Zika, a mosquito-born illness known to cause birth defects, has spread throughout two dozen countries in S.America. Experts say that climate change is playing a role in the spread of the disease. Increased rainfall, in part due to El Niño, a cyclical weather change event, has created a greater breeding ground for Mosquitos and increased heat has both allowed mosquitos to thrive and put more people outside to get the virus.
This Environmental Health Article explains the problem further.
I am personally concerned because I have a trip set up to go to Ecuador for Spring Break and again was hoping to work there this summer. This kind of illness is not something to kid around with and definitely making me reconsider my trips.
But honestly the other side of the coin is that experts anticipate these kinds of mosquito-born illnesses to increase in the future due to climate change, so do I sit this trip out in hopes that these diseases will seize soon or do I confront the reality that very soon these kind of incidences aren't going to be just something I "wait out?"
And even that luxury of choosing not to go to disease-ridden areas will soon not be an option. Why? Because diseases are coming here. Here is a picture of a child from Texas who recently returned from South America and reported to bring back with him the Zika virus.
And this disease will affect not only the health of many, but also hurt many other sectors. Increased taxes for the average person to cover the additional health care expenses needed to deal with these problems, and strangled tourism economies just to name a few.
Signs of global warming are popping up again and again- it's time we take more concrete steps to deal with this serious threat.
Researchers at Wash State University found in a recent study that flame retardant chemicals are escaping at a higher level than originally thought, according to a on Environmental Health News article These flame retardants, backed by the American Chemistry Council, are found in polyurethane foam (which is found in things ranging from furniture, children’s care seats, baby products). These compounds, specifically organophosphate flame retardants, replaced PBDEs due to found health risks; however, the flame retardants have been shown to pose their own serious health risks. Some studies show these flame retardants are linked to cancer and reproductive problems and hormone development. Two of which have been identified by California as carcinogens, and Washington State is introducing a new ban in their House and Senate to limit 5 flame retardants from furniture and children's toys.
Strikingly, these flame retardants could pose more damage than aid to the firefighters. Because of the "toxic soup" that develops as these chemicals are burned, female fire fighters between the ages of 40-50 years old have been shown to have breast cancer rates six times that of the national average.
One of the things I find most fascinating about this whole problem, is the idea of replacement. PBDEs were found to be harmful, but they were replaced by toxic flame retardants. Now in Washington they say with this new legislation comes a commitment to “set up a system to make sure new replacements are safe.” I think this process will be interesting. We see this replacement of something bad by something worse in the case of water bottles and all sorts of products- reminding the public to stay skeptical.
I first heard about this flame retardant issue when watching the documentary “Toxic Hot Seat” . I recommend everyone check out the trailer on the site. It was a wake up call to me that we need to think about the products we use every day.
I still have some questions though. How do we know that these flame retardants are the reason that female fire fighters have higher rates of breast cancer? They are breathing in different chemicals and smoke all the time. And just how disruptive are the flame retardants to our development and hormone development. Does the fire reduction outweigh the risk of cancer?
Sick and tired
of hearing that ‘nobody listens to youth,’ or ‘one person can’t make a
difference’?
If so, it is
time for a trip to an international environmental conference. This past
December, I attended the Paris Climate Talks or COP21. There, youth were some
of the first to arrive and last to leave- never ceasing to demand serious
climate action.
Nearly 5,000
youth arrived in France a week before official negotiations for the Conference
of Youth, a meeting organized by youth organizations around the globe. Here people
learned about the climate agreement and methods to take action.
This momentum
led into the two weeks of official climate talks. Youth groups demanded strict
government regulations to reduce the blow of climate change- recommending
actions like sharp cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, a temperature increase restricted
to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century, and decisions that consider both
people today and those of the future.
There is a youth
non-governmental organization, YOUNGO, which was formed six years ago to give
youth a larger stake in the process. There are two members of YOUNGO who are
allowed to communicate information out to the government officials. However
both young and civil society groups are in the clear minority in the rooms
where negotiations took place.
According to a
member of the Sierra Student Coalition, Katie Gibson, only nine badges were permitted
to the 70 incredibly well-informed members of the Sierra Club attending the
conference. Youth, who made up about a quarter of the 70 members, were lucky to
share two of the nine badges. But even with two badges, students in the coalition
made it work switching up who received the prized badge every couple of days.
And whoever went into the conference room that day tracked down negotiators,
trying to get their ear and persuade them to support strong climate
legislation. They were strong, persistent and when push came to shove, feisty.
“These are not
things that I was not involved in creating so we have to leverage the space in
a way that we are heard and understood and we are going to hold [government
leaders] accountable. So that is why we are [here]. And we will continue to do
this no matter what,” Gibson said.
With lack of
accessibility into the negotiating room, youth found other ways to get their
voices heard. Dyanna Jaye and Timothy Damon, leaders of SustainUS, a U.S. youth
environmental advocacy group, said they generated attention around these issues
through measures like demonstrations and social media.
"[Youth] are really calling countries to
task," Damon said.
One of
SustainUS’s primary goals is to decarbonize the global economy by 2050. This
would require equal amounts of “carbon sinks” or places to absorb carbon like
oceans and forests as the amount of emission outputs. To demonstrate this
concept, youth drew an “O” around their right eye to represent zero-net emissions
by 2050.
Youth were
instrumental in some of the largest demonstrations reminding political leaders
that they were in Paris, and demanding action.Actions included the placement of 10,000 pairs of shoes in a Paris
square (representing the number of people ready to march for climate action and
social justice), to “fracktivist” rallies where youth demanded that “oil stay
in the soil.”
And the noise
didn’t stop in person. Hundreds of thousands of videos, podcasts, tweets and
posts flowed out of the mouths of protestors onto the walls of social media.
And the pinging
of the phone followed me back to the youth hostel where I was staying. Youth from
around the world ended up sharing bunk beds and stories. The girl who lay in
the bed next to me was from India and the boy in the bunk above me had be
displaced from his home in Alaska due to rising sea levels. We talked about the
environmental challenges in our own communities and shared solutions for the
future. These conversations only began in the negotiation rooms and continued
throughout the night, until the light shinning through the windows reminded us
that it was morning.
Jaye explained
one of the most important roles of youth: their “international identity.”
Negotiators put their domestic concerns as number one, which can prevent
necessary global action, she said. But youth, she added, stick with the big
picture. Damon agrees.
"There is a
generational identity taking priority over national identity," Damon said.
Damon acknowledges
flaws in youth activism like a high turnover rate of students since nobody is
paid for their work. Also, there was a clear majority of youth from the Global
North, where the conference was held. Regardless of the flaws, he agreed with
Jaye that the role of youth is fundamental. He recalled specific examples. In
this year’s text, he worked with the Guatemalan negotiator to include the
importance of “intergenerational equality concerns” in the preamble of the
agreement. Other youth contributed to an “environmental education” component of
the agreement.
And even when youth
were quiet, their presence had an impact. During climate talks in Warsaw in
2013, Damon recalled that the youth put black tape over their mouths to
represent their lack of representation at the table. As negotiators left the
meeting, he remembers them coming over to the youth to ask about their
concerns.
Youth are not only
active at the conference, but also when they come home.
"While youth bring an international
perspective, they are still domestic actors," Damon said.
As domestic
actors, youth can take what they learned from all of their experiences ranging
from late night talks with the students sleeping in the bunk above them to the
message of a girl speaking up at a rally.
I, for one, look
forward to bringing those lessons home.
Students represent what they believe is the relationship between
the oil industry and the public.
