Water and Diabetes

WE CAN EXPECT in this century an increasing privatization of natural resources. Water is one of those resources. However, "pure water", as an open resource/common good is disappearing rapidly. In areas like California's central valley, the concern for drought is finally reaching predictable intensities. The response: people will drink whatever is most readily accessible. Since the hazards of contamination go up proportional to the decrease in reserves, people in dry places are turning to processed goods as part of their daily sustenance. The result: higher obesity and diabetes rates. A report published in Vice News indicates that nearly one-quarter of people living in the Central Valley have limited access to drinkable water. Of those admitted to hospitals "nearly one-third of all patients over 35 admitted to hospitals in California have diabetes, while that figure jumps to 43 percent among Latinos."

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Its both sad and funny to observe corporate capitalization on resource failures. People are increasingly psychologically dependent on sugary drinks, and they're paying for it with their health. I'm reminded of the movie Idiocracy, where drinking water has been replaced with Mondo, a Gatorade equivalent, resulting in a catastrophic crop-loss; a reductio ad absurdum of our present affairs. As always, I am pessimistic about this whole situation. No democratic force will prevail to save water for public use-- the increasingly capital-driven mindset has an ace in the form of a much too willing crowd sugar-gulping cattle-folk.