Groxie

I have been doing a bit of research into the minimum wage. I started interning at the Virginia Organizing Project, and their big push right now is to have the minimum wage in Virginia raised. It currently stands at $5.15—the same as the federal minimum wage. There’s a neat little page full of convincing facts and figures, and there are even economic research groups that support it. Still, my economics background makes me want to look into the issue on my own, so I intended this evening to pick the brain of one of my favorite econ professors.

When I came home there was an article from the New York Times in our mailbox from John’s mom that altered my plans. It was written almost three years ago, but it remains relevant. In it the author explores the connections between poverty and health, and there is a lot of focus on environment. Not environment in the rivers and birds sense, but in the cockroaches, mold, and frequent killings sense.

When I think about the intersection of environmentalism and poverty, I usually think about the relative cheapness of processed foods, the poor state of public transporation, the tendency to focus low—income houing near industr and power plants, and other issues that I see here in my community everyday. I think of poverty as connected to poor environmental health, but this article makes the jump from poor environmental health to poor health for the poor.

I still intend to look into the economics of the minimum wage increase in the coming days, but for now I am comfortable supporting the increase based on environmental concerns. Poverty breeds powerlessness. Powerlessness breeds poor environment, which in turn brings with it poor health. Poor health completes the cycle of poverty. The circle must be broken somewhere, and an increase in the minimum wage seems like a good start.

Take a moment (or 10 minutes) to read the article. What do you think?