I think there is reason to hope that public health will not sink back to the depths of the past, provided that there's not a Pol Pot-style assault on knowledge and literacy. Part of our protection from waterborne and foodborne diseases, malnutrition, etc. comes from fossil-fueled infrastructure, but part comes from better knowledge of the causes of disease. We understand why polishing rice or using corn without nixtamalization caused deficiency diseases, so if we're forced to make one of those grains the center of our diet, we can insist that it be processed properly. We know that dangerous microbes can live in water, so we can find cheap means of treating drinking water to reduce its pathogen load.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2022-07-19 12:42 pm (UTC)I think there is reason to hope that public health will not sink back to the depths of the past, provided that there's not a Pol Pot-style assault on knowledge and literacy. Part of our protection from waterborne and foodborne diseases, malnutrition, etc. comes from fossil-fueled infrastructure, but part comes from better knowledge of the causes of disease. We understand why polishing rice or using corn without nixtamalization caused deficiency diseases, so if we're forced to make one of those grains the center of our diet, we can insist that it be processed properly. We know that dangerous microbes can live in water, so we can find cheap means of treating drinking water to reduce its pathogen load.