Deadly heat wave more than an act of nature
By
Larry Hales
Published Aug 1, 2006 10:55 PM
Aug. 1—The heat wave that began in
California two weeks ago has roasted the Midwest and is now moving on to the
East Coast. Forecasters predict several days more of blistering temperatures,
reaching triple digits in many areas.
Reported heat-related human deaths
in California have climbed to 164; an estimated 16,500 cows also perished from
the heat there, which finally eased three days ago. Daytime temperatures of 115
degrees persisted for almost two weeks in the agricultural Central Valley. At
least two farmworkers and four others who worked out of doors are believed to
have died from heat stroke, according to a representative of the United Farm
Workers.
Last year, four farmworkers died of heat in the Central Valley.
Many immigrant workers, especially the undocumented, are super-exploited and
denied basic rights. They are compelled to bring in the crop despite extremely
dangerous conditions posed by rising temperatures.
After the four deaths
last year, new laws were enacted in California that were supposed to protect
workers whose jobs expose them to the elements. The law is very minimal and
requires the very least from bosses, like providing a quart of water an hour,
shade structures, and a chance for a five-minute paid break in the
shade.
However, as one worker put it, “Maybe it’s 94 degrees
and you want to stop but you need money to pay the rent and get paid for the
full day so you push yourself.”
Figures on heat-related deaths are
just starting to come in from Chicago’s Cook County, where nine people are
reported to have died since July 17. Ten were reported dead in Oklahoma and 12
in Missouri. Many of those who died were elderly; most perished in super-heated
homes or apartment buildings.
A recently released government report shows
a 54 percent increase in heat-related deaths between 1999 and 2003. In that
five-year period, 3,442 people died from excessive heat, an average of 688 per
year. Exposure to excessive heat, according to George Luber, an epidemiologist
at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Pre ven tion, “is one of the
major weather-related causes of death.”
“Every one of those
deaths is preventable if folks are aware of some of the preventive
measures.” He added, “We do have evidence that these events are
going to increase in frequency, severity and duration as global climate
changes.”
The report says most at risk are the poor, especially
children and the elderly, as well as outdoor workers.
The high
temperatures have frequently led to power outages. In St. Louis and Chicago,
when temperatures soared and the power went out, hundreds of people had to be
evacuated from their homes, especially the elderly.
Chicago resident
Lenora Stinson said of the disorderly planning, “It’s a mess.
It’s a big mess. Everybody’s panicking—they don’t know
where they’re going.”
In Queens, N.Y., some people still lack
power after an outage that began two weeks ago.
National, state and local
officials seem to have spent most of their time urging people to conserve
energy, putting the crisis on the backs of consumers.
Capitalism and its
state apparatus have no answer for this growing crisis. A bare minimum statute
like that passed in California doesn’t offer any respite for
super-exploited workers and doesn’t deal with what workers have to do to
survive and take care of their families in capitalist society.
Liberal
politicians and the capitalist media have of late touted Al Gore’s film,
“An Inconvenient Truth,” which shows the seriousness of global
warming but puts the onus for reversing it on the personal lifestyle of
consumers.
The destruction of the environment comes directly from
unplanned, profit-driven capitalist production and the wars it generates. The
film presents it as a moral issue without saying what class is responsible. It
is the ruling capitalist class that cannot let up in its drive for profit,
whether that means exploiting fossil fuels, super-exploiting workers around the
world, or unleashing war on those who resist its dictates—whatever
produces the greatest profit.
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