (2009)


75,000 plant species are edible

Humans have utilized 7000 plant species for food

20% of species provide 80% of the world’s food

Consequences: decreasing genetic diversity, vulnerability to disease, huge crop losses (e.g., Irish potato famine)


Factory farms have replaced industrial factories as the # 1 polluters of American waterways

1.4 billion tons animal waste generated/yr

130 x human waste

1 hog farm in NC generates as much sewage annualy as all of Manhattan






Most untreated
Ferments in open pools
Seeps into local water supply, estuaries

Kills fish

Causes human infections - e.g., Pfisteria pescii, Chesapeake Bay
Creates unbearable stench
Widely disseminated by floods/hurricanes


Agriculture accounts for 70% of U.S. antibiotic use

Use up 50% over the last 15 years

Antibiotic Resistant Pathogens

CDC: “Antibiotic use in food animals is the dominant source of antibiotic resistance among food-borne pathogens.”

$4billion/yr to treat antibiotic-resistant infections in humans


Campylobacter fluoroquinolone resistance
VREF (poss. due to avoparcin use in chickens)


Decrease overcrowding

Better diet/sanitation/living conditions

Control heat stress

Vaccination

Increased use of bacterial cultures and specific antibiotic treatment in animals when indicated

Ending Agricultural Antibiotic Use

EU bans use of all antibiotic growth promoters effective 1/1/06

Three years after a Danish ban on routine use of antibiotics in chicken farming, the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in chickens dropped from 82% to 12%

US Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical
Treatment Act, 2007 – awaiting vote


Fisheries collapsing:


Newfoundland cod

West Coast salmon
1/3 of fish species threatened with extinction

90% drop in # of largest predatory ocean fish since 1950

Global fisheries collapse predicted by 2048 unless practices change


Long-lining, bottom trawlers, drift nets


Tear up seafloor, damage corals
Large amounts of bycatch discarded

Up to 20 lbs per lb of desired catch

Cyanide fishing (400 kg/year)

Dynamite Reef fishing





Environmental destruction
Navy sonar harming/killing off whales

Japanese/Norwegian whaling compounds problem
Dolphins as mine detectors (in Vietnam and Iraq)
Weaponizing sharks, dolphins, etc.
(DARPA)


Generate $30 billion/yr globally in fishing, tourism, and protection from storm surges

Reefs make up 1% of ocean floor, support ¼ of all marine life


Threatened by bleaching due to rising ocean temperature, acidification from increased CO2, runoffs from deforestation, pesticides
 pH of oceans down 0.1 from preindustrial times to 8

With current trends, pH will be 7.7 by 2100

At pH 7.8, shell formation ceases


10% of world’s reefs ruined (90% in
Philippines), 30% in critical condition

Jellyfish populations burgeoning (“cockroaches of the sea”)

Americans purchase 350,000 pieces of live coral broken off from reefs per year
 vs. 90,000 for the rest of the world


27-33% of fish now consumed is farmed (vs. 4% in 1970)

Almost all catfish and trout

1/2 of shrimp

1/3 of salmon


No compensation to general public for potentially exclusionary use of public services for private profit

Feed inefficiency (2-6 lbs of wild fish to raise 1 lb farmed fish)

Decreased diversity

Escapes, interbreeding with (and lowering fitness of) wild stocks


Antibiotics (incl. chloramphenicol), hormones, dyes, herbicides, pesticides, algicides → increased pollution and sewage

Damage to local estuaries, birds of prey

Disease



Good seafood (clean water):

Clams

Mussels

Oysters
 scallops
Bad seafood

Farmed salmon contains 10X as much PCBs as wild salmon


500 billionaires worldwide
 top 250 billionaires worth $1 trillion, the combined income of bottom 2.5 billion people (45% of world’s population)


U.S: Richest 1% of the population owns 50% of the country’s wealth
-poorest 90% own 30%
-widest gap of any industrialized nation





20% of Americans own stock; 90% of stocks and bonds owned by 1%
The top 1% owns 51% of all stocks, bonds, and mutual fund assets.
Interesting Fact: As a group, U.S. Senators beat the market by an average of 12% from 1993-98 (study published 2004)

The best fund managers average 3%
“Business” news

Consequences of Differential Stock
Ownership

Corporations are answerable to their shareholders

Governments are answerable (at least in theory) to their citizens (either through elections or revolutions)


The worldwide gap between rich and poor doubled between 1960 and 1990, and grew an additional 20% between
1990 and 1998

This gap is higher in the U.S. than in any other industrialized nation


Less than 4% of the combined wealth of the
225 richest individuals in the world would pay for ongoing access to basic education, health care (including reproductive health care), adequate food, safe water, and adequate sanitation for all humans (UNDP)

Maldistribution of Wealth/Resources
Threatens National Security and Requires a
Permanent War Economy

“The U.S. has about 50% of the world’s wealth, but only 6.3% of its population. This situation cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity withoug positive detriment to our national security.”

George Kennan, U.S. State Dept. Policy Planning Study,
1948

“A country is considered the more civilized the more the wisdom and efficiency of its laws hinder a weak man from becoming too weak or a powerful one too powerful.”


Income disparities

Median income of black U.S. families as a percent of white U.S. families = 60% in in 1968; 62% in 2002 (63% for
Hispanic families)

Educational disparities

Higher levels of unemployment


Criminal justice system involvement

Toxic waste sitings / environmental injustice / environmental racism

Persistent overt / subtle discrimination

E.g., “driving while black”


Higher maternal and infant mortality

Higher death rates for most diseases

Shorter life expectancies

Less health insurance

Fewer diagnostic tests / therapeutic procedures



Higher income inequality is associated with increased mortality at all per capita income levels
Equalizing the mortality rates of whites and African-Americans would have averted
686,202 deaths between 1991 and 2000

Whereas medical advances averted 176,633 deaths

AJPH 2004;94:2078-2081


U.S. = 6.3% of world’s population

Own 50% of the world’s wealth

U.S. responsible for:
-25% of world’s energy consumption
-33% of paper use
-72% of hazardous waste production
(1 ton/person/year)


Workloads increasing, vacation and free time decreasing

U.S. only OECD country not to guarantee paid leave


Average American wastes 62 hrs/yr sitting in rush hour traffic

Average American working 200 more hrs/yr than in 1960 (#1 in world)

8/10 Americans want a new job
(CNNMoney.com, 11/03)


Anti-depressant use doubled between 1993 and 2005

1/10 Americans over age 6 currently taking a psychotropic medication

Pharmaceutical marketing plays a significant role

Stress up / satisfaction with life down


Erosion of social capital is strongest where maldistribution of wealth is largest

Americans have an average of 2 close friends today

Down from 3 in 1985

Lack of social interaction as or more harmful than smoking, alcohol abuse, obesity


1 in 4 Americans say they have no one with whom they can discuss important matters

Includes nuclear family

Was 1 in 8 in 1985

“Most people can be trusted”

1960: agree = 58%

1994: agree = 37%


In countries with moderate levels of wealth, happiness is highest where income inequalities lowest

Major League Baseball: teams are more successful when players’ salaries are more equitably distributed


Inflation-adjusted income of the median U.S. household

1989 - $54,600

1997 - $49,000

2004 - $44,389

2009 - $49,777


Weekly wages for the avg. American worker are 12% below what they were in
1973

But productivity is up 33%

$1.5 trillion needed to repair nation’s infrastructure

Roads, bridges, water and sewer systems





Financial meltdown of 2008 →
Causes:

De-regulation of banks, insurance companies, and financial services companies via repeal of Glass-
Steagall Act

Housing bubble, sub-prime mortgages

Greed
Requiring huge bailouts
Consumer Protection Agency may help




Americans work more than any other country:
1970 hrs/yr

Canada (#2): 1800 hrs/yr

Industrialized EU countries: 1600-1800 hrs/yr
Americans take less than 9/12 days of allotted leave per year

Japanese alloted 18, Canadians 20, Germans 27,
French 39
Many advocate 30 hour workweek


Federal minimum wage = $5.15/hr (no change over last 8 years)

Oregon = $8.50/hr (2011)

$10,423/yr for full-time job

Real value down 42% compared with 1968

Inadequate to pay rent, buy food and clothing

3 million homeless (13-17% of homeless adults work)


Covers 26 million Americans

35 million Americans (1/3 of them children) live in household that cannot consistently afford food)

$1.05/person/meal

5-year residency requirement for adult legal immigrants

Undocumented immigrants not eligible

Inadequate signup rates


¼ of US jobs pay less than a poverty-level income

Wage theft common, worst among lowest paid workers

In 4 of the last 5 years, Congress granted itself a $5,000 cost of living salary increase


CEO salaries up 500% since 1980

The average CEO makes 350-400X the salary of the average U.S. worker (1960 - 41X; 1980 -
42X)

Mexico 45:1

Britain 25:1

Germany 11:1

Japan 10:1


US national debt $13.3 trillion in 2010

Over $43,425 for every US citizen

Personal savings down

Annual bankruptcies up approximately
50% between 2007 and 2010



Average household debt (for mortgages, car loans, credit cards and all other debt combined)
= $114,434 (2010)
Debt exacerbated by

Predatory lending practices, sub-prime mortgage collapse

Payday loans (22,000 stores, serving 10 million people/yr, $40 billion/yr business)

Rent-to-own companies

1990 - $243 billion
1997 - $560 billion
2002 - $1.5 trillion
2005 - $800 billion
2009 - $951 billion
Average number of credit cards per U.S. adult
= 3.5


1.6 million bankruptcies between 6/09 and
6/10

Over 60% of bankruptcies due to health care expenses (and ¾ of these individuals were insured)
 exceed # of college graduates/year, # of persons diagnosed with cancer per year

Bankruptcy “reform” bill grossly unfair


Pensions in jeopardy

Shift from Defined Benefit Plans to
Defined Contribution Plans

Reductions in / elimination of employer contributions


53 of the world’s 100 largest economies are private corporations; 47 are countries

GM was, until recently, larger than
Denmark, Thailand, Hong Kong, and
Turkey

Wal-Mart is larger than Israel and Greece

AT&T is larger than Malaysia and Ireland

The “Global Economy”

Until 2007, the combined revenues of GM and Ford exceed the combined GDP of all sub-Saharan Africa

Combined sales of the top 6 Japanese companies are nearly equivalent to the combined GDP of all of South America


Almost 6 million corporations

¼ non-profits

500 companies control 70% of world trade

“The [only] social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.”
- Milton Friedman


“Corporations [have] no moral conscience.
[They] are designed by law, to be concerned only for their stockholders, and not, say, what are sometimes called their stakeholders, like the community or the work force…”
-Noam Chomsky


Internalize profits

Externalize health and environmental costs

Confidential legal settlements keep important public health and safety information secret

May delay governmental intervention, cause unnecessary morbidity and mortality




Corporations shouldered over 30% of the nation’s tax burden in 1950 vs. 8% today

Corporate taxes are at their lowest level since WW II

Reasons for Inadequate Corporate
Taxation

Tax breaks, corporate welfare, corporation-friendly tax laws, loopholes, transferring assets overseas

Cheating and under-payment common

1/3 high school students admits to stealing something from a store in the past year


Offshore tax havens shelter capital

Estimated 1/3 of global assets

$11.5 trillion in individual wealth alone

83 of the largest 100 US companies have subsidiaries in tax havens

Lost annual tax revenue:

$250 billion worldwide

$100 billion in US




Each year in America, we lose;


$3.8 billion to burglary and robbery
$100-$400 billion to health care fraud; $40 billion to auto repair fraud, $15 billion to securities fraud, etc.; the S and
L fraud cost between $300 billion and $500 billion
Fines meager, often considered a cost of doing business
Corporate crime under-prosecuted, prosecutors under-funded






25% decrease in federal prosecutions of white collar crime, including corporate crime, since 1999
Increase in non-prosecution and deferred-prosecution agreements
1,288 whistleblower lawsuits 2002-2008; government ruled for whistleblower in only 17
3/5 U.S. companies settling corporate crime cases illegally deduct some or all of the settlement to the IRS
Companies mandating forced arbitration


9-12% unemployment rate

True percentage likely higher

Only 1/3 of the unemployed are eligible for unemployment insurance

Women slightly more likely to be unemployed than men

Black women 2X white women

Under-employment rate approximately 10%


Temporary agency workers

1989 - 1.2 million

1998 2.8 million

2006 - est. 4.0 million

Results: job insecurity, fewer benefits, no retirement savings, more uninsured, etc.

30% of U.S. workers have no retirement savings







Labor union membership declining since 1950

Now 12%:

8% in private sector

37% in public sector

Employers generally anti-union

Employee Free Choice Act would make it easier for workers to unionize


Unionized workers earn more, have better health benefits, safer working conditions, retirement and disability portfolios

Corporate class turns U.S. laborers against their natural advocates (workers in other countries, undocumented immigrants, etc.)



Currently made overseas:

83% of all garments sold in the U.S.

90% of sporting goods

93% of shoes
Overseas factories often lack adequate occupational health and safety / pollution controls (e.g., maquiladoras)


Tax accountants destroy $47 for every $1 in value they generate

Advertisers destroy $11 for every $1 they generate

Bankers destroy $7 for every $1 they generate


Waste recycling workers generate $12 in value for every $1 they are paid

Hospital cleaners generate $10 in social value for every $1 they are paid

Childcare workers generate $7-$9.50 for every $1 they are paid



ILO: 2.2 million die of work-related injuries and diseases worldwide each year

Considered vast underestimate, due to poor reporting in many developing countries
Over 5,600 U.S. workers die each year due to jobrelated injuries

Highest numbers: construction, transportation and warehousing, forestry, fishing and hunting

OSHA inspections rare, fines minimal


2 million U.S. jobs lost to outsourcing since
1983

Exact numbers difficult to obtain, companies do not have to report

Over the last few years, compared to other firms, CEO compensation has increased five times faster at the 50 U.S. firms that do the most outsourcing of jobs


26% of low-wage workers paid less than legally-required minimum wage

25% of workers had put in overtime

Avg. 11 hrs, 75% not paid overtime rate

Off-the-clock, meal break, pay stub, tipped job violations common


Illegal deductions, employer retaliation, and workers’ compensation violations

Women, foreign-born, non-Englishspeaking, less educated, and non-unionized face more violations

Violations common in home-based work and industry


27 million enslaved laborers

Slavery occurs in every country in Africa
(Unicef)

800,000 persons trafficked across international borders annually

Dollar value of commerce in human beings rivals drug trafficking and illegal arms trade


Over 250 million child laborers

60% exposed to hazardous conditions;
25% exposed to hazardous chemicals

Violations of child labor laws common in U.S.


More than ½ of federal jobs now outsourced to private corporations

More than ½ of contracts no-bid

Threat to democracy

Outsourcing of military

Mercenaries

Demoralizes troops


The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government


Over 40 of the poorest countries in Africa, Latin America, and
Asia owe a total of almost $300 billion in foreign debt

 countries borrowed when loans cheap and easy to get money lent to corrupt/undemocratic governments during
Cold War


 corruption world prices for main exports declined new loans (at higher interest rates) required to pay interest on debt


Creditors

US, UK, Japan, France and Germany
 interest rates up to 20-22% in 1980’s


Each African child inherits approximately $379 in debt at birth
 debt 100-200% of GDP for Tanzania, Zambia,
Ethiopia, and others

Per capita income in Sub-Saharan Africa has declined in real terms by 6% since 1975

Live Aid (1985 raised $200 million)

Equal to the amount all African countries pay back on foreign debts each week (in 2001)


Countries spend more each year repaying debt than on education and healthcare.

Debt will never be paid off

Effects of the
Third World Debt Crisis



Indebted countries drastically cut wages, which slows the economy and decreases purchases of U.S. imports
 makes U.S. jobs less secure
Currency is devalued.
 imports more expensive; exports cheaper
Government price controls eliminated
 basic goods more expensive


Government spending on food, fuel and farming subsidies reduced

Social service (healthcare/education) program spending cut

Countries strip and sell their natural resources
 increased global pollution, etc.

Solution to the Third World Debt
Crisis




In total dollars: U.S. #1
As a % of GDP, U.S. ranks 21 st among the world’s wealthiest nations
More money flows out of developing countries in the form of interest payments, profits of foreign corporations, and clandestine investments in financial markets of rich countries than flows into them as loans, aid, and foreign direct investment


U.S. Aid: Over 1/3 military, 1/4 economic,
1/3 for food and development

Most U.S. aid benefits U.S. corporations, is spent on military, goes to Egypt, Israel,
Turkey, Pakistan, and the Philippines


Aid agencies often forced to buy from U.S. companies at inflated prices


70% of aid effectively returned to U.S.
Food aid inefficient, benefits large agribusiness at expense of local farmers/economies

Takes $2 taxpayer money to generate $1 in food aid




0.9% of the total federal budget, 1.6% of the U.S. discretionary budget
Yet 64% of Americans believed in a 1997 poll that foreign aid was the largest federal expenditure
On average, Americans think that 24% of the federal budget goes toward foreign aid



2.5% of income

2.9% at height of Great Depression

U.S. Charitable Giving by Income Bracket

$15K and under: 26%

$15K - $30K: 9%

$30K - $50K: 5.3%

$50K - $100K: 3.8%

$100K - $200K: 3.0%

$200K and over: 3.4%


Religious Groups: 35%

Education: 13%

Multipurpose Foundations: 10%

Social Services: 8%

Health: 8%

Arts and Culture: 6%






Science: 5%
Environment and Animals: 3%
International Aid: 2%
Other: 9%
Includes individual, corporate, foundation, and bequest donations
Less than 10% goes to groups which directly help the poor





Endowment of approximately $35 billion, with another $31 billion pledged by Buffett
Foundation
Donates 5% of its worth/yr, invests 95%
(typical for charities)
Drives international public health agenda
Most grants go to organizations in high-income countries






Lack of external oversight, accountability
At least 41% of its assets invested in companies that counter the foundations charitable goals or socially concerned philosophy

E.g., Oil and chemical companies, agrobusiness, pharmaceutical industry
Similar problems for Warren Buffet’s Berkshire wealth
Lancet 2009;373:1645-53 http://www.latimes.com/business/la-na-gatesx7jan07sg,0,2046572.storygallery

2009 Federal Budget
$2.65 trillion

Distribution of federal income tax dollars
(2009)

Military: 26.5%

Health: 20.1%

Interest on debt: 13.6%

Government: 9.8%

Income security and labor: 8.5%

Housing and Community: 7.2%

Distribution of federal income tax dollars
(2009)

Food: 3.7%

Veterans’ benefits: $69 billion

Environment, Energy, Science: 2.5%

Education: 2.0%

International Affiars: 1.3%

Transportation: 1.3%

Federal Fund Outlay Sources (2009)

Individual income taxes: 34% (poor pay a higher percent of their income in state and local taxes)

Corporate taxes: 5%

3.5% estate and gift taxes, customs, misc.

0.5% excise fees

57% borrowing (increasing national debt)


World’s single largest polluter

6-10% of global air pollution

2-11% of world raw material use


97% of all high level and 78% of all low level nuclear waste

104 commercial U.S. nuclear reactors (495 worldwide) – most aged, many unsafe

More than 210 million liters of radioactive and chemical waste stored at Hanford, WA

Site plagued by leaks


Pentagon generates 750,000 tons hazardous waste/year

Numerous toxic waste sites

Exempt from most environmental regulations


“The more birds that the [Department of
Defense] kill[s], the more enjoyment [people] will get from seeing the ones that remain: ‘Bird watchers get more enjoyment spotting a rare bird than they do spotting a common one.’”

From a 2002 court summary of the U.S. Defense
Department’s argument for exemption from the
Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918


World military budget = $1.5 trillion in 2008

Over 230X what the UN spent on peacekeeping

US:

Largest military budget; largest arms supplier

$38 billion in arms sales in 2008, up from $12 billion in 2005; 70% to developing nations

Greatest debtor to peacekeeping fund

The Military: Diversion of Resources
Away from Health Care

3 hours world arms spending = annual WHO budget

1/2 day of world arms spending = full childhood immunizations for all world’s children

3 days of U.S. military spending = amt. spent on health, education, and welfare for U.S. children in 1 year

The Military: Diversion of Resources
Away from Health Care and Other
Scientific Projects



3 weeks of world arms spending/yr. = primary health care for all in poor countries, incl. safe water and full immunizations
25% of the world’s 2.5 million research scientists and engineers work entirely on military R and D

Anthropologists co-opted under U.S. Army’s Human
Terrain Team
Iraq/Afghanistan war creating enormous U.S. debt
/ federal and state budgets strapped


Nuclear Weapons:

1054 U.S. nuclear tests since 1940s, 331 in atmosphere



23,360 nuclear weapons at 11 sites in 14 countries (1/2 active or operationally-deployed)
5200 active U.S. warheads today (½ on hair-trigger alert); similar number in Russia
START treaty signed by Obama, Putin

Awaiting Senate approval

Will limit US and Russia to 1,550 long-range warheads
(still overkill)


Biological Weapons

Chemical Weapons

See WMD slide show on “War and Peace” page of phsj website

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.”
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

“ The problem in defense spending is to figure out how far you should go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.”
~Dwight D. Eisenhower

Poverty and Hunger

US: 14.3% of residents and 20% of children live in poverty

Rates of poverty in Blacks and Hispanics = almost
3X Whites

2010 federal poverty level = $10,830 gross annual income (individual); $22,050 for family of 4

Hunger rate increasing nationally

Poverty associated with worse physical and mental health

Poverty, Health Insurance, and Food
Insecurity

14.3% (44 million people) in poverty
(2009)

16.7% (51 million people) lack health insurance (2010)

Cost of maintaining COBRA health insurance for a family consumes 84% of worker’s unemployment benefits

Food insecurity 9.4% (2007)


At least 1 billion people live in urban slums

1.1 billion people lack access to safe, clean drinking water
-1.8 million child deaths/year

2 billion have no electricity

2.6 billion do not have adequate sanitation services

Lack of clean water and sanitation cause 4 billion cases of diarrhea and 1.6 million deaths per year


2.8 billion live on less than $2/day

3 billion have never made a phone call

3.8 billion have no cash or credit with which to make purchases

770 million unable to read

2006: net transfer of capital of $784 billion from poorer countries to rich ones

Poverty, Hunger, and Micronutrients

Cost of providing vitamin A and zinc supplements to malnourished infants and toddlers under age 2 = $60 million/year

Benefits (including prevention of blindness and malnutrition) > $1 billion/yr

Cost of providing iron and iodized salt = $286 million/year

Benefits (including prevention of iron-deficiency anemia, cretinism) = $2.7 billion/yr


Amount of money needed each year (in addition to current expenditures) to provide water and sanitation for all people in developing nations =
$9 billion

Amount of money spent annually on cosmetics in the U.S. = $8 billion


Amount of money needed each year ( in addition to current expenditures) to provide reproductive health care for all women in developing countries = $12 billion

Amount of money spent annually on perfumes in Europe and the U.S. = $12 billion




Americans bought > $57 billion worth of lottery tickets in 2008 (more money than is spent on movies, music, and books combined)
In 2006, Americans spent $31 billion on toys and video games

Almost as much as the rest of the world combined

80% of U.S. toys made in China
Consider alternate gifts, charitable donations

U.N. Declaration of Human Rights
“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care”


1.5 billion not consuming enough calories to prevent stunted growth/other health risks

Hunger kills 18,000 people per day, most under age 5

Hunger-related causes kill as many people in 8 days as the atomic bomb killed at
Hiroshima


UN FAO: enough food produced daily to provide every living person with over 2700 calories/day

Even so, half the world’s food is wasted (UN FAO)

Diversion of food crops to biofuels significant contributer to rise in food prices, along with food commodities speculation and trading


US food aid purchased from alreadysubsidized US agribusiness

US shipping lines transport food to aid organizations in developing countries

Undermines local farmers and destabilizes local agriculture


EU has almost entirely phased out monetization

UN World Food Programme (the world’s largest distributor of food aid) has rejected monetization and refuses monetized food aid



Rich governments and corporations buying up rights to millions of hectares of agricultural land in developing countries in order to secure their own long-term food supplies
One week of developed world farm subsidies = annual cost of food aid to solve world hunger

Hunger: solution requires political will


For the first time in history, there are now an equal number of people – 1.1 billion – who get too much to eat as those who don’t have enough to eat

Famine Affects the Old and Young


50% of global health care budget spent in the
U.S.

Currently only 10% of funding devoted to diseases affecting 90% of world’s population

Per capita expenditure on health care:

U.S. = $8,160

Typical poor African/Asian country = $5-10


Even so, U.S. has 51 million uninsured, ranks
24 th worldwide in overall population health as judged by disability-adjusted life expectancy and ranks 42 nd in global life expectancy

Lack of universal health care limits workforce mobility

2008 study: 7% say they or a family member has married in order to get health insurance

Uninsured Man Hopes His
Symptoms Diagnosed This Week
On


Increased morbidity and mortality due to changing distributions of disease vectors, reservoirs, and agents
-overpopulation and population shifts
-malnutrition
-drought
-decreased immunity








Malaria
-61 0 min zone expands
-50-80 million additional cases/year by 2100
TB
Viral encephalitis
Schistosomiasis
AIDS
Influenza
Trypanosomiasis


Onchocerciasis

Dengre

Leishmanasis

Rabies

Hookworm

Yellow fever

West Nile Virus


2008: 33 million infected

2007: 2 million deaths

Sub-Saharan Africa hardest hit

Only 20% of HIV+ individuals in low and middle-income countries know they are infected

Less than 1/3 of those needing therapy receive any medication


Earth contains an estimated 5 to 100 million species

Only 1.8 million have been identified

50 new species identified each day

Rate of extinction = 4,000-6,000 species/year, highest estimates = 4 species/hour
- over 10,000X background rate of extinction



50,000 vertebrates
- 7,100 of 10,000 bird species threatened with extinction
- 1/4 of 4,400 mammalian species
- 1/2 of 232 primate species (including man?)
 bush meat trade contributing
- 1/3 of 24,000 fish species
- 30-50% of 10,300 reptile and amphibian species (may be higher, limited assessment)
Almost ¾ of flowering plants at risk of extinction

Precipitous Decline of Alpha Predators will have enormous repercussions for ecosystems/other species


More than 1600 animals on ES list today – many more at risk

73% of plants and animals that have gone extinct since 1973 were not listed

Yangtze River dolphins extinct as of 2007

Polar bears, Adelie penguins at risk of extinction due to global warming


Habitat loss (logging, overpopulation, etc.)
- #1 cause now

Global warming – est. #2 cause by 2050

Overhunting


Chemical pollution of environment

Exotic species invasions (e.g. rabbits/Australia; role of ballast water, link of shipping with GDP):

Cost = $1.4 trillion/yr (5% of global economy); $130 billion/yr in US

HUMANS


Drugs from plants and native peoples’ health knowledge
-More than 1/2 of the top 150 prescription drugs contain an active compound derived from or patterned after natural products
-e.g. aspirin, acyclovir, lovastatin, digoxin, vincristine, etoposide, captopril, cyclosporine, sirolimus, vancomycin, paralytic agents, warfarin, etc.

Of the more than 250,000 known flowering species,
<0.5% have been surveyed for medicinal value

 > $20 billion market
-equal to smuggled arms market
-less than contraband drug market ($30
Billion)

Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES)

Still allows more than 100 million individuals of rare species to be bought and sold each year


Rabbits and cane toads in Australia

Brown tree snakes in Guam

Pacific rats in Polynesia

Kudzu in the U.S.

Asian carp (threatening U.S. Great Lakes)


Environmental Audit Laws

Increased federal pre-emption of state laws

WTO/World Bank/IMF Policies

MAI


GATT, NAFTA, CAFTA, other trade agreements

Food Disparagement Laws

SLAPP Lawsuits

Corruption of judiciary by campaign contributions

86% of US judges are elected


Key administrators/committee members/regulators former industry representatives and/or lobbyists

Corporate profit before public good

Unsound/distorted/suppressed science

“Climategate”


Eco-harassment

Criminalizing activists

Rollbacks of key environmental laws

Lax enforcement of existing laws

OMB estimates annual benefits of major federal regulations between 1996 and 2006 = $99 billion -
$484 billion, annual costs = $40 billion - $46 billion

Huge tax cuts primarily benefit wealthy


Overturns global gag rule

Some improvements in FDA, EPA

Withdrawal (partial) from Iraq

Failure to consider single payer health care

Supports genetically-modified crops

Appointees holdovers (philosophically and personally) from prior administrations

?The future?


Poverty

Impaired access to employment and education

Lack of reproductive health services, early childbearing, large families

Status of Women in the Third World

Political marginalization

Discriminatory and “cultural practices”
-forced prostitution, female genital mutilation, etc.

Trafficking, sex slavery


Economic discrimination
 women do 67% of the world’s work
 receive 10% of global income
 own 1% of all property

Poverty

Women make up 45% of the global employed workforce, yet are 70% of the world’s poor


More education = longer life (for mother and her child)

Less education = worse health

Infant mortality rates vary by mother’s education

Parents’ education is linked with children’s health


Education increases health knowledge and healthy behaviors

Greater educational attainment leads to better employment opportunities and higher income, which are linked with better health

1. It can cause excessive sweating and vomiting
2. It is a major component in acid rain
3. It can cause severe burns in its gaseous state
4. It can kill you if accidentally inhaled
5. It contributes to erosion
6. It decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes
7. It has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients


Percent of US teens unable to locate the following on a map:

United States – 11%

Pacific Ocean – 29%

Japan – 58%

United Kingdom – 68%

Percentage of Americans who believe “at least to some degree” in these “phenomena”

Astrology

UFOs
1997
37%
30%

Reincarnation 25%

Fortune-Telling 14%
1976
17%
24%
9%
4%


Half of US citizens do not believe in evolution and do believe that humans and dinosaurs coexisted (2007)

40% think scientists still generally disagree about evolution


37% believe places can be haunted (2007)

25% believe in UFOs (2007)

24% believe in astrology (2009)

16% believe that people with the “evil eye” can cast curses or harmful spells


22% of Americans don’t know whether an atomic bomb has ever been dropped (2000)

20% of Americans don’t know the earth revolves around the sun (1999)

18% believe in Bigfoot and the Loch Ness
Monster (2007)

8% of men / 18% of women believe in astrology and fortune tellers (2007)



Public relations / ad campaigns
-Chevron’s “People Do” Campaign, butterflies/refinery
-BP invests $100 million annually in clean energy = amt. it spends annually to market its new name and environmentallyfriendly image of moving “Beyond Petroleum”
-Dupont Freon Campaign in 1970’s
-Grants to a few scientists who challenge environmental warnings
-tobacco ads in 1950’s
Bluewash: association with UN principles/logo


Artificially-created grassroots coalitions

Utilize specially tailored mailing lists, field officers, telephone banks, fax machines, intense lobbying

May be one or two individuals, or run by a PR firm, or have “volunteer” employee members







The American Council on Science and Health
The Alliance for Responsible CFC Policy
The Oregon Lands Coalition
National Wilderness Institute
The Environmental Conservation Organization
The Foundation for Clean Air Progress

Similar semantics for new laws/congressional bills


Invoke poor people as beneficiaries

Characterize opposition as
“technophobic,” anti-science,” and
“against progress”

Portray their products as environmentally beneficial in the absence of (or despite the) evidence

“You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.”

Sponsored Environmental
Educational Materials

Corporate-sponsored and supported by a loose coalition of antiregulatory zealots, corporate polluters, lapdog scientists and misguided parents

Sponsored Environmental
Education Materials (Examples)

Exxon’s “Energy Cube”
-“Gasoline is simply solar power hidden in decayed matter”
-“Offshore drilling creates reefs for fish”

Pacific Lumber Company
-“The Great American Forest is. . . renewable forever”

Sponsored Environmental
Education Materials (Examples)



International Paper
-“Clearcutting promotes growth of trees that require full sunlight and allows efficient site preparation for the next crop”
American Nuclear Society’s “Activities with the Atoms Family”
Dow’s “Chemipalooza”


US now spends $290 billion/yr on advertising

Almost $1,000/person/yr in the U.S.

10% of a two-year olds nouns are brand names

The average American can recognize over 1,000 corporate logos, but fewer than 10 plants and animals native to his/her locality


"Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.
We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested largely by men we have never heard of. →


In almost every act of our lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind.“
-Edward Bernays, Pioneer of Corporate PR and Propaganda


Television

Average American watches over 4 hours of
TV daily

Average American child aged 8-18 spends 7.6 hrs/day using an electronic device or watching TV

TV sets now outnumber homes in America


Public Education in disarray

1/3 of America’s 80,000 schools need extensive repair or replacement

Higher Education increasingly expensive


16% of adults have not completed high school

30% have no schooling beyond high school

27% have attended but not completed college

28% are college graduates

Rates vary dramatically across racial and ethnic groups

Nation’s Schoolchildren Call For
Cuts in Math/Science Funding




Increasing corporatization of academia

Private commercial funding of university research:

$264 million in 1980

$2 billion in 2001
Secrecy/Pseudoscience

AAPG Notable Achievement in Journalism prize to Michael Crichton for State of Fear
(which denies global warming)
Subversion of science by Bush Administration


Contingent faculty up from 43% (1079) to
73% today

Paid ¼ amount of regular faculty


No benefits
No job security, opportunities for career advancement

College tuition up (440% from 1984-2009), administrators’ salaries skyrocketing


Five times as many migrating doctors flow from developing to developed nations than in the opposite direction

Example of “inverse care law”:

Those countries that need the most health care resources are getting the least


Lack of scientists in developing world
(1/50 th of developed world per capita)

Impaired access to scientific data
(publications/textbooks too expensive, hence information outdated


Most media organizations owned by multinational, multi-billion dollar corporations that are involved in a number of businesses apart from the media, such as forestry, pulp and paper mills, defense, real estate, oil wells, agriculture, steel production, railways, and water and power utilities




Of 928 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, 0% were in doubt as to the existence or cause of global warming
Of 636 articles in the popular press (NY Times,
Washington Post, LA Times, WSJ), 53% expressed doubt as to the existence (and primary cause) of global warming
Science 2004;306:1686-7
(Study covers 1993-2003)
IPCC / Al Gore share 2007 Nobel Peace Prize


5 corporations control majority of US media
(down from 50 in 1983)

Mass Media Sources, 2002:

92% white

85% male

Where party affiliation identifiable, 75%
Republican

Predominantly conservative/centrist


Almost 15,000 full-time lobbyists

Estimates of return on lobbying range from $28 to $100 for every $1 spent


Pharmaceutical lobby spent $1.3 billion on lobbying between 1998 and 2007 (more than any other industry)

$110 million in first half of 2010

1,228 lobbyists (2.3 for every member of
Congress)


Lobbying groups spent 3.5 billion in 2009
(federal lobbying, a record)

Financial sector spent over $1.7 billion on campaign contributions for federal elections from 1998-2008

All single issue ideological groups combined
(e.g., pro-choice, anti-abortion, feminist and consumer organizations, senior citizens, etc.) =
$76.2 million


Agribusiness/oil industry lobbying dwarf environmental lobbying

Active lobbying (new laws, not enforce existing laws or fund existing programs)

“Lobbying for lethargy” (maintain status quo)

Corporate Influence Leads to Large
Taxpayer Subsidies to Polluting Industries






Mining - $3.6 billion/yr
Nuclear power - $10.5 billion/yr
Coal - $8 billion/yr
Ranching (grazing on public lands) - $52 million/yr
Timber (below cost sales of national forest trees) – approx. $350 million/yr
Oil and gas - $550 million/yr

Citizens United v. Federal Election
Commission (U.S. Supreme Court, 2010)

U.S. Supreme Court rules that corporations can effectively be treated as persons

No limits on campaign spending

Not persons when it comes to liability for causing harm to the environment or the public’s health


Roads

Public schools

Child support enforcement

Military

Others

Iraqi reconstruction, disaster capitalism


True democracy demands an informed citizenry (education), freedom of the press
(media), and involvement (will, time, money)

“Information is the currency of democracy”

Thomas Jefferson


Cecil Rhodes (Rhodesia, Rhodes Scholarship,
DeBeers Mining Company):
“We must find new lands from which we can easily obtain raw materials and at the same time exploit the cheap slave labour that is available from the natives of the colonies. The colonies would also provide a dumping ground for the surplus goods produced in our factories.”


Winston Churchill (speaking in favor of
RAF’s “experimental” bombing of Iraqis in
1920s, which killed 9,000 people with 97 tons of bombs):
“I am strongly in favor of using poisoned gas against uncivilized tribes to spread a lively terror…against recalcitrant Arabs as an experiment”


Christopher Columbus’ log entry upon meeting the Arawaks of the Bahamas:
“They…brought us…many…things…They willingly traded everything they owned…They do not bear arms…They would make fine servants…With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”


History: Native Americans, slavery, current excesses, disparities and injustices

Co-opting Nazi and Japanese WWII scientists

Minimum 277 troop deployments by the US in its 225+ year history


Since the end of WWII, the US has bombed:

China, Korea, Indonesia, Cuba, Guatemala,
Congo, Peru, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia,
Nicaragua, El Salvador, Grenada, Libya,
Panama, Afghanistan, Sudan, Yugoslavia, and
Iraq


Conservative estimate = 8 million killed

US invasions/bombings often largely at behest of corporate interests

European colonial history similar


The US spends vastly more on militarization than on peacemaking

The US maintains military bases in 69
“sovereign” nations around the world

Continued funding of the Western Hemisphere
Institute for Security Cooperation

International Non-
Cooperation/Isolationism

Failure to sign or approve:

Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change

International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-
Personnel Land Mines

Treaty to ban cluster bombs

International Non-
Cooperation/Isolationism

Failure to sign or approve:

Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Convention on the Elimination of
Discrimination Against Women

Convention for the Suppression of
Traffic in Persons

International Non-
Cooperation/Isolationism

Failure to sign or approve:

Protocol 1, Article 55 of the Geneva
Conventions, which bans methods or means of warfare which are intended, or may be expected, to cause widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment

International Non-
Cooperation/Isolationism

Failure to sign or approve

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent
Organic Pollutants

The Basel Convention on the Control of
Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
Wastes

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (re GM foods)


Death Penalty:

US executes more of its citizens than any other country

US is the only country to execute both juveniles and the mentally ill

Failure to follow World Court Decisions

Largest debtor to the UN (only 40% of dues paid)


Patriot Act, government spying, revocation of habeas corpus, presidential signing statements

Cited by Human Rights Watch,
Amnesty International for Human
Rights Violations


Majority of U.S. citizens rate the environment as one of the most important issues facing the country, think the government is doing too little to safeguard the environment, and favor environmental protection over economic expansion

Power/voice of green groups increasing

Involvement of religious groups growing


Insurance industry urging reductions in global emissions
 due to dramatic increase in weatherrelated claims

Analogy with smoking

The “Benefits” of Sterility-Causing
Chemicals in the Workplace?
12 September 1977
Dr. Eula Bingham, Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health
[Regarding] worker exposure to DBCP.
While involuntary sterility caused by a manufactured chemical may be bad, it is not necessarily so. After all, there are many people who are now paying to have themselves sterilized to assure they will no longer be able to become parents...
If possible sterility is the main problem, couldn’t workers who were old enough that they no longer wanted to have children accept such positions voluntarily? Or…some [workers] might volunteer for such workposts as an alternative to planned surgery for a vasectomy or tubal ligation, or as a means of getting around religious bans on birth control when they want no more children?
Sincerely,
Robert K. Phillips, National Peach Council


Phaseout of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by
1996

CFC MDIs phased out in US by 2008
(tetrafluoroethane or HFA = substitute)

Major cause of Antarctic and Arctic ozone holes

Should disappear by 2060

Current substitute, HCFCs, much less damaging to ozone layer, also to be phased out


Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of
Chemicals

European Treaty requiring companies to test chemicals already on the market by a set timetable and test new products before putting them on the market


Cost of evaluations < 1% of chemical industry’s total sales

Economic analyses show REACH could bring environmental benefits worth €95 billion over the next 25 years and result in health cost savings of €50 billion over the next 30 years


Currently negotiating a draft protocol on access and benefit sharing aimed at stopping biopiracy and ensuring that developing countries get their fair and equitable benefits from biodiversity and indigenous knowledge

Solutions
Based on the Precautionary Principle
“When evidence points toward the potential of an activity to cause significant, widespread or irreparable harm to public health or the environment, options for avoiding that harm should be examined and pursued, even though the harm is not yet fully understood or proven”

The Precautionary Principle:
Practical Essentials

Give human and environmental health the benefit of doubt

Include appropriate public participation in the discussion

Gather unbiased, scientific, technological and socioeconomic information

Consider less risky alternatives


Endorsed by APHA, ANA, CMA, others

Institute of Medicine/National Research Council have endorsed for FDA policies

Puerto Rico, San Francisco have adopted, among others

Big business, US Chamber of Commerce oppose

Barry Commoner

1. Everything is Connected to Everything Else.
There is one ecosphere for all living organisms and what affects one, affects all.

2. Everything Must Go Somewhere. There is no
"waste" in nature and there is no “away” to which things can be thrown.

Barry Commoner

3. Nature Knows Best. Humankind has fashioned technology to improve upon nature, but such change in a natural system is likely to be detrimental to that system.

4. There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.
Everything comes from something. There's no such thing as spontaneous existence.

Solutions

Shift from a throw-away economy to a reduce/reuse/recycle economy

Support local economies

Rebuild decaying infrastructure

Enhance fair trade policies


Recognize nature’s net worth

Calculate economic prosperity based on Genuine Progress Index or Global
Happiness Index, rather than Gross
Domestic Product


Decrease energy consumption

Zero waste production systems

Extended producer responsibility /
Extended product liability





Production-side environmentalism (reducing
“planned obsolescence”)
Recycling laws

Only 11 states have bottle deposit laws (recycling rates 63% vs. 12% in those without)
Pharmaceutical Take-Back Laws
Combat the spread of illegal, dangerous black market pharmaceuticals


Restructure tax system
-decrease taxes on work and savings
-increase taxes on destructive activities (e.g., carbon emissions, toxic waste generation)

Greater regulation of financial markets

Eliminate confidential legal settlements relevant to public health and safety

Stronger clean air and water standards


Drink tap water

Incredibly cheap and, in the US, almost always safe

Exceptions include private well water, from which 15% of Americans get their drinking water

Not regulated by Safe Drinking Water Act

40% contaminated to some degree with arsenic, radon, nitrates


Eat less meat



It takes 12 lbs of grain and 2500 gallons of water to produce one lb of hamburger
Catch-share agreements to decrease over-fishing
Eliminate fossil fuel industry tax breaks and subsidies


Carpooling

Keep car longer

> ½ of energy consumption attributable to vehicles occurs during manufacturing






Sweden plans to be world’s first oil-free economy by
2020
EU to cut CO2 emissions 20% by 2020

UK committed to 80% reduction by 2050
California mandates 25% cut in global warming gasses by 2020
EPA to regulate carbon emissions under Clean Air Act
(2009)
Climate Security Act: weaknesses include unfair “cap and trade” provisions, carbon capture and storage
(CCS)

Solutions

Solar and wind power; appropriate biofuels
(i.e., cellulosic ethanol, algal bio-diesel; not food crops), not CCS (carbon capture and storage) or nuclear

CCS raises specter of Lake Chad, Lake
Nyos, and Lake Monoun disasters

Implies dangers likely to be associated with carbon capture and storage


Increase tax breaks, subsidies, research for renewable energy

Renewable energy now 1% of transportation fuel market (ethanol) and 2% of the electricity market
(wind, solar, biomass)


Streamline EPA
-25% of 14 billion superfund payouts have gone to lawyers and consultants

Composting / Recycling organic wastes

Safe disposal of pharmaceuticals

Europe, Canada have take-back systems

Shift medical research agenda


Decrease light pollution ($2 billion energy wasted per year) and see the stars!

2/3 of US population and over ½ of EU population can’t see Milky Way
-Czechoslovakian anti-light pollution law


Insulation

Energy-efficient lighting

Europe bans incandescent lightbulbs
(2009)

Australia mandates use of compact fluorescent lightbulbs by 2012

Solutions

Decrease excessive packaging

15¢/plastic bag tax in Ireland ↓’d use by 90%

San Francisco, Mexico City have outlawed plastic bags

Canada, China, and 4 other countries have banned

Safe storage of nuclear wastes

Green electricity - $3/month


Sustainable forest management

Plant trees

The average urban tree removes nearly one ton of greenhouse gas during its first
40 years of life

Stop receiving catalogues
 contact Direct Marketing Association


Prevent Congress from weakening NEPA
(National Environmental Policy Act)

Requires federal officials to conduct environmental impact assessments; allows citizens to challenge the government’s conclusions

Oppose Congressional attempts to create
“Sunset Commissions” with the power to review federal programs and recommend which programs live, die, or get realigned





Punish environmental scofflaws with large fines and jail time
Increase enforcement budgets to combat international environmental crime
Establish International Court of the Environment
Alien Tort Claims Act designed to hold corporations accountable for human rights abuses overseas


Bioprospecting

Ecotourism

Rewilding (Contemporary vs. Pleistocene)


More equitable distribution of medical research funds and health care dollars

Worldwide

In U.S.

Every $1 invested in community-based programs to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, and prevent tobacco use saves $5.60 in health care costs


Reverse medical and scientific brain drain

Programs for education and return to home country

Eliminate unnecessary health care waste; reuse/send overseas hospital and surgical supplies

Open-access publication (see Dr Gavin Yamey’s slide show on the “Activism and Education” page of the phsj website


Federal Research Public Access Act

Would require federal agencies that fund over
$100 million in external research/yr to make their study results publicly available on-line

Currently before Congress


Strengthen family planning programs

Decrease “demand” for large families

 education

 status of women

 child mortality

Solutions: Fair, Representative
Elections

Publicly financed campaigns and campaign finance reform

Open debates, free air time for candidates

Proportional representation

Instant runoff voting/cumulative voting/range (rating) voting

Solutions:
Living Wage

Over 140 municipalities have adopted living wage laws

Including NY, LA, Chicago, and Philadelphia

15 states now have minimum wages that exceed the federal requirement


French- and British-proposed income-cap legislation (“maximum wage”)

U.S. proposals to create maximum wage of
$400,000 (president’s salary)

25X annual pay of the lowest-paid federal worker

Patriot Corporations Act would cap pay at
100X pay of lowest paid worker


Join and contribute to environmental and social justice groups (Greenpeace,
Doctors without Borders)

Local grassroots groups especially good

Land purchases

Litigation (e.g., EJLDF, NRDC)


Green investing
-returns as good or better than the S &
P 500

Terror-free investing

Celebrities/Jocks for Justice

Solutions


Activism / Letter writing / Protesting /
Whistleblowing

US Supreme court ruled in 2006 that public employees have no free-speech rights re whistleblowing and no constitutional protections against retaliation by bosses
Join community groups – become involved in local as well as national issues

The health impact pyramid
Frieden, T. R. Am J Public Health 2010;100:590-595
Copyright ©2010 American Public Health Association


US voter turnout low

Wealthy vote at almost twice rate of poor

Whites > Blacks > Hispanics

Old > Young

Property owners > Renters






Solutions


Increased exposure to nature
Improvements in education

Multidisciplinary

Literature

History

Law

Photography

Community Service


Vicarious experience

Explore diverse philosophies

Promotes empathy, critical thinking, flexibility, non-dogmatism, self-knowledge

Encourages creative thinking

Allows for group discussion/debate


Encourage appreciation of non-medical literature

Develop reading, analytical, speaking and writing skills

Promote ethical thinking (narrative ethics)

Identification with authors who are health professionals (e.g., Keats, Chekhov, Maugham,
Williams, Sanger, Nightingale, etc.)

Doris Lessing
“An Old Woman and Her Cat”
From the Doris Lessing Reader (New York: Knopf, 1988)

Ernest J Gaines
“The Sky is Gray” in Gray, Marion Secundy, ed. Trials,Tribulations, and
Celebrations: African American Perspectives on Health, Illness,
Aging and Loss. Yarmouth, Maine: Intercultural Press, 1992




Orwell, George. How the Poor Die. In Sonia Orwell and Ian
Angus, eds. The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letter of George
Orwell, IV; In Front of Your Nose, 1945-1950. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc: pp.223-233.
Checkhov, Anton. Letter to AF Koni, January 26, 1891,
Letter to AS Survivor, March 9, 1890. In Norman Cousins, ed. The Physician in Literature Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1982.
Eighner, Lars. Phlebitis: At the Public Hospital. In
Travels with Lizbeth. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993.


American Journal of Public Health

Public Citizen’s Health Letter

PNHP Newsletter

Mother Jones

Harpers

Z Magazine

Hightower Lowdown









Rachel’s Democracy and Health News
Rachel’s Precaution Reporter
Sierra
The Amicus Journal
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists
Multinational Monitor
Dollars and Sense
Some articles in NEJM, JAMA, JGIM, SSM, Policy,
Politics, and Nurs Prac, others

Contact Information and References
Public Health and Social Justice Website http://www.phsj.org
martindonohoe@phsj.org