Causes and Consequences of Environmental Degradation

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Causes and Consequences of Environmental
Degradation

• Martin Donohoe

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Am I Stoned?

• 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

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Our Home
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Overpopulation

• World population - exponential growth
• 1 billion in 1800
• 2.5 billion in 1950
• 6 billion in 2000
• 7 billion in 2011

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Overpopulation

• Africa, Asia, and Latin America primarily
  affected
• Causes
• Poverty
• Womens rights issues
• impaired access to reproductive health care and
  education
• political/legal/economic/social marginalization

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Air Pollution
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Health Effects of Air Pollution

• Causes approximately 60,000 - 75,000 premature
  deaths/yr. in U.S.
• 656,000 in China
• Over 2 million worldwide

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Health Effects of Air Pollution

• MI
• CHF
• Ventricular arrythmias
• Asthma/COPD
• PVD
• Cerebrovascular disease
• Multiple other illnesses

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Air Pollution

• Indoor combustion of coal and biomass for
  cooking, heating and food preservation
• 3 billion people worldwide
• 2 million deaths/yr
• Tobacco smoke
• 5.4 million deaths/yr worldwide (1/10 deaths)

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Air Pollution The Good News

• 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
• Saved 160,000 lives in 2010

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Effects of Ozone Destruction

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

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US Energy Consumption by Fuel

• Oil 37 - peak oil production expected 2014
• Natural gas 24
• Coal 22 - peak coal production 1920
• Nuclear 8.5
• Renewables (mostly hydroelectric and biomass
  small amounts of geothermal, wind, and solar)
  7.3

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Oil and War

• Countries that export oil are gt40 times more
  likely to be engaged in civil war than those that
  do not
• Gulf Wars I and II
• The Future Water Wars

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Toxins/Pesticides

• 6 trillion tons of over 85,000 chemicals produced
  annually
• More than 90 have never been screened for
  toxicity
• 5 billion lbs/yr pesticides worldwide
• 1.1 billion lbs/yr in U.S.
• About 3 lbs/person/yr in U.S.

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Pesticides

• 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

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Health Effects of Pesticides

• Autism
• Parkinsons Disease
• Alzheimers disease
• Diabetes
• Obesity (with prenatal exposure)
• Depression
• ADHD
• Endocrine/reproductive effects

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Toxic Pollutants

• 85,000 known or suspected hazardous waste sites
  in the U.S.
• Environmental Racism
• Waste dumps/incinerators more common in lower SES
  neighborhoods
• Cancer Belt (Baton Rogue to New Orleans)

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Infamous Industrial Disasters

• Minimata, Japan
• Love Canal
• Bhopal, India
• Chernobyl, USSR

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Infamous Industrial Disasters

• Alaska, Exxon Valdez, 1989
• 2006 BP Alaskan pipeline rupture
• 2010 BP Gulf disaster
• 2011 Yellowstone pipe rupture

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Minimata DiseaseW Eugene Smith
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Deforestation

• Tropical forests constitute 7 of land surface
  area, contain gt 50 of plant and animal species
• Majority of tropical forests destroyed
• One acre of worlds forest cut down every second
• 50 of global wetlands destroyed (54 in U.S.)

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Deforestation

• 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

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Deforestation Causes

• New agricultural settlements (overpopulation,
  poverty, unsustainable farming practices)
• Logging
• Oil and gas exploration
• Cattle ranching
• Drug cultivation

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Global Warming
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Consequences of Global Warming

• 160,000 deaths and 5.5 million disability-adjusted
  life years lost per year
• WHO, UN Environment Program
• Expected to double by 2020

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Consequences of Global Warming

• Polar icecaps/glaciers/Greenland ice
  sheet/Himalayas/permafrost melting, sea levels
  rising
• ? weather extremes/natural disasters/insurance
  claims
• ? infectious diseases

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Greenlands Ice Cap Melting 1992
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Greenlands Ice Cap Melting 2002
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Greenlands Ice Cap Melting 2005
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Global Warming

• The top 1/5 of the worlds largest 145 countries
  account for 63 of global C02 emissions (lowest
  1/5 2)
• Countries most affected are those least
  responsible
• Climate refugees
• Disappearing locales Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Kivalina
  (Alaska), Male (Maldives)

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Agriculture

• Global per capita cropland down over 50 from
  1961 to present
• Soil erosion exceeds soil formation
• Decreasing crop diversity/genetic diversity
• Consequences vulnerability to disease, huge crop
  losses (e.g., Irish potato famine)

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Factory Farming
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Factory Farming

• Factory farms have replaced industrial factories
  as the 1 polluters of American waterways
• Agriculture accounts for 70 of U.S. antibiotic
  use
• CDC Antibiotic use in food animals is the
  dominant source of antibiotic resistance among
  food-borne pathogens.

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Overfishing

• Fisheries collapsing
• Coral reef destruction
• Aquaculture

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Species Loss

• Rate of extinction 4,000-6,000 species/year
• 1,000 - 10,000X background rate of extinction

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Causes of Species Loss

• Habitat loss (overpopulation, logging, etc.)
• Environmental pollution
• Global warming
• Exotic species invasions
• Overhunting
• Black market in endangered animals
• HUMANS

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Maldistribution of Wealth

• 500 billionaires worldwide
• top 250 billionaires worth 1 trillion, the
  combined income of bottom 2.5 billion people (45
  of worlds population)

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Maldistribution of Wealth

• U.S Richest 1 of the population owns 50 of
  the countrys wealth -poorest 90 own
  30-widest gap of any industrialized nation
• Associated with 880,000 deaths per year over
  expected number if gap was same as in Western
  European nations

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Maldistribution of wealth

• 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)

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Declaration of Independence

• All men are created equal.

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George Orwell

• Some people are more equal than others

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Hudson River, 2009
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Voltaire

• The comfort of the rich rests upon an abundance
  of the poor

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Maldistribution of Wealth/Resources Threatens
National Security and Requires a Permanent War
Economy

• The U.S. has about 50 of the worlds 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

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Racial Disparities

• Economic
• Educational
• Criminal justice system involvement
• Discrimination

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Racial Disparities Health Care

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

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Racial Disparities Health Care

• 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 2004942078-2081

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Overconsumption (Affluenza)

• U.S. 6.3 of worlds population
• Own 50 of the worlds wealth
• U.S. responsible for-25 of worlds energy
  consumption-33 of paper use-72 of hazardous
  waste production (1 ton/person/year)

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But are we happier?

• Workloads increasing, vacation and free time
  decreasing
• U.S. Only OECD country not to guarantee paid
  vacation and sick leave
• Erosion of social capital

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Economic Stagnation

• Inflation-adjusted income of the median U.S.
  household
• 1989 - 54,600
• 1997 - 49,000
• 2004 - 44,389
• 2009 - 49,777
• 2011 - 51,860
• Financial Crisis / Recession

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Exorbitant CEO Pay

• CEO salaries up 500 since 1980
• The average CEO makes 300-400X the salary of the
  average U.S. worker (1960 - 41X 1980 - 42X)
• Mexico 451
• Britain 251
• Germany 111
• Japan 101

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The Global Economy

• 53 of the worlds 100 largest economies are
  private corporations 47 are countries
• Wal-Mart is larger than Israel and Greece
• ATT is larger than Malaysia and Ireland

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Corporations

• Almost 6 million corporations
• 500 companies control 70 of world trade

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Corporations

• 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

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Corporate Taxation

• Corporations shouldered over 30 of the nations
  tax burden in 1950 vs. 6.5 today (real rate
  2.8 per U.S. Treasury Department)
• Corporate taxes are at their lowest level since
  WW II

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Reasons for Inadequate Corporate Taxation

• Tax breaks, corporate welfare, corporation-friendl
  y tax laws, loopholes, transferring assets
  overseas
• Cheating and under-payment common
• Offshore tax havens shelter capital

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Ugland House, Cayman Islands18,000 Corporations
Registered Here
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The Stock Market

• 20 of Americans own stock
• 90 of stocks, bonds, and mutual fund assets
  owned by 10
• 51 of all stocks, bonds, and mutual fund assets
  owned by 1

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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)

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Economic Injustices

• The Third World Debt Crisis
• Africa/Latin America/Asia - 300 billion
• Unfair economic organizations and trade
  agreements
• WTO, IMF, GATT, NAFTA, others
• Child labor
• ? Unionization
• Unsafe working conditions

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Foreign Aid

• In total dollars U.S. 1
• As a of GDP, U.S. 21
• U.S. Aid Over 1/3 military, 1/4 economic, 1/3
  for food and development

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Foreign Aid

• 0.9 of the total federal budget
• On average, Americans think that 24 of the
  federal budget goes toward foreign aid

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U.S. Charitable Giving

• Approximately 250 billion/year
• 2.5 of income
• 2.9 at height of Great Depression

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2009 Federal Budget2.65 trillion
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World Military Spending (2008)
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The Military and Pollution

• Worlds 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
• Military exempt from most environmental
  regulations

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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 worlds children
• 3 days of U.S. military spending amt. spent on
  health, education, and welfare for U.S. children
  in 1 year

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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 worlds 2.5 million research
  scientists and engineers work entirely on
  military R and D

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• 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

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Poverty and Hunger

• US 14 of residents and 20 of children live in
  poverty
• Rates of poverty in Blacks and Hispanics almost
  3X Whites
• 17 (52 million people) lack health insurance
  (2011)
• Poverty associated with worse physical and mental
  health

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Poverty

• 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

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Famine
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Famine

• 1.5 billion malnourished
• 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

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Poverty and Priorities

• 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

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Poverty and Priorities

• 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

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Medical Care

• 50 of global health care budget spent in the
  U.S.
• Per capita expenditure on health care
• U.S. 8,160
• Typical poor African/Asian country 5-10

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Medical Care

• U.S. - 52 million uninsured
• Ranks 24th worldwide in overall population health
  (as judged by disability-adjusted life
  expectancy)
• Ranks 42nd in global life expectancy

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Headline from The Onion

• Uninsured Man Hopes His Symptoms Diagnosed This
  Week On House

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Would You Sign a Petition to Ban Dihydrogen
Monoxide?

• 1. It can cause excessive sweating and
  vomiting2. It is a major component in acid
  rain3. It can cause severe burns in its gaseous
  state4. It can kill you if accidentally
  inhaled5. It contributes to erosion6. It
  decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes7.
  It has been found in tumors of terminal cancer
  patients

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Geographic Ignorance

• Percent of US teens unable to locate the
  following on a map
• United States 11
• Pacific Ocean 29
• United Kingdom 68

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Ignorance/Pseudoscientific Beliefs

• Half of US citizens do not believe in evolution
  and do believe that humans and dinosaurs
  coexisted (2007)
• 22 of Americans dont know whether an atomic
  bomb has ever been dropped (2000)
• 25 believe in UFOs (2007)

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The Obfuscation of Science

• Advertising
• US spends 290 billion/yr on advertising (almost
  1,000/person/yr in the U.S.
• Lobbying
• Campaign Contributions (Citizens United)
• Greenwash
• Astroturfing

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The Obfuscation of Science

• Corporate Front Groups
• Sponsored Environmental Educational Materials
• Media consolidation, corporate control
• 5 corporations control majority of US media, down
  from 50 in 1983

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Global Warming Controversial?

• 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 20043061686-7
• (Study covers 1993-2003)

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Lobbying

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

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Lobbying

• Lobbying groups spent 3.5 billion in 2010
  (federal lobbying, a record)
• All single issue ideological groups combined
  (e.g., pro-choice, anti-abortion, feminist and
  consumer organizations, senior citizens, etc.)
  76 million
• SCOTUS Citizens United decision has opened the
  floodgates for unlimited corporate contributions

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The Decline of Democracy

• True democracy demands an informed citizenry
  (education), freedom of the press (media), and
  involvement (will, time, money)
• Democracy is critical to the success of public
  health

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Corporations and International Agreements

• Corporations attempt to influence writing and
  acceptance/rejection of international agreements
• Through misinformation, lobbyists, revolving door
  between industry and government
• Large behind the scenes role

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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

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International Non-Cooperation/Isolationism

• Failure to sign or approve
• Treaty to ban cluster bombs Convention on the
  Rights of the Child
• Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination
  Against Women

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International Non-Cooperation/Isolationism

• Failure to sign or approve
• WHO Code of Conduct for Marketing Breast Milk
  Substitutes
• Convention for the Suppression of Traffic in
  Persons
• The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic
  Pollutants

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Primo Levi

• 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.

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Solutions

• Stronger environmental laws
• Restructure tax system
• Renewable energy
• More equitable distribution of medical research
  funds and health care dollars
• Single payer health care (PHM/PHC)

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Solutions

• Improve status of women / access to reproductive
  health care
• Living wage laws
• E.g., NY, LA, Chicago, and Philadelphia
• Create maximum wage
• Reform education

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Solutions

• Publicly financed campaigns and campaign finance
  reform
• Proportional representation
• Instant runoff voting/cumulative voting/range
  (rating) voting

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Solutions Vote

• US voter turnout low (139/172 worldwide)
• Wealthy vote at almost twice rate of poor
• Whites gt Blacks gt Hispanics
• Old gt Young
• Property owners gt Renters
• Activism / Protesting / Whistleblowing
• Work in Groups (PSR)

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Günter Grass

• The first job of a citizen is to keep your mouth
  open.

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Anita Roddick

• "If you think you are too small to have an
  impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in your
  tent"

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• Public Health and Social Justice Website
• http//www.publichealthandsocialjustice.org
• http//www.phsj.org
• martindonohoe_at_phsj.org