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Press Release from the United States Environmental Protection Agency - February 4, 2013

Improving housing quality can dramatically affect the health of residents

WASHINGTON – Several federal agencies today unveiled Advancing Healthy Housing – A Strategy for Action. White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Chair Nancy Sutley, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Shaun Donovan, Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, M.D., and Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman discussed the new plan during an event at the National Building Museum this morning.

The initiative represents a bold new vision for addressing the nation’s health and economic burdens caused by preventable hazards associated with the home. The Strategy for Action encourages federal agencies to take preemptive actions that will help reduce the number of American homes with health and safety hazards.

The 2013 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit is the premier event dedicated to transformative energy solutions. It brings together leaders from academia, business, and government to discuss energy issues and facilitate relationships to help move cutting-edge technologies into the marketplace.

Don't miss this chance to network with federal government leaders, breakthrough technology companies and entrepreneurs, and researchers ready to collaborate.

Image: Thousands of birds fill the sky above the White Nile at sunset. (Photo by Jon Waterhouse)

Submitted by Samuel Bendett

newswatch.nationalgeographic.com - January 18th, 2013 - Jon Waterhouse

A December 23rd fire in South Sudan prompted a fast, steady and miraculous aid response.

For the last four years, in the remote village of Old Fangak, South Sudan, a health-focused team of Alaskan volunteers have labored long and hard beside steadfast community members. The focus of their combined effort is the construction of a humble medical clinic. A disease called kala-azar (visceral leishmaniasis), often referred to as Black Fever, has ravaged the area for decades and in 1989 Dr. Jill Seaman (featured in the January 2013 issue of National Geographic Magazine) arrived in Old Fangak.

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Submitted by Luis Kun

mountsinai.org - January 17th, 2013

Scientists have discovered that that the flu virus can essentially tell time, thereby giving scientists the ability to reset the virus' clock and combat it in more effective ways. According to researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the flu knows how much time it has to multiply, infect other cells, and spread to another human being. If it leaves a cell too soon, the virus is too weak. If it leaves too late, the immune system has time to kill the virus.

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Forecast high temperatures on Monday, Jan. 21, from the GFS computer model.
Click to enlarge the image. Credit: Weatherbell

climatecentral.org - by Andrew Freedman - January 21, 2013

An unusual event playing out high in the atmosphere above the Arctic Circle is setting the stage for what could be weeks upon weeks of frigid cold across wide swaths of the U.S., having already helped to bring cold and snowy weather to parts of Europe.

This phenomenon, known as a “sudden stratospheric warming event,” started on Jan. 6, but is something that is just beginning to have an effect on weather patterns across North America and Europe. . .

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Damage in the Rockaway neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., where the historic boardwalk was washed away during Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 31, 2012. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

propublica.org - by Theodoric Meyer - January 18, 2013

When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, Congress passed two relief bills almost unanimously. But when it comes to Hurricane Sandy, some in Congress seem to have had a change of heart.

In total, 58 representatives voted against bills this month similar to ones that they had supported after Katrina.

Here's a breakdown of how each of them voted on the two Katrina bills and the two Sandy ones:

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cbsnews.com - by Jonathan LaPook - January 9, 2013

(CBS News) The national flu epidemic is getting worse by the day: On Wednesday, Boston -- with a population of at least 600,000 -- declared a public health emergency after the virus killed more than a dozen people.

At least three more states -- Montana, South Dakota and Arizona -- are now reporting widespread flu, bringing the total to 44 states.

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Image: Correlation of violent protests in Africa and the Middle East with local food prices.

compression.org - October 25th, 2012 - Robert W. "Doc" Hall

Formal risk management has become common in large organizations. Risk management has become complex, standardized in ISO 31000, and meriting university degrees. Most risk assessment multiplies the consequences of an event times its probability to create a risk index. Managements can then choose to eliminate, mitigate, or accept each risk.

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Image: 2010 Drought in Russia. (c) New York Times.

foreignpolicyblogs.com - November 10th, 2012 - Mia Bennett

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and National Research Council (NRC) have released a report commissioned by the CIA and various other American intelligence agencies on the security threats posed by climate change. The report’s goal is to inform intelligence agencies as to how to best carry out monitoring to anticipate climate-related disasters, help prevent them from occurring, and, when they do, respond to emergencies. The report investigates how climate change could potentially induce social and political stresses that will affect U.S. security over the next decade.

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Image: Oil derricks like this one outside of Williston, North Dakota, are part of a shale oil boom that has helped put the United States on track to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's leading oil producer. Photograph by Gregory Bull, AP

news.nationalgeographic.com - November 12th, 2012 - Theodore K. Grose

In an indication of how "fracking" is reshaping the global energy picture, the International Energy Agency today projected that the United States will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's largest oil producer by 2017.

And within just three years, the United States will unseat Russia as the largest producer of natural gas.

Both results would have been unthinkable even a few short years ago, but the future geography of supply has shifted dramatically due to what IEA calls America's "energy renaissance."

huffingtonpost.com - November 12th, 2012 - John Rudolf, Ben Hallman, Chris Kirkham, Saki Knafo and Matt Sledge

On the night that Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, Vinny Baccale was in his Staten Island living room, plotting a last-minute escape and regretting not evacuating, when his kids shouted to him from another room. Their neighbor was outside, trying to start his car in the rising water.

As Baccale stepped to his window, a six-foot wave swept down his block and over the man’s car, propelling it down the dark street.

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