The Cost of Human Rights

Jeff Robertson / AP To those who have been paying attention, this summer has been an example of the weather extremes that we are and will continue to experience in the face of climate change. I have mentioned in previous posts about the extreme flooding that many nations have been facing, which has imposed major health concerns on the people living in those areas. In particular, it has been affecting the less economically stable communities as they have less access to health care and other resources to help them in these times of emergency. On the other end of this spectrum of impacts of climate change, other areas of the world are facing major droughts, which is yet another way that people’s health is being threatened. One area that is facing a drought is in the Mississippi river in the United States. The Mississippi river is a major water system in the United States and over a third of rainwater in the US ends up in the Mississippi River. Drought in the Upper Mississippi basins has c...

Photo via Associated Press A trend that I wouldn't have predicted when starting this blog, appears to be emerging. Yet another nation is dealing with the consequences of climate change in terms of floods. Nigeria is following in the footsteps of Pakistan, Italy, Puerto Rico, and areas of the United States among other nations across the world. Nigeria is prone to minor flooding on an annual basis but this year the flooding has greatly exceeded that with some of the worst flooding seen in decades. The flooding which began earlier this month hasn killed at least 603, injured more than 2,400, and displaced more than 1.4 million people according to an article by the New York Times. Furthermore, 27 of Nigeria's 36 states have been affected, and approximately 200,000 homes have been partly or completely destroyed in addition to the destruction of farmlands and other infrastructure. The economy depends a large amount on agriculture so the flooding and destruction of agricultural zones ...

Reduce, reuse, and recycle is the phrase that is ingrained into people when it comes to the use of plastics, but how effective this really is. Recycling is marketed as being one of the best ways to combat uses of plastic but it may just be more of an empty excuse. The United States and the UK are the largest users of plastic in the world but how much of their plastic are they really recycling? In the United States reports in 2018 and 2019 were coming out with numbers saying that around 9% of plastic waste was being recycled. This means that the other 91% was ending up in landfills, the ocean, and even other countries. This already low percentage was accused of over-predicting the amount of plastic we recycle here in the United States. Another study done in 2021 by the organization's Last Beach Cleanup and Beyond Plastics found that 5% of plastics are getting recycled in the US. The problem with plastic is that every single part of the lifecycle of plastic is harmful to not only the...

Jackson, MS Skyline with flooding Pearl River in the foreground in August 2022 | Photo from Shutterstock In the Beginning of September, Jackson Mississippi was hit with heavy rainfall which caused the Pearl River to flood. A major water pump at Jackson’s main water treatment facility was damaged by the flood. This came after a 30 day “boil water” advisory which was put in effect for over 180,000 residents has become common occurrence. The failure of this pump led to citizens of Jackson to be left with the choice of either buying bottled water or drinking their contaminated tap water. For many residents the tap water coming out appeared brown and had a smell of sewage. One mother named Carey Wooten, who was interviewed by PBS for an article about this crisis stated, “the water that’s coming out of my kitchen sink smells like fresh sewage… As soon as you turn it on, it hits you right in the face. It’s horrible”. On September 15 the boil water advisory had been lifted but the concerns of...