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2013 – 2018 EVT – Learning from Water Privatization? (Panglossy)

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This post, as many others in the Chronicles of Everstate, can be read both as part of the scenarios on the future of the nation-state, as explained below, or as part of the section on Global Water Security. This shows how all issues are intertwined, and that the multiple existing feedbacks should not be ignored.

Previously: In 2012 EVT, Everstate (the ideal-type corresponding to our very real countries created to foresee the future of governance and of the modern nation-state) knows a rising dissatisfaction of its population. Alarmed by the rising difficulties and widespread discontent, the governing authorities decide to do something when new elections start, which begins the second scenario, Panglossy. The new Everstatan government, dependent upon past thinking, decides that a return to economic efficiency through growth is the key to the crisis. The first years fail to bring back growth; the power of the lenders’ nexus and induced appropriation of public power continue unabated as the regulation of the international financial system does not progress. The initial efforts to fund  Green Growth through infrastructure investments show minimal and disappointing impacts. Worse still, the initial implementation of air commodification under the ISSIGE flagship project by the consortium Novair triggers a nationwide wave of outrage because the beliefs of Everstatans are denied at all levels, while the elite is surprised.   

(The reader can click on each picture to see a larger version in a new tab – a navigating map of posts is available to ease reading)

The Everstatan elite, surprised by the new Air Revolt, continues applying to the situation a superficial analogy with water to estimate the severity of the outrage in the country and its potential evolution. Yet, analogy is not comparison and is often insufficient to inform proper understanding and thus decisions.

Margaret Thatcher with Ronald Reagan at Camp David

Margaret Thatcher with Ronald Reagan at Camp David (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

First, the commodification of water, in its second wave, is still a very recent phenomenon. It started at the end of the 20th century with the privatization of water utilities in the United Kingdom of Margaret Thatcher, and is far from being completed, assuming it is meant to follow an ineluctable path towards completion, which has still to be proven. Everstatan elite cannot thus easily draw any clear conclusion.

Second, some voices exist, even if they are not so numerous and have so far not mobilised masses, that underline the ethical problems linked to the privatization of water (e.g. 2008 Symposium) or criticise the whole commodification endeavour.

Third, the current and future various issues and problems surrounding global water security will most probably keep the matter of water services privatization and water commodification on the agenda, seen in an even larger perspective, where security questions and geopolitics will be underlined.* This is likely to lead to stronger stance taken by all actors, and open the door to any strategy including manipulation and irredentism. As a result, a complete and smooth commodification of water that would not generate rebellions cannot be taken for granted.

Sbocco della Cloaca Massima in Rome, sewer system started in 735 B.C by Ettore Roesler Franz, 1880 via Wikimedia Commons

Fourth, in countries such as Everstate, when water was privatized at the end of the twentieth century, it was done in a way that is very different from the way Novstate-Air intends to monetize air. Then, a public service dealing with water-related issues was handed over or sold from the state to private companies. This was only one episode in the millennia-long struggle of human societies to manage wastewater, sewage and obtain clean water (Jungclaus, 1998). Everstatans never went from free clean water, or free apparently clean water, free sewage, etc. to becoming suddenly aware of the extent and danger of polluted water and having to pay for being able to drink and eat safely.

1865 – New York City Sanitary Commission, via Wikimedia Commons

Furthermore, throughout the millennia old struggle for safe water, they have, at least dimly, become conscious of direct links between living beings concentrations and water pollution, thus of their own responsibility. This long process and history does not exist in the case of air. With water, there was thus no effect of shock, no sudden awareness triggering a feeling of injustice and moral outrage, when there is with air. This implies that the absence of initial reaction in the case of water cannot be used to deduce that Everstate’s air revolt is unimportant and will be short-lived.

Finally, timing matters, twice. The privatisation of water utilities itself is not always done nationally but according to the administrative organisation underlying the public service, most of the time municipalities. This implies that changes happen according to the timing of each town. This stops the creation of any nationwide reaction. The impossibility of such large reaction is strengthened by the diverse situations existing for each administrative division. However, here, had separatists feelings and right conditions existed, water privatization in Everstate would then have strengthened those sentiments (see the last posts of the Mamominarch scenario for an example of such dynamics). Those underlying processes could and should have been considered by Novstate-Air and the Everstatan government, as those lessons were applicable to air. Considering the current conditions in Everstate, Novstate-Air had thus the “choice” between triggering a nationwide protest and sowing the seeds for separatism.

Then, water privatisation has mainly been done before the crisis, before the rise of inequalities and decline of purchasing power became obvious, before the rise of tension, before the legitimacy of governments and actors and of the whole socio-political model started being questioned.

Walker, DEFRA, 2009

In the past, if water prices increased with privatization (Barlow, 2001), the share of the water bill in a household expenses (e.g. averaged to 335$ a year in the U.S. in 2012 by the American Water Works Association, CNN February 28, 2012, 339£ a year in England and Wales in 2009 according to DEFRA, with many local and individual variations) and the added cost were not such that a collective feeling of relative deprivation could be born. The unequal weight of water bills according to household income inequalities must however be noted (Smets, 2002). Then, water privatization has been done while respecting, to a point, and with (large) variations according to countries and actors, the human right not to die of thirst or because of polluted water. For example, the existence of public fountains, access to clean public utilities, etc. has been maintained, while in many OECD countries one scheme or another used to exist or was created to help the poorest face their water bills. There was thus little that could have triggered a nationwide outrage and related escalation.

The commodification of air is happening in completely different circumstances and with no such safeguards as those that were implemented for water. Actually, Everstate’s Air revolt should suggest to the government and concerned actors that they should actively revisit water related policies, be they public, private, or mixed, as circumstances have changed. True enough, the privatization of water has been done and thus it cannot be a trigger for a new rebellion. If matters continue to be handled carefully by all actors involved, if the impacts of the various global and local evolutions are properly foreseen, while adapted and timely preventive measures are implemented, then the risk to see water riots added to the air revolt will be minimized. On the contrary, lack of foresight and of caution, which, considering the overall level of tension and ideological polarization becomes everyday more plausible in Everstate, will most probably mean that water issues will soon be added to the escalating number of grievances.

Alas, neither Novstate-Air nor the Everstatan governing bodies even attempt to move beyond the analogy with a water privatization of the past. They thus decide that the air revolt is nothing more than the passing fit of a population that does not truly understand problems, and that an emphasis on communication and advertisement while local meetings with the population are organised by Novstate-Air and the local authorities will be enough to defuse the anger. Meanwhile Novstate-Air does not change the schedule according to which Air contributions will be collected.

To be continued…. after the Summer.

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References

* For more references, see, notably U.S. Intelligence Community Assessment, Global Water Security, 2 February 2012, and two previous posts as well as their bibliography: Water security: a strategic foresight and warning issue for national security? (1 February 2012) and Building upon the 2012 “Global Water Security” IC Assessment (27 March 2012).

American Water Works Association

Barlow, Maude, “The Water Privateers,” Blue Gold: The global water crisis and the commodification of the world’s water supply (International Forum on Globalization (IFG), 2001).

Ellis, Blake, “Water bills expected to triple in some parts of U.S.,” CNNMoney, February 28, 2012.

Jungclaus, Joyce Everhart, “1998 Congress Recap” published in the APWA Reporter, excerpt republished as “History of sewage management” on Bloomington Minnesota Cityweb.

Smets, Henri, Le Droit à l’Eau, Conseil européen du droit de l’environnement., 2002.

Symposium Proceedings: Common Grounds, Common Waters: Toward a Water Ethic, Panel I: Water Ethics and Commodification of Freshwater Resources, Diamond, Stephen (Moderator), 6 Santa Clara J. Int’l Law 15 (2008).

U.S. Intelligence Community Assessment, Global Water Security, 2 February 2012.

Walker, Anna, CB, Independent Review of Charging for Household Water and Sewerage Services, DEFRA, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (UK), December 2009.

Wikipedia, Criticisms of the commodification of water.

Wikipedia, History of Water Privatization.

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2013 – 2018 EVT – Unforeseen Outrage: Privatising the Commons (Panglossy)

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Last weeks’ summary: In 2012 EVT, Everstate (the ideal-type corresponding to our very real countries created to foresee the future of governance and of the modern nation-state) knows a rising dissatisfaction of its population. Alarmed by the rising difficulties and widespread discontent, the governing authorities decide to do something when new elections start, which begins the second scenario, Panglossy. The new Everstatan government, dependent upon past thinking, decides that a return to economic efficiency through growth is the key to the crisis. The first years, however, fail to bring back growth; the power of the lenders’ nexus and induced appropriation of public power continue unabated as the regulation of the international financial system does not progress. The initial efforts to fund growth through infrastructure investments show minimal and disappointing impacts. Worse still, the implementation of the ISSIGE flagship project on air quality by the consortium Novair triggers a nationwide wave of outrage as the struggle against air pollution is monetized.

(The reader can click on each picture to see a larger version in a new tab – a navigating map of posts is available to ease reading – Research/methodological note at the bottom of the post – see credits for the images in the references)

The monetization of the struggle against air pollution is perceived by Everstatans as nothing else than the privatization of air.  It generates such a strong reaction and mobilization because it creates a feeling of injustice, actually moral outrage, as it impacts and upsets all layers of beliefs of Everstate’s population (see Ideological Stakes in an Outdated Worldview).

by Tim Evanson

Most fundamentally, monetizing air is at once an appropriation of an essential element that has so far belonged by right to each living being by the simple fact of it being alive, and a desecration, both going against the deepest human beliefs as shown by symbolism, as air is an image often found in many cosmological, religious and philosophical myths, books and systems. Air is one of the four (or five if we include aether) elements of classical thought. It can be found in Hinduism, Buddhism, Bon (Tibetan philosophy), in the Japanese traditions, and more recently in medieval Western alchemy. If it is not present per se in the Chinese elements, breathing, notably in Qi Gong, is seen as fundamental. In the Bible, the “breath of life” is God’s power to create and give life to man (Genesis 2:7). Air and breath go thus beyond one religion to reach something that can be seen as archetypal, following Jung. It is the very relation to the Mystery of life (Mystery meaning “a religious truth that one can know only by revelation and cannot fully understand”), life’s origin, beauty, and continuation or termination, that is being upset by Novstate-Air.

At the normative level, more superficial although also crucial, the monetization of air is one more attempt at privatizing the commons, at transforming the public good into public goods that can then be transferred to the private, sold and bought in the name of any ideology, as recently denounced again, among others by Reich. This process is also known as commodification, for example the commodification of water or the commodification of nature. Indeed, in the real world, the latest failure of the 2012 Rio+20 summit (Montbiot, June 2012) is not lost on the private sector and, among other impacts, open the door even more widely to an all-out commodification, as underlined by a recent article in MarketWatch:

“So while it is a sad time for the planet from a policy perspective, the private sector has just been handed a golden opportunity.” Kostigen, 29 June 2012

The privatisation of the commons started in England, as early as the 12th and 13th century, then accelerated with the rise of capitalism – and modernization – through the centuries-long struggle over the right to use common land to graze livestock, which ended up with generalised enclosure and the disappearance of the commons. History shows that privatization leads to protests and revolts (e.g. Hardin 1968, Moore, 1966).

“In the case of the enclosure of the common lands, which was going on from about 1600 to 1850, the land-grabbers did not even have the excuse of being foreign conquerors; they were quite frankly taking the heritage of their own countrymen, upon no sort of pretext except that they had the power to do so.” Orwell, 1944

If, as underlined by Hardin, we must also be conscious of “The Tragedy of the Commons,” with air pollution as a perfect example, and one that he singles out, commodification and monetization of the air, paid only by consumers, may not be the best solution, even if this solution has worked beforehand for other commons. Indeed, the ideological battle that is actually taking place questions now this approach, and could very well emphasize that as, modernity, it is part of an outdated order.

One could also argue that Everstatans felt directly threatened too, as air, actually oxygen, is one of the most basic, fundamental elements for living beings on earth since the Great Oxidation Event, because cellular respiration depends on it. Being deprived of air means death within a few minutes for the strongest. However, historical facts and research, including the direst political phenomenon that is genocide, have shown that direct threat to life alone does not lead to rebellion or even to escalation, whilst feeling of injustice and moral outrage, in specific conditions, do.*

The Everstatan government and elite are surprised by the moral outrage that spreads because of their position within the ideological battle that is taking place. Moreover, during the last decades of economic, materialistic, technocratic, politician supremacy, they have forgotten the most fundamental political dynamics, or, if they know and understand, they do not care because they believe that those who will have to deal with the most violent side of political processes are not them but future generations. The analogy they used to create Novstate-Air and the monetization of air, the commodification of water, also plays into their inability to foresee Everstatans’ reaction. Privatizing water has so far not created such a moral outrage. Thus why should air be any different? Does the acquiescence to water’s monetization show that the air revolt will be short-lived and soon forgotten if Novstate-Air, backed up by the government, remains firm?

To be continued…

Research and methodological note

This post (and the next one) and the way the scenario narrative unfolds suggest that what the elite does, more precisely the way public power is appropriated matters. Here, however detailed our model (see Creating the model part 1 & 2) may appear, especially when it is described in number of variables used (compare with the 2 to 8/10 variables that are most often suggested as ideal for foresight), the means and processes of appropriation are not detailed.

The question is: should we translate those processes in terms of our model and add them to it, to the price of complicating the model even further, or should we, as I have done here, add further understanding only through the narrative, keeping the model as guidance?

The answer depends upon the degree of automation of the system and of the composition of the foresight team. The more automated the foresight system (let’s imagine it is computer run and can generate automated foresight scenarios through text-generation) , the more important to continuously expand the model, when some processes appear to have been underdeveloped as here. This begs the question of detecting such underdevelopments. The more diverse, knowledgeable and well-educated the team of foresight analysts, the more the model can be kept as such, being used as guidance.

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References

* Among others, Sambanis, Nicholas, “Using Case Studies to Expand the Theory of Civil War,” (World Bank, CPR Working Papers, Social Development Department Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Network, Paper No. 5, May 2003); James C. Scott and Benedict J. Tria Kerkviliet, Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance in South-East Asia, ed.  (London: Frank Cass & Co.; 1986); Scott, James C., Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts, (New haven: Yale University Press, 1990) and Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985); Moore, Barrington, Injustice: Social bases of Obedience and Revolt, (London: Macmillan, 1978); Jeff Goodwin, James M. Jasper, Francesca Polletta, Passionate Politics: Emotions and Social Movements, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001).

Hardin, Garrett, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” Science 13 December 1968: Vol. 162 no. 3859 pp. 1243-1248 DOI: 10.1126/science.162.3859.124.

Kostigen, Thomas, “Rio+20 was a win for social investors,” MarketWatch, June 29, 2012.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Mystery.

Monbiot, George, “After Rio, we know. Governments have given up on the planet: The post-summit pledge was an admission of defeat against consumer capitalism. But we can still salvage the natural world,” Guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 June 2012.

Moore, Barrington, Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World, (Beacon Press, 1993, 1966).

Orwell, George, “As I Please” column, Tribune, 18 August 1944. in Alex Peak blog.

Reich, Robert, “The Decline of Public Good,” 4, January 2012.

Images

Clerestory window – North Nave – National Cathedral – DC by Tim Evanson [CC-BY-SA-2.0 via Wikimedia Commons: The center pane depicts God (upper portion) breathing the breath of life into man (bottom portion). It is the breath of God which leads to creative inspiration (center portion).
A group of dissenters in Norfolk during Robert Kett’s rebellion of 1549 in Samuel Wale engraving of Robert Kett beneath the oak of reformation – 1785, via Wikimedia Commons.

2013 – 2018 EVT – Novstate-Air: Fighting Air Pollution for Profit (Panglossy)

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Last weeks’ summary: In 2012 EVT, Everstate (the ideal-type corresponding to our very real countries created to foresee the future of governance and of the modern nation-state) knows a rising dissatisfaction of its population. Alarmed by the rising difficulties and widespread discontent, the governing authorities decide to do something when new elections start, which begins the second scenario, Panglossy. The new Everstatan government, dependent upon past thinking, decides that a return to economic efficiency through growth is the key to the crisis. Its first measure, to raise the minimum wage, fails to boost growth through consumption. As the new international meeting group for the resilience of the financial system IRESFIS does not show any progress, the ISSIGE, the international fund to promote green growth through infrastructure investment contributes to reinforce the power of the lenders’ nexus and appropriation of public power. Moreover, its results are disappointing: selected projects are insufficient to catch up on late investments, and their impact is too small to bring back growth, to show a change towards sustainability, and to alleviate unemployment. Remains one hope, now vested in the ISSIGE flagship project on air quality.

(The reader can click on each picture to see a larger version in a new tab – a navigating map of posts is available to ease reading.)

Global but unequal fight against air pollution

Air quality is crucial in terms of health and related costs, and a complex challenge as its pollution involves many chemical elements.

Despite efforts, notably within many OECD countries, to struggle against air pollution, air quality remains a severe global problem, all the more so that pollutants travel. Furthermore, much still needs to be done to fully understand the problem and to devise solutions, as detailed by the EPA for black carbon in its chapter on research needs. For example, synthesised global data are still difficult to gather. The array of means used to improve the collection of information, from sensors to satellite image, as exemplified on the US Air Quality: The Smog Blog, and to provide citizens with adequate daily measures and warning on all types of pollutants, as shown for example by the Daily Air Quality Index in the UK, exists, most of the time, only in OECD countries.

In Everstate, as in its neighbouring countries, the fight for air quality must continue and even be reinforced if more and better results are to be observed, especially as pollution does not diminish in other parts of the world, notably in Asia. This is the overall framework for the ISSIGE flagship programme.

The creation of Novstate-Air

Novstate creates a special structure to answer the proposal, called Novstate-Air. It gathers in a friends network covering Everstate and its neighbours, various industries, universities, research laboratories and health institutions, which are all involved at one stage or another in air pollution and air quality, either because their activity and products are potential sources of emissions, because they participate in the design, implementation or monitoring of sensors and models, or because their research or practice is linked to air pollution or to its impact on health.

In early 2014 EVT, Novstate-Air is awarded the ISSIGE contract and the funds. Besides the breadth of the answer, allowed by the variety and number of stakeholders, which thus fits perfectly well the framework programme, the originality of the financial proposal is what determines the ISSIGE to grant the contract to Novstate through Novstate-Air.

Financial boldness rewarded

Novstate-Air underlines first that what stops companies’ efforts towards air quality are the added costs to their products that changes and investments would create, when benefits would not only be delayed but also spread throughout a population that may or may not belong to their clients. Then, it stresses that if the overall effort were to be supported by the state, then the public deficit would increase in the short-term, while benefits, notably in terms of heightened health security and diminished related visible and hidden costs, would only appear in the longer term. Furthermore, it would be difficult to establish a direct link between investments and benefits, which may be unfavourable in terms of promotion and communication.

Novstate-Air thus suggests, to overcome this conundrum, to ask citizens, who are the final beneficiaries, to become directly involved in the effort by paying regularly a small contribution towards air quality. Looking for an analogy, Novstate-Air decides to mimic the way water is delivered and sold to citizens, but adapted to the specificity of air. The alternative was the creation of an indirect air tax, as indirect taxes are a perfect way to collect taxes without creating resentment. The air contribution is chosen over the tax because it allows for the monetization of the service as well as for profits, thus to the involvement of the private sector, which should contribute to growth and economic sustainability, two specific requirements of the ISSIGE.

Monetizing air quality

by William Adams, How Much Air Do We Breathe?

Novstate-Air, working hand in hand with local administrations will make sure the contribution is calculated fairly, while the data gathered to establish the amount owed by each citizen can be used for research purpose. To mimic at best the water system, Novstate-Air decides to estimate the amount of air breathed by each citizens, according to a specific survey of their activities. This quantity will be revised every trimester. Further research in this field will be conducted to confirm previous findings according to age and gender. Finally, the air contribution will be calculated according to the liters of air used by each family during one trimester. The contributions will be used to finance research, update sensors and all monitoring activities and to help private companies improve their emissions. In the name of transparency, activities and achievements will be given to each family, emphasising notably the improvement of air quality in their environment and the impact on their health.

Thou shalt be surprised…

By 2015, Novstate-Air is able to provide citizens with a preliminary factsheet on the status of their air quality, to start gathering data and, thanks to the use of internet-based facilities, to almost immediately collect contributions nationwide.

Novstate-Air and its network of associated bodies, the ISSIGE and Everstate’s government expect a strong positive reaction. They are thus extremely surprised when, on the contrary, a wave of outrage sweeps over the country, supported by Occupy Everstate, Anonymous, and various unions.

To be continued…

References

Adams, William C., Research Note 94-11: Topic = How Much Air Do We Breathe? California Environmental Protection Agency, 1994.

Dupré, Franck, “Pollution : le diesel, un danger mortel ?” Autonews.fr, 29 Mars 2012.

Durden, Tyler, The Benefits Of A College Education, Zerohedge, 05/21/2012, from Jed Graham, New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College, IBD, 05/17/2012.

EPA, Black Carbon Report to Congress, March 2012.

European Environment Agency, Chapter 4. Nitrogen emissions and threats to biodiversity, Environmental indicator report 2012 – Ecosystem resilience and resource efficiency in a green economy in Europe, Part 2. 2012.

Janssen, Nicole AH, Miriam E Gerlofs-Nijland, Timo Lanki, Raimo O Salonen, Flemming Cassee, Gerard Hoek, Paul Fischer, Bert Brunekreef, Michal Krzyzanowski, Health effects of black carbon, WHO, 2012.

Lehner, Peter, of the NRDC, Diesel Exhaust Does Cause Cancer, CleanTechnica.com, June 12, 2012.

The Guardian, Global air pollution: what is the most polluted country and city in the world? (WHO data), 26 Septembre 2011.

US Air Quality: The Smog Blog.

WHO, Air quality and health, Fact sheet N°313, Updated September 2011.

2013 – 2018 EVT – Green Growth in Action (Panglossy)

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Last weeks’ summary: In 2012 EVT, Everstate (the ideal-type corresponding to our very real countries created to foresee the future of governance and of the modern nation-state) knows a rising dissatisfaction of its population. Alarmed by the rising difficulties and widespread discontent, the governing authorities decide to do something when new elections start, which begins the second scenario, Panglossy. The new Everstatan government, dependent upon past thinking, decides that a return to economic efficiency through growth is the key to the crisis. Its first measure, to raise the minimum wage, fails to boost growth through consumption. The first high level conference of the ISSIGE, the international fund to promote green growth through infrastructure investment, is hailed as a success. However, as the new international meeting group for the resilience of the financial system IRESFIS does not show any progress, the ISSIGE, in such conditions, also contributes to reinforce the power of the lenders’ nexus and appropriation of public power.

(The reader can click on each picture to see a larger version in a new tab – a navigating map of posts is available to ease reading.)

The Everstatan delegates and members of the ISSIGE are conscious that its success is crucial. The highly unstable situation demands it. They thus start immediately working on the various framework projects’ proposals and their selection. Three more months, which is considered as a very short time-frame in a multinational governmental setting, are needed before the selected projects are publicised to allow companies to bid for them. The project themselves are due to start at the beginning of 2014 EVT, latest.

Meanwhile, the overall situation of Everstatans continue to degrade slowly. Every month now, one or the other area of Everstate is marred by some unusual climatic event. Those, however, are very localised and damages are relatively small. The overall world growth is minimal while energy and resources prices remain very volatile, contributing to a mood in see-saw. As a result, food prices continue to soar. Everstate’s public deficit remains as high as previously, and even rises as interests grow and as more borrowing is needed. The lenders’ nexus profits skyrocket. Many small companies that constitute the productive fabric of Everstate suffer from this environment and either stagnate or are forced to close down. On the contrary, a few well-connected companies, such as Novstate and its friends businesses, continue to be highly profitable, even though they complain that their rate of growth starts to be slow compared with the past. It is very high time that the overall boost expected from the ISSIGE takes place.

Considering the number of countries that are part of the ISSIGE and the relatively small amount of the overall bonds issued to fund them, the infrastructure investments that will take place on Everstate’s territory are few and far between. The very caution used, as this first year of funding must be considered as a test-case, tends to be self-defeating because of the considerable needs faced. The selected projects are not only insufficient in terms of catching up on late investments, but also their impact is too small to bring back growth, as well as to alleviate unemployment.*

WPA road project, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, via Wikimedia CommonsCompared with the past, infrastructure projects are not anymore labour intensive. They are, however, knowledge intensive. Thus, considering the deficit of proper and fair treatment to the Everstatan educated population (see inequality statistics; Zerohedge, 05/21/2012 using Graham, IBD, 2012), the idea of promoting green growth investment, if set and re-imagined within a new socio-political model, might well be a way forward. Here, unfortunately, Everstate tries getting past-style results, when those cannot anymore be delivered.

Nevertheless, one of the infrastructure projects selected for Everstate is elected as ISSIGE flagship infrastructure programme for its deeply innovative character, the breadth of its environmental scope and its crucial character: Air Quality. Could this, at least, herald something really new and forward looking that could continue fostering hope among Everstatans, if overall general results are insufficient?

Starting most probably with the industrial revolution, air quality has degraded globally, notably in cities, but not only. Since its first report warning about those risks in 1987, the World Health Organisation has published its Air quality guidelines – global update 2005. In 2011, it underlines that

“Air pollution is a major environmental risk to health. By reducing air pollution levels, we can help countries reduce the global burden of disease from respiratory infections, heart disease, and lung cancer… Urban outdoor air pollution is estimated to cause 1.3 million deaths worldwide per year. Those living in middle-income countries disproportionately experience this burden…. The mortality in cities with high levels of pollution exceeds that observed in relatively cleaner cities by 15–20%. Even in the EU, average life expectancy is 8.6 months lower due to exposure to PM2.5 produced by human activities. ” (WHO, Air quality and health, Fact sheet N°313).

Among the pollutants singled out by the WHO, one finds notably: particulate matter (PM), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). PM, includes PM2.5, also known as black carbon, which comes, among others, from diesel engines and vehicles, and contributes to both diseases – including cancer for diesel – and climate change (Janssen, et al. 2012, EPA, 2012). NOx contributes to various diseases and acid rain, which impacts negatively freshwater, forests and crops, and, more generally, biodiversity (EEA, 2012). The screenshot below of the excellent interactive and explanatory display done for the French ADEME (Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Energie)  summarizes the complexity of the challenge Everstate as all countries face (click on the image to access the interactive application – in French but the visual part can be understood in any language – PM are included in “aerosols“):

To be continued…

* Read on investment and more generally on growth in current conditions the excellent article by Michael Spence, Nobel laureate in economics, “Why Do Economies Stop Growing?” Project Syndicate, May 23, 2012.

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References

Dupré, Franck,  “Pollution : le diesel, un danger mortel ?” Autonews.fr, 29 Mars 2012.

Durden, Tyler, The Benefits Of A College Education, Zerohedge, 05/21/2012, from Jed Graham, New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College, IBD, 05/17/2012.

EPA, Black Carbon Report to Congress, March 2012.

European Environment Agency, Chapter 4. Nitrogen emissions and threats to biodiversity, Environmental indicator report 2012 – Ecosystem resilience and resource efficiency in a green economy in Europe, Part 2. 2012.

Janssen, Nicole AH, Miriam E Gerlofs-Nijland, Timo Lanki, Raimo O Salonen, Flemming Cassee, Gerard Hoek, Paul Fischer, Bert Brunekreef, Michal Krzyzanowski, Health effects of black carbon, WHO, 2012.

Lehner, Peter,  of the NRDC, Diesel Exhaust Does Cause Cancer, CleanTechnica.com, June 12, 2012.

The Guardian, Global air pollution: what is the most polluted country and city in the world? (WHO data), 26 Septembre 2011.

WHO, Air quality and health, Fact sheet N°313, Updated September 2011.

Images

WPA road project, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, via Wikimedia Commons.

CNES-CNRS/INSU-MEN, Les polluants de l’air extérieur, Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Energie, 2009.