THE VINE APRIL 7, 2008
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April 7th marks the beginning of Public Health Week 2008. Since they began under Bill Clinton, PHWs have focused on issues like disaster relief, infrastructure, and eldercare. This year's campaign, themed "Climate Change: Our Health in
Balance" is tackling the environment. A special partnership between the National Council
for Science and the Environment (NCSE) and the
American Public Health Association is promoting an interdisciplinary approach to the health needs of the planet and its citizens. Planners included not just environmentalists, but leaders from public
health, environmental science, faith-based and other community organizations--an increasingly common sight, as green activists realize that "the environment" refers to, er, everything.
This month you'll be seeing me blog more about the intersection between energy challenges and
everyday needs, and ways in which less worrying about "global warming" can (counterintuitively) nudge Americans toward a healthier, more efficient future.
Kicking off this blog and this week, their recommendations:
Monday:
Be Prepared.
Inform
yourself about the health impacts of climate change and climate change issues
facing your community, and take actions to prepare for possible
emergencies.Tuesday:
Travel Differently. Leave the car at home
one day, and take public transportation. Walk or bike, but if you need to drive,
carpool – and telecommute if you can.Wednesday:
Eat Differently. Buy food from a
community farmer’s market that doesn’t travel across the country to get to you.
Eat more vegetables, and less meatThursday: Green
Your Work. Use recycled paper if
you don’t already, and even if you do, print less often and on both sides of the
paper. Set your computer to energy-saver mode and buy eco-friendly office
furniture.Friday:
Green Your Home. Seal
and insulate your home and replace air filters
frequently to cut costs and save energy. Reduce your use of wasteful products,
and reuse or recycle the products you do use. Conserve water whenever
possible. [My emphasis]
It's a slightly cheesy, literal "eat-your-vegetables" argument they're making here--but eat them!
--Dayo Olopade
5 comments
TNR ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY "powered by B[ritish] P[etroleum" -- wtf?
An April Fool's joke? Um, guys, it's not April 1st anymore....
- teplukhin2you
April 7, 2008 at 5:38am
I like the idea of an environment blog here at TNR. Maybe it'll give tep something to complain about other than the pro-Obama bias over at Plank/Stump, and I see he's already made his inaugural gripe. (Gotta agree, what's with the BP sponsorship anyway?)
Anywhoo, I'm with my fellow medico sullydog in thinking that tackling global climate change has to be a priority over UHC. I'm persuaded that global warming has a small but non-negligible likelihood of destroying civilization. It all comes down to 4 letters: F-O-O-D. Climate change has the potential, mainly through changes in patterns of rainfall, to make the major food-producing regions much less productive, and humans, like most animals, have a tendency to get antsy and aggressive as they grow hungry.
But as for public health impacts of climate change, unless you count famine and flooding to fall under the umbrella of public health, it ends up being a little bit of a stretch. For my own interest I prepared a lecture on the infectious diseases implications of global warming. I found that there is a TON of literature on the subject, none of which is terribly interesting or worrying. In his post over on the Plank re. presidential priorities, sully raised the specter of malaria making a comeback in the southern US. I appreciate any chance to talk about one of my favorite diseases, but the truth is that the likelihood that malaria will have a major impact in the US is low, and it isn't even really all that apparent that global warming or the lack thereof even plays a role in the presence or absence of the wiley Plasmodium. The anopheline mosquito vectors for malaria are ALREADY present in the Southern US. Always have been. In 1882 there was malaria north to Cape Cod on the east coast and to the Canadian border in Minnesota and eastern Montana, but by 1949 the US was declared malaria-free. While a DDT-induced reduction in the mosquito population played a big part in achieving malaria eradication, at present, in the absence of widespread use of insecticides against the mozzies, the Anopheles is doing just fine. The missing factor necessary to trigger a new era of endemic malaria is a critical mass of chronically infected people. And given the current state of the art of malaria treatment, such a mass of infected persons is unlikely to accumulate.
- aeromonas
April 7, 2008 at 7:19am
Does Anglo Persian oil have an input into any of the content?
- The Ignorant Populist
April 7, 2008 at 10:20am
Conserve water? I notice that the list of planners did not include any economists. Is that because a cost-benefit analysis of some (not all) of these items would make them look trivial?
Backpedal: I know, in some parts of the world, and some parts of the US, water conservation is not at all trivial. Although it's non-trivial relationship to preventing global warming still escapes me.
- twalker
April 7, 2008 at 12:09pm
why don't we just eat recycled paper and print on cows? All of these are nice 3% solutions which if all enacted might lessen the increase of domestic global warming output. Of course, that doesn't address China (besides our expecting them to sit in the dark).
How about some real solutions, massive government investment in alternative power. And for individuals, start with getting rid of central air, only use individual units in most frequented rooms, and only when present. In addition, a stiff tax on energy consumption for housing. If you want to have a McMansion, then either pay or forgo heating and air conditioning most of it. These 1/5 measures will only make things worse, since everybody will think they are doing there share, but it is like emptying a leaking rowboat with a teaspoon.
- blackton
April 7, 2008 at 1:28pm