Reflections from the Flooded Iowa - June 15, 2008
By Dr. Maureen McCue, Global Health Studies, Center for Human Rights, UI International Programs; Coordinator Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility; DGH Board Member and organizer of the DGH 2008 General Assembly in Iowa

Flooded streets in Cedar Rapids Photo courtesy of BBC News

Cities, towns, roads, and communities all across Iowa and Nebraska are suffering under the onslaught of unprecedented numbers of intense storms, high winds, and record breaking rain. Many parts of the region are inaccessible due to downed trees, collapsed roads and bridges, power outages, flooding. Fortunately relatively few lives have been lost—yet. At least our most important and still intact assets, our caring communities and disaster response systems still work.

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Photos of the flood in Iowa - BBC Floodwater swamps major Iowa city - BBC iReporters document Iowa floods - CNN 10,000 take shelter from Iowa floods - CNN Floodwaters start to recede in Cedar Rapids - CNN Midwest Underwater, but Some Rivers Falling - Washington Post Iowa Continues to Cope With Floods - New York Times Rare Manuscripts Saved From Rising Floodwater at U. of Iowa - NPR

For years, many of us in global health have been concerned about the global economic system that makes a few extraordinarily wealthy and powerful while billions struggle to access basic resources like food, water, sanitation, safe housing, health care, and an intact environment. More recently we began to realize that such a system not only created unnecessary violence, pain and suffering, but that bit by bit it was unraveling the very pillars on which all human life depends: a stable climate, predictable hydrologic system, clean, healthy soil and water, safe and secure communities. In pursuit of profit and mindless consumption, our air, waters, and land have been turned into waste dumps, increasingly polluted, denuded, and inhospitable to many life forms—species are rapidly going extinct in this toxic soup. As commodity producers and business people, our farmers have become addicted to petroleum dependent "inputs" and forgotten how to grow food for the region. Correspondingly, a diet of petroleum based fast foods and "value added" food substitutes has brought us more chronic diseases and ill health.

Social and physical scientists increasingly raise alarms about the dangerous interactions of these processes, yet too many willfully ignore the warnings and continue to pursue more consumption and profit instead of more viable forms of social and economic organization. Here in Iowa, as else where, we have begun to pay the price. As the home of the green revolution, the Midwest has most intensively attacked its original resource base. We have removed trees, drained wetlands, and buried our rich topsoil under tons of pesticides and fertilizers. Our land has lost its resiliency, its ability to absorb water, to moderate wind and temperature swings.

Iowa's winter, as that of the whole Midwest, was long, cold, and repeatedly hit by storms. Spring came late, and was accompanied by still more storms after storms after storms. Crops went into fields late. Then tornadoes started early and hit frequently. They hit Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and parts of Wisconsin along with continuing rain. Beans and corn are rotting in water that has nowhere to go. Many towns across Nebraska and Iowa are destroyed. Finally, the damns and levees broke. Water invaded more cities and towns, more vital infrastructure. Even as the waters keep rising the coal and petroleum companies, the agri-industries promote their poisonous products; they continue working to convince people we need more of the same—regardless of the costs to our health and environment. No one mentions climate change.

While sorely tested this year, unlike poorer parts of the world that have been ravaged longer and even more deeply, much of Iowa's basic infrastructure remains intact, our communities less divided economically or racially. Once the waters finally begin to recede it's likely that we will rebuild and recover. We'll find we were able to weather the storms of '08. What remains to be seen is whether or not we learn any lessons and whether or not we're able to find a healthier, more sustainable model as we move forward, or whether we'll face even more intense difficulties in '09 and beyond. I only hope we begin to rebuild with a vision of the future that considers the consequences of our actions and prioritizes quality of life over quantity of materials consumed or profits made.