Wealth Health…Wealth Health…

A Principle Challenge to Global Health:The Relentless Pursuit of Economic Growth

Maureen McCue MD PhDCoordinator Iowa Chapter PSR

Global Health Studies/Center for Human RightsUniversity of Iowa

Unlimited Wealth: Unlimited Wealth: Increasingly Sick Global Increasingly Sick Global

PopulationPopulation• 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 Pursuing Wealth at the Expense of Health Leaves Everyone SufferingHealth 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

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.

In Contrast, Today’s Health Messages: apolitical,

uncontextualized, lack attention to privilege or underlying causes ill health

Actual Health Challenges GloballyActual Health Challenges Globally

Acquisition & Consumption

• Extractive Industries, Transnational Corporations Promote:Unhealthy, Unsafe Products, Consumption based life stylesIncreasing Income Disparity

• Climate Change Driven byExtractive Industries Fossil Fuels

• Supported by Militarism Ignoring:Environmental & health impactsJustice & Human Rights

Complicated By Social Determinants(race, religion, gender, ethnicity, etc)

Climate Change

Transnational Corps

Militarism

Deteriorating Global Health

Extractive Industries

Violence &

Extractive Industries/TNCsExtractive Industries/TNCs“Economic Entities In Pursuit of Profit”“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 GasesDrive Rising levels of Greenhouse Gases

Consumption Based Economies Consumption Based Economies Based on Petroleum/Fossil FuelsBased 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/Hidden Actors/Power BrokersPower Brokers

Corporate Powerbrokers work beyond public eyes to privatize, deregulate, and create corporate market access—regardless of the interests, health or well-being 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, Para-

militaries, Contract Militaries

Hidden ActorsHidden Actors: MilitariesMilitaries

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 Powerful Companies Sue Countries for interfering with Countries for interfering with their “right” to pollute!their “right” to pollute! Exs: C. Am. Mining & Free Trade AgreementsC. 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 Petroleum Sacrifice ZonesSacrifice Zones• Shell & Nigeria • Texaco & Ecuador• Mississippi &

Louisiana in Cancer Alley

• BP & Gulf

Affirming the Right to HealthAffirming the Right to HealthMitigating Environmental DegradationMitigating Environmental Degradation

Involves Many Critical StepsInvolves Many Critical Steps

•Address Structural Causes Ill Health•Change Societal Values•Develop, Promote New Economic Models

In Short, Change the System!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 Facing Peak Everything, We have No Choice!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 SolutionsToward 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 Toward Solutions: Many Ways to Leave PetroleumLeave 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 Toward Solutions: 50 Ways to Leave CrudeLeave Crude

(apologies to Paul Simon)(apologies to Paul Simon)

Take the Carpool back, JackGet Rid of the Van StanYou don’t need a new toy, RoyOr an SUVHop on the Bus, GusOr Ride your bike like the DutchJust turn off the key, LeeAnd set us all free!

A few of many

effective climate/health

mitigationinterventions

possible!

Finding DirectionFinding 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: Sustainable Healthy Living: A Potpourri of Simple First StepsA Potpourri of Simple First Steps

• Buy less, share more, consider hidden costs! • Install

– LED lighting when/where possible– Programmable Thermostats & Motion Detectors

• 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 StepsSimple First Steps

Start to Dream: Big & SmallStart 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: Alternative Life Styles: Co-housing, Transition TownsCo-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 Just Societies & A Healthy Planet: Key to Healthy PeoplePlanet: Key to Healthy People

Groups Working on Solutions Groups Working on Solutions Transitions, Climate & Health Rights Transitions, Climate & Health Rights

• Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) • Climate Justice Action (CJA) • Via Campesina• 350.org • Jubilee South • Post Carbon Institute• Seventh Generation