Category Archives: environment

Girl, 4, dies of E. coli infection after Labor Day weekend near Oregon Coast | OregonLive.com

Loved ones clung to her, tucked stuffed toys into her bed and burst into her favorite song at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital during an hours-long goodbye to an outdoors-loving 4-year-old girl who died from complications associated with a virulent strain of E. coli.

via Girl, 4, dies of E. coli infection after Labor Day weekend near Oregon Coast | OregonLive.com.

Spam/Spin/WhatMeWorry? Oxford study predicts 15 more countries are at risk of Ebola exposure – The Washington Post

{Complicity with spinning ebola story for profit of the newspaper and the university. If Ebola was that likely to move about quickly and to 15 more countries – this story would not be running would it? Ebola would already be a common disease in all these countries – and it is not. Why does it break out from time to time? No one knows and this “Oxford Model” does not tell us that. All you need to do the Oxford study is a map of where the two species of fruit bats live – and guess what? They are not limited to Africa. Something else is at play that triggers an outbreak and it is not greed for covering disasters!}

According to the Oxford model, in addition to the seven countries who have reported Ebola outbreaks in this epidemic and in past outbreaks since the disease was identified 1976, 15 other countries are at risk. There are five known strains of Ebola, and the one currently causing the West African outbreak, Zaire, is the most virulent. The other strains, Sudan, Taï Forest and Bundibugyo, have caused contained outbreaks in Ivory Coast, Sudan, and Uganda in the past. And the Reston species has not caused any known outbreaks, according to the World Health Organization.

via Oxford study predicts 15 more countries are at risk of Ebola exposure – The Washington Post.

Grizzly Bear Conflicts in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: It’s Time for More Solutions and Less Killing | Christine Wilcox’s Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC

{Just stop welfare cattle grazing on public land and reduce the number of cattle – then the number of Grizzlies will go down – pretty simple except that cattle ranchers and meat industry and politicians they subsidize are too used to being on the welfare roles.}

What we are left with is more grizzly bear deaths and virtually no changes to address the ongoing conflicts with livestock. But there are effective ways to reduce conflicts that are good for livestock and good for bears. Range riders, electric fencing, and guard dogs could be used to protect livestock. Alternative grazing practices like keeping cattle bunched together, and ensuring that mothers and calves stay together, could reduce the chance of bears attacking cattle. Since calves are often targeted when bears attack cattle, eliminating calves on the Upper Green grazing allotments could also prove to be effective in reducing conflicts.

via Grizzly Bear Conflicts in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: It’s Time for More Solutions and Less Killing | Christine Wilcox’s Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC.

Avian Flu Diary: WHO Statement: Consultation On Potential Use of Ebola Therapies & Vaccines

There was consensus that the use of whole blood therapies and convalescent blood serums needs to be considered as a matter of priority. {From people who have survived ebola, since antibodies that help to fight off the virus are present in the blood and serum}

via Avian Flu Diary: WHO Statement: Consultation On Potential Use of Ebola Therapies & Vaccines.

Mean and hateful – just because they have the power! Israeli soldiers set fire to olive trees in Hebron | Maan News Agency

Israeli soldiers set fire to Palestinian-owned olive trees near the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron late Thursday.

Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers deployed in the area pushed a burning tire into an area of olive trees, causing severe damage.

Local Palestinians called the fire brigade to extinguish the blaze but were prevented from arriving in the area by Israeli forces.

via Israeli soldiers set fire to olive trees in Hebron | Maan News Agency.

USDA to Buy Up to $13M in Canned Pink Salmon

While the government is only buying a portion of what the governor requested, it’s still significant, said Bruce Schactler, food aid program coordinator for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. He estimated it at well over 300,000 cases, which will help the industry and provide stock to food banks.

Schactler said Wednesday that the purchase won’t wipe out the glut, but Parnell’s request would not have done it either. There was enough canned product at the end of 2013 to last for three years, he said.

via USDA to Buy Up to $13M in Canned Pink Salmon.

BP’s reckless conduct caused Deepwater Horizon oil spill, judge rules | Environment | The Guardian

BP bears the majority of responsibility among the companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a federal judge ruled Thursday, citing the energy giant’s reckless conduct over the disaster in a ruling that exposes it to billions of dollars in penalties.

via BP’s reckless conduct caused Deepwater Horizon oil spill, judge rules | Environment | The Guardian.

Fracking MFers in Congress pimping for Oil! POPVOX – Issue Spotlight: Greater Sage Grouse – POPVOX.com

Last week, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it is initiating its formal status review of the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act. The Center for Biological Diversity estimates that only a few hundred thousand birds survive, compared with its peak population of 16 million. The grouse depends on sagebrush to survive, which grows in areas that are perfect for oil and natural gas drilling, across 165 million acres across 11 states in the West. Energy companies are concerned that listing the grouse as “endangered” would hurt drilling opportunities and cost jobs.

via POPVOX – Issue Spotlight: Greater Sage Grouse – POPVOX.com.

MSF: World is ′losing the battle′ to contain Ebola | News | DW.DE | 02.09.2014

Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it. Leaders are failing to come to grips with this transnational threat,” said Joanne Liu, MSF’s international president.

“Ebola treatment centers are reduced to places where people go to die alone, where little more than palliative care is offered,” she said, calling on international community to fund more beds for a regional network of field hospitals. She also urged countries with biological disaster response capacity to dispatch trained medical personnel to the hardest-hit areas.

via MSF: World is ′losing the battle′ to contain Ebola | News | DW.DE | 02.09.2014.

Plateau Tribes – Facing Climate Change – Benjamin Drummond / Sara Joy Steele

Rising temperatures impact every stage of the salmon lifecycle. Salmon need cold, clear and clean water to survive. In winter, more rain and earlier snowmelt increase the risk of floods that can destroy salmon spawning grounds. In summer, low flows reduce the quantity and quality of salmon habitat. Warmer water temperatures physically stress the fish and block migration routes.

Climate change could also shift the ranges of roots and berries. Scientists project that air temperatures in the Pacific Northwest will increase 3°F by the 2040s, and even relatively small increases in temperature can alter conditions that sustain life. With temperatures changing too quickly for native plants to adapt, their range may shift north or to higher elevations for cooler temperatures. Some may become extinct.

The Umatilla’s First Foods have deep history, extending back to original creation beliefs. What’s new is the application of this tradition to modern land management decisions affecting all of the reservation’s 178,000 acres – from the salmon that spawn in the floodplains to huckleberries growing in the mountains, and beyond to other lands where the tribe has rights to harvest and gather traditional foods.

The Umatilla might be the first tribe in the nation to use foods served at the Longhouse table to guide the way they protect, restore and manage natural resources. The First Foods promise to take care of water, fish, game, roots and berries continues to serve the Umatilla as they adapt to a changing landscape.

via Plateau Tribes – Facing Climate Change – Benjamin Drummond / Sara Joy Steele.