Read This First, Heuristics (1), Glossary (A-H), Mini Lessons (2)
1. Anthropocene Start, 1.1, Frequency, 1.2. Climate Gender, 2. Crowdfunded Scams, 3. Comparative Farming, 4. Water Communication, 4.1. Health Care Deceleration, 5. MCM. 5.1. Parade Flu, 6. Synanthrope, 6.1, Puppy Resistance, 6.2. Science Journalism, 7. BioPolitics, 8. CARVERR Assessment, <ADDED >1. Florence, >2. Cancelled Tweet, >3. Spermpocalypse, >4. BioDefense Strategy, >5. Congo, >6. Coffee Extinction, >7. Cassandra. 180923-VCP.
Other Topics: BioTrumpism, BioPolitics, Vaccine, Biosphere, Disaster, Humor, Climate Change, Anthropocene, Anthropogenic, Communication, One Health, Environmental Change, Human Factors, Magical Thinking, Puerto Rico, Aftermath, Infrastructure, Preparation, Looting, FEMA, Exploitation, Assessing
-1. There has been on going discussion of when the Anthropocene started and what evidence supports a particular date or event. The parademic perspective is not so much when the anthropocene started, but when people became aware that they were now in a new geological (actually biological) era. Climate Change, Water and the Spread of Diseases: Connecting the Dots Differently. A half century ago, concerns about climate change, environment vulnerability, population density and the sustainability of earth systems reached a broad audience. This laid the foundations for growing scientific evidence that climate change was happening and was negatively affecting the earth. But one piece of the puzzle has been missing: the impact of climate change on people, and specifically, on public health. Scientists began writing about the earth moving into a new era called the Anthropocene. This is an era in which ecosystems were increasingly being affected by human behaviour, and in which people were being affected by the changes brought about by their actions. The Anthropocene provided the impetus for renewed attention on health and sustainability for all species. This new understanding led to increasing new research, across disciplines, to new interdisciplinary journals, and to policy documents on the impact of climate change on health. Major new insights began to emerge. These included the fact that changes in weather patterns were affecting the behaviour of mosquitoes. This in turn was affecting our ability to control disease. A raft of work also started to emerge on the affects of changing weather patterns, heat waves, and access to clean water on people's health. The next step along this journey was that academics came to realise that they can't work in disciplinary silos. For example, health scientists came to grasp that they need anthropologists, sociologists and economists for a full understanding of the impact of climate change. The circle of knowledge has, as a result, begun to expand. Parallel to these efforts, artists and advocacy groups have worked to keep climate change on international and national policy agendas. For example, artists have taken inspiration and drawn from scientific research in engineering, chemistry, biology, and the earth sciences to make their art.
-1.1. Why Are We Having So Many Disasters. The conjunction of factors such as climate, infrastructure, disease, and social networks may not create a disaster in themselves, but they each have a bearing on vulnerability and can contribute to the creation of conditions for the disaster. What we are experiencing now are changes in the mix of conditions that are combining to increase our vulnerability to disasters. [Chart]. Humans Have Been Messing with the Climate for Thousands of Years. Years of agricultural inefficiency likely had a lasting impact on the planet. Early farming practices unleashed a potent combination of greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide from deforestation, methane from the rice paddies and livestock — that may have profoundly changed the Earth’s climate and kept the planet from moving into another ice age. In short, according to new research, if not for these earliest agronomists, Earth might be significantly cooler today than it is. That doesn’t mean that, were it not for early farmers, we wouldn’t be struggling with the ravages of climate change, nor does it let modern societies off the hook for pouring carbon pollution into the atmosphere. Even if prehistoric growers had used less land, the Earth still would be heating up rapidly, but the warming trend would have started from a cooler baseline.
-‡. Fox & Friends Guest Likens Climate Change Science to Medieval Witchcraft, -180916-5D↓. Climate Change Argument Gets Mostly Chilly Reception. Four Years after Readers Raise Concerns, Journal Finally Retracts Climate Paper. Tropical Climate Zones Are Expanding as Predicted. When It Comes to Climate Change, the Rich Are the Culprit – but They Won't Pay the Price, disagree, it may take longer but they would pay eventually even if they survive.
-1.2. Africa: The Female Face of Climate Change. There used to be a time when the lines connecting climate change and gender were non-existent or blurred. People hardly saw the interplay, and any mention of gender in the deluge of epidemic and disasters related to climate change was seen as a feeble attempt to foist gender on every discussion. With more research, social progress, and available data from different parts of the world, it has become clear that there is no separating climate change from gender inequality. | A stunning statistic I stumbled upon during my studies on environmental justice and climate change impacts on humanity precipitated this piece. It reveals that women are 14 more times likely to die than men during a disaster. This is an alarming demography, if you consider that 68 percent of all disasters are related to climate change. This supports the contention that climate change affects women in particular, when broken down into demographic factors. ¶ What Does it Mean to Be Cisgender.
-2. Crowdfunding: The Fuel for Cancer Quackery crowdfunding using social media and sites like GoFundMe appear to be an integral part of the business model of quack clinics. Crowdfunding Sites Are Putting Money in the Pockets of Cancer Quacks.
-3. Intense Farming Better Than Organic. A new study reviews hundreds of articles on several farming systems (dairy, beef, wheat, and rice) to compare different approaches to farming and their net effect on the environment. They conclude that intensive farming systems are the “least bad” option for providing the food we need. This is in line with previous studies showing that organic farming uses significantly more land than conventional farming.
-4. Report: Salem's Drinking Water Crisis Compounded by Poor Communication. The city's communications structure was inadequate to handle public response to the advisory.
-4.1. #Book Health Care in the Next Curve [Cover]. An objective and sometimes scathing look at the current industry structure: a silo driven culture and entrenchment that is driven by self interest, as well as the complicity of government in preserving the status quo through regulation, licensure, and payment systems. This provides a fresh perspective unencumbered by current state realities. He deals with major pieces of the puzzle and doesn’t get bogged down by technical or arcane analysis. | Healthcare in the United States is at a critical juncture. We face a sharp upward rise in the number of people with chronic diseases and disabilities. As demands on our current health system grow, so will costs. But as a society we are approaching the upper limit of how much we are willing (or able) to spend on healthcare. Healthcare policy makers know this. That is why major health reform measures are focused on population health and value based care. These are the so called second curve objectives. But these initiatives are doomed to failure. We are asking a system to do things that it was not designed to do. | In fact, we don’t have a healthcare system as such. We have a parts bin of disconnected silos. Fragmented delivery systems. Specialized caregivers. Professional groups. Trade associations. Insurance providers. Government regulation and non regulation. All with distinct cultures. Each with its own motivations and agendas. Collectively this creates a crisis of dysfunction (condition of uncertainty) in not being able to perform its functions or handle a biocalamity. This may be trying to say that the current system will eventually collapse, leading to some change that will allow it to limp along for a longer time, or a full paradigm shift of the systems, -2-, [Chart, Infographic, .ppt]. Doctors Today May Be Miserable, but Are They 'Burnt Out', 180729-9, Burnout Takes a Bigger Toll on Physicians, but Main Source of it Remains Undetected.
-5. Public Health Emergencies: Unpacking Medical Countermeasures Management (MCM) for Preparedness and Response. A Supplement issue in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) features a selection of articles that focus on emergency medical countermeasures. Specifically, AJPH highlights research regarding mass vaccination programs, pandemic influenza preparedness, training during public health emergencies, and education of elderly patients.
-5.1. Philadelphia Threw a WWI Parade That Gave Thousands of Onlookers the Flu. Within 72 hours of the parade, every bed in Philadelphia’s 31 hospitals was filled. In the week ending October 5, some 2,600 people in Philadelphia had died from the flu or its complications. A week later, that number rose to more than 4,500. With many of the city’s health professionals pressed into military service, Philadelphia was unprepared for this deluge of death. #Book More Deadly Than War: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War [Cover].
-6. #Glossary A synanthrope (from the Greek syn-, "together with" + anthropos, "man") is a member of a species of wild animals and plants of various kinds that live near, and benefit from, an association with humans and the somewhat artificial habitats that humans create around them (see anthropophilia, anthromes). Those habitats include houses, gardens, farms, roadsides, garbage dumps, and so on. Synanthropes include a large number of what humans regard as pest species. It does not include domesticated animals such as cattle, honeybees, pets, poultry, silkworms and working animals. In plants, synanthropes are classified into two main types - apophytes and anthropophytes. Apophytes are synanthropic species that are native in origin. Anthropophytes are synanthropic species of foreign origin, whether introduced voluntarily or involuntarily.
-6.1. Puppies Are Making People Sick — and It’s People’s Fault. If your system requires a constant or regular dose of antibiotics to keep the animals healthy, your system’s broken. You’ve designed a system that makes sick animals. Antibiotics should only be used to treat illness, not to compensate for poor practices — whether it’s trucking dogs long distances and having poor hygiene in the process along the way. These are lifesaving medicines that should only be used to treat sick animals or sick people. This is an indication that they need to be raising these animals differently. They’re creating this terrible distribution system for multidrug resistant bacteria. This is one of the clearest examples I’ve seen where resistant bacteria are originating in animals from antibiotic overuse, and they’re passing directly to people and spreading rapidly. This is one of those situations where it’s incredibly clear that this is a problem we need to solve. CDC Blames MDR Campylobacter Outbreak on Pet Store Puppy Exposure.
-6.2. Covering Health Research. Choose Your Studies (And Words) Wisely. INDEX Science Journalism 180520-1.1. Many of the most popular news stories about health research include overstated findings or substantial inaccuracies. There are widespread problems with the language used to describe research findings, both in the studies and the resultant media coverage by implied causal results and language that was stronger (active voice) than appropriate. Articles overstated findings and had one or more substantial inaccuracies such as misreporting the question. It’s really basically impossible to write about these particular studies in a way that does not mislead, Journalists’ have choice of what to write about and what not to write about it, they should Stop writing about academic articles that are meaningless. The real problem is when you’re using association as a euphemism for causality. | Even when academic researchers and reporters are careful with the language they use, technically accurate terminology -180916-5↓. can suggest inaccurate conclusions to the lay reader. Taking the viewpoint of the reader, you have to understand how they are going to interpret that information. If what they absorb is not what the article is actually saying, then that’s sort of a misinformative way of reporting on an article, even if it’s the right technical language. Avoid taking a single study (or source) as the be all, end all: “We tend to have this idea in society that one study by itself — there are these great eureka moments — but really this stuff is built by consensus over many, many years. It’s much harder to gather the information about what the scientific consensus is on things versus one study … consensus, it’s a thing that’s a little bit more abstract. The science journalist should also evaluate their source to identify editorial or policy bias, agenda and in what ways valid. Being an authority, having a position, or working for an agency aren’t sufficient. The Health News Review, FiveThirtyEight and The Incidental Economist (Healthcare Triage: Research Studies Could Be More Pragmatic, and More Useful) are online news sites that avoid many common pitfalls of reporting on health research. Health News Review even has criteria by which they evaluate news write ups of academic research, which reporters might find useful. -180916-5↓. Checking in on Fact Checking in Science Journalism. The Science of Science Communication. 3 Quick Tips for Debunking Hoaxes in a Hurricane -180916-5↓. Does Climate Change Mean More Tsunamis, Changed the headline (it originally read Today’s Tsunami: this Is What Climate Change Looks Like) and updated the text to reflect the discussion of the science and the framing in the comments
-Note: Apply these concepts to -6.1↑ and compare to Multidrug Resistant Campylobacter Jejuni Outbreak Linked to Puppy Exposure – United States, 2016-2018, and one will note several flaws. Note that this critique is not about a particular author, their article just happened to be one that I came across this week that logically branched from Synanthrope, and then finding this article covered a topic that concerns parademic digital ethnography. How to inform users (the term “readers” implies readability which PDWN avoids in part to give cues not to blindly accept information provided, and that how one interprets a stub is not necessarily what the message was intended to mean (and intended interpretation and behavior may not correlate with validity). It is easier to be more active with critical thinking if there are #Glossary Bathos (ludicrous juxtaposition). Master of Ig Nobel Prize Ceremonies Talks Humor in Science) one needs to puzzle out meaning a little bit (if too much of a puzzle then readers are likely to lose interest in applying the extra effort, especially if they are used to having “good” writing that requires little thought). There is an advantage and disadvantage of using the reports of observations of others. There is no category of parademic, except possibly human interest in health, medicine and environment related stories. This has the advantage that the reported is less likely to bias and skew information, but the disadvantage that something important that was collected is not reported. Moreover parademic is not restricted by validity but uses the paradigm of how valid, what is the behavioral goal. Reports that are conspiracy theory, intentional fabrications, magical thinking, flawed or made without having the relevant background and context are part of parademic data, further complicated because the curator of PDWN does not clearly mark these, leaving it to the reader to develop the skills to discern the cues and metadata to identify the differences of reality, what is hoped to be real, what is being purported as real, what is accepted as real, and how blurred those categories are. 6 Studies on Digital News and Social Media You Should Know About. What You Heard Was Not What I Said. [Strip]. Fake News 2.0: The Propaganda War Gets Sophisticated. False News Stories Are 70% More Likely to Be Retweeted on Twitter than True Ones. In Fahrenheit 11/9, Michael Moore Spares No One — Especially Self Satisfied Liberals, Commitment to Democratic Values Predict Climate Change Concern.
-Quote: I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. – Alan Greenspan, Richard Nixon, Robert McCloskey, in essence anyone who has tried to teach or inform another from the Big Bang to Entropy. On Morality, Time, and the End of the Universe.
-7. A story that parallels anti-GMO, anti-vax, the Munchausen by Proxy of helicopter parents. Principal Sued by Parents of Child with Nut Allergy. Mom Asks Arlington Heights Schools to Ban Peanuts. Peanut Free Schools: What Does it Really Mean, and Are They Necessary. Peanut Free School Zones Don't Work. Do Peanut Free Schools Reduce the Risk of Severe Reactions. I’m Not a Helicopter Parent, but My Child Still Has a Food Allergy, The Day I Stopped Judging Parents of Children with Food Allergies.
-8. A 6 Part Tool for Ranking and Assessing Risks, #Glossary CARVER. Having a military background I have been aware of and used a modification of this application of this targeting acronym for assessing the vulnerabilities of infra and superstructure, and for prioritizing what to protect, respond to and recover.
-C. Criticality: How essential or critical is the system. Alway evaluate how it is critical, a critical system in normal conditions may not be critical when lives and resources are at stake, while uncritical ones can become critical.
-A. Accessibility: Not limited to what could cause damage, loss of access, loss of use, but if a threat, hazard, risk can reach the asset. Most things are vulnerable to geothreats – shaking, electrical/ magnetic surge, extreme thermal conditions, deterioration, innundation (water, people, use), changes in speed (too fast and sudden stops), friction, contamination.... – but may be protected from that risk and therefore not accessible to the problem. Unfortunately most biosphere threats are not hindered by the same protections as geodisasters, and most systems are vulnerable to these, specifically personnel (illness, starvation, dehydration, toxins), raw resources, and consumable products that are part of systems.
-R. Recoverable: How quickly can it be recovered, repaired, access regained or replaced. Also worth determining if it is worth replacement or repair or to find a better substitute that does not have the vulnerabilities. How long can functions continue without – ranging from immediate adverse effect, delayed impact where one can do without for a given time, to it can be worked around for a sustained period but not as efficiently or at same production rate. Sometimes a loss can be circumvented by a simple change in procedure, delivery of its service, altering its planned use, and/or change of location. Worth also considering that recovery, or a temporary recovery system will provide for other critical needs, such as jobs for those who would be unemployed.
-V. Vulnerability: How well (or not) the asset could withstand damage. What happens if there is a loss of supply, power, maintenance, operators, mobility. How is it vulnerable, what levels of damage it will sustain (temporary out of service, unable to access/ reach, and permanently inoperable/ unrepairable/ replaceable). Will it sustain damage from shut down, unintended use or duration, lack of maintenance, being restarted improperly. Consider also the protective measures can also cause damage to what is being protect, or severely hinder its operation and functions.
-E. Effect: What are the impacts, how long will those impact continue to impact, what are the impacts if continued over time. What are the effects and affects if it is unavailable for any reason, and then becomes available again. This is especially in the case where something made other systems vulnerable, and replacement means the flaws of the previous system continue. Again evaluation if terms of stop, hinder, delay, reduce, none (and if none why is it considered critical), cascade other systems, and are the unintended consequences from fixes.
-R. Recognizable: Likelihood that decision makers will recognize the danger of a system loss, or give it a suitable priority of resources and funds. With Biothreats and hazards this problem of recognition and awareness is very likely. Given their hidden invisible slow cumulative nature, people can be habituated to it as being normal or very unlikely to become a problem.
-R. Responsibility (an addition): Who or what is responsible for the implementation of protection, recovery, replacement, planning, funding, decisions regarding. Without designation of who needs to implement CARVERR findings and critical needs, it is likely to never happen, or put off until too late. Worse these can be done partially, sufficient to pass inspection or get more funding that is then diverted to other wants, but being incomplete create greater CARVER2 issues.
<ADDED 180923>
-180916-5>1. Isolation, Consequences Florence Has Made Wilmington, N.C., an Island Cut off from the Rest of the World. Slow Moving Storms like Florence Produce Big Floods – and Are Becoming the Norm [Photo, Cartoon] and are called typhoons; Dozens More Feared Dead In The Philippines After Typhoon Triggers Mudslide. Many science media sources still use the old definition that hurricanes and monsoons are different names for tropical cyclones depending of geography, -6.2↑. Extreme Weather: The Effects of Climate Change Are Already Here. Climate Change Is a Chronic Condition. Flood Victims Get Food and Water; Rain Spreads to Northeast. 8 Virginia Tornadoes Linked to Florence. Hurricane Florence’s 1,000 Year Rainfall, Explained. Hurricane Florence Highlights Relief Aid by Muslims, Effect of Climate Change on Storms, this Small Town, Devastated by Floods, Welcomed Syrian Immigrants. They’re Now Paying it Back.. Carolinas Turn into an Archipelago of Island Communities as Florence’s Rain Causes Widespread Flooding.
-A. Strain, Lack of Preparation: North Carolina's Raging Rivers from Storm Florence Test Beefed up Defenses. As Indiana Towns Grapple with Climate Change a New Tool Could Save Them Money. Besides losses that could have been avoided, another consequence of lack of preparation is that recovery is more expensive and may even not be possible. Footing the Bill for Climate Change: By the End of the Day, Someone Has to Pay. Our Lack of Pandemic Preparedness Could Prove Deadly$, in the case of Florence not being prepared for floods, lost access to medical care, loss income, toxic sites, can lead to disease outbreaks that can spread. After Florence’s Ferocity, Exhaustion Sets in on Wilmington. Tropical Storm Florence Death Toll Climbs.
-B. Crime, Disaster Myths (looting), Exploitation: Alleged Looters in Florence Ravaged North Carolina Sought by Police. Authorities Warn of Looting, Scams and Fraud Cases During Post Florence Relief Efforts. Crooks Create Second Wave of Hurricane Devastation. Understanding Crime in Communities after Disaster: A Research Brief. Committing crimes, exploiting the situation for personal gain, diverting resources from where needed for ones own use and easier to do and justify in the chaos of any disruption of normal routines, -I↓. Soldier Returns from Florence Relief Effort to Find Nc Home Burglarized.
-C, or continued -B. FEMA FEMA Chief Raises Spousal Abuse in Discussing Frustrating Studies on Hurricane Deaths: You Can’t Blame Spousal Abuse after a Disaster on Anyone, suggesting that deaths in the aftermath of a natural disaster are unfairly lumped into reports assessing the death toll of hurricanes. Wall Street Journal: Investigation into FEMA Chief Brock Long Referred to Prosecutors, Brock Long’s Woes Mount as House G.O.P. Launches Travel Inquiry, FEMA Administrator Will Reimburse Government, Won’t Face Charges from Internal Probe. Fate of FEMA Leader in Doubt as Florence Cleanup Continues. FEMA Chief Considered Quitting as Feud with Homeland Security Secretary Boiled Over, -180916-5G↓. FEMA Dispatches Crews to Do Whatever They Need to Do to Look Busy, FEMA Airdrops Emergency Cyanide Pills for Residents Stranded by Hurricane Florence, The Worst Hurricanes in U.S. History. White House Raises Official Hurricane Florence Death Toll To -17. | Trump Assures Storm Victims in Carolinas: We Will Be There 100 Percent, We'll Have it All Taken Care of: Trump Promises Support to Flood Soaked Carolinas. In Hurricane's Wake, Trump Again Tackles Uneasy Role as Consoler in Chief, -J↓.
-D. Beliefs/ Politics: Al Gore's Claim about Hurricane Florence Doused by Scientists what caught my eye was not just the correction of someone who believes in climate change – rather than the worthless effort to try to correct a climate denier Climate Change ‘Skepticism’: 6 Overlapping Drivers – but the neologism for liar 'without any evidence' <ADDED 180902-180128-3.1>10. It’s Time for Orthodox Rabbis to Start Talking about Climate Change. An Equator Full of Hurricanes Is a Preview of End Times. Why Climate Change Is Fake – What Americans Google about Global Warming and Why it Matters 2017. Florence Shows How Storm Coverage Is Politicized -1.1‡↑. Florence and the 5 Stages of Climate Change Acceptance, PDWN has speculated that the grief process can be applied to humor, ideological change and other areas. So far have not found anything that is definitive that there is a relation between the two. The model works (160821-10 SPARTA) but it doesn’t appear to be the classic Kubla-Ross application. Perhaps that model describes a larger process of cognitive change that was first articulated with grief but has a much larger application, much as the rumor model of SLA (Page 16, 4 Rumor Theory) describes the cognitive processes of narrative formationd.
-E. 180916-5H Assessing: Waffle House Sending in Reinforcements workers with the restaurant chain are being brought in from around the country to help keep the company's locations up and running, Waffle House Index [Graphic]. | Hurricane Rating System Fails to Account for Deadly Rain. As often the case with biocalamities and geodisasters this problem was identified long before it became bad, inconvenient or misinformative enough to motivate fixing it. Simulating Typhoon Floods with Gauge Data and Mesoscale Modeled Rainfall in a Mountainous Watershed 2005, Tropical Cyclone Rainfall and Flood Forecasting, Hurricanes and ExtremeRainfall. Yes, Florence Was Downgraded. No, That Doesn’t Mean It’s Ok to Return to Myrtle Beach, Did Downgraded Florence Contribute to a False Sense of Security, Hurricane Florence, ‘Just a Cat 1,’ Reveals Flaw with Saffir-Simpson Scale$. The Science Behind Home Disaster Preparedness Kits Is a Disaster. ¶ Scientists Warn of Global Crisis over Failure to Tackle Tuberculosis.
-F. 180916-5G Hazmat, Biothreats: Florence Causes Coal Ash Spills in North Carolina. Pollution Fears: Swollen Rivers Swamp Ash Dumps, Hog Farms. Post Hurricane Horror: Fire Ants Are Forming into Floating Islands to Escape Flooded Areas, 180401-3, <ADDED 170903-170827-8>, 170625-7. In the Wake of a Hurricane: Public Health Threats Linger Long after Wind and Rain Dies down. Hurricane Florence Update: Flooding Expected to be Issue for Days, Weeks. 600,000 Customers Warned of Drinking Water as North Carolina's Flooded Hog Farms, Waste Lagoons under Scrutiny for Contamination. Myth and Reality about Hurricane Risks for Expectant Mothers. Florence’s Lingering Public Health Threat: Flood Waters Contaminated as Pig Poop Lagoons Overflow. Climate Change and Health. After Hurricane Florence, Significant Worry Over Infectious Diseases.
-G. Manufacturing, Infrastructure, Economics, Insurance: In Florence’s Path, Drug Plants Avoided Worst Case Scenarios, the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies wrestled with a major dilemma: Should they suspend operations at manufacturing plants in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, risking shortages of important drugs and vaccines. Price of Saving Road to Myrtle Beach: Flooding Nearby Town. After Florence Floods, the Uninsured Awaken to Painful Reality, Less than 340,000 Have Flood Insurance in North and South Carolina Combined, After Billions in Hurricane Damage, Congress Still Hasn’t Passed Flood Insurance Reform. Florence Engulfs Hog Farms and Chicken Houses, Thrashing North Carolina Agriculture, Florence’s Flooding Claims 3.4 Million Poultry, 5,500 Hogs. AccuWeather Narrows Economic Toll Prediction for Hurricane Florence to $50-60 Billion. Amtrak Resuming North Carolina Passenger Service. Floodwaters Inundate Lake at NC Power Plant, Raising Alarm, Dam Breach Reported at Former N.C. Coal Plant, Raising Fears That Toxic Coal Ash May Pollute Cape. Hurricane Maria’s Effect on the Health Care Industry Is Threatening Lives Across the U.S., and imagine what a nationwide code black that involves all medical manufacture and already stretched thin medical personnel. Social Infrastructure Can Help Save Us from the Ravages of Climate Change.
-H. Puerto Rico, Harvey, Aftermath, Comparison: As Florence Turns Deadly, Trump Tweets Geraldo on Puerto Rico Toll. Only 33 Percent of Americans Think Trump Did Enough in Responding to Hurricane Maria. We Fed Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria. Why Couldn’t President Trump$. Maria’s Death Toll Climbed Long after Rain Stopped [Cartoon]. Puerto Rico Marks 1 Year since Maria with Song and Sadness, Where Hurricane Maria First Made Landfall, Songs Memorialize the Tragedy, 8 Artists Taking on the Big Global Challenge: Climate Change. What Katrina Taught Us about Saving Puerto Rico's Youngest Storm Victims. How Puerto Rico Became the Newest Tax Haven for the Super Rich. | Trump: Dems Will Lie and Say Hurricane Florence Response Was Bad. I’ve not yet evaluated the response or recovery, too soon to do so and information not yet available. So far there is only starte level prior conditions of lack of mitigation, preparation, anticipation of problems and consequences, continued lack of resources, and limited planning. What will be of more interest are the following hurricanes as the limited resources of FEMA and USAID are drained, and if there is inequity in the response and recovery efforts i.e. Trump’s 33 (+/- 11) and 1% “American” supporters. USAID Supports Hurricane Preparedness Efforts in the Caribbean. FEMA Awards More than $412 Million in Additional Federal Grants for Puerto Rico. Beloved Scientist Ada Monzón Warned Millions of 'Monster' Hurricane Maria, Addressed 'Great Suffering' with Education, Outreach in Storm's Wake. Hurricane Maria Was a Manmade Disaster. Hundreds of Families Told Us What Really Happened. Remembering Maria: How Puerto Rico’s Worst Hurricane Compares to America’s Most Destructive Weather Disasters. The Frightening Lesson Hurricane Maria Taught the World About the Politics of Climate Change. On Hurricane Maria Anniversary, Puerto Rico is Still in Ruins$, \fs24ulHundreds Mark Hurricane Maria Anniversary near Trump Resort. FEMA Set Aside Billions to Repair Homes in Puerto Rico. Many Are Still in Ruins$. Puerto Rico's Tap Water Often Goes Untested, Raising Fears about Lead Contamination, With Government Sidelined, Citizen Scientists Test Water Quality in Puerto Rico. A Year after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico Still Struggles to Regain What Hasn’t Been Lost for Good – While Fearing the next Big One, and though one hopes it does not happen, at the same time if there is another hurricane approaching Puerto Rico it will be of interest to see how this administration handles it. A Year After Maria, Puerto Rico Is Pushed to Precipice. [Cartoon].Congress Wishes They Could Help Puerto Rico but It’s All the Way over There. | Anxieties Endure When Houston Sees Heavy Rains. How Disaster Anniversaries Can Impact Survivors Video, memorials are part of this. Government Watchdog Probing EPA’s Handling of Hurricane Harvey Response.
-I. Evacuation, Vulnerable Populations, Poverty: How Do Homeless People Stay Safe During Natural Disasters Video. Why Didn’t You Evacuate: Expert Explains Why Fleeing Florence’s Wrath Wasn’t a Privilege Everyone Could Afford. Seniors, children, handicapped, impoverished, persecuted ethnic groups (like immigrants) are vulnerable populations, ICE: No Immigration Enforcement in Areas of Hurricane Shelters or Evacuations, Why Are Immigration Agents in Areas Hit by Hurricane Florence. FEMA Sent Them. | Should People Who Didn't Obey Evacuation Orders in NC and SC During Hurricane Florence Have to Pay for Their Subsequent Rescues. No, they shouldn’t have to pay. 99% wouldn’t be able to anyway. Just like they didn’t have the resources to evacuate they do not have the resources to pay for their rescues. There is a related question about if an area should pay that suffered from a geodisaster or biocalamity, but were unprepared for it and did not spend money to mitigate and prevent, States Aren’t Spending Enough on Mitigation Before Disasters Occur, most can’t even track how much they are spending and where it’s going. Often times there is blame placed on politicians for not spending the money that would have saved money, but politicians are not always corrupt, they people who have to make decisions balancing a current need against a possible worse future need which voters may not believe is a threat and spending money on is a waste, It’s Hyped Up: Climate Deniers in the Path of Hurricane Florence. Inversely an unscrupulous politician can use climate change to get elected and then corrupt programs intended for environmental change, or make what turn out to be poor decisions that implement programs that turn out to have unintended consequences. There should always be scrutiny of elected and appointed officials to prevent problems developing or corruption, provide feedback if there is a systemic error or ineffective (if not deleterious) actions, or when resources are not used wisely or diverted from greater needs, -B↑, Trump Administration Diverts Nearly a Half Billion Dollars to Migrant Children in Custody As Number of Youngsters Reaches All Time High, Money Is Transferred from HIV Services and Medical Research. If the corrupt behavior is persistent then refer to legal investigation if there was criminal intent or criminal negligence (most likely the finding will be incompetence). The same process should also defend an official from accusations, if a decision was made (to include not making a decision), based on what was known at the time, and it turned out badly. North Carolina's coast is hot spot for rising sea levels 2012, Sea Level Rise Threatens Public Health Infrastructure 2014 and note in the map the correspondence of predicted sea level rise then with the current flooding now, and what areas were evacuated prior to Florence. Climate Change Map: Much of Coastal U.S. under Water by 2100, Estimates Show.
-J. Bush’s Press Secretary Criticizes Trump’s Harvey Response for Lacking Empathy, to say thank you. This was rejected last week as only being a jab at Trump and not illuminating about parademic. Coming across this again in the context of Trump Again Tackles Uneasy Role as Consoler in Chief, At Least You Got a Nice Boat out of the Deal,’ Trump Tells N.C. Man During Post Florence Tour. I have reconsidered or more likely reinterpreted. In biocalamity leadership is critical to control and containment. Inconsistent policies, dissonant persona, conflict between stated beliefs and behavior, the lack of trust in and from others, appearance of coldness and inhumanity, are not the characteristics of the type of leadership needed for biocalamity. The comment about the boat may be humor, indicating that Trump is not humorless (though apparently he can’t handle being laughed at), but simply socially inappropriate. The apologetic he was just joking -2- [Meme, Screen Grab] to downplay some – too many to try to explain all of them this way – of his inappropriate comments may not just be trying to put a positive spin on interpretation -C↑. Trump Calls Florence 'One of the Wettest We've Ever Seen from the Standpoint of Water', From the Standpoint of Water, [Meme]. Trump Tells Starving Hurricane Survivors to Enjoy Themselves “Have a good time!” -2- -3- -4- -5- [Meme] -6-. | If nothing else this is yet another example that ignoring biocalamity – or being socially inappropriate – is not a good idea. They may go dormant and one can pretend it did not need to be or were dealt with. The consequences from each succeeding wave continue to get worse over time if cause is not corrected. Letter to the Editor: Climate Change Part of God's Plan.
-180916-5F>2. FEMA's Presidential Alert Test Postponed as Some Americans Want to Disconnect. Far more is behind this cancellation that the politically slanted one in this article. FEMA Will Test an Emergency System That Lets President Trump Send You Text Alerts. Test Messages for Federal Alert Systems to Be Sent to Cellphones Thursday, FEMA Says, -180916-5>C↑.
-180729-8>3. Scifi is based on science, but not necessarily precise science or complete information. Sometimes the fictions become real life, or are hijacked for other causes. Sperm Counts Are Falling. This Isn’t the Reproductive Apocalypse — Yet. It’s not just a scifi scenario in The Handmaid’s Tale, scientists are worrying about a coming reproductive apocalypse. Over the past 30 years, as concerns that environmental changes are harming our reproductive capacity have grown, scientific journal articles have trickled out that look at whether sperm counts are declining. But those studies were often riddled with flaws and limitations, and scientists couldn’t agree on how to interpret them. Then came what’s now considered the most definitive study on the question: The concentration of sperm in semen, also known as sperm count, has halved in the West since the 1970s. The finding that got less attention: Even the new low is still well within a normal range for sperm. In the press release for the study, the authors declared a sperm centric public health emergency. This study is an urgent wake-up call for researchers and health authorities around the world to investigate the causes of the sharp ongoing drop in sperm count, with the goal of prevention. Online communities known as the manosphere, where men fret about being emasculated, have seized on the study as evidence that they are being feminized by modern society -2-. Lost in this conversation, as usual, is nuance about the research. I spent the past week talking to epidemiologists, andrologists, and fertility doctors who work on male reproductive health and found a pretty stark divide. While the epidemiologists were generally more convinced by the spermpocalypse, the front line practitioners treating men were not. If it were true [that sperm counts halved], in all the studies we do on normal young men, we’d see sperm concentrations of 30 million instead of 60 million. Even the spermpocalyse skeptics I spoke to agreed there’s a trend decline — it just probably looks much less ominous than The Handmaid’s Tale, 170820-5, 170702-2.2. SciFi, Dystopia, and Hope in the Age of Trump: A Fiction Roundtable, 170611-5, What Happens to Fiction When Our Worst Climate Nightmares Start Coming True, 170507-1.1F, 170312-8, . INDEX Handmaid, Sperm count | Sperm Counts Are Falling, but Don't Panic Yet. The Sperm Apocalypse Is Nigh. Hey, Guys – Here’s Why Your Sperm Count Is Plummeting. ¶ Science Fiction Was Around in Medieval Times – Here's What it Looked like. I Think We’re Alone Now, from Reed Morano, Is a Gorgeous Post Apocalyptic Relationship Drama. Post apocalyptic stories, as a rule, are less about the end of the world and more about what it really is to be a human. INDEX Scifi.
-180408-5.4>4. Bipartisan Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense Applauds Release of National Biodefense Strategy as a Crucial Step in Protecting the U.S. from Biological Attacks, #Document National Biodefense Strategy 2018, implementing the National Biodefense Strategy Act of 2016. Trump Puts HHS in Charge of Defense Against Biological Threats, I have advocated moving this from DHS to HHS, but in the context of Trump's HHS Diverting Funds from NIH, CDC to Pay for Increased Number of Migrant Children, this is not reassuring; Trump Health Official Defends Funding Shifts to Pay for Detained Migrant Children. National Biodefense Strategy: Protect the Nation Against all Biological Threats. Trump Directs Government to Step up Defenses Against Bioterrorism, House Approves Bill to Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction, White House Sets ‘New Direction’ in Biodefense Strategy, looks like a repeat of what existed before, but weaker, Obama's Biodefense Strategy Is a Lot like Bush's 2009, a rehash of the previous attempt to make the “first” biodefense program, and at odds with continued efforts to cut funding. Probably more to support the foreign contamination narrative than actual biodefense, Undocumented Immigrants and the Import of Infectious Diseases: ¿A Real Health Security Risk to the US?. New White House Biodefense Plan Omits Climate Change. White House Preparing BioDefense Strategy as Germ Warfare Fears Rise. Panel Finds Biodefense Budgeting Needs Major Overhaul Now. 171231-1.3, 171224-2*A -‡, 171210-9.2, <ADDED 171126-171119-3.1>1, 171015-1.1‡, -170716-5.3‡3>, 170611-3.2, -<ADDED 170604-170528-5.1‡>, 170326-4.2A, 170220-3.1P -8.10P, 170219-TB, 170108-14. <ADDED 180527-180513-3.1>2, 170813-5, 170723-3, 170716-5.3‡3, <ADDED 170716-170604-4.2C>, 170514-1.4, 170319-6.2 -9. HHS Will Take Lead in Trump's New Strategy to Prepare Country for Bioterror Threats., Revamped US Biodefence Strategy Adds Natural Disasters and Lab Accidents, This Is Not a Drill: 5 Reasons Why the Experts Are Worried about the next Pandemic. 106 Lawmakers – Including 11 Republicans – Tell Trump Climate Change Is a National Security Threat. Trump’s Defense Chief Cites Climate Change as National Security Challenge 2017, Trump Is Reportedly Thinking about Getting Rid of Mattis, and He's Given 'Mad Dog' a New Nickname,
-180513-1.1>5, <ADDED 180916>3. Hostility Against Ebola Response Teams Denounced by Beni Civil Society. Fear of Ebola Keeps the Faithful at Home in Congo. Rumors, Conflict Challenge Ebola Response in Eastern Congo. Plot, Poison, or Curse. Ebola Rumours Spread in Congo. Hidden Costs of Cobalt Mining in DR Congo. Rebel Attack in Congo Ebola Zone Kills at Least 18. 155 Children Left Orphaned or Separated from Their Parents in DRC’s Latest Ebola Outbreak. html" 180923-VCP-Uganda.
-150503-20>6, Coffee Production Starting to Decline as a Result of Warming>. Coffee is one of the topics that provides insight into parademic topics, and overlaps Environmental/ Climate Change along with: humor, grief, sex, gender, chocolate, wine, social interaction, art, politics, music, economics, drugs/ alcohol, trade, poverty, medical scams and folk treatments, rumors, food, nutritional science, cultural differences, water, politics, corruption, architecture, clothing.... Remember When Climate Change Meant the End of Coffee. Never Mind. But what about chocolate. INDEX Coffee. The Cost of Climate Change to Uganda's Coffee Sector. Canadian Peaches and California Coffee: How Farmers Are Being Forced to Innovate in the Face of Climate Change 180805-9, <ADDED 180520-VCP>UK, 180408-4, 180121-9.1, <ADDED 171015-171001-2.1>4B, 170917-1.1, 170723-3‡, 170521-7, 170129-6.2, 160814-2B.
-INDEX Cassandra>7. The Cassandra Curse: Why We Heed Some Warnings, and Ignore Others. After a disaster happens, we want to know, could something have been done to avoid it. Did anyone see this coming. Many times, the answer is yes. There was a person, or many people, who spotted a looming crisis and tried to warn those in power. So why didn't the warnings lead to action.
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