GlobalEnviroBlog

Some Thoughts on Making Space More Attractive:

In the 1960s, space was special. People eagerly watched for news about the brave astronauts. Today, much of the news about space is a footnote. People often see no advantage in space exploration. The future of space exploration is flickering and not as bright as it once was.

Why has space lost its luster? The old saying “Familiarity breeds contempt.” probably sums up a large part of it. People have become too accustomed to the almost routine nature of the launches. It was easier to get excited when there were only seven astronauts. Today there are hundreds.

Perhaps we should focus our sites on the benefits we receive and will receive from space.

•  Satellite communication allows almost instantaneous communication around the world.
• Survey satellites allow detailed monitoring of such vital information as air temperature, water temperature, natural resources and weather. Using this data we can evaluate the rate of global climate change and potentially undo any damage we have done.
• The GPS network of satellites allow us to know where we are, what time it is, and how fast we are moving.
• Microgravity experiments on the International Space Station are leading to discoveries about living things and are contributing to the development of new materials and drugs that can’t be made on Earth.
• Helium-3 is found on the moon. This is the key to successful fusion power generation. Fusion power using helium-3 produces little to no radioactive waste and a tremendous amount of power with no carbon dioxide emissions. As such, helium-3 is worth more than any substance known to humankind.
• The proposed opening of space to tourism in 2009 by Virgin Galactic will make space travel available to more than the extremely rich.

The benefits of continued space exploration far outweigh the costs. The researches spawned by this venture help us protect the environment and ultimately may lead to the key to our survival.

Richard Moolick
Global Enviroblog

The way it is: I was very distressed when I learned of the plight of a friend of mine. He complained to his doctor about pain in his extremities. The doctor diagnosed gout. My friend changed his diet eliminating saturated fats and red meat. In fact, he adopted a mostly vegetarian diet. The pain didn’t go away.

Now, I don’t know about you but at this point alarm bells would be going off in my head, especially when the doctor continued to attribute the pain to gout. Gout is caused by uric acid. The reduction of meats and fat that my friend had made should have drastically reduced uric acid production.

A new symptom came to light. The swelling and pain my friend was experiencing in his joints got worse. The doctor said it was nothing to worry about. It was just the gout. Because my friend was on Medicare, the doctor did not run a panel of tests on liver function, kidney function and blood chemistry.

A few weeks later my friend stubbed his toe. It turned black. He rushed to the hospital where doctors were forced to amputate his foot due to an aggressive infection. Tests showed that his kidneys were failing. My friend has been in the hospital for three months.

Why it is this way: Medicare, like so many health insurance programs, is heavily controlled by cost accounting. The first health insurance sector hit by the overwhelming cost accounting influence was the Health Maintenance Organization or HMO. The accountants running HMOs began second-guessing doctors, forcing them to prescribe cheaper medications that were ineffective instead of more costly medications that would cure the situation. To make matters worse, the United States Government has made it impossible to sue HMOs for their wrong doings and drastically reduced benefits for Medicare patients. Additionally, the same cost accountants have reduced coverage and raised premiums at a rate that has left an ever increasing portion of America uninsured or underinsured.

This heavy-handed control of healthcare through cost accounting has created a disparity in health coverage in America. The wealthy can afford the premiums of insurance that provides for quality health care. The middle-class and working poor cannot afford the premiums on insurance plans that provide quality coverage. Employers, in a never-ending search for cost savings have adopted weaker and weaker insurance policies or eliminated them completely.

The way it could be: If a properly formulated universal healthcare insurance system were created by the United States Government, all Americans would receive the same quality healthcare and diagnostic procedures. The wealthy could still buy additional insurance to cover voluntary procedures such as cosmetic surgeries or similar treatments.

If Medicare had not been gutted and universal healthcare insurance was a reality, my friend would have been evaluated with a complete battery of diagnostic tests. The kidney function problems and the factors that caused them would have been caught early enough to begin appropriate medical therapies. My friend would still have his foot!

It doesn’t have to be this way: Contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators (Congressional Email Directory) and tell them to support a fair and equitable universal healthcare insurance program. Insist that all Americans deserve quality healthcare. Write the Presidential candidates and demand universal healthcare.

Richard Moolick

www.call4action.info