Today I attended a Memorial Service for a friend, Robert Horachek, from the past that I knew in the Morgantown Community Arts Orchestra where we both played cello. And today I was playing in that same orchestra wondering how could someone in the prime of their life, only 36, who used to sit besides me, suddenly, mysteriously just like a wisp of smoke simply fade away from this world? He was just setting up his own medical practice when apparently he had an episode during his sleep caused by asthma that killed him. While the police labeled his death accidental, Cornell University Chronicle has an article that says that 80% of asthma related deaths are caused by common asthma medication.

The real tragedy in this story is what caused this live-wire guy to have asthma in the first place. I suspect it had a lot to do with his originally living in a part of the world that has one of the highest asthma levels in the United States. The West Virginia Asthma Education and Prevention Program is loaded with wonderful statistics:

IN WEST VIRGINIA, THE BURDEN OF ASTHMA IS HIGHEST AMONG

Children – 4th highest prevalence of childhood asthma in the nation in 2003. Nationally, asthma is one of the leading chronic diseases among children, and causes more absence from school than any other chronic disease.

Elderly – 9.4% of adults 65+ have asthma, the 3rd highest rate in the nation in 2006. Between 1996 and 2004, the rate of asthma hospitalizations more than doubled among West Virginians aged 65 and older.

West Virginia is a powerhouse producer of airborne pollutants that can be tied to the prevalence of this disease. We are the top net-exporter of electricity in the United States. Coal-burning power plants account for the majority of the production of this electricity. Meanwhile, while WV already has a humid environment to begin with, the release of CO2 into the atmosphere further exacerbates humidity levels. This combination of pollutants and humidity is a great recipe for asthma.

Unfortunately, with the way things are progressing, Robert is not going to be the only one of a growing multitude of asthma causalities. There is a huge amount of information about the relationship between Global Warming and asthma, NRDC has a great article and study about the increase in ragweed and ozone. You may try to run, hide and protect your children, but you will always loose because the atmosphere doesn’t have any boundaries; pollutants from WV will end up wherever you go. Many people in WV don’t get it, the coal and power industry represent the only types of jobs they have ever understood; they are in denial that there are any negative effects. I remember an inhabitant at a public hearing for a local proposed power plant proudly saying that he had never developed any illness as a result of living besides a power plant. “Power Plant are great,” he said, “they provide construction jobs when the plants are built, and maintenance jobs afterwards.” There is something macabre about attitudes like this, they are like an image from the land of the living dead. You may not see this relationship, but I certainly do, and I know Robert definitely did.

In the end, the music of the souls of the multitudes murdered by the conscious or unknowing sins of the billions will rise up so loudly that even the deaf will not be able to escape hearing. If only it were that simple! It’s funny how many people know about the relationship of their actions to Global Warming, yet there seems to be no slowdown in their activity. The amount of CO2/smog producing cars on the roads increases all the time, I think the problem is human nature, and only by addressing human behavior through human interfaces can we properly address complete solutions. It is our own activity that demands energy, and if the technologies that our activities utilize could be altered unknown to our normal behaviors, then this would be a substantial step in the right direction. Because you see, in the case of Global Warming when the time of the terrible catastrophes come, it will already be too late for people to suddenly realize that now they should change their ways.