Dying to get out of here

There are many important political issues of the day, and rational discussion of end-of-life options is probably not one of the most pressing of them—let’s compare it to peace, justice, economic equity, and a few such as that before noting that it takes a back seat to other more pressing matters—but it is important enough to allow us to think about classical problems. And Steve Lopez’s columns in the Los Angeles Times have been pointing to those issues repeatedly during 2011 and 2012.

His column for 22 January 2012, “Love, disease and a killing” is no exception. In it he explores the case of a man who suffocated his spouse. Would we say “murder?” If they partner was near death and suffering horribly, would we still say “murder?” Were the perpetrator not necessarily sure about the consequences of his action, would that mitigate his actions? What matters and what doesn’t matter?

In the case that Mr. Lopez presents some of these features are relevant. Other features I’ve mentioned here do not arise. But, again, what matters and what doesn’t matter.

Get a cleaner perspective than what I’m offering. Read Mr. Lopez’s on-line content here.

sopa pipa

search sopa & pipa at  free speech (I care about my copyrights, but some things are more important.)

Talk about dying

Have you ever had someone close to you recognize that death is not just inevitable, but that it is likely to come in the nearer, rather than farther, future? I am close with some elderly people who have said to me “getting old is for the birds” and even “sometimes I wish I could just die.” We all know someone who’s a bit elderly. Perhaps it’s a parent or an uncle. Maybe it’s a neighbor who still lives alone independently, and you check on her.

I have several in my life (not counting myself). So, in July of 2011 I was quick to read a column by Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times entitled “Waiting in the dark with Dad.” In it he told about his elderly father taking a fall one night and his mother, unable to get the father up, waiting through the night with him until they could get to an emergency room.

For other folks, incurable and advancing disease rather than age may be the primary driver of impending death. Still, many of the end-of-life concerns are similar. What does one do to set things straight? How does one face the prospect of being a burden on others? Will there be pain and suffering? Which trip will be the last and how much fun can one wring out of it? Will that advance medical directive be honored? (My sister suggested she might have “Do Not Resuscitate” tattooed on her chest!)

After examining his own parents’ situation, Mr. Lopez has delved into the topic more broadly. The result has grown into a series of articles discussing divergent views of problems faced by elderly folks. Over the past few months I’ve passed along links to and discussed that first and several other columns by Mr. Lopez about his thoughts on his ailing father’s end-of-life situation. The Times has collected a dozen (as of today) of Mr. Lopez’s related columns and has them displayed together under the headline “Matters of life & death.”

Meanwhile, it’s great to have palliative care programs such as Hospice (ask your doctors and nurses) and support services via Family Caregiver Alliance (search “end-of-life care”; it’s a US org, but I imagine there are comparable or better orgs in other countries) and Compassion in Dying (also mentioned in one of Mr. Lopez’s columns). This dying stuff is worth discussing. Thanks to Mr. Lopez for talking about it.

I hope you read all the articles, but I recommend you start with the one about Mr. Lopez’s mother waiting in the dark with his father.

Toilet day

Yeah, for serious: 19 November 2011 I’m joining in celebrating “World Toilet Day.” In some ways, it’s not exactly a celebration, though. It’s more of a call to arms…or a call to ceramics. Next time we use the porcelain convenience, we need to remember there are billions (that’s with a ‘b’) of people on our planet who don’t have access to healthful sanitary facilities. There’s [deleted] we can do to help. Please check the World Toilet Organization (AKA: WTO) at http://www.worldtoilet.org/wto for additional info.

U.Va. Beyond Coal

As some readers know, I am affiliated with the University of Virginia (U.Va.). U.Va. has been heated with coal for a very long time and, according to a recent request for proposals, anticipates using 34,000 tons of coal per year for coal-fired heat plants at U.Va. to “provide critical services affecting approximately 85% of the facilities on Grounds including the Hospital, research facilities, academic building and resident halls” (U.Va. Procurement Services, 2011, p. 4). I am hoping that my employer will join other institutions of higher education and move beyond using coal as a source of energy for heating.

Students and others at U.Va. are raising concerns about U.Va.’s use of coal. In October of 2011, some folks organized an event dubbed “Camp Out for Clean Energy” that echoed an event a year earlier conducted by an ad hoc U.Va. group called “UVa Beyond Coal” (Welch. 2010). According to Kurt Walters (2011) of Cvilletomorrow in “University under fire for use of coal,” the more recent event “featured up to 70 students and community members coming to sign petitions to university President Teresa A. Sullivan, listening to live music and hearing an address by John Cruickshank, chairman of the Sierra Club’s Virginia chapter.”

It’s good to see these current actions, but the issues are not new. Concerns about the effects of U.Va.’s burning of coal were raised in the early 2000s. As reported by Lee Graves (2002) in “U.Va., DEQ share same goal — an efficient, effective heating plant,” U.Va. sought to address problems with pollution emissions from the heating plants in 2001-2 when local officials raised questions about the health effects of operating a coal-burning plant in an urban area. For more on the earlier flare, see Lisa Provence’s (2002) report for The Hook.

There are a host of reasons that using coal for energy generates problems—from harm done by some mining practices through pollution from the burning itself to the waste from the combustion. To be sure, there are reasons using coal is advantageous, and one must weigh the costs and benefits. I consider the costs too great in this case, and I hope that U.Va. will agree with that calculation, so I’m endorsing the Campuses Beyond Coal effort. I encourage my colleagues to do so, as well.

Simply download the accompanying PDF of Campuses Beyond Coal’s faculty endorsement form, complete it, and send it to a local Campuses Beyond Coal representative. There are two pages to this form. One is a general endorsement form and the second is for faculty members. Use the appropriate one for your situation.

Sources

Graves, L. (2002) U.Va., DEQ share same goal — an efficient, effective heating plant

Provence, L. (2002, 21 March). Coal truth at UVA. The Hook.

U.Va. Procurement Services. (2011, 22 February). Request for Proposal: Coal (RFP Number: #JG022211). Charlottesville, VA.

Walters, K. (2011, 28 October). University under fire for use of coal. Cvilletomorrow.

Welch, G. (2010, 8 October). ‘Beyond Coal’ gathers supporters. Cavalier Daily.

Magical

The 20 years since Magic Johnson’s announcement that he had tested positive for HIV have been…well, magical. Forget the TV commentary and the Olympics gold medal. Thanks to Mr. Johnson for what he’s done off the basketball court. He changed the game. Check out the “20 Magic Moments” feature on the site.

Who Got Richer?

According to the US Congressional Budget Office analysis of change in income from 1979 to 2007, only the top 20% of US earners had higher incomes over that time span and only the top 1% really did well. Yep, that’s the 1%. They saw their incomes increase waaaay much. One used to get what 20 got, but now one gets what 40 gets.

As a result of that uneven income growth, the share of total after-tax income received by the 1 percent of the population in households with the highest income more than doubled between 1979 and 2007, whereas the share received by low- and middle-income households declined (see Figure 3 on page 6). The share of income received by the top 1 percent grew from about 8 percent in 1979 to over 17 percent in 2007. The share received by other households in the highest income quintile was fairly flat over the same period, edging up from 35 percent to 36 percent. In contrast, the share of after-tax income received by the 60 percent of the population in the three middle-income quintiles fell by 7 percentage points between 1979 and 2007, from 50 percent to 43 percent of total after-tax household income, and the share of after-tax income accruing to the lowest-income quintile decreased from 7 percent to 5 percent. By 2005, the share of total after-tax household income received by the 20 percent of the population with the highest income had exceeded the share received by the remaining 80 percent. In 2007, those shares were 53 percent and 47 percent, respectively. In 1979, the top 1 percent received about the same share of income as the lowest income by 2007, the top percentile received more than the lowest two income quintiles combined.

Oh, but don’t believe me. Read it yourself.

Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai
(by Fredrick Onyango)

Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2004, died 25 September 2011. She advocated for peace and democracy in Africa. She also showed that the way to peace is paved with more than simple anti-violence; her Green Belt Movement got people doing things that helped their neighborhoods (small and large) to be better places to live.

This is like being a triple-threat in baseball or holding lots of high cards in a poker hand. She wasn’t a uni-dimensional contributor. And she was forthright in her advocacy for all of the needs of people. Here’s an excerpt from her Nobel talk:

In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other.

That time is now.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has challenged the world to broaden the understanding of peace: there can be no peace without equitable development; and there can be no development without sustainable management of the environment in a democratic and peaceful space. This shift is an idea whose time has come.

I call on leaders, especially from Africa, to expand democratic space and build fair and just societies that allow the creativity and energy of their citizens to flourish.

Another day at the beach

Those folks at Improv Everywhere went to the beach again. Hundreds of agents!

You can read all about it, too.

Remembering the future

This is not an exhaustive list of ways to say “peace.” Thanks to the capacity of a small application on my computer to translate English to other languages and a table published by Frank da Cruz that has the word in lots of languages, however, it has enough ways to get the idea across that it’s an international concern. In honor of those who have lost their lives in terrorist attacks and the pursuit of terrorists, let’s go for it.