Posted on 05/12/2017 6:29:02 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Two years ago when I was living in Nicaragua, my friends and I were at a house party drinking Flor de Caña rum. Hearing that I was a journalist, an acquaintance leaned in and said that there was something I needed to hear.
She began to tell me a story about that very rum we were drinking, and how people were dying because of it.
Many of the workers who harvested sugarcane for the rum were suffering from chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu), she said, a kidney failure disease correlated with heavy workload, heat, dehydration, and possibly pesticides.
Recent studies have shown that there’s a direct correlation between climate change and CKDu. The disease affects farm workers across the globe, including here in California.
According to a report conducted by UC Davis researchers, agricultural workers in the USA are 20 times more likely to have a heat-related illness than workers in other industries.
What they found: Heat strain and piece-rate work are associated with kidney failure in California farm workers. Unlike hourly rate work, piece-rate rewards higher productivity, and gives workers a strong financial incentive to skip breaks.
The study authors recommended adjusting payment structures and decreasing heat exposure.
“Climate change will impact our entire economic system and CKDu is potentially a canary in the coal mine, a warning of what is to come,” he says. “The cost of mitigating our carbon use now, pale by comparison to the costs that we will incur being forced to address [the] water crisis… The health costs that go along with that are not worth the short term gain of torching dead dinosaurs to fuel our economy. We should take stock, we should take care of those who provide the fundamentals of our way of life.”
(Excerpt) Read more at kcet.org ...
Great story!
The man who mows our hay is 71 years old. His mower tractor is not air-conditioned. He will mow 7 hours straight and in his overalls he always has a bottle of water! His baling tractor has A/C, but he’ll work like a 20 year old, which has to happen many times with rain is forecast. Also, his mowing is amazing. He does not miss much and leaves a pretty pasture setting until it grows again! Sometimes he will go home for dinner around 6:30 pm and then come back and mow with lights!! We live on a hilltop so it’s fun to watch them mowing other pastures at night! They make round bales so there is no people hauling! God Bless Haymakers!!....for the rib-eye’s tonight and baked potatoes I am very appreciative!!
Love them rib eyes...
Gotta be over charcoal or wood, though. Gas doesn’t work best with a rib eye.
Gas is great with one of those Texas flat irons, though. It’s become one of my favorite steaks.
And global warming is causing deadly pesticides, too.
AAAHH; remember those good old days well, that’s why I joined the Marine Corps at 18 years old, I wanted an easier job.
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