Sunday, December 23, 2007

Could the Spread of Tropical Diseases Make Global Warming Have More Urgency?

Upton Sinclair's Jungle was intended to draw attention to the dirty and repressive conditions in the meat packing industry.

Reflecting on the storm over The Jungle, Upton Sinclair wrote that he was primarily moved by the condition of the workers, not the meat: "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."

Upton Sinclair. 1952. American Outpost: A Book of Reminiscences (NY): p. 175.

Similarly, chikungunya, a relative of dengue fever normally found in the Indian Ocean region, has migrated to Italy.

Rosenthal, Elisabeth. 2007. "As Earth Warms Up, Tropical Virus Moves to Italy." New York Times (23 December).
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/World/Europe/23virus.Html?Ex=1199077200&En=6f19acc84e28278a&Ei=5070&Emc=Eta1

Maybe this is the only way people will become serious.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

nah.

i been telling them for years it's not the floods they have to worry about, but the mosqitoes.

they just laugh at me.

Doug said...

It's the beginning of a mass dieoff. Mother Nature has some aces up her sleave.