Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
area now occupied by the Houses of Parliament was once a notoriously malarious swamp? And that
until the beginning of the 20th century, “ague” (the original English word for malaria) was a cause of
high morbidity and mortality in parts of the British Isles, particularly in tidal marshes such as those at
Westminster? And that George Washington followed British Parliamentary precedent by also siting his
government buildings in a malarious swamp! I mention this to dispel any misconception you may have
that malaria is a “tropical” disease.
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Want an increasingly disease-free population around the globe? We need more cheap, reliable energy
from fossil fuels.
SANITIZING OUR ENVIRONMENT
Historically, the inability to effectively deal with our own bodily waste has been one of the largest threats
to human health. To this day it takes an enormous toll on human life throughout the world. For example,
cholera is a bacterial disease that is transmitted through the ingestion of food or water contaminated by hu-
man fecal matter. The toxin that these bacteria produce inhibits the body's ability to absorb food and water,
which can very quickly cause death through dehydration. Worldwide, over a hundred thousand people get
sick from cholera annually. (Think about that when you hear environmentalists talk about “harmony with
nature”—i.e., harmony with all our predators, their waste, and our waste.) But cholera has been all but
eradicated in the industrialized world.
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Here's the big picture of sanitation—the percent of our world population with access to improved san-
itation facilities, according to the World Bank.
Figure 6.3: More Fossil Fuel Use, More Access to Sanitation
