Editor’s Note: This was a multi-party contribution involving Kim Komenich (photos) Kwan Booth (text) NewsDesk.org (editing) Spot.Us (financial support). This is part of a series that we’ll be posting over the next week.

Talking to Dr. Washington Burns the other day I learned some pretty shocking information: 37 percent of the adults and 20 percent of the kids living in West Oakland have asthma and children living in this community are seven times more likely to be hospitalized for breathing related illness than any other children in California.

And Alameda County as a whole is no prize, with one of the highest overall hospitalization rates among 5-17 year old youth.

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We’re coming at you no-longer-quite-live at New York’s very own Wall Street Green Trading Summit.

The summit is over for today, but I wanted to throw some concluding thoughts out after an afternoon spent discussing good business models for producing alternative energy and for overhauling our current electrical grid.

>> More Wall Street Green Trading Summit:   Opening, Carbon Markets, Weird Investments.

Two presentations stuck out to me from the afternoon, Tioga Energy and Acorn (no, not that ACORN) Energy.  Without turning this into too much of a publicity-fest for either company, here’s what they were about.

Solar Panels for All

Tioga has gotten pretty good at a business model that I’ve actually heard about in a few different places: effectively, they lease people’s roof space and put solar panels up on homes and businesses.  Then, they sell the energy to the people in the home at a fixed rate (below market value for the customer) that goes up slowly over a 20 year period.  There are options for the owner of the property to purchase the solar panels if they would like to down the line, but until they do Tioga maintains everything for them. This means that the company soaks the initial start-up costs for people: often that prohibitive thing reinventing a small business or a home-owner from taking a plunge.

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Senator Barack Obama has been questioned over and over again by the McCain campaign about his affiliation with ACORN, or The Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now. The FBI is currently investigating any activity that would point to ACORN’s fradulent voter registration processes for less fortunate citizens. However, Senator McCain believes that the activity is even more nefarious than it seems.

“We all know that Barack Obama has some shady ties,” says McCain, “but this one–this one breaks all the rules of human decency. We have enough evidence to assume that Obama has fraternized with an enemy that will terrorize you neighborhood. I only have two words: Trained Squirrels.

“We believe that Obama is exchanging premium-grade acorns for underground political intelligence. They sit by your windows at dinner time, hearing your discussions like fuzzy flies on the walls. They seem innocent enough–you might even want to throw them a cheez doodle–but know beneath that fuzzy outfit lies the heart of a Pinko rat!

“Mud slinging is a heavenly ordained act between a man and another man. Squirrels should never be provided the right to break the First Amendment through covert spying. They are not, and shall never be, mentioned in the Patriot Act.

“If you are a real American, you will not include acorns in your Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations. In fact, no tree nuts or dried Indian corn should be included. Only Freedom Fruits.”

Obama declined to comment.

As I’ve been reporting over the last few weeks I’ve repeatedly heard residents express their frustration at how hard it was to see a qualified doctor. Many people I spoke with were working 2 and 3 jobs to support their families and taking time off for doctor’s visits usually just wasn’t an option. The goal of the Breathmobile is to take the hospital to the people, instead of the other way around. Beginning in July, the clinic will be traveling to area events to provide on the spot diagnoses and assistance.

But while providing quality care is one issue Dr. Burns and Mary Frazier, the Breathmobile’s RN, brought up another important point. Even if the resources are there, the people have to value and use them or they still won’t work.

Ms. Frazier talked about a series of informal surveys they conducted with various Prescott Joseph clients. When asked their most pressing concerns, most people listed lack of money and quality jobs as the main issue. After this was violence followed by a list of other concerns. Even with the abnormally high level of documented cases, asthma and breathing related illnesses ranked somewhere between 5-7th with most people. These estimates were echoed by the chairwoman of West Oakland Acorn Shirley Burnell, who we mentioned in the initial Newsdesk story. Ms. Burnell and her team asked similar questions and nearly identical answers.

How do you help people who, for whatever reason, aren’t inclined to receive the help?

As much as this story is focusing on the immediate dangers posed by the Port of Oakland and the diesel particulates produced by the trucks, it’s clear that there’s a much bigger and more complicated issue at hand. More soon.

Editor’s Note: More information about the Breathmobile and how you can get involved can be found here.

Photo Courtesy of Breathmobile of Northern California.