Transcript Wealth Not Health

Wealth
Health…
A Principle Challenge to Global Health:
The Relentless Pursuit of Economic Growth
Maureen McCue MD PhD
Coordinator Iowa Chapter PSR
Global Health Studies/Center for Human Rights
University of Iowa
Unlimited Wealth:
Increasingly Sick Global
Population
• Modern Economies disregard the rules & limits of
Mother Earth … and the rights of many of earth’s
inhabitants!
• Wealth accrual is based on the destruction of
irreplaceable, priceless natural & cultural treasures
. . . here in the USA and around the planet—
• Related Activities Make us all sick! – some more
or faster than others!
• On a single life support system, planet earth, what
goes around comes around!
"We have lived by the assumption that what was good
for us would be good for the world. …this has been
based on the even flimsier assumption that we could
know with any certainty what was good even for us.
We have fulfilled the danger of this by making our
personal pride & greed the standard of our behavior
toward the world-- to the incalculable disadvantage of
the world & every living thing in it.
…now, perhaps very close to too late, our great error
has become clear. It is not only our own creativity--our
own capacity for life--that is stifled by our arrogant
assumption; the creation itself is stifled.”
The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry
Pursuing Wealth at the Expense of
Health Leaves Everyone Suffering
Some Cases:
#1 Wealthy Nicaraguan Man’s Security
Guard fatally shoots daughter
#2 US Pregnant Women Carry Chemical
Cocktails their bodies1
#3 US Health Care Providers Carry Blood
Chemical Load2
1 Woodruff et al. Environmental Health Perspectives Jan 14, 2011
2 Wilding et al. Hazardous Chemicals in Health Care. PSR Report
In Contrast,
Today’s Health Messages: apolitical,
uncontextualized, lack attention to privilege
or underlying causes ill health
Ex: The Traditional 10 Tips for Better Health
Don't smoke. If you can, stop. If you can't, cut down.
Follow a balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables.
Keep physically active.
Manage stress by, for example, talking things through and making time to
relax.
If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation.
Cover up in the sun; protect children from sunburn.
Practice safer sex.
Take up cancer-screening opportunities.
Be safe on the roads: follow the Highway Code.
Learn the First Aid ABCs: airways, breathing, circulation.
Actual Health Challenges Globally
Acquisition & Consumption
Extractive Industries
Transnational Corps
• Extractive Industries, Transnational
Corporations Promote:
Unhealthy, Unsafe Products,
Consumption based life styles
Deteriorating Global Health
Increasing Income Disparity
Climate Change
• Climate Change Driven by
Violence &
Extractive Industries Fossil Fuels
• Supported by Militarism Ignoring:
Militarism
Environmental & health impacts
Justice & Human Rights
Complicated By Social Determinants
(race, religion, gender, ethnicity, etc)
Extractive Industries/TNCs
“Economic Entities In Pursuit of Profit”
• Promote Unsustainable over-consumption!
• Know no boundaries, are unattached to any
culture or community, & owe no loyalty to
any individuals or government;
• Set & follow their own operating rules re.
environment, labor, & human rights
• Drive Rising levels of Greenhouse Gases
Consumption Based Economies
Based on Petroleum/Fossil Fuels
• Warf & woof of modern life: virtually every
manufactured product - vehicles, plastics,
synthetics, processed goods
• Involve Massive Environmental Pollution &
Degradation
• Threaten Climate
& Global Stability/
Security
“Depression Skyrockets Amidst
Growing Materialism”*
Consumption-Based Lifestyle:
• A very modern phenomenon
• Associated w/ industrial revolution only
• Not inherent to humanity!
• Not necessarily even a value as ↑“stuff” is not
related to ↑ happiness! i.e.
• Doesn’t Even Work for Consumers!
*Matthew Little, Epoch Times,
Canada Apr 4, 08
Hidden Actors/
Power Brokers
Corporate Powerbrokers work beyond public eyes to
privatize, deregulate, and create corporate market
access—regardless of the interests, health or wellbeing of those impacted.
Free Market Access & Values Assured by:
• World Trade Organization (WTO)
• International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• International Financial Institutions
• Corporate Dominated Mega Media
• Militaries—Home and Abroad—National, Paramilitaries, Contract Militaries
Hidden Actors: Militaries
The current age of corporate globalization has
been built on international ground rules that
protect rights of property, contract, & investment.
Thus, products, resources, industries, & finances
move freely while people
who move seeking
improved, safer, healthier
lives are criminalized.
Powerful Companies Sue Countries for
interfering with their “right” to pollute!
Exs: C. Am. Mining & Free Trade Agreements
• Pacific Rim Mining, a Canadian company that
transferred a subsidiary to Nevada to take
advantage of CAFTA, is suing El Salvador for at
least $77 million for the government’s decision to
deny their application for gold extraction.
• Commerce Group Corporation, based in
Milwaukee, WI, is suing El Salvador for $100
million for cancelling its existing exploitation
permit on the grounds of environmental
devastation to the San Sebastian River.
Petroleum Sacrifice Zones
• Shell & Nigeria
• Texaco & Ecuador
• Mississippi &
Louisiana in Cancer
Alley
• BP & Gulf
Affirming the Right to Health
Mitigating Environmental Degradation
Involves Many Critical Steps
•Address Structural Causes Ill Health
•Change Societal Values
•Develop, Promote New Economic Models
In Short, Change the System!
• Poor Health Globally is linked to many forms
of environmental & social destruction
• Too many world leaders seek to address
pollution & climate change using the same
strategies of privatization & concentration of
resources that have led us into these crises
in the first place.
• Social Reconstruction Required
Facing Peak Everything, We have
No Choice!
We, have to wean ourselves off fossil
fuel, off oil. Off today’s:
– Mining Practices, Oil & Gas extraction
– Unsustainable Consumption
– Industrial Scale, Exotic off-season
Agriculture & Food consumption
– Building, Trading, Shipping,
Transportation & Waste of stuff!
Toward Solutions
We have to do several things at once:
• Learn to live w/out fossil fuels
• Adapt to the end of economic growth
• Support/stabilize the earth’s 7 billion people
• Rebuild/rehabilitate our environment
• Learn to Live within Nature’s Budget of
Renewable Resources
• Hold Corporations Accountable for damage
Toward Solutions: Many Ways to
Leave Petroleum
Where, When Possible, Avoid:
Gasoline or kerosene for any reason
Bottled water in plastic, plastic bags, plastic shower curtains
Cosmetics, Nail Polish, Toiletries (non-natural) hand/body lotions, hairspray, many dyes
Baby oil, petroleum jelly, plastic toys, crayons
Synthetic rubber, latex pillows, latex bandages
Many paints, acrylics, paint brushes, rollers
Many mops, cleaning utensils, carpet cleaners, floor wax, silver polish, synthetic sponges
Processed foods w/ artificial colors, flavors, preservatives; artificial sweetners, saccharin
Fresh foods wrapped in plastic; non local, non seasonal foods
Teflon, dishwasher detergent, cooking utensils not make of wood, glass, or metal
Candles of paraffin wax
Insecticides, herbicides, repellents
Vinyl or synthetic flooring, many carpets
Asphalt, plexiglass, fiberglass
Man-made fibers: lycra, polyester, nylon, rayon, spandex; fabric softeners
Disposable diapers, all other disposables, plastic plates and cutlery
Meditation, Relaxation rather than Medications whenever possible
Toward Solutions: 50 Ways to
Leave Crude
(apologies to Paul Simon)
Take the Carpool back, Jack
Get Rid of the Van Stan
You don’t need a new toy, Roy
Or an SUV
Hop on the Bus, Gus
Or Ride your bike like the Dutch
Just turn off the key, Lee
And set us all free!
A few of
many
effective
climate/health
mitigation
interventions
possible!
Finding Direction
• Think Community (in transition cities,
intentional communities, co-housing developments)
• Consider relocalization - building strong local
communities to ↑ resilience (economies & basic
skills).
• Plan for a post carbon future. Begin with resilience
& self reliance. See:
– http://www.youtube.com/user/justmultimedia?gl=IE&hl=en-GB
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ-J91SwP8w
Sustainable Healthy Living:
A Potpourri of Simple First Steps
• Buy less, share more, consider hidden costs!
• Install
– LED lighting when/where possible
– Programmable Thermostats & Motion Detectors
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Hang Laundry Out to Dry
Plant a Roof
Eat lower on the food chain!
Drive/live earth smart. Choose high efficiency vehicles &
appliances or, leave your car at home-walk, bike, bus, and, turn off,
unplug unused electrical devices
• Get engaged with the political process—work for a clean
energy & a sustainable future at home & abroad!
• Question Authority!
Simple First Steps
Start to Dream: Big & Small
“The only deserts that exist in
this world are deserts of the
imagination”
Paolo Lugari.
Designed to be self-sufficient, Las Gaviotas has produced
innovative, cost-effective projects & made them available
as viable alternatives for social & economic development
in both rural & urban areas.
“To make the transition toward a sustainable society it is
imperative that we take responsibility for our own lives &
meet our basic needs for food, shelter, energy, gainful
employment, & supportive community.”
The Tennessee Farm
Alternative Life Styles:
Co-housing, Transition Towns
Building a better healthier society, one neighborhood
at a time! Co-housing residents are consciously
committed to living as a community
Just Societies & A Healthy
Planet: Key to Healthy People
Groups Working on Solutions
Transitions, Climate & Health Rights
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Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN)
Climate Justice Action (CJA)
Via Campesina
350.org
Jubilee South
Post Carbon Institute
Seventh Generation