Article: 980 of sgi.talk.ratical From: (dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcliffe) Subject: WWC: Report Card for Measuring Your Nation's Progress Toward Sanity Summary: Testimony of R. Bertell at World Women's Congress, 11/91 PART V Keywords: secrecy, extreme behaviour, rationalization, lies, self-destructive Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc. Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1993 16:20:01 GMT Lines: 955 Part V of Dr. Rosalie Bertell's Testimony prepared for the World Women's Congress For A Healthy Planet held in Miami, Florida, November 8-12, 1991: INVESTIGATION INTO THE HEALTH OF THE PLANET This post contains a "model report card" which women can use to rate the progress of their nation toward sanity. The report cards will be means of evaluation; we need a healthy environment, both a healthy natural environment and a healthy man-made environment: * The natural environment means living creatures, air, water, land, and food. A report card on the natural environment must evaluate the impact of the natural system on the health of all living creatures. * The man-made environment is described through the report cards in four systems: the values system, the political system, the household system, the human development system. Evaluation of these four types of systems takes into consideration a broad range of issues important for human beings in all parts of our global society. * To measure the health of these systems a scale fram 0 - 4 is proposed. In addition, certain quantitative measurements are to be written up (as far as it is possible in the individual country). The 5 areas examined are: 1. Health of the natural environment. 2. Health of the value system 3. Health of the political system 4. A healthy system for use of the resources 5. A healthy system for human development ___________________________________________________________________________ PART V A REPORT CARD FOR MEASURING YOUR NATION'S PROGRESS TOWARD SANITY. ___________________________________________________________________________ A "model report card" which women can use to rate the progress of their nation toward sanity. Please feel free to develop it further and to share your findings with other women through: IPAC Secretariat c/o Women's Foreign Policy Council 845 Third Avenue (15th floor) New York, N. Y. 10022 U. S. A. or IICPH 710-264 Queens Quay West Toronto ON M5J 1B5 Canada Tel: +1-416-260-0575 Fax: +1-416-260-3404 E-mail: IICPH@compuserve.com I am grateful to the Nordic women for developing a context for this national report card. [signed Rosalie Bertell] Rosalie Bertell, Ph.D., GNSH ___________________________________________________________________________ EVALUATION OF A HEALTHY SOCIETY AN INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN LEADING UP TO THE BRAZIL CONFERENCE IN 1992 by Eva Nordland This article concerns a plan for a new way of evaluating a nation's progress, focusing on health in a broad meaning. New criteria and instruments of evaluation are needed. Rosalie Bertell has taken the initiative, and launched a plan in time for the "Earth Summit" in Brazil in 1992 on environment and development. Calculations of improvement or deterioration in the state of the world around 1990 worked out by ecologists and economists, respectively, show totally dissimilar trends. The economists present optimistic reports, while the ecologists report tendencies pointing towards global disaster ("WorldWatch" report 1991, Ch. 1). With this state of affairs in mind Rosalie Bertell has initiated an international project in advance of the Miami Women's Congress in autumn 1991, preparatory to the UN Brazil conference in June 1992. Her idea is to work out alternative criteria to those at present included in Gross National Product (GNP) internationally. Several other alternatives to the present system of calculation have been developed. The work of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom on alternative criteria is far advanced. The UN has worked out its Human Development Index (HDI) and Daly and Cobbs have produced their Index for a Sustainable Environment in the World (ISEW). Of the last two--the "WorldWatch" report (1991) considers the UN index to be preferable. The UN index follows a scale from 0 - 1 for three indicators: lifespan, level of knowledge, and control of the resources needed for a dignified human life. Neither of the two proposals have been prepared for practical use, and will thus not be able to be considered at the 1992 conference. Let us therefore take a look at Rosalie Bertell's proposal. Who is Rosalie Bertell? Rosalie Bertell has a background as a health professional. She has worked for 20 years on cancer and birth defect problems and has worked extensively with the Marshallese, especially the Rongalap people, who got the brunt of the nuclear weapon testing in the area. She has also worked with Tahitians and with other people who have been exposed to radiation. Rosalie Bertell has observed that "the primary concern of men in our society is the economy and politics . . . they have defined their role in the world as taking care of money and economy . . ., leaving everything else to the women, such as air, land, food, water, babies, homes and everything else . . . And a point has been reached where this kind of crippled establishment that is focusing on money . . . cannot continue, so it is crumbling, crumbling slowly." For this reason Bertell proposes a women's agenda for the UN Brazil conference in 1992, to be discussed at the UN World Wamen's Congress for a Healthy Planet in Miami, Florida, in November 1991. WOMEN'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE BRAZIL CONFERENCE Rosalie Bertell has a concern that women for the most part have been left out of the planning for the Brazil conference on environment and development, although women do most of the work to save the environment in the world. It is of the greatest importance that women should participate in this conference. One step to achieve this is the women's unofficial conference parallel to the official conference in Miami in Novemker '91. The UN intends to have a large proportion of women from the Third World attending, to put forward their views at that meeting. Here an attempt will be made to organize the way to intervene in Brazil. At present the framework for the 1992 summit conference makes it difficult to include satisfactory treatment of everyday problems such as food, healthcare, schooling, housing, employment. Bertell says: "we decided . . . to have our own agenda and our own framework, and see what we could do to impact thinking on a global scale . . . our goal or our vision was for a healthy planet, a healthy earth, a healthy nation, a healthy city, a healthy workplace, a healthy home." She wants concrete descriptions of all these areas to be carried out by as many women as possible from as many nations as possible. This will make up the women's alternative. GNP is, she maintains, a fatally misleading measurement in the evaluation of development. GNP tells us about market transactions, both positive and negative in character--both constructive and destructive, and thus is a poor measure of a nation's wellbeing. Rosalie Bertell and her group have developed a series of five report cards, applicable to all nations, as an alternative method of evaluation. The report cards put values on the nation's health instead of adding, up the amount of market transactions. Health would be considered in a broad perspective and be reported by women. INVESTIGATION INTO THE HEALTH OF THE PLANET The report cards will be means of evaluation; we need a healthy environment, both a healthy natural environment and a healthy man-made environment: * The natural environment means living creatures, air, water, land, and food. A report card on the natural environment must evaluate the impact of the natural system on the health of all living creatures. * The man-made environment is described through the report cards in four systems: the values system, the political system, the household system, the human development system. Evaluation of these four types of systems takes into consideration a broad range of issues important for human beings in all parts of our global society. * To measure the health of these systems a scale fram 0 - 4 is proposed. In addition, certain quantitative measurements are to be written up (as far as it is possible in the individual country). The scale is organized as follows: |--| (4) "The system is on the whole healthy, and efforts are being | | made to improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (3) "The system is still in good condition, but threatened in | | different ways." | | | | | | | | |--| (2) "The system has serious problems, but efforts are being made | | to improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (1) "The system is deterioriating, but attempts are initiated to | | improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (0) "The system is not working and no attempts are being made to improve it" The five marks are used both for the natural environment and the four spheres of the man-made environment. It is important to remember that the marks are given as an evaluation and are bound to be a approximate, and insecure as well; it is recommended to use the whole scale, also the space between the numbers, to express the degree of insecurity. As for the quantitative measures, each point concerns important fields for which most countries have statistics; the question is left without an answer if correct figures are not available. * * * * * * * * * * * 1. Health of the natural environment. The first area to be evaluated for the individual country, is that of a healthy natural environment--the quality of water, air, soil, forests, animal life. One thing to do for a healthy environment is to put survival back into the hands of the local community. For all aspects of life the groundwork for a healthy environment is done locally. Change on an international level is the aim, but the changes must begin in the local community. Important information will be needed and be asked for locally on the connection of poisonous substances and pollution to health, especially when the connection between pollution and its tangible results is not immediately apparent. Nuclear waste is one example of how the "experts" withhold information or say that there is no danger from it, that there is no appreciable difference between the "natural" background of radiation and the level of radiation after storage of nuclear waste. The people who live their whole lives at the place will be interested in the long term changes and effects. With these types of problems, credibility will be the most important aspect at the local level; it becomes necessary to know the arguments for a certain type of development in the short and the long term. The more information available to the local population, the more they will be able to give their own judgement. Will we be healthy in some years time? Will our children and their children, again, be healthy? To have a healthy community, therefore, the people who live there should be in control over their land, water and air. If people outside the area are in control there is a probability of exploitation. A healthy community is self-controlled; problems should as far as possible be solved locally. Only when concrete problems involve other communities should the problem in question be moved on to a higher level of organization. The closer to the grassroots the problem is solved, the better. A healthy natural environment - a short definition. The quality of water, air, soil, forests, and animal life should be in good condition and not contain toxics and poison. The population of the local community--those who live in the district--should be in control over their land, water and air. A healthy community is self- controlled. The closer to the grassroots the problems are solved, the better. Human rights must be respected, health care available, food, shelter and transportation adequate. 1. Health of the natural environment. |--| (4) "The system is on the whole healthy, and efforts are being | | made to improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (3) "The system is still in good condition, but threatened in | | different ways." | | | | | | | | |--| (2) "The system has serious problems, but efforts are being made | | to improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (1) "The system is deterioriating, but attempts are initiated to | | improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (0) "The system is not working and no attempts are being made to improve it" Qualitative measures ________% National budget devoted to improving the environment ________% land protected by the authorities (e.g. as national parks) ________ Number of laws erected to protect the environment ________ Systems for recycling, available to _____% of population ________ Per capita energy use ________% electricity from mega-projects (large dams/nuclear power) 2. Health of the value system The second area to be evaluated for the country in question, is that of a healthy value system. It is important to find out about the health of a society from the point of view of values. A broadly-based sense of values provides the ground for asking questions on behalf of future generations and the world community: Why do we have so much discontent? so much crime? such a low level of solidarity? In a community and in a nation that are conscious of healthy values the task of identifying problems, connections, and ways of improving the situation may be taken up by the population on behalf of the district as well as the world community. The local population will decide on changes and improvements both as local residents and citizens of the world. Acting together gives people the ability to achieve the result they want, for instance to draw attention to a company that is poisoning an area with its waste dump. Then at a higher level of authority the culprit can be held responsible for starting dangerous processes of production. Changes for the better can be introduced. With a program of this sort, everyone can take part according to their individual interests and abilities. The local residents need information and stimulation. Then people start to cooperate on tasks they can undertake together. As soon as they begin to cooperate in solving problems, connections between various types of problems will appear, concerning the air, water, land, and food, personal health, family health, the neighbors' health. When the connection is clear, people can get together to form a community that takes action. Ecology, caring and cooperation become the basis for production and householding, A healthy value system - a short definition. In a healthy society life at every level is built on human, spiritual, and ecological values. These values aim at giving every person possibilities to experience and understand that one is an integral part of the ecosystem, as a human being equal in value to all other human beings, with possibilities for development, solidarity, responsiblity, and joy in life. On these common values a healthy society builds institutions and systems for caring, education, and communication for all its children and adults. On these common values a healthy society builds institutions and systems for developing methods of peaceful conflict resolution in the local community, in the nation, and in the global society. 2. Health of the value system |--| (4) "The system is on the whole healthy, and efforts are being | | made to improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (3) "The system is still in good condition, but threatened in | | different ways." | | | | | | | | |--| (2) "The system has serious problems, but efforts are being made | | to improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (1) "The system is deterioriating, but attempts are initiated to | | improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (0) "The system is not working and no attempts are being made to improve it" Qualitative measures ________% unemployed/underemployed ________ Number of human rights cases heard per year in appropriate fora ________% literacy ________% with regular access to medical care ________% malnourished/undernourished ________% without housing 3. Health of the political system A healthy political system means that people are participating, are engaged and involved. The national and local government is held responsible by the people who may decide that the government shall go, or become reelected, according to the ways tasks are solved. The level of information must be satisfactory so that the people will get valid and objective information on a broad scale. The people shall generally be able to participate in the control of the government system, locally and nationally. The society should be characterized by social justice, without discrimination between races, cultural groups, sexes, classes. A healthy political system - a short definition. A healthy political system is democratic in the meaning that people participate in the development of the country. The country has a constitution. The political system has regular constitutional elections; all adults have the right to vote; all adults are elegible for political positions. All citizens have good access to relevant information. There is for the government full accountability to the public. The system has independent courts of justice. There is equality in all important aspects of society for women and for cultural minorities. There is freedom of religion, thought and speach. Non- governmental organizations have good working conditions. 3. Health of the political system |--| (4) "The system is on the whole healthy, and efforts are being | | made to improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (3) "The system is still in good condition, but threatened in | | different ways." | | | | | | | | |--| (2) "The system has serious problems, but efforts are being made | | to improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (1) "The system is deterioriating, but attempts are initiated to | | improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (0) "The system is not working and no attempts are being made to improve it" Qualitative measures ________% women in elected offices ________% minorities in elected offices relative to their proportional number ________% adult population with the right to vote ________% usually voting ________ Number of non-governmental media 4. A healthy system for use of the resources -- a healthy national household system The fourth area to be evaluated for the individual country, is that of a healthy system for the use of resources. A healthy national household system has to do with ownership, or shepardship with regard to the different areas of production and consumption. Who is in the position to protect and control the use of land, air and water? Do individuals or small groups control the resources that everybody is dependent upon? What about the distribution of burdens and obligations? Do some people exploit groups of people in their country or abroad? A country may be prosperous but unhealthy when large groups of the population live in poverty while other groups are rich. The use of resources is also unsatisfactory if trade with other countries operates unfairly. An unhealthy use of resources is blatant when workers in one country, as is often the case, have to work three, four, five, even ten, times longer than workers in another "prosperous" country, to buy an equivalent amount of goods. "Development aid" must be judged according to what use is made of the aid, what conditions are exacted, and who benefits from the aid in both the donor and receiving countries. A healthy use of resources - a short definition. The population has a lifestyle which aims at protecting the natural resources for the present and the future. The production system takes care of the resources, producing first and foremost goods and commodities that serve the needs of the population as a whole, their mental and physical health and the cultural developnent of children and adults. There is a fair distribution of necessary goods and commodities; the standard of living is not marked by a conspicuous difference between groups of the population. The resources of the country are seen and evaluated in a global perspective. 4. A healthy system for use of the resources |--| (4) "The system is on the whole healthy, and efforts are being | | made to improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (3) "The system is still in good condition, but threatened in | | different ways." | | | | | | | | |--| (2) "The system has serious problems, but efforts are being made | | to improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (1) "The system is deterioriating, but attempts are initiated to | | improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (0) "The system is not working and no attempts are being made to improve it" Quantitative measures: ________% on subsistence living ________% inflation ________% interest rate ________% firms with less than 20 employees ________% of national budget for military use ________ democratic control of the banking system ________ amount of transnational companies ________ National debt per capita ________ National export/import ratio ________ Average wage for women, ________ for men ________ Average cost of living, urban, ________ rural ________ Distributian of income (% income vs. % population) 5. A healthy system for human development The reproduction system is a fifth category, which has to do with caring for people, their mental and physical health. This caring includes children, the sick, the elderly, and handicapped persons who need special protection. That a community--and a nation--is healthy from this point of view is vital for the degree of civilization and culture in the country. All violence, brutality, attacks on children and women, on weak persons; all ruthlessness, are signs of an unhealthy community. A healthy environment for reproduction means adequate food, good health care, safe homes, safe places for children, and schools where children enjoy themselves. In many places the natural environment has been so destroyed that women can't have babies or they give birth to children with serious birth defects. It is frightening that we now have to protect children from toxic waste, contaminated food, uranium mine tailings, etc. Healthy human development - a short definition A system for healthy human development includes mental and physical health, wellbeing and cultural possibilities of the populatian as a whole. It includes sufficient and proper nutrition and housing; equal access to medical care (from prebirth till death); equal access to education and income through work or, when ill, handicapped or in old age; equal possibilities for cultural blooming as well as security of living in a clean environment, free of pollution, poison, radiation. 5. A healthy system for human development |--| (4) "The system is on the whole healthy, and efforts are being | | made to improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (3) "The system is still in good condition, but threatened in | | different ways." | | | | | | | | |--| (2) "The system has serious problems, but efforts are being made | | to improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (1) "The system is deterioriating, but attempts are initiated to | | improve it" | | | | | | | | |--| (0) "The system is not working and no attempts are being made to improve it" Qualitative measures ________% access to education for children 6 to 16 years ________% access to education for young people over 16 years ________% access to maternal-child health care/reproductive health clinics ________% access to safe playground for children 6-16 years * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * A global campaign to carry out the work of filling in Rosalie Bertell's report cards on the health of the planet could have world-wide impact. It may well arouse considerable interest at the Brazil conference. The report cards are designed in a way that makes them applicable all over the world, in spite of the huge differences between the nations. We need to have the ambition of getting reports from all around the planet, while realizing that some national groups will be struggling with a censorship problem. In these cases international organizations should be able to help, for instance by reporting from interviews with people who would get into trouble if they responded in the open. It is important to get a national coordination centre in each country to coordinate the reports. * * * * * * * * Note: Annelise Droyer brought to Norway a tape from a lecture by Rosalie Bertell in January 1991 on nuclear pollution and women's responsibility. Rosalie Bertell then sent five prelimunary "report cards" to Annelise Droyer, Women for Peace in Norway. These sources and a personal knowledge of Rosalie Bertell's books and articles constitute the material on which this article is based. A first draft was discussed at a meeting in Helsinki August 6, 1991 by a group belonging to the Nordic Women's Network. The result of our discussions is presented above. Eva Nordland ___________________________________________________________________________ SUGGESTED FURTHER READING United Nations Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) Reports: 1982, 1988 "RADIOACTIVE HEAVEN AND EARTH," a report of the IPPNW International Commission to Investigate the Health and Environment Effects of Nuclear Weapons Production, The Apex Press, N. Y., 1991 "NO IMMEDIATE DANGER, Prognosis for a Radioactive Earth," by Rosalie Bertell, The Women's Press, London, England, 1985 "MULTIPLE EXPOSURES, Chronicles of the Radiation Age," by Catherine Canfield, Stoddart Publ. Co., Toronto, 1989 "RADIATION AND HUMAN HEALTH," Edited by Robin Russell Jones and Richard Southwood, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1987 "THE POISONED WOMB, Human Reproduction in a Polluted World," by John Elkington, Viking Penguin, New York, 1985 "KILLING OUR OWN, The Disaster of America's Experience with Atomic Radiation," by Harvey Wasserman and Norman Solomon, Delta, New York, 1982 "RADIATION IMPACT," by Donnell W. Boardman, Center for Atomic Radiation Studies, Cambridge, Mass. (in Press) -- Pre-publication Draft available, 1991. "POISONED REIGN, French nuclear colonialism in the Pacific," by Bengt and Marie Therese Danielsson, Penguin Books, 1986. -- Humanity has been held to a limited and distorted view of itself, from its interpretation of the most intimate emotions to its grandest visions of human possibilities, by virtue of its subordination of women. Until recently, "mankind's" understandings have been the only understandings generally available to us. As other perceptions arise-- precisely those perceptions that men, because of their dominant position could not perceive--the total vision of human possibilities enlarges and is transformed. -- Jean Baker Miller, "Toward a New Psychology of Women" (1976)