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作者 傑奇•艾倫•朱利安諾 博士
你也許認為，
我只是個影子；
但我的內心，
卻是火熱的太陽。
--黛米雅•蓋茲（加州，亞倫黛爾小學，四年級學生）
每天每刻，世界上都有兒童死於政客們所做的短視決定，因為這些惡行，讓有毒物質持續排入我們的空氣、水源及食物中，並且讓世界上的水源被人類廢棄物所污染。但你從來就沒有在晚間新聞上看到這些兒童死亡的消息，因為大家都認為這是人類追求進步必然要付的代價，同時也是全球財富分配不均的必然後果。
在菲律賓的小鎮上，水污染就從此開始。（照片提供 慈善行動組織所）
每日的兒童死亡數目多得令人驚愕，而且他們並非死於天然災害或傳染病。這種原來可避免的慘劇，其背後的唯一原因，就是目前世界上仍有數百萬人仍在飲用受到污染的飲用水，每年都有超過四百萬個不到五歲的兒童死於飲用不潔的飲用水而引發的疾病。
此外，這世界上的工業廢棄物無時無刻不在污染著水源，如果你再加上被這些污染水源毒害的人口，那麼這個死亡兒童的數字將會戲劇性地增加。
美國民眾也不能置身於外，美國環保署就推測：在1990年代中期，美國約有5千3百萬人（約佔美國人口20%），飲用了被排泄物、放射物、鉛和其它有毒物質污染的水。
目前世界上每年有2百萬到4百萬的兒童因為喝了帶有病菌的飲用水而引發痢疾死亡，一共佔了全球兒童死亡總數的四分之一。
我們千萬不要以為，只要住在科技沒有美國先進的國家，就必然會發生這種現象；事實上，這些毫無意義的犧牲，正是由於已開發國家政治領袖的貪婪所致，他們寧願把錢放進自己的荷包，也不願意花時間把水弄乾淨一點，並建立必要的衛生下水道系統。
在全世界，因不良飲用水而引發的痢疾，是導致兒童死亡的最大主因。在發展中國家，大部分的傳染病，都是飲用水系統遭到污染所致。約有42%的死亡案例與此有關；但在已開發國家，這個數字卻只有1.2%。
據世界衛生組織的估計，每年都有超過1千萬名5歲以下的兒童死於大部分都是可以預防的傳染病；換言之，每天有2萬7千名兒童是因此而死亡。
一名伊拉克小女孩和未經(化學)處理的污水下水道（照片提供 曠野心聲。譯者按：該組織的宗旨是，呼籲西方國家結束對伊拉克的經濟制裁。）
在這些毫無意義的犧牲中，約有40%是由於不潔的飲用水所致。目前世界上仍有60%的農村與25%的城市家庭缺乏安全的飲用水。這些被污染的水源，最後又會反噬人類，破壞海洋並影響漁業。
工業國家對這種每天都要上演的全球悲劇，只採取了坐視不理的方法，很多政治人物都說，要解決這種全球性的問題，代價實在是太高昂了。
事實上，提供乾淨的飲用水並不一定就是所費不賃的；舉例來說，印度政府、聯合國兒童基金與當地的非政府組織，就合作進行一項計畫，提供220萬個手動幫浦給印度民眾，讓5億5千萬名印度民眾得以享用乾淨的水源，但這些計畫的每年開銷也只不過是每人4塊美金而已。
事實上，要解決水的問題，世界上的財富可說是綽綽有餘。根據世界策略協會（The World Game Institute）的估計，只要連續10年間每年投資100億美金，那麼全球民眾都能擁有符合個人需求的飲用水。這樣的投資是以每人各50美元估算，包括尋找水源、建立衛生系統，以及進行訓練之用。
這筆錢跟每年的軍事開銷比起來，只不過佔全球軍事支出的1.2%；如果跟世界上購買毒品的資金相比，也只不過是1%而已；如果跟美國人每年購買菸酒的消費額相比，也只不過占15%。很多在美國的億萬富翁自己就可以開一張支票支付所有的款項，而根本就無關痛癢。
這個在非洲的蓄水池是透過馬利多瑪
(Malidoma Some) 集資興建的。（照片由Malidoma Some提供）
世界策略協會也繼而表示，如果我們假設提供乾淨水源的這項工作，每年只挽救1百萬的生命就好（事實上是將近1千萬），那麼每年全球總共就會多增加9千9百億美金的儲蓄。在不到4天之內，這項投資就會見效。
但是，我們的政治人物們，還是試圖用美麗的說詞說服我們相信：要解決這種全球問題是不可能的。被這種說法所影響，我們變得很絕望，因而懶得伸出援手，覺得我們的工作薪水這麼低、待遇又這麼差，我們養家活口都來不及了，哪還有時間金錢去幫助那些不幸沒生在美國的人？
但是，要解決這些全球性問題，一定得花金錢和時間，如果我們允許政治人物和我們自己對這個問題視而不見，那麼我很懷疑在我們的生活中，我們到底覺得什麼才是重要的。
還有什麼事情，會比提供乾淨水源給全球民眾還要重要？這可是人類的基本需求。難道有哪一家公司發給股東的年度報告，重要到可以讓我們都不必管堆積如山的死亡嬰兒嗎？
今天，這種被默許的現象必須劃下句點了，因為，我不知道我們的靈魂是否還能承受更多這種煎熬。
相關資源
1.找出屬於你那個選區的國會議員，並寄電子郵件給他們，要求他們撥款支持美國國內或世界上為了乾淨水源而奮鬥的團體。如果你知道你家的郵遞區號，你可以在下面這個網站找到代表該選區的國會議員：http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
ziptoit.html
2.目前南非民眾正為了飲用水問題而深以為苦，你可以到下面這個網站去瞭解南非環保計畫的實際運作情形：http://www.saep.org/subject/water/
water.html
3.在波灣戰爭中，由於美國轟炸伊拉克的電廠及基本設施，導致該國的濾水設備與供水系統都被摧毀了，因而造成超過五十萬名兒童的死亡。你可以透過曠野心聲看看這些紀錄：http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/
4.參與「呼應祖先 (Echoes of the Ancestors)」這個非政府組織的工作，這是一個由非洲學者和社會運動者 Malidoma Some 所領軍的組織：http://www.malidoma.com/
Malidoma/ (P.s. Malidoma Some是人名, 他屬於the Dagara Tribe of West Africa 族)
5.想看美國水污染事件的實例，請到：http://www.all-natural.com/
water.html
6.目前有很多人道團體正試圖在低度發展國家努力解決水問題，國際扶輪社醫生銀行（The Rotary Doctor Bank）是其中之一，你可以到這個網站看看他們的努力：http://www.rotarydoctorbank.org/
99i/db_99_3a.htm
7.見聯合國兒童基金所出版的「西元兩千年世界兒童徵象」報告：http://www.unicef.org/sowc00/
8.目前有一種合法的水污染跟氟有關，第一是在自來水中加入氟。有些健康專家認為自來水含氟可以避免蛀牙，但目前的研究卻顯示，飲用含氟自來水的人口，他們的牙齒情況並沒有比飲用不含氟自來水的民眾要好。另外，世界上的城市都使用了肥料工業的有毒廢棄物，亦即六氟化矽酸和其鈉鹽產品（不含鈉的六氟化矽酸），這種物質是由磷肥工廠生產出來的，含有確定會致癌的物質。你可以常上安全飲用水公民協會，對這個議題保持關切：http://www.nofluoride.com/
傑奇•艾倫•朱利安諾博士是西雅圖的作家與教師。，他對於在如此富足的地球上，竟還有人生活在水深火熱之中，他感到不可思議。你可以把你的想法寫出來寄給他：他的信箱是：jackie@healingourworld.com或是上他的網站：http://www.healingourworld.com
版權歸屬Environment News Service(ENS)，環境信託基金會(陳潁峰 譯，黃媺雯 蔡麗伶 審校)
中英對照全文：http://news.ngo.org.tw/issue/environ/
2001/environ01070301.htm
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By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D
You may think
I am a shadow,
But inside
I am a sun.
-- Damia Gates (Grade 4, Allendale Elementary School, California)
Every hour of every day, children die all over the world because of short- sighted political choices that keep toxic substances steadily flowing into our air, water, and food and keep the world's water supplies clouded with human waste. You don't hear about them on the evening news, all these dead children. They are just considered the necessary consequences of progress and the unequal distribution of wealth in our world.
How water pollution begins in a Philippine town. (Photo courtesy Mercy in Action)
The numbers of deaths each day are staggering and rival any natural disaster or plague. The largest single cause of preventable deaths results from the millions of people who use polluted drinking water around the world. Over four million children under the age of five die each year from diseases resulting just from unsanitary drinking water.
That number increases dramatically if you include those poisoned by industrial wastes contaminating water worldwide.
The people of the United States are not immune. The Environmental Protection Agency estimated in the mid-1990s that 53 million people in the U.S., about 20 percent of the population, have been drinking water that is contaminated with feces, radiation, lead, or other poisons.
Two to four million children each year die from diarrhea caused by diseases transmitted in polluted drinking water. This is nearly one fourth of all child deaths in the world.
This is not a necessary consequence of living in a country that is less technological than the United States. These senseless deaths are the direct result of the greed of the government leaders in the more developed countries who choose to increase their profits rather than clean up water supplies and build the necessary sanitation systems.
Diarrhea from bad drinking water is the leading cause of death in the world for children. In developing countries, infectious diseases, many of which are caused by polluted drinking water systems, account for 42 percent of all deaths compared to 1.2 percent in the more developed countries.
The World Health Organization estimates that each year, over 10 million children under the age of five die of mostly preventable infectious diseases. That's 27,000 every day!.
A young girl and a river of raw sewage in Iraq. (Photo courtesy Voices in the Wilderness)
Diseases that come from unsafe drinking water cause 40 percent of these senseless deaths. Sixty percent of rural families and 25 percent of urban homes around the world lack safe water. This contaminated water is wreaking havoc on the world's oceans and impacting fisheries.
The industrialized countries stand by and watch as this worldwide tragedy goes on every moment of every day. Most leaders would say it would cost too much to fix this global problem.
In fact, providing clean water is not all that expensive. For example, a joint program of the Indian government, the United Nations Children's Fund and local nongovernmental organizations supplied water to 550 million Indians by providing 2.2 million hand pumps. The annual cost was $4 per person.
Contrary to what you may hear from politicians, there is plenty of money available in the world to stop this tragedy. The World Game Institute estimates that all of the world's people could be provided with enough water to meet their personal needs for an investment of $10 billion per year for 10 years. Their figures assume an investment of about $50 per person for water, sanitation materials, and training.
This is about 1.2 percent of the world's total annual military expenditures, or about one percent of what is being spent on illegal drugs in the world each year. It is also about 15 percent of what the people in the U.S. spend each year on alcohol and tobacco. Many billionaires in the U.S. alone could write a check for this amount today and not feel the loss.
A water reservoir built in Africa through donations by Malidoma Some. (Photo courtesy Malidoma Some)
The World Game Institute goes on to say that if you assumed that providing clean water would save only one million lives per year - the actual figure could be more like 10 million - the total savings to the world would be $990 billion per year. The pay-back on the investment would occur in less than four days.
Yet the rhetoric of our political leaders is designed to make us believe that solving problems such as this is impossible. We are made to feel hopeless and helpless, doomed to work in underpaid, unsatisfying jobs to earn enough to provide the bare minimum for our families. How can there be time or money to help those unfortunate enough to be born outside of the United States?
There must be time spent and there must be money spent on these global problems. If we allow our leaders - and ourselves - to choose to ignore these issues, what kind of statement are we making about the priorities of our lives?
What could possibly be more important that providing something as fundamental as clean water to the people of the world? Is any company's annual report to their stockholders worth a mountain of bodies of dead infants?
The silence and acceptance must end, today. I don't know how much more of this our souls can bear.
RESOURCES
1. Find out who your Congressional representatives are and e-mail them. Demand that they fund clean water efforts throughout the U.S. and the world. If you know your Zip code, you can find them at:
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
ziptoit.html
2. South Africans suffer intensely from drinking water problems. Learn about their plight from the South African Environment Project at:
http://www.saep.org/subject/water/
water.html
3. The U.S. bombing of Iraq's power plants and infrastructure during the Gulf War destroyed the country's water purification and distribution system and may be responsible for the deaths of over 500,000 children. Track this through Voices in the Wilderness at:
http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/
4. Follow the work of Echoes of the Ancestors, Inc., a non-profit group headed by African scholar and activist Malidoma Some at:
http://www.malidoma.com/Malidoma/
5. See some examples of U.S. water contamination incidents at: http://www.all-natural.com/water.html
6. The Rotary Doctor Bank is one of the many humanitarian organizations trying to do something about water issues in lesser developed countries. See their efforts at:
http://www.rotarydoctorbank.org/99i/db_99_3a.htm
7. See UNICEF's State of the World's Children 2000 report at: http://www.unicef.org/sowc00/
8. Legalized water pollution continues around the world in the form of fluoridation. Marketed by some health professionals as a preventative for tooth decay, studies have shown that the incidence of dental problems is fluoridated populations is no different from that of non-fluoride users. Yet cities around the world use toxic waste from the fertilizer industry in the form of hexafluorosilicic acid and its sodium salt, disodium hexafluorosilicate. These chemicals are derived from phosphate fertilizer industry and contain impurities which are known to cause cancer. Stay in touch with this issue through Citizens for Safe Drinking Water at:
http://www.nofluoride.com/
[Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. is a writer and teacher in Seattle. He can be found marvelling at all the suffering that takes place amidst the grand abundance of our Earth. Send your thoughts and ideas to him at
jackie@healingourworld.com and visit his website at:
http://www.healingourworld.com/
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