So many social and scientific/ health issues are interconnected. Political decisions determine access to health care, so it’s not a wild leap to say that making a trip to the voting booth is part of self-care, a sort of wellness program accomplished by filling in a little round circle with a No. 2 pencil.
Here’s another example. NASA scientists have concluded that enormous health benefits could be realized by eliminating certain common pollutants that not only directly harm personal health, but also are factors in global warming.
Research led by Drew Shindell of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York identified 14 things that could be done to control black carbon and methane. These alone would have sweeping impacts on global warming, respiratory illnesses and other diseases, and crop yields around the world, according to NASA.
Black carbon is produced by burning fossil fuels. It triggers respiratory problems and cardiovascular disease, and leaves a dark film on ice and snow, which reduces their ability to reflect heat. Methane is a greenhouse gas that damages crops and can also cause health problems.
“While carbon dioxide is the primary driver of global warming over the long term, limiting black carbon and methane are complementary actions that would have a more immediate impact because these two pollutants circulate out of the atmosphere more quickly,” NASA says.
One idea is to capture methane that would otherwise escape from coal mines, oil facilities and long-distance pipelines. Another, focusing on black carbon, is to install special filters in diesel engine vehicles and ban agricultural burning.
Instituting the changes could increase crop yields by 135 million metric tons per year by 2050, the researchers said.
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Speaking of health issues, how sick is the American political system when a handful of voters can control the entire electoral process that eventually produces the leader of the Free World?
The Christmas trees were barely out at the curb when Republicans in Iowa went out to vote in the country’s first 2012 presidential caucus. The voting at homes, schools and churches followed what seemed like dozens of debates between this year’s crop of GOP contenders.
The sifting and winnowing process has now begun — by the media, I mean.
Certainly not by the voters, since 122,255 showed up in Iowa and 248,485 turned out in New Hampshire. That’s a total of 370,740 people. Doing a little scrap paper calculation, if roughly 55.4 million Republicans voted in 2004 (39 percent of the vote total), that 370,740 represents about .67 percent of the party.
Nevertheless, New Hampshire hadn’t even finished the country’s first primary before newspapers, blogs and TV commentators were throwing around words like “inevitability” and declaring that Mitt Romney was “too far ahead to catch.”
Used to be, poiltical parties let the people have a little input before the coronation. Heck, if for no other reason, just to make it look good, like folks actually had a say. It’s still the middle of January, and the only thing left is to print the bumper stickers.
Think this is what the Framers had in mind?
Photo: DonkeyHotey/ Wikimedia Commons
