The WHO is reporting a new SARS-like virus: "The World Health Organization on Wednesday urged health workers around the world to report any patient with acute respiratory infection who may have travelled to Saudi Arabia or Qatar and been exposed to a new SARS-like virus confirmed in two people so far.
The United Nations agency put out a global alert on Sunday saying a new virus had infected a 49-year-old Qatari who had recently travelled to Saudi Arabia - where another man with an almost identical virus had died.
The Qatari remained critically ill in hospital in Britain, according to the WHO’s latest information as of Tuesday."According to an article in the Vancouver Sun: "The virus, known as a coronavirus also related to the common cold, comes from the same family as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) which emerged in China in 2002. SARS infected 8,000 people worldwide and killed 800 of them before being brought under control."
The new coronavirus probably originates from bats.
Meanwhile Infection Control Today is reporting another new virus: "
An isolated outbreak of a deadly disease known as acute hemorrhagic fever, which killed two people and left one gravely ill in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the summer of 2009, was probably caused by a novel virus scientists have never seen before.
Described this week in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, the new microbe has been named Bas-Congo virus (BASV) after the province in the southwest corner of the Congo where the three people lived." This new virus joins Ebola, Marburg and a number of other hemorragic viruses emerging due to unprecedented human contact with remote animals in remote places, a function of over population and natural resource exploitation - who knows what lethal virus will next emerge from the bush?
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
The Wall Street Journal, not known for its balanced reporting of climate change, has published an article roundly acknowledging the phenononum, and pointing out its many opportunities:
"The Northern Hemisphere's largest expanses of ice have thawed faster and more extensively this year than scientists have previously recorded. And the summer isn't over.
Studies suggest that more of the massive Greenland ice cap has melted than at any time since satellite monitoring began 33 years ago, while the Arctic sea's ice is shrinking to its smallest size in modern times.
This year's melting season is a Goliath," said geophysicist Marco Tedesco, director of the Cryospheric Processes Laboratory at City University of New York. "The ice is being lost at a very strong pace.
Scientists monitor the annual thaw closely because changes in the ice of the far North can raise sea levels and affect weather throughout the hemisphere by altering wind currents, heat distribution and precipitation.
Shrinkage of the Arctic sea ice since 2006, for instance, helped lead to seasons of severe snow across Europe, China and North America, researchers at Columbia University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported earlier this year."
However on the up side the piece notes that "As the seasonal ice abates more each year, new polar shipping lanes also open up, as do opportunities for mineral exploration. By some estimates, as much as 25% of the world's oil and natural-gas reserves are under the Arctic seafloor. Russia, Denmark, Norway and Canada are vying to control these assets."
it gets better "By Wednesday (5th Sept 2012), the Arctic sea ice had shrunk to 1.54 million square miles, about 70,000 square miles smaller than the previous modern low set in September 2007, according to the satellite readings compiled by NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. By that measure, the six lowest Arctic sea ice levels on record all occurred in the past six years."
And with all that new shipping and newly available oil and gas, it can only get better....
"The Northern Hemisphere's largest expanses of ice have thawed faster and more extensively this year than scientists have previously recorded. And the summer isn't over.
Studies suggest that more of the massive Greenland ice cap has melted than at any time since satellite monitoring began 33 years ago, while the Arctic sea's ice is shrinking to its smallest size in modern times.
This year's melting season is a Goliath," said geophysicist Marco Tedesco, director of the Cryospheric Processes Laboratory at City University of New York. "The ice is being lost at a very strong pace.
Scientists monitor the annual thaw closely because changes in the ice of the far North can raise sea levels and affect weather throughout the hemisphere by altering wind currents, heat distribution and precipitation.
Shrinkage of the Arctic sea ice since 2006, for instance, helped lead to seasons of severe snow across Europe, China and North America, researchers at Columbia University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported earlier this year."
However on the up side the piece notes that "As the seasonal ice abates more each year, new polar shipping lanes also open up, as do opportunities for mineral exploration. By some estimates, as much as 25% of the world's oil and natural-gas reserves are under the Arctic seafloor. Russia, Denmark, Norway and Canada are vying to control these assets."
it gets better "By Wednesday (5th Sept 2012), the Arctic sea ice had shrunk to 1.54 million square miles, about 70,000 square miles smaller than the previous modern low set in September 2007, according to the satellite readings compiled by NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. By that measure, the six lowest Arctic sea ice levels on record all occurred in the past six years."
And with all that new shipping and newly available oil and gas, it can only get better....
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Ongoing Extinction Level Event
One-fifth of invertebrate species are at risk of extinction according to an article in nature magazine this week. According to the piece, "One in five of the world’s invertebrate species are threatened with extinction, according to the latest report from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). From the checkerspot butterfly to the giant squid, spineless creatures are thought to represent around 99% of biodiversity on Earth. However, until now, scientists have never attempted a comprehensive review of their conservation status. In fact, fewer than 1% of invertebrates had been assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which has listed threatened species on its Red List since 1963." it goes on to "conclude that the greatest threat is to freshwater invertebrates, including crabs and snails, followed by terrestrial and marine invertebrates. More mobile animals, such as butterflies and dragonflies, tended to have the least risk of extinction."
Overall it estimates that 34% of freshwater invertebrates including more than half of the world's freshwater snails and slugs could be under threat: "In the oceans, almost one-third of reef-building corals are endangered largely because of climate change, which causes coral bleaching and ocean acidification."
The report used IUCN metholology and assesed more than 12,000 species.
The IUCN has previously estimated that a similar proportion of assessed species at risk in a November 2009 report entitled "Extinction crisis continues apace" which states that "The latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ shows that 17,291 species out of the 47,677 assessed species are threatened with extinction. The results reveal 21 percent of all known mammals, 30 percent of all known amphibians, 12 percent of all known birds, and 28 percent of reptiles, 37 percent of freshwater fishes, 70 percent of plants, 35 percent of invertebrates assessed so far are under threat.
“The scientific evidence of a serious extinction crisis is mounting,” says Jane Smart, Director of IUCN’s Biodiversity Conservation Group. "
Overall it estimates that 34% of freshwater invertebrates including more than half of the world's freshwater snails and slugs could be under threat: "In the oceans, almost one-third of reef-building corals are endangered largely because of climate change, which causes coral bleaching and ocean acidification."
The report used IUCN metholology and assesed more than 12,000 species.
The IUCN has previously estimated that a similar proportion of assessed species at risk in a November 2009 report entitled "Extinction crisis continues apace" which states that "The latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ shows that 17,291 species out of the 47,677 assessed species are threatened with extinction. The results reveal 21 percent of all known mammals, 30 percent of all known amphibians, 12 percent of all known birds, and 28 percent of reptiles, 37 percent of freshwater fishes, 70 percent of plants, 35 percent of invertebrates assessed so far are under threat.
“The scientific evidence of a serious extinction crisis is mounting,” says Jane Smart, Director of IUCN’s Biodiversity Conservation Group. "
Monday, September 3, 2012
Financial Times: Freak weather linked to global warming
According to the FT ( July 10, 2012 ): "After the US baked in a searing heatwave and as Russia mourns the deaths of more than 100 flood victims, scientists have produced what they say is groundbreaking research linking climate change to recent extreme weather.
Global warming “significantly” increased the odds of some of last year’s most unusual weather, including the brutal Texas drought and the freakishly warm November in Britain, according to findings released Tuesday alongside the latest “state of the climate” report in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society."
The article goes on: “In the past you may have heard: ‘Well it isn’t possible to attribute an individual extreme weather event’, and the science really has moved on now. The way that it’s moved on is the realisation that we can look at how the odds of events have changed ... whether the likelihood of having an extreme weather event has increased or decreased,” said the UK Met Office’s Dr Peter Stott, co-editor of the new research.
Meanwhile at the end of the most bizzare summer season on record with extreme rain in Western Europe and extreme drought in Russia and North America, Nature reports "The ostensibly large number of recent extreme weather events has triggered intensive discussions, both in- and outside the scientific community, on whether they are related to global warming. Here, we review the evidence and argue that for some types of extreme — notably heatwaves, but also precipitation extremes — there is now strong evidence linking specific events or an increase in their numbers to the human influence on climate. For other types of extreme, such as storms, the available evidence is less conclusive, but based on observed trends and basic physical concepts it is nevertheless plausible to expect an increase."
The ongoing hurricaine season should be interesting....
Global warming “significantly” increased the odds of some of last year’s most unusual weather, including the brutal Texas drought and the freakishly warm November in Britain, according to findings released Tuesday alongside the latest “state of the climate” report in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society."
The article goes on: “In the past you may have heard: ‘Well it isn’t possible to attribute an individual extreme weather event’, and the science really has moved on now. The way that it’s moved on is the realisation that we can look at how the odds of events have changed ... whether the likelihood of having an extreme weather event has increased or decreased,” said the UK Met Office’s Dr Peter Stott, co-editor of the new research.
Meanwhile at the end of the most bizzare summer season on record with extreme rain in Western Europe and extreme drought in Russia and North America, Nature reports "The ostensibly large number of recent extreme weather events has triggered intensive discussions, both in- and outside the scientific community, on whether they are related to global warming. Here, we review the evidence and argue that for some types of extreme — notably heatwaves, but also precipitation extremes — there is now strong evidence linking specific events or an increase in their numbers to the human influence on climate. For other types of extreme, such as storms, the available evidence is less conclusive, but based on observed trends and basic physical concepts it is nevertheless plausible to expect an increase."
The ongoing hurricaine season should be interesting....
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Nature: Palm-oil boom raises conservation concerns
Industry urged towards sustainable farming practices as rising demand drives deforestation
According to the article: "Palm oil was once touted as a social and environmental panacea — a sustainable food crop, a biofuel that could help to cut greenhouse-gas emissions and a route out of poverty for small-scale farmers. In recent years, however, a growing body of research has questioned those credentials, presenting evidence that palm-oil farming can cause damaging deforestation and reduce biodiversity, and that the oil’s use as a biofuel offers only marginal benefits for mitigating climate change."
The article goes on: " In principle, biodiesel made from palm oil could be environmentally friendly, because the carbon dioxide released when it is burned is roughly the same as that absorbed as the plant grows. But vast swathes of forest have been cut down to make way for the crop, often in carbon-rich peatlands, where tree burning and soil degradation release extra stores of the global-warming gas. A recent life-cycle assessment suggested that it could take up to 220 years for a plantation to become carbon neutral ( and Ecol. Soc. 16, 14; 2011).
In January, after the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that palm-oil fuels emitted only 11–17% less greenhouse gas than diesel over their entire life cycle, it suggested that the oil should not be classified as a renewable fuel."Meanwhile obesity rates are rocketing not only in the developed world but now in China and India as well, and these may be linked to the increased use of palm oil - in a paper entitled Obesity, the metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes in developing countries: role of dietary fats and oils. (J Am Coll Nutr. 2010 Jun;29(3 Suppl):289S-301S Authors: Misra A, Singhal N, Khurana L). "Developing countries are undergoing rapid nutrition transition concurrent with increases in obesity, the metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). From a healthy traditional high-fiber, low-fat, low-calorie diet, a shift is occurring toward increasing consumption of calorie-dense foods containing refined carbohydrates, fats, red meats, and low fiber."
But that is not the only health problem of palm oil; as the Centre for Science in the Public Interest (Washington DC):
"Palm oil, one of the world’s leading agricultural commodities, is widely used as a food ingredient and cooking oil. Unfortunately, not only does palm oil promote heart disease, but the vast plantations that grow oil palm trees have contributed to the destruction of the rainforest and wildlife of Southeast Asia. Those side effects are not broadly recognized—and avoided—by governments, food manufacturers, or consumers. A new U.S. government regulation requires that, by January 1, 2006, food labels list a product’s content of trans fat, which comes from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and is a major cause of heart disease. Many food processors are seeking to eliminate trans fat by switching to other oils. Palm oil is one such alternative. This report describes palm oil’s chief environmental and health impacts and encourages food processors, consumers, and government and international agencies to support the use of oils that are better for both human and environmental health. /// Palm oil is used around the world in such foods as margarine, shortening, baked goods, and candies. Biomedical research indicates that palm oil, which is high in saturated fat and low in polyunsaturated fat, promotes heart disease. Though less harmful than partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, it is far more conducive to heart disease than such heart-protective liquid oils as olive, soy, and canola. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, World Health Organization, and other health authorities have urged reduced consumption of oils like palm oil."
On the other hand, palm oil has the merit of being cheap...
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Global Warming: Exxon: "We'll adapt. It's an engineering problem"
According the the Daily Tech
"ExxonMobil's CEO defended oil and gas drilling by saying that climate change is something humans can adapt to.
Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil CEO, said issues like climate change, energy dependence and oil/gas drilling are blown out of proportion. He blames a lazy press, illiterate public and fear-mongering advocacy groups for the bad light placed on the oil industry.
Climate change is a controversial topic that has been subjected to much debate. Tillerson said that fossil fuels may cause global warming, but argued that humans can easily adapt to the warmer climate. More specifically, he said that humans can adapt to rising sea levels and climate changes because he doubts the validity of climate modeling, which predicts the magnitude of impact associated with climate change.
"We have spent our entire existence adapting," said Tillerson. "We'll adapt. It's an engineering problem and there will be an engineering solution."
Others, however, disagree with Tillerson's assessment. Andrew Weaver, chairman of climate modeling and analysis at Canada's University of Victoria, said that adapting to climate change would be much harder than just preventing it in the first place.
In addition, adapting to climate change could be much more expensive than preventing it. According to Steve Coll, author of "Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power," adapting to climate change would require moving entire cities. A better alternative would be legislation that slows the process of global warming."
A comment on the article helpfully suggested "I think this guy has the right idea. We need jobs, we have plenty of construction workers, plenty of land, and a rising sea level threatening coastal areas. So lets start expanding inland areas, get business's to move off the coast and take their employees with them. They'd probably save money in the long run with the lower cost of living and real estate inland."
I wonder if you could develop some technology that would just lift entire cities and drop them safely inland, eg move New york to the Great Plains?
"ExxonMobil's CEO defended oil and gas drilling by saying that climate change is something humans can adapt to.
Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil CEO, said issues like climate change, energy dependence and oil/gas drilling are blown out of proportion. He blames a lazy press, illiterate public and fear-mongering advocacy groups for the bad light placed on the oil industry.
Climate change is a controversial topic that has been subjected to much debate. Tillerson said that fossil fuels may cause global warming, but argued that humans can easily adapt to the warmer climate. More specifically, he said that humans can adapt to rising sea levels and climate changes because he doubts the validity of climate modeling, which predicts the magnitude of impact associated with climate change.
"We have spent our entire existence adapting," said Tillerson. "We'll adapt. It's an engineering problem and there will be an engineering solution."
Others, however, disagree with Tillerson's assessment. Andrew Weaver, chairman of climate modeling and analysis at Canada's University of Victoria, said that adapting to climate change would be much harder than just preventing it in the first place.
In addition, adapting to climate change could be much more expensive than preventing it. According to Steve Coll, author of "Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power," adapting to climate change would require moving entire cities. A better alternative would be legislation that slows the process of global warming."
A comment on the article helpfully suggested "I think this guy has the right idea. We need jobs, we have plenty of construction workers, plenty of land, and a rising sea level threatening coastal areas. So lets start expanding inland areas, get business's to move off the coast and take their employees with them. They'd probably save money in the long run with the lower cost of living and real estate inland."
I wonder if you could develop some technology that would just lift entire cities and drop them safely inland, eg move New york to the Great Plains?
Early Hurricane Season 2012
According to the Harrisburg Examiner: "Two named storms before the June 1 official start to hurricane season. It’s the first time since 1908 that such an occurrence has happened in the Atlantic. Then add Tropical Storm Chris which formed yesterday in the Northern Atlantic and wasn’t forecast to strengthen past tropical storm status but unexpectedly became the first hurricane of the 2012 season this afternoon. According to the National Hurricane Center it’s only the third time that three storms have formed before June 19. The other two occasions were the 1887 and 1959 hurricane seasons. With such an active start, should the U.S. be preparing for a potentially deadly and active hurricane season?
The official National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) seasonal hurricane outlook which was released May 24, stated that “NOAA’s outlook predicts a less active season compared to recent years”. To support their prediction, they cited high wind sheer and cooler sea surface temperatures which inhibit tropical cyclone formation.
According to Foxnews: "A strong storm system across the eastern United States caused five fatalities and wiped out power to more than 2 million people. There were four reported deaths in Virginia, including a 90-year-old woman asleep in bed when a tree slammed into her home, a police spokeswoman said Saturday. Another man was killed by a falling tree while watching the storm from his deck and a woman died after she, too, was hit by a falling tree after she got out of her car to observe a downed tree. Both those deaths occurred in Albermarle County, Va. A fallen tree also killed a man driving in Maryland."
The Examiner piece goes on: "Looking at the past years mentioned by the National Hurricane Center when referencing how early the three storms have already formed, the seasons of 1887, 1908 and 1959 have been mentioned. Those seasons looked like this.
The official National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) seasonal hurricane outlook which was released May 24, stated that “NOAA’s outlook predicts a less active season compared to recent years”. To support their prediction, they cited high wind sheer and cooler sea surface temperatures which inhibit tropical cyclone formation.
According to Foxnews: "A strong storm system across the eastern United States caused five fatalities and wiped out power to more than 2 million people. There were four reported deaths in Virginia, including a 90-year-old woman asleep in bed when a tree slammed into her home, a police spokeswoman said Saturday. Another man was killed by a falling tree while watching the storm from his deck and a woman died after she, too, was hit by a falling tree after she got out of her car to observe a downed tree. Both those deaths occurred in Albermarle County, Va. A fallen tree also killed a man driving in Maryland."
The Examiner piece goes on: "Looking at the past years mentioned by the National Hurricane Center when referencing how early the three storms have already formed, the seasons of 1887, 1908 and 1959 have been mentioned. Those seasons looked like this.
- 1887 was the third most active season on record (tied for third with 2010 and 2011) with 19 named storms and 10 hurricanes.
- 1908 had 10 names storms and six hurricanes and it’s interesting to note that the east coast of the United States was affected by four of the 10 storms.
- 1959 had 11 named storms and seven hurricanes and two of the 11 storms affected the United States east coast."
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