More August 2006

You are in > Archives » International » August 2006

August 2006

by James Cross / August 16th 2006

USA: a capitalist heatwave

The worldwide heatwave, which persisted across the United States from July to early August this year, has killed at least 225 people in the USA, 141 of them in California.

In the richest and most powerful country in the world, the ‘right to life’ is embedded in the constitution. But in reality, the right to life in the USA is a commodity – thus the less economic power you have, the less access you have to this right.

Most of the victims of the heatwave were poor, elderly, disabled or homeless.

The People’s Weekly World reported a typical incident in Sacramento:

“...four men were found dead in ‘single residency only’ hotel rooms near the State Capitol. These tiny rooms, just a step above homelessness, lacked air conditioning and even an air-conditioned lobby where the residents could cool down.

“…the city and county of Sacramento do not have an emergency plan for heat crises. Though authorities finally opened free “cooling centers” at air-conditioned public libraries, community centers and the State Fair site at Cal Expo, it was only towards the end of the hot spell, according to Garren Batcher, co-director of Friendship Park run by Loaves and Fishes, a nonprofit group that provides meals and services for homeless people just outside of Sacramento’s downtown… [But] Homeless people haven’t any money to ride on the light rail trains that could bring them to a center, Batcher said.

“Our government, from the governor to the mayor, did nothing to assist homeless people,” said Batcher.

Death rates in the United States are generally dependent on wealth and income, both of which are associated with access to education.  According to an article in Medical News Today:

“In 2000 the age-adjusted death rate for persons 25–64 years of age with fewer than 12 years of education was nearly three times the rate for persons with 13 or more years of education.”

Another problem during this Summer’s heatwave was that the power supply infrastructures across the USA were unable to cope with the high temperatures. In California, electricity supplies to two million people failed. According to an Associated Press report:

“Pacific Gas & Electric reported nearly 25,000 customers remained without power at noon Tuesday, primarily in San Jose and the East Bay, down from 119,000 in Northern California yesterday. About 1,700 San Jose customers faced their third day without power, and some residents slept in backyards and hotel rooms to escape the stifling heat.

“PG&E spokesman Brian Swanson said most outages were caused by equipment and transformer failures, rather than a lack of supply.

“Southern California Edison, which supplies electricity to about 13 million people, said as of Tuesday morning there were about 15,000 without power.”

The high temperatures have also killed farm animals and damaged crops.

Similarities to Katrina

Although the heatwave debacle has caused fewer deaths than last year’s Hurricane Katrina, there are notable similarities:

• In the context of widespread private ownership, decentralisation and lack of investment, the civil infrastructure failed when confronted by an entirely predictable climatic phenomenon;
• There was no integrated preparation plan to protect the poor and vulnerable, who were largely left to fend for themselves;
• The response of federal and local authorities to the developing crisis indicated that they do not believe that the state is responsible for the welfare of all of its citizens;
• The underlying cause of the phenomenon is associated with global warming, for which US capitalism and the US government policy bears the greatest responsibility.

Even the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a division of the US Department of Commerce, stated on 27^th July:

“NOAA scientists add that no single episode of extreme heat can be blamed exclusively on human-induced global warming, but instead heat waves will become more likely and progressively more intense over the course of decades.”

US officials have consistently obstructed attempts by the rest of the ‘international’ community to take even limited steps to work co-operatively to slow down global warming.

And although the 2006 heatwave has had destructive effects on mortality, food production and the power generation sector across the world, there is as yet no indication either of US acceptance of responsibility for this or a shift in its policy.