Category Archives: environment

Arachnologist Rajashree Khalap on Discovering the Sorting Hat Spider that Excited even JK Rowling – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

Perhaps this is also why the spider has been named after the Sorting Hat. The name Eriovixia gryffindori is both a nod to the Harry Potter series that Khalap says everyone on the team loved, and is also an attempt to involve more people in conversations about the eight-legged creatures. “Popular culture has the potential to do this,” she says — even remarking that Pokémon inspired many researchers she knows to enter the field. JK Rowling even tweeted about spider.

Source: Arachnologist Rajashree Khalap on Discovering the Sorting Hat Spider that Excited even JK Rowling – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

H5N8 appears in Nigeria, South Korea | CIDRAP

Does anyone really need a doctorate in agronomy to understand that H5N8 influenza among “turkeys” in Nigeria explains why avian influenza is a global poultry killer and one of the most probably future sources for a killing human influenza that will make the 1918 flu looks like child’s play?

If someone talked about the turkey industry in Russia, China, Nigeria and India 30 years ago, you’d still be laughing and gasping for breath. Now because the race for profit from the industrialized poultry market knows no boundaries and has no understanding of how pandemic viruses develop, we may all soon be gasping for breath!

H5N8 appears in Nigeria, South KoreaFiled Under: Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)Stephanie Soucheray | News Reporter | CIDRAP News  | Dec 19, 2016Share Tweet LinkedIn Email Print & PDFturkeyfarm.jpgLauren M./ Flickr ccNigeria and South Korea report the first cases of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza, as the strain continues to infect European poultry after first emerging in wild waterfowl populations.Nigeria reports H5N8 in mixed free-range birdsNigeria reported H5N8 in a collection of guinea fowls, turkeys and pigeons in Danbare, located in Kano state in the north-central part of the country, according to a report to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).Fifteen birds died from the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), and another 235 were culled in an attempt to prevent the virus from spreading. The outbreak occurred on Nov 19 and is considered resolved.The report said the bird owner purchased the live birds from a market. Nigeria is also battling outbreaks involving highly pathogenic H5N1, which is endemic in a handful of African nations.

Source: H5N8 appears in Nigeria, South Korea | CIDRAP

Boomtown, Flood Town

For Louise Hansen, the story has been the same every time she’s flooded: The water starts to creep into her house in the middle of the night.In 2009 — the first time her west Houston home flooded after she moved into it about a decade earlier — she figured it was an anomaly. Then it happened again in 2015. And again in 2016.Three times in less than 10 years — for a home that’s not in any floodplain identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “It’s actually paralyzed me,” said Hansen, who grew up in the area and is now selling her house just for the lot value. “I just don’t think I can go through another flood.”Many of Hansen’s neighbors, who live in an area of Houston known as Memorial City, have had the same experience. They’ve flooded in 2009, 2015 and 2016, and none of them live in any known floodplain.

Source: Boomtown, Flood Town

‘So beautiful’: Mick Fanning goes for midnight surf under the northern lights – video | Sport | The Guardian

Australian pro surfer Mick Fanning pulls on a thick wetsuit and hood to surf under the stars as the northern lights play above him in Norway

Source: ‘So beautiful’: Mick Fanning goes for midnight surf under the northern lights – video | Sport | The Guardian

Study confirms 4-fold rise in Zika microcephaly in Colombia | CIDRAP

Over the past year, experts have wondered if Colombia—hit with Zika virus after Brazil—would see a rise in Zika-related microcephaly similar to that witnessed in Brazil. Colombia has officially reported some microcephaly cases (476, including 44 pregnancy losses), but nowhere near the level seen in Brazil, raising questions about the impact of the virus.

Source: Study confirms 4-fold rise in Zika microcephaly in Colombia | CIDRAP

California’s Mosquito Population Has Increased Tenfold, And We’re To Blame: SFist – But disuse of DDT is not the driver – ubanization is.

That is to say, as humans continue to reshape the state to fit our desires, we are creating the conditions for a mosquito population explosion. To make matters worse, the channel reports that species capable of carrying the West Nile virus and Zika do well in California’s human-made environment. And scientists expect it to only get worse.”Urbanization, driven by human population growth and movement, has been a major driver of environmental change during the last century and is projected to increase substantially in the future across the globe,” the study authors write. “Our results suggest that urbanization is likely to drive additional changes in mosquito communities, including the expansion of habitat for urban mosquitoes.”

Source: California’s Mosquito Population Has Increased Tenfold, And We’re To Blame: SFist

Social networks in Spain: VIDEO: Drowning animals in Marbella saved after plea for help goes viral | In English | EL PAÍS

A video posted over the weekend by a Spanish animal rights activist highlighting the desperate conditions of farm animals trapped by floods in Malaga province following unusually heavy rains there went viral, eventually attracting volunteers to help with her rescue mission.

Source: Social networks in Spain: VIDEO: Drowning animals in Marbella saved after plea for help goes viral | In English | EL PAÍS

Army will deny easement, halting work on Dakota Access Pipeline – The Washington Post Not entirely over – keep eye on prize.

Dan Nanamkin, of the Colville Nez Perce Native American tribe in Nespelem, Wash., right, drums after it was announced Sunday that the Army Corps won’t grant an easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline. (David Goldman/Associated Press)

The Army said Sunday that it will not approve an easement necessary for the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota, marking a monumental victory for the Native American tribes and thousands of others who have flocked in recent months to protest the pipeline.Officials in November had delayed the key decision, saying more discussion was necessary about the proposed crossing, given that it would pass very near the reservation of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose leaders have repeatedly expressed fears that a spill could threaten the water supplies of its people.“Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it’s clear that there’s more work to do,” Jo-Ellen Darcy, the Army’s assistant secretary for civil works, said in a statement Sunday. “The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing.”What started as a small but fierce protest in a remote spot along the Missouri River months ago has evolved into an epic standoff involving hundreds of tribes, various celebrities and activists from around the country. It has involved heated confrontations — police have sometimes employed water canons, pepper spray and rubber bullets — and has carried on through the swelter of summer into the snowy cold of winter.

On Sunday, news of the Army’s decision triggered a wave of celebration and relief among those who have fought to stop the 1,170-mile-long pipeline’s progress.“We wholeheartedly support the decision of the administration and commend with the utmost gratitude the courage it took on the part of President Obama, the Army Corps, the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior to take steps to correct the course of history and to do the right thing,” Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II said in a statement. “With this decision we look forward to being able to return home and spend the winter with our families and loved ones, many of whom have sacrificed as well.”

Source: Army will deny easement, halting work on Dakota Access Pipeline – The Washington Post

PETITION: We Stand with Standing Rock: Stop DAPL! End the Violence! Honor Treaties! | United For Peace and Justice

PETITION: We Stand with Standing Rock: Stop DAPL! End the Violence! Honor Treaties!Militarized police (from Indiana, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wyoming) have taken a side and are organizing with DAPL and the National Guard to suppress Indigenous Peoples and their supporters, initiating unwarranted violent force against nonviolent water and land protectors in a chilling reenactment of a deeply buried history. Please sign the following petition to make it stop!We the undersigned support the many Native Nations gathered at Standing Rock to protect the Missouri River from illegal and unsafe pipeline construction in North Dakota.Act now, to intervene on their behalf to respect the Fort Laramie treaties of 1851 and 1868 affirming the rights of Indians to this land should be honored at long last, shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline, and end the organized brutality against the prayerful Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their peaceful supporters.

Source: PETITION: We Stand with Standing Rock: Stop DAPL! End the Violence! Honor Treaties! | United For Peace and Justice