Readings and Listening To Consider - 8/14/24

Books and Articles worth a Review…

Good To The Last Drop – During my recent vacation to the Nordics, I learned much about water. First, the glaciers have made a massive retreat throughout the Nordic region. But, during our stop at the Kon Tiki Museum, I learned much about water – something we generally take for granted in the USA. First, we need to remember that Thor Heyerdahl led the Kon Tiki expedition as a quest to prove that Chilean natives could have crossed the Pacific to the Polynesian islands in the past – a quest that many experts at the time responded as a “preposterous” concept. I remember reading the book as a kid in the late 50s, so it was a real treat to visit the museum and actually see the Kon Tiki vessel.

What I did not know is that Thor Heyerdahl in the 1960s led a similar expedition on the Ra, a similar vessel he traveled on from Africa to South America. What’s important about that trip is that the Ra team – when they cleaned their toothbrushes in the ocean water – came up with small, black drops of crude oil. The team learned that the ocean-going tankers were simply cleansing their tanks by using ocean water and discharging it into the ocean. He brought the issue to the United Nations and precipitated an international governmental response that made engaging in such a process illegal. As a result, ocean waters were cleansed through his efforts.

Then, the next day I opened the latest issue of Science News to an overview of a new book – “The Last Drop” by Tim Smedley. I haven’t read it yet BUT, the review has put it on my “ToDo” list. It provides a primer on the problems we are facing related to water supplies and the requirements we must adopt for fixing the problems the world faces related to agricultural water use, technology, water harvesting, solutions for our homes, changes required in the production of goods and services as well as the obvious fuels we use to propel ourselves around the world.

So, why am I mentioning this in a healthcare blog? Because the health of the planet and the resources we use is an increasing problem for the entire world. It’s not confined to one nation – but, to all of us around the world. It’s also part and parcel on the need for much greater attention to the “public health” components of healthcare – an issue that has been neglected for far too long by the traditional healthcare community.