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Wildfires Blazing Under Extreme Heat Out West

           

cnn.com - by Nicole Chavez and Eric Levenson - June 25, 2017

A series of wildfires is blazing across the Southwest as the chance of rain remains low amid a deadly heatwave.

Eighteen large fires are burning in the region, including six in Arizona, three in Utah, three in California, three in New Mexico, two in Nevada and a large one in Oregon. The two biggest wildfires are in southern Arizona and Utah.

Wildfires already have caused far more destruction than usual in the first half of 2017, meteorologist Haley Brink of the CNN Weather Center said.

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Free Resources for Disaster Resilience

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No person or place is immune from disasters or disaster-related losses, and recent events have proven that even prepared communities can be overwhelmed in a state of emergency. Our reports provide guidelines and targeted resources for all stakeholders in a disaster response, including state and local governments, emergency medical services and health care centers. Read these online for free.
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When Rising Seas Transform Risk Into Certainty

           

Flooding in North Miami, Florida. A 2013 World Bank study found that Miami is one of the 10 cities most at risk of damage from sea-level rise. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Amplification of flood frequencies with local sea level rise and emerging flood regimes

thebulletin.org - by Dan Drollette Jr. - June 9, 2017

According to a new study published on Wednesday by researchers from Princeton and Rutgers universities, rare floods will soon become the norm for cities like New York, San Francisco, San Diego, and Seattle, as well as entire states such as Florida and Hawaii. On average, this means a 40-fold increase in the occurence of flood, unless humanity soon cuts back on the amount of carbon we pump into the atmosphere.

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ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE HERE - Rare US floods to become the norm if emissions aren't cut, study warns

 

 

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Why Does America Have So Many Hungry Kids?

           

cnn.com - by Thom Patterson - June 15, 2017

 . . . The United States exports more food than any other country in the world. So why do families with children have trouble getting enough food in such a prosperous nation?

"The non-politcal answer . . . is greed and government . . . There's too many government health restrictions that force restaurants to throw away food" instead of donating it to the needy. "It's also greed: We're not helping our neighbors."

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Scientists Just Documented a Massive Recent Melt Event on the Surface of Antarctica

           

An iceberg lies in the Ross Sea with Mount Erebus in the background near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, in November 2016. (AFP/Getty Images)

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Nature Communications - January 2016 extensive summer melt in West Antarctica favoured by strong El Niño

washingtonpost.com - by Chris Mooney - June 15, 2017

Scientists have documented a recent, massive melt event on the surface of highly vulnerable West Antarctica that, they fear, could be a harbinger of future events as the planet continues to warm.

In the Antarctic summer of 2016, the surface of the Ross Ice Shelf, the largest floating ice platform on Earth, developed a sheet of meltwater that lasted for as long as 15 days in some places. The total area affected by melt was 300,000 square miles, or larger than the state of Texas, the scientists report.

That’s bad news because surface meltin g could work hand in hand with an already documented trend of ocean-driven melting to compromise West Antarctica, which contains over 10 feet of potential sea level rise.

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Climate Change Pushing Tropical Diseases Toward Arctic

Temperature changes around the globe are pushing human pathogens of all kinds into unexpected new areas, raising many new risks for people.

           

Bathers on the Baltic have recently been confronted with a new threat: dangerous disease that is normally only found in warm water.  PHOTOGRAPH BY PRIIT VESILIND, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE

news.nationalgeographic.com - by Craig Welch - June 14, 2017

 . . . It's no secret that climate change can spread illnesses such as West Nile virus, Zika, and malaria, as rising temperatures push disease-carrying mosquitoes into new places, from the highlands of Ethiopia to the United States. But warm temperatures and shifting weather patterns work in subtle ways, too. Changes in precipitation, wind, or heat are shifting the threat posed by other human illnesses, from cholera to a rare freshwater brain-eating amoeba to rodent-driven infections like hantavirus. And the importance of all these changes are only growing more significant.

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Study Links Mosquito Spray to Delayed Motor Skills in Babies

           

cnn.com - by Susan Scutti - June 9, 2017

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Environment International - Prenatal naled and chlorpyrifos exposure is associated with deficits in infant motor function in a cohort of Chinese infants

Naled -- the main chemical ingredient in the bug spray used in Miami to ward off Zika-carrying mosquitoes -- has an association with reduced motor function in infants, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Environmental International.

The University of Michigan researchers found that children in China who had the highest prenatal exposure to naled had, at age 9 months, 3% to 4% lower scores on tests of their fine motor skills, which are the small movements of hands, fingers, face, mouth and feet, compared with those with the lowest exposure.

This is the first general-population study of the insecticide chemical, the researchers said.

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Port Arthur Residents' Concerns Continue After German Pellets Silo Collapses

           

kfdm.com - by Kaily Cunningham - June 4, 2017

PORT ARTHUR — After nearly two months of smoke pouring out of a German Pellets silo in Port Arthur, the silo collapsed early Sunday morning.

Authorities say the silo collapse just after 4 a.m. . . .

 . . . However, they say, their health concerns -- as a result of inhaling the smoke -- continue.

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'Cancer Alley' Residents Say Industry is Hurting Town: 'We're Collateral Damage'

           

In Louisiana’s industrial heart, the shadow of Trump’s deregulation push looms as St James residents fight chemical plants, pipelines and laissez-faire policies

theguardian.com - by Lauren Zanolli in St James, Louisiana. Main image by Julie Dermansky - June 6, 2017

We’re sick of being sick, we’re tired of being tired,” said Pastor Harry Joseph of Mount Triumph Baptist Church, which serves this sleepy riverside town of about 1,000 residents, mostly poor and African American. Once a bucolic village of pasturelands and sugarcane fields on the banks of the Mississippi, St James, Louisiana, is now a densely packed industrial zone in the heart of Louisiana’s petrochemical corridor, commonly referred to as “Cancer Alley” . . . 

 . . . Fifteen large industrial sites – mainly oil storage facilities, pipelines and petrochemical plants – now fill the 13-mile stretch of road that defines the town of St James, also known as the fifth ward of St James parish.

Yet residents here say they’ve seen little economic benefit – either in jobs or tax revenues – from the industry that has taken over the town. Instead, they say, they’ve been saddled with a myriad of health issues, medical bills and environmental degradation.

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Texas Lawmakers Do Little to Address Pregnancy-Related Deaths

           

FILE - In this March 6, 2017, file photo, Texas Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, front, backed by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, center, and other legislators talks to the media during a news conference to discuss Senate Bill 6 at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Texas. Just months after a high-profile study revealed that Texas has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world, state lawmakers failed to respond by passing comprehensive legislation to combat the crisis during the legislative session. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Obstetrics & Gynecology - Recent Increases in the U.S. Maternal Mortality Rate: Disentangling Trends From Measurement Issues

CLICK HERE - Maryland Population Research Center (MPRC) - MacDorman research on U.S. maternal mortality increase featured on CNN

abcnews.go.com - Associated Press - by Meredith Hoffman - June 4, 2017

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