Category Archives: environment

Learning from Ebola: Why MERS needs to be taken seriously

As with Ebola, there are few, if any, tools currently available to use in the case of a major outbreak of MERS. Experts point to last spring’s crippling outbreak in South Korea — 186 cases, 37 deaths, hospitals closed to new admissions, all stemming from a businessman who came home sick from the Middle East — as evidence of the danger of underestimating the coronavirus.Because the MERS virus can be transmitted through coughs and sneezes, its spread could be even more difficult to stop than Ebola, which people only catch if they have contact with blood and body fluids.You can generally avoid someone else’s bodily fluids, if you know you need to. But breathing is not an optional endeavor.

Source: Learning from Ebola: Why MERS needs to be taken seriously

Glyphosate – IARC got it right, EFSA got it from Monsanto | Jennifer Sass’s Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC

The EFSA report is based on findings of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment – the BfR – which received a first draft of the science directly from the Glyphosate Task Force (GTF), whose members include Monsanto and Syngenta and other agrochemical corporations. EFSA describes its process as standard procedure to have the agrochemical company supply the scientific information to the Member state (Germany and Croatia in this case), whose report then goes to EFSA to make a final evaluation.The Guardian reported on how compromised the process was: “BfR officials explained that due to the quantity of evidence they did not have the time to report the original studies in detail, but instead based their evaluation on descriptions provided by the agrochemical industry. But those descriptions also contained the industry’s assessment of the reliability and interpretation of each study, which involves exactly the kinds of choice-laden decisions described earlier… this falls well short of what most people would understand as an independent review.”So, we know that Monsanto and other companies provided their own assessment of the scientific evidence, much of it industry-sponsored unpublished studies, and then handed that pig off to Germany for some lipstick.

Source: Glyphosate – IARC got it right, EFSA got it from Monsanto | Jennifer Sass’s Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC

Avian Flu Diary: Brazilian MOH Reports 500 New Microcephaly Cases In Past Week

In most years, the number of cases of this rare defect reported across Brazil runs in the low triple digits. Over the past two weeks we’ve seen that number jump from 399, to 739, to now 1248 suspected cases. This jump coincides with the arrival of the Zika Virus last spring (see ECDC: Complications Potentially Linked To The Zika Virus Outbreaks In Brazil & French Polynesia), and there is growing concern that the rapidly spreading Zika virus is to blame. Microcephaly is a rare neurological condition where the child’s head is smaller in circumference than normal, and is often associated with developmental disorders. It can be caused by congenital disorders, maternal illness, or environmental exposures.

Source: Avian Flu Diary: Brazilian MOH Reports 500 New Microcephaly Cases In Past Week

Eco-protesters delay German environment minister Hendrick′s train to Paris | News | DW.COM | 28.11.2015

As Hendrick’s train pulled into Frankfurt station on Saturday en route to the French capital, protesters chained themselves to the railway tracks, police said.Others descended by ropes onto the train, which stopped in Europe’s financial capital en route from Berlin where Germany’s environment minister and her 30-strong entourage had boarded.Hendricks and her team were traveling to Paris for the global climate change conference which gets underway on Monday.German journalist Harriett Wolf tweeted that as the demonstrators had refused to come down, officers had no choice but to climb onto the train’s roof.

Source: Eco-protesters delay German environment minister Hendrick′s train to Paris | News | DW.COM | 28.11.2015

Climate Refugees and a Collapsing City | Inter Press Service

“Over the next two to three decades millions of people will no longer be able to live and earn their livelihoods from farming and fishing as they are now,” said Saleemul Huq, a senior fellow with the Climate Change Group of the International Institute for Environment and Development.Conversely, prolonged droughts are affecting arable land by causing soil erosion and damaging crops that depend on predictable monsoon patterns.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates 20 million people will be displaced in Bangladesh in the coming five years. That is more than the cumulative populations of Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City. And this should be very worrying.Even now, many of the half-a-million-plus people who move their families – along with their hopes – to Dhaka, are driven there by the effects of climate change.

Source: Climate Refugees and a Collapsing City | Inter Press Service

How an accidental forest saved a village from a storm for the ages | Human Nature – Conservation International Blog

A lot of Filipinos have Typhoon Haiyan stories — recollections of the storm (known locally as Yolanda) that swept through the country in 2013, killing more than 6,000 people and devastating entire towns. The Silonay story is less dramatic than it could have been.“We didn’t evacuate,” Bool said. “The whole community stayed [in Silonay] because we thought that our mangroves will protect us.” And they were right — although the town flooded during smaller typhoons, the mangroves kept Haiyan’s waves at bay.Bool credits hearing about the devastating impact of Haiyan on the town of Tacloban (located on another island) as a wake-up call alerting everyone in her community about the true value of these coastal forests. “It became an eye-opener here, and when they learned how Typhoon Yolanda destroyed Tacloban, and how one island in Samar was spared because of the mangroves.”But their benefits go beyond storm protection — there are everyday victories, too.“It’s where the fish lay their eggs, and that’s why the supply of the fish in our seas is continuous,” said Morel Bool, a Silonay fisherman and Alma’s cousin. “Before there were mangroves here, fishing was quite difficult, and it got to a point that our catch was so limited that we had to venture farther.” Thanks to a growing fish population, dolphins have even begun returning to the area after years of absence.

Source: How an accidental forest saved a village from a storm for the ages | Human Nature – Conservation International Blog

Experts Say the WHO’s Response to the Ebola Crisis Has Been a ‘Failure’ | TIME {Profit and Non-profits try to score points from tragedy}

{WHO answers to nations that budget it – Ebola stricken states pressured WHO to not push panic buttons to save their industries – Mistakes by many – not just WHO. Obscene how many institutions trying to profit from tragedy and errors.}

A panel of 19 experts brought together by the Harvard Global Health Institute (HGHI) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) on Sunday condemned the World Health Organization’s (WHO) response to the Ebola crisis, calling it an “egregious failure.”

Source: Experts Say the WHO’s Response to the Ebola Crisis Has Been a ‘Failure’ | TIME

Season’s first snow is Chicago’s largest November snowfall in 120 years – Chicago Tribune

The season’s first snowfall dropped as much as 17 inches across Chicago’s northern suburbs, and the total of 11.2 inches at O’Hare International Airport made it the largest November snowfall in 120 years.The steady stream of snow began Friday evening and carried into Saturday, bringing cold winds and slushy puddles to Michigan Avenue. But it also fashioned a wintry backdrop to the annual Magnificent Mile Lights Festival, transporting Chicagoans into a life-sized holiday snow globe.

Source: Season’s first snow is Chicago’s largest November snowfall in 120 years – Chicago Tribune