While various US governments continue to waste unimaginable sums of public money on pointless climate schemes, real problems ranging from third world poverty in Alabama to an explosion of the skid row population of Los Angeles are being allowed to fester.
Human Intestinal Parasite Burden and Poor Sanitation in Rural Alabama
Hookworm infection affects 430 million people worldwide, causing iron deficiency, impaired cognitive development, and stunting in children. Because of the environmental conditions needed for the hookworm life-cycle, this parasite is endemic to resource-limited countries. Necator americanus was endemic in the southern United States before improvement of sewage disposal systems and eradication programs. With continued poverty, poor sanitation, and an environment suitable for the hookworm life-cycle in some regions of the southern United States, a current prevalence study using modern molecular diagnostics is warranted. Lowndes County, Alabama, was chosen as the study site given previous high hookworm burdens, degree of poverty, and use of open-sewage systems. Participants were interviewed, and stool, serum, and soil samples were tested for nine intestinal parasites using a multiparallel quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays . We found that, among 24 households, 42.4% reported exposure to raw sewage within their home, and from 55 stool samples, 19 (34.5%) tested positive for N. americanus, four (7.3%) for Strongyloides stercoralis, and one (1.8%) for Entamoeba histolytica. Stool tested positive for N. americanus contained low levels of parasite DNA (geometric mean 0.0302 fg/µL). Soil studies detected one (2.9%) Cryptosporidium species, and Toxocara serology assay detected one (5.2%) positive in this population. Individuals living in this high-risk environment within the United States continue to have stool samples positive for N. americanus. Gastrointestinal parasites known to be endemic to developing countries are identifiable in American poverty regions, and areas with lower disease burden are more likely to be identified by using qPCR.
© The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Read more: http://www.ajtmh.org/content/journals/10.4269/ajtmh.17-0396
People with untreated hookworm are stuck in a poverty trap which is difficult to escape. Hookworm is a pernicious parasite which saps the strength of the infected. Why don’t the people afflicted by this horror fix their own sewage systems? Perhaps they don’t have the strength to lift a shovel.
Alabama is not alone ignoring extreme poverty and deprivation. The population of the Los Angeles Skid Row is exploding. While a lot of people on Skid Row are obviously there because they are hopelessly addicted to various drugs, some of them are there simply because they can’t afford soaring rental costs.
Los Angeles’ homeless crisis goes from bad to worse
By Peter Bowes
BBC News, Los Angeles
19 July 2017
Los Angeles’ entertainment industry nurtures the city’s dreamy La La Land image. But while Hollywood laps up the attention, there is a growing crisis in the land of make-believe – a soaring increase in the number of homeless people living on its streets.
Homelessness in Los Angeles County soared by 23% in the past year and it shows. The problem has become tangible and inescapable, with makeshift tent encampments cropping up across the sprawling metropolis.
Tourists are shocked to find themselves stepping over people draped in filthy blankets and begging on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. Shop owners routinely swill the pavements to wash away urine and the accompanying stench.
“For the 31 years that I’ve been involved with homelessness… it has gotten worse far worse than I’ve ever seen before,” says Ted Hayes, a long-time activist.
Hayes says gentrification of the downtown area has begun to scatter a previously concentrated homeless population across the city.
The yearly homeless count in Los Angeles County rose to 58,000 in 2017, up from 46,874 in 2016.
…
Morrison believes the problem has worsened because of combination of factors, with rising housing costs in the city at the top of that list.
“The cost of housing is far outpacing the increase in incomes.”
…
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40635756
Its not just the people at the bottom of the heap, the newly homeless, who are feeling the pinch. The tightening of Californian residents’ budgets is also being felt by organisations trying to help the homeless in Los Angeles.
Skid Row Mission May Have to Cut Services Amid Donation Drop
By Eddie Kim Aug 21, 2017
DTLA – Amid the county’s worsening homelessness crisis, Skid Row’s largest homeless shelter saw a 55% increase in people served last year, according to Rev. Andy Bales, head of the Union Rescue Mission at 545 S. San Pedro St.
Bales is proud that URM has been able to “step up” and accommodate more homeless people than ever before. He noted that the mission, founded in 1891, has not turned away single women and families with children.
That may change, as URM is facing a dire financial challenge.
The URM, which relies on philanthropic dollars and does not use government funds, saw its charitable giving plummet 23% in the fiscal year that ended in June. The challenge is worse than what URM faced during the Great Recession, Bales said.
“In 2010, we had 450 families come through. Last fiscal year, we had 1,110 families seeking help. I always give tours of our ‘hall of history’ to newcomers, and I’ve long explained that 2010 was the worst year for us,” Bales said. “Now I have to say 2016-17 has by far been the most challenging year in our existence.”
…
What has all this got to do with climate waste?
California’s push for 100% renewables is a major factor driving up the cost of living. Poor people spend around 40% of their income on energy. Anything which drives up the cost of energy is a big deal. A high energy bill can make the difference between being able to pay the rent, or being evicted onto the street.
California energy dreaming costs consumers billions
By Dan McSwain
September 19 2015
I have a friend who periodically gets into trouble. Whenever we review the history of an episode, his explanation is always the same: “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Such hindsight leaps to mind as California lawmakers once again overhaul the state’s electricity industry. History suggests that consumers will pay dearly to see how this movie ends, regardless of whether the result justifies the price of admission.
Federal data indicates Californians paid $171 billion in higher costs for power over the last 20 years, compared to the national average. For perspective, this works out to roughly $12,300 per household, but bear in mind the total includes residential, industrial, commercial and government usage.
Those two decades included the 1996 partial deregulation, resulting power crisis and partial re-regulation in 2001, followed by a historic plunge into green energy that began in 2006.
Each policy seemed like a good idea at the time, to somebody.
…
Alabama is also getting in on the climate act. Alabama have not reached the levels of climate lunacy championed by California, they are commonly described as a laggard when it comes to climate, but last year Alabama Power joined the renewable race – they issued a request for tenders for 500Mw of new renewable energy schemes.
Do climate policies exacerbate poverty, homelessness and despair? I would argue there is a direct connection.
Several studies have highlighted the connection between subsidised green jobs and job losses in the real economy. This is particularly apparent in European countries like Spain, which travelled further down the road of renewable economic self immolation than most other countries.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: LESSONS FROM THE SPANISH RENEWABLES BUBBLE
…
8. The study calculates that the programs creating those jobs also resulted in the destruction of nearly 110,500 jobs elsewhere in the economy, or 2.2 jobs destroyed for every “green job” created.
…
Nobody forces drug addicts on skid row to try their first crack pipe or heroin syringe. Perhaps the desperately poor Alabamans living in almost unimaginably squalid conditions haven’t exhausted every option for improving their own lives.
But its difficult to imagine a worse economic crime against vulnerable people than to drain money out of the real economy, and waste that desperately needed public cash on well connected political cronies and useless green energy schemes.
If California had wasted less money on renewables, some of those young people surging onto the streets of Los Angeles skid row would not have lost their jobs, or might have had work opportunities which in our green policy blighted world never eventuated. Some of them might have been saved from the spiral of hopelessness and despair which led them to utter ruin.
If Alabama has millions of dollars to spare, instead of wasting it on green schemes, they should be spending it helping desperately poor people in Lowndes County contain their debilitating hookworm infestation, to help restore their health to the point that they can help themselves.
I’m not suggesting all social problems would be magically cured if climate expenditure was eliminated. But there is no doubt that wasting huge sums on climate boondoggles, driving up prices for businesses and ordinary consumers, is making things worse.
History will judge politicians whose useless climate policies exacerbated the misery of their poorest and most vulnerable.
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Does anyone really think that money saved from not investing in adaptions to climate change would be spent on alleviating poverty in the US? Really?
If so I have some great magic beans for sale. pricey, but hey, you never know !
Anything that shrinks government spending helps to alleviate poverty.
Not the point is it? The question is, why do the greens keep advocating doing things which on their own account do not help solve the problem, while refusing to advocate things which, on their own account, are both essential and effective for solving it?
This is the hard question you have to answer. And its why I conclude that no-one, especially not the Chinese and our own home grown zealots, actually believes in global warming.
if they really did, they would be behaving completely differently.
As the US economy becomes less free-market oriented and more government controlled, poverty levels will continue to increase, standards of living will fall, and 3rd-World diseases like intestinal parasites will increase.
The US government currently imposes $2 trillion/year in regulatory compliance costs on the private sector, while state, local and federal spending now devour over 40% of GDP.
Rather than cutting profligate government spending, political hacks fund gigantic annual defiicits with printed money and additional unsustainable debt (currently at $20 TRILLION and growing rapidly).
Exessive money printing and excessive debt devalues the US$, which further erodes purchasing power, even with many Americans working 2 jobs just to keep food on the table.
Open-border immigration policies have also added 30 million illegal aliens to the workforce, which has eroded wages and greatly increased welfare, healthcare and public school expenditures.
Trump has so far done little to address these fundamental issues, although Ryan and McConnell’s terrible leadership share responsibility for this lack of progress.
Trump is now reneging on almost all his campaign promises and tacking Left to “get things done.”…Not good…
The headline to this WUWT post is another example of what a group of European researchers found when they went looking for a link if any between renewable energy and the economic health of nation.
Study suggests choice between green energy or economic growth
https://phys.org/news/2017-02-choice-green-energy-economic-growth.html
Quoted;
Poverty, unemployment and zero economic growth are the likely outcome for countries which choose renewable energy sources over fossil fuels, according to a study.
Energy from fossil fuels appears to ignite economies into greater and more sustained growth, whereas energy from wind and solar power not only fails to enhance or promote economic growth, it actually causes economies to flat-line.
The results, from an in-depth study of more than 100 countries over 40 years, pose a serious ethical dilemma, according to the lead author, economist Dr Nikolaos Antonakakis, Visiting Fellow at the University of Portsmouth Business School and Associate Professor at Webster Vienna University.
&
Dr Antonakakis and co-authors, Dr Ioannis Chatziantoniou, at the University of Portsmouth, and Dr George Filis, at Bournemouth University, set out to study whether environmentally friendly forms of energy consumption were more likely to enhance economic growth.
In the light of recent policies designed to promote the use of green energy, including tax credits for the production of renewable energy and reimbursements for the installation of renewable energy systems, the authors predicted that environmentally friendly forms of energy consumption would enhance economic growth.
Dr Antonakakis said: “It turned out not to be the case.”
&
The researchers gathered data on gross domestic product (GDP), CO2 emissions and total and disaggregated energy consumption for 106 countries from 1971-2011.
The results were the same across all countries, from rich to poor.
Dr Chatziantoniou said: “It’s a very thought-provoking result and could, in a roundabout way, help explain why no country or state has yet managed to fully convert to renewable energy.
“It could also be that we have not yet learned how to fully exploit the benefits of renewable energy – we don’t yet have the level of know-how.”
Of the countries studied, not one showed good economic growth while promoting and investing in renewable energy.
I’m gonna be the Devil’s Avocado here..
On 2 points.
OK.
Avert your eyes now if you think they may be offended.
1. Is this post not just maybe perhaps possibly a little bit on the “well-intentioned, finger-wagging, I’m here to help, Oh look at me how good my life is, what is wrong with you people” sort of side of things?
You know. Like missionaries going into jungles to find ‘Lost Tribes’ and give them religion and civilisation.
They all worked a real treat eh not?
Because along with religion came syphilis, influenza, alcohol, guns and drugs – the worst of the drugs being of course sugar.
To add insult, the ones who somehow manage to survive these lovely new gifts, find themselves shuffled off into some dreadful ‘reservation’. Possibly a pile of rapidly eroding sand, in the ocean somewhere off the arse-end of Alaska. Where they have nothing to do but get fat, drunk & stupid while soaking up trash TV
and being gawped at by ‘tourists’
2. Actually really point 1.1 but – how about a bit of Empathy? NOT to be confused with Sympathy.
Use empathy to understand these ‘poor’ folks because otherwise you are making an epic judgement of how superior you consider yourself to be.
It might just happen, as if it wasn’t obvious in a way and the folks won’t admit it to their ‘superiors’ that the poor folks may actually be happy in their mess/slum.
[As an slight aside, what about some actual pictures/proof of these ‘open sewers’ that really is getting a bit fantastic. So someone once found a turd in the park……]
Worms. It is of course entirely obvious that everyone, from age 4(?) when they start school, immediately take on the subject of quantum mechanics, especially to do with the radiative transfer of heat through various mixtures of gases. and come away with a full and thorough understanding of their subject
Why don’t they learn about keeping a pet cat or dog and how to look after it – also maybe something on how to maintain themselves? Of course parents are far too busy to do that, being engrossed in the study of quantum mechanical heat processes and showing off how clever they are on titter and facebork.
They will/would learn that stuff that de-worms cats and dogs is exactly the same as what would de-worm humans. Then of course and being the accused, tried, convicted & fully registered low-lifes that they are, they could simply shop-lift the stuff from stores anywhere/everywhere nationwide – thereby fixing their ‘worm’ problem.
Hey, they may reform a little and actually use money to buy the stuff – if they knew or were ever told.
(Doesn’t ‘being superior’ make you feel good?)
I’m watching the dossers I see near the carpark I visit in Worksop.
They’ve always got presentable clothes, new trainers and the girls have bags of ‘stuff’ to carry around. From the litter they drop they have plenty cigarettes (UK Duty paid, not nasty cheap & illegal French rubbish from Calais) plus epic amounts of 8% ABV beer/lager to drink.
They have their ‘Hub’ (near the car-park) to visit. What they get there I have no idea but its patently doing increasing numbers of them no harm whatsoever.
They have chosen a life entirely free from responsibility. They have escaped nag nag want want of wives, bosses, bureaucrats, meter-maids, children, lawyers etc etc and they have ‘The Hub’ to look after them. Presumably it sorts out their their social security money and gets them ‘everything they are due’
Their only actual concern is choosing which brand of cigarettes to ‘acquire’ and which flavour of strong beer to drink.
Take a second to think – is their life really all that bad?
There are several European countries politicians also trying to win the climateidiot gold Cup!
Thank you Eric Worrall for a worthwhile article about the squandering of scarce global resources on the frivolous pet projects of foolish politicians, while far greater problems are ignored.
I just posted the following (excerpted) on another thread, and it seems relevant here as well:
It IS frustrating to see politicians make really foolish decisions about energy. Most politicians are far too uneducated to even opine on the subject, let alone formulate energy policy. For example, it was obvious from the start that hydrogen-as-fuel was a dead end, because of very low energy density. Corn ethanol is also a poor and destructive idea, as are most food-to-fuel schemes, which have contributed to excessive drawdown of the Ogalalla Aquifer in the USA and widespread rainforest clearcutting in the tropics.
In general, green energy policies have been a costly disaster for society, causing great environmental damage, increasing energy cost and reducing grid reliability. This damage has been high in the developed world but even higher in the developing world, where green energy nonsense has denied struggling populations with cheap, abundant energy systems.
Fossil fuels comprise about 85% of global primary energy, whereas green energy provides less than 2%, despite trillions of dollars in squandered subsidies. Imagine how much better the world’s poor would be if these vast sums had been spent intelligently on clean water, sanitation and efficient energy systems.
Cheap, abundant reliable energy is the lifeblood of society – it IS that simple. When politicians fool with energy policy, real people suffer and die. That is the tragic legacy of global warming alarmism.
Best regards, Allan MacRae, P.Eng.
All true. But we should have had thorium nuclear power using molten salt as a coolant and invested in it instead of the fossil fuel industry. Investing in the fossil fuel industry has been one of the top reasons we are in so many wars — mostly wars for oil and religion. And when you add the cost of wars to fossil fuels, they are not particularly cheap at all.
Nuclear power is a million times and energy dense and a carbon-hydrogen bond. The people who complain about renewables not being energy dense need to look in the mirror when making the energy density argument.
David:G MIlls
1. On “thorium nuclear power using molten salt as a coolant”:
It sounds like your proposed technology is almost ready for piloting, but not for commercial use.
http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/molten-salt-reactors.aspx
Hence, you argument seems to rest on the concept “If frogs had wings, they would not have to bump around on their asses”.
2. On wars for oil:
It is true that oil is too often produced in countries that are kleptocracies, governed by criminals. This merely reflects how valuable oil truly is, and how the lure of greed can result in countries that are run by criminal dictators, who fleece their treasuries and move large funds to personal accounts in foreign bank-havens. But when you look closer, you will discover that about 90% of the more than 200 countries in the world have no real rule-of-law, and are often governed by criminals. The countries that are oil-rich are simply more obvious than the rest.
3. More on wars:
Afghanistan is not oil-rich, Iraq is – so the claim that oil spawns wars is a bit weak. The US-led 2nd war in Iraq has proven to be a debacle, that simply served to replace one brutal dictator (Saddam) with something much worse (ISIS and chronic instability). That is too often the result one can expect. We were in Tunisia during the “hot war” next door in Libya, and the optimism of “Arab Spring” still prevailed. I tried to explain to some of my Arab friends that “just because you throw out a bad leader does not mean you will get somebody better – you may very well get somebody worse.” Sadly, the legacy of “Arab Spring” can be summarized in those words.
Regards, Allan
Nobody invested in the fossil fuel industry.
It developed because it was the best form of power available.
Added the last sentence re wind and solar power:
It IS frustrating to see politicians make really foolish decisions about energy. Most politicians are far too uneducated to even opine on the subject, let alone formulate energy policy. For example, it was obvious from the start that hydrogen-as-fuel was a dead end, because of very low energy density. Corn ethanol is also a poor and destructive idea, as are most food-to-fuel schemes, which have contributed to excessive drawdown of the Ogalalla Aquifer in the USA and widespread rainforest clearcutting in the tropics. It was also obvious that grid-connected wind and solar power schemes were costly and ineffective, primarily due to intermittency.
There is very little “extreme poverty” in the US.
1996 was not partial-deregulation, it was a poorly thought out change in regulations.
I have an honest question. Let’s grant wind has a hidden cost of 2cents/kWh. If the cost were more than this then wind would not be built since it would not be competitive. On ERCOT wind is now up to 17% of the annual production. Yet as a state Texas has middle cost electricity, even while expanding the transmission grid to include massive amounts of wind. Let’s consider the tax benefit as reducing the cost of electricity by 2 cents for the 17% that is wind – 0.34 cents per kWh. Not nothing, but not the difference between ERCOT and PJM. It seems like the price difference between regions is less driven by fuel source and more by other costs. Does anyone know why Texas can incorporate more wind than California (on both an absolute and percentage basis) without skyrocketing prices, and without the instability seen in South Australia?
And they are still adding more wind. If wind grows by another 7 points it will likely be a larger electric source than coal. Granted, my particular opinion is that it will be difficult to put meet more than ~25% of grid demand from wind, but it seems like ERCOT will hit that ceiling without the catastrophic consequences seen in other regions.
‘Does anyone know why Texas can incorporate more wind than California’
Of course I can only answer a small portion of your question, but at a guess I would say one reason they are able to incorporate more wind is because the state is FLAT.
Yes, I can answer the question. Texas started out with a very modest mandate for wind as under Governor Bush as a compromise to get new coal and gas plants that were desperately needed.
This demonstrated the economics of wind power in the mix with natural gas that can be sold to other states.
Texas also has a large wind resource. Texas is also business friendly and energy savvy. It is easier to get through the regulatory process to get power projects built.
chadb wrote: “Let’s grant wind has a hidden cost of 2cents/kWh.”
How about “Let’s grant wind has a hidden cost of 20 cents/kWh?”.
At this time, 86% of global primary energy is from fossil fuels, and the remaining 14% is mostly hydro and nuclear – solar and wind power account for less than 2%, and would be near-zero if they were not forced into the grid ahead of much cheaper, reliable dispatchable power.
Sooner or later there will be better energy systems, but first we have to reverse the lunacy of forcing non-dispatchable wind and solar power into the grid ahead of reliable, dispatchable cheap energy. This idiotic practice should stop now, because it is utterly imbecilic and counter-productive.
All it does is drive up energy costs and reduce the reliability of the grid. It does nothing to reduce CO2 emissions, which, btw, do NOT cause dangerous global warming.
Regards, Allan
Remember to use the new standard metric of policy cost from CBO that this cost X is equivalent to Y million families losing health insurance.
The problem of poverty is also exacerbated by another government idiocy called The Minimum Wage.
+100
The other unfunded mandate…with passion.
don’t you mean alleviated?
It’s easier to fight imaginary problems than real ones. There are no easy answers. Solutions to real problems come with costs and consequences. It’s easier to tilt at windmills than alienate one group or another. Few politicians are willing to make the hard choices.
In the private sector, many charities are little more than money laundering schemes, and only a small fraction of the money ends up being spent on those in need.
Say, nick, why the focus on Alabama? The massive increase in street people in California doesn’t mean anything to you? You know, the one state in the Union that is going all-out on climate change? The liberal-run state?
I’ve worked with some of the poorest school systems in some of the poorest counties in the South, and through Federal programs, they have excellent network connectivity and network facilitating technology. Why? Because engaged people took the time to understand the Federal program and take the steps necessary to obtain the funding and implement the technology in the schools. This is why I find it very hard to believe there is no local/state/federal program available to alleviate the sewage issues in those areas in Alabama.
It’s either blatant stupidity, gross negligence or outright corruption, or, all the above.
I have tried to engage warmist propagandists on energy poverty, but they just continue to spout the company line that it just needs more time and of course more (taxpayer) money.
In the UK, with its different approach on social issues, social housing is increasingly being provided with solar panels, which reduces electricity bills.
“US Military personnel are currently deployed in 177 different countries around the world, ……”
I picked this quote as an example of how some try to further their agenda.
It is the long list tactic!
I start by examining one claim. Of course we have military personnel in many countries because we embassies in many countries with marine guards.
I opened the link to find out how many countries where there is a significant military presence. Only 20, one of those was Guam, a US territory. Another was Cuba. We have a navy base there. Been there several times. The navy trains there because it is a convenient location.
The point is that I did not have a problems with where deployed our troops and concluded the sources was very biased.
How would I know? I was in the navy for 10 years. Having a few diesel subs is a very cheap way to create havoc on world peace. However, effective anti-submarine warfare is very expensive.
I was never poor, we just did not have very much money. I mowed lawns, raked leaves, shoveled snow, and pumped gas among other things. I joined the navy to get an education. The navy spent a lot of money teaching me to operate nuclear reactors, fight shipboard fires, and give first aid among other things.
The issue of not have very much money end with my first paycheck in civilian life and I have been paying tax ever since.
Yesterday, I open two videos that discussed corruption in government. One discussed the role of government in low fat diets. I watched the whole thing because it was informative and supported claims. I am not going to stop taking medicine reduce my cholesterol until I discuss it with my doctor.
The second was the ex-CIA loon. After 15 minutes of over the top claims without supporting evidence, I stop listening. I also looked at their web site. 100% junk science and conspiracy theories.
The point here isn’t that our government can not be wrong but what is useful in our lives to make changes.
“Human Intestinal Parasite Burden” – Hey, that’s the copyrighted name of my death metal band.