In this study conducted by students at Harvard's Medical Research Center, the costs of coal are beginning to be calculated, and alarm is being raised in several different areas. As we have discussed in class, it is usually extremely difficult to measure the public health impact of many different issues because they occur on such large scales and from such a variety of mediums that it is very difficult to create a narrow and specific enough study to attain data that is needed. However, these students at Harvard succeeded in mapping the financial impacts that coal use is having on the health of mining communities, as well to our national funding.
It was seen that in mining communities like Appalachia, there is a severe amount of premature deaths that occur due to coal mining, and this literally costs the economies in the area about 74.6 billion dollars a year. And this figure only accounts for the losses associated with deaths. Costs in total, including injury, in the most conservative estimate presents as 175 billion dollars a year nationally. At this, 80 percent of these costs were related to well documented and understood issues in health, such as lung and heart disease.
Dr. Paul Epstein of Harvard Medical school is also greatly concerned with the impacts that coal mining is having on cancer rates in mining areas. “Part of the epidemic of cancer can be attributable to some of these carcinogens that we’re pouring into the groundwater from extracting fossil fuels,” he said.
The effects that the entire life cycle of coal, all the way from extraction to combustion, accosts for one third to over a half trillion dollars every single year. The argument that the Harvard Medical Students make is that the research dedicated to non-fossil fuel energy sources is actually economically competitive with our continuation of using resources like coal, besides the fact that it is more favorable for our outlook into the future.
The public health issues that this raises are, how can we as proponents of public health express the urgency of these type of things that cannot be necessarily directly seen and understood by officials in areas of government or simply people that reside in the areas affected by the coal mining? For example, all of the carcinogens and other hazardous materials that are added to the groundwater supply due to this trend has extremely serious impacts on both the environment and the health of individuals. The first step was conducting this study and making the numbers very visible for all to see. However, the next step is helping people to understand what these numbers mean and finding a way to put our urgency of concern into sincere action.
I really like the way the Harvard group attempts to calculate all of the costs of the coal mining business on all parties affected. A total cost calculation is the only way that a good decision can be made concerning matters like this. I wonder how this study can serve as a model for studies on other important issues facing our country. One issue that seems connected and very current is the offshore oil drilling question that lead to the tragic oil spill this summer. Do the profits of the business outweigh the costs of the tourism and wildlife lost? It would be reasonable to take this survey and expand it into the oil spill area, but I hope it can be used for other areas, as well.
ReplyDeleteI found this article really interesting to read. Recently, I have been taking a lot of interest in the Appalachia area. For spring break, I am headed to Kermit, West Virginia for a service project. Just today I was reading through some articles, attempting to gain some knowledge about the area. I came across an article that reflects on the dangers of mountaintop removal mining, which is a particularly destructive form of surface mining. The article I read talked about all of these same health issues that arise in the coal-mining towns. I totally agree that these numbers are hard to come about, but I also believe that these statistics are necessary to begin to prove the severity of this issue to the public.
ReplyDeleteThese coal-mining towns, as mentioned in this article, are exposed to higher death and injury rates as well as to chemicals that advance sickness. These numbers alone are heartbreaking, but I think that the problem with promoting aid for this region is that so much of the disaster can not be calculated by death statistics. In the other article I was reading, they mentioned many other problems in these Appalachia region. For example, there is an increase in drug use and violence largely due to lack of employment opportunities. There was also a large amount of displacement from homes with little compensation, causing an increase in homelessness and poverty. Overall, this area is in bad shape. It is great that studies such as this one are able to be completed and are beginning to statistically show the need for aid. However, we must also remember that there are many other aspects of disaster in this region not yet adequately expressed to the public. This is a start, but much research and data collection has yet to be done.