E. A. Crunden at Think Progress writes—Detroit activists want a state of emergency declared over water shutoffs:
Activists are calling for officials to declare a state of emergency in Detroit following the release of a study connecting water shutoffs throughout the city to an uptick in illnesses.
Community organizers in Detroit brought experts together on Wednesday to discuss the research on a panel, while asserting that city health officials have not done enough to address the problem.
“Water-related diseases are now occurring in Detroit as the result of water shutoffs,” said Dr. Wendy Johnson, a clinical assistant professor at the University of Washington, according to Detroit News. “Access to clean and safe water is a basic human right that is essential from a public health standpoint to prevent infectious diseases. We have run out of time and solutions must be immediate.”
In a two-page abstract released in April by the People’s Water Board Coalition, researchers from Henry Ford’s Global Health Initiative (GHI) inspected the correlation between Detroit’s ongoing shutoffs and the health problems experienced by patients at the city’s Henry Ford Hospital. Analyzing patients living on blocks where water shutoffs occurred between January 2015 and February 2016, researchers noted a relationship forming — one that disproportionately impacted the city’s most vulnerable members.
“After accounting for vulnerability, the effect of living on a block that has been affected by shutoffs results in increased likelihood that patients will be diagnosed with water-associated illness,” researchers concluded. “Moreover, the data shows that patients diagnosed with water-associated illnesses are more likely to come from blocks affected by shutoffs than from blocks not affected by shutoffs, even when controlling for socioeconomic status.”[...]
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2007—Global Warming: Seven Generations, not Seven Years:
We live in a "time of consequences." We, as individuals and collectively, are setting the path which will determine the living conditions for millenia to come. This time of consequences is both long term and quite immediate.
This is true for the individual. Do you invest in an energy efficient future life? Will you unplug the computer before going to sleep?
And, it is true for society. What is the transportation infrastructure we want 30 years from now? And, what is the legislation that will emerge in coming weeks and months related to energy, farming, and Global Warming?
We live in a Time of Consequences. And, we can chose to live through this time, buffeted by the consequences, or we can seek to act to drive change in a positive direction.
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