In this March 19, 2013 photo, a tractor plows a cotton field in Hatch, N.M., in preparation for the spring growing season.(Photo: Susan Montoya Bryan, AP)

House lawmakers narrowly passed a new version of the farm bill that doesn't include money for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program relied on by millions of Americans.

usatoday.com - by Christopher Doering - July 11, 2013

WASHINGTON -- House lawmakers approved a scaled-back version of the farm bill Thursday after stripping out the popular food-stamp program used by 48 million Americans.

The bill narrowly passed on a 216-208 vote, largely along party lines. A dozen Republicans voted against the measure while no Democrats voted in favor.

The measure focuses solely on farm programs and would delay, at least for now, efforts to overhaul the country's food-stamp program that traditionally has made up 80% of spending in the bill.

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Event Website: http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/CHIDSWHITE/

November 15-16th, 2013
Washington Marriott at Metro Center
775 12th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005

About the Workshop on Health IT and Economics (WHITE):

reuters.com - July 10th, 2013 - Julie Steenhuysen

The United States is falling behind its economic peers in most measures of health, despite making gains in the past two decades, according to a sweeping study of data from 34 countries.

Although Americans are living longer, with overall U.S. life expectancy increasing to 78.2 in 2010 from 75.2 in 1990, increases in psychiatric disorders, substance abuse and conditions that cause back, muscle and joint pain mean many do not feel well enough to enjoy those added years of life.

"Despite a level of health expenditures that would have seemed unthinkable a generation ago, the health of the U.S. population has improved only gradually and has fallen behind the pace of progress in many other wealthy nations," Dr. Harvey Fineberg of the Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C., wrote in an editorial published on Wednesday with the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Filmmaker Josh Fox (C) joins a protest against fracking in California, in Los Angeles in this file photo. Large earthquakes thousands of miles away can trigger swarms of small quakes near wastewater-injection wells like those used in oil and gas recovery, scientists reported. - Reuters

CLICK HERE FOR STUDY - Science Magazine - Injection-Induced Earthquakes

reuters.com - by Sharon Begley - July 11, 2013

(Reuters) - Powerful earthquakes thousands of miles (km) away can trigger swarms of minor quakes near wastewater-injection wells like those used in oil and gas recovery, scientists reported on Thursday, sometimes followed months later by quakes big enough to destroy buildings.

The discovery, published in the journal Science by one of the world's leading seismology labs, threatens to make hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," which involves injecting fluid deep underground, even more controversial.

cnn.com - by Arion McNicoll and Stefanie Blendis - July 4, 2013

(CNN) -- "Drop to the ground; take cover by getting under a sturdy table or other piece of furniture; and hold on until the shaking stops."

This is the official advice issued by FEMA for anyone unlucky enough to be caught in an earthquake.

earth-policy.org

Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity

Chapter 4. Food or Fuel?

by Lester R. Brown

At the time of the Arab oil export embargo in the 1970s, the importing countries were beginning to ask themselves if there were alternatives to oil. In a number of countries, particularly the United States, several in Europe, and Brazil, the idea of growing crops to produce fuel for cars was appealing. The modern biofuels industry was launched. 1

This was the beginning of what would become one of the great tragedies of history.

Chapter 4. Food or Fuel?
http://www.earth-policy.org/books/fpep/fpepch4

Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity
http://www.earth-policy.org/books/fpep

( ALSO SEE - http://resiliencesystem.org/chapter-5-eroding-soils-darkening-our-future-full-planet-empty-plates-new-geopolitics-food-scarcity )

thinkprogress.org - by Joe Romm - June 30, 2013

(SEE LINKS BELOW FOR 2004 STUDY, 2005 STUDY, AND 2013 CRYOSAT ARTICLE)

Scientists predicted a decade ago that Arctic ice loss would bring on worse western droughts. Arctic ice loss has been much faster than the researchers — and indeed all climate modelers — expected (see “CryoSat-2 Confirms Sea Ice Volume Has Collapsed“).

It just so happens that the western U.S. is in the grip of a brutal, record-breaking drought. Is this just an amazing coincidence — or were the scientists right and what would that mean for the future? I ask the authors.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

submitted by Stella Tarnay

resilientamerica.org

Mayors and county leaders: Sign the Resilient Communities for America Agreement and showcase your leadership and commitment to creating more resilient cities, towns, and counties. Join the new movement of resilient cities and counties that are taking smart steps to prepare for climate change and energy challenges, and turning adversity into economic opportunity.

(CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)

The San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant is seen on April 6, 2012.

scpr.org - by Ed Joyce - June 7, 2013

Edison International Chairman Ted Craver told reporters Friday that closing the troubled San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station would take decades, cost a lot, leave hundreds unemployed and result in spent nuclear fuel that would be stored "for a very long time" directly on the plant's current site.

According to Craver, the company has a $2.7 billion decommissioning fund that can be used for the closure of San Onofre. But the money to make up for the loss of the San Onofre plant will come from California ratepayers, company insurance claims, Edison shareholders and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which produced the equipment that led to the problems at San Onofre.

Craver's comments came in a conference call with reporters following Southern California Edison's announcement Friday morning that it was closing the plant permanently after concluding that the continuing uncertainty about when or if the plant might return to service was not good for customers or investors.

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nwf.org - by Douglas B. Inkley - April 2, 2013

Three years after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and dumped more than 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, wildlife and wetlands are still recovering. How are they faring?

This report gives a snapshot view of six wildlife species that depend on a healthy Gulf and the coastal wetlands that are critical to the Gulf’s food web.

It describes different sources of restoration funding and provides initial suggestions as to how this funding can be used to improve the outlook for the species discussed in the report.

Spotlight Species: Bottlenose Dolphin

In August 2011, scientists did a comprehensive health examination of a 16-year-old male bottlenose dolphin.

This dolphin—dubbed Y12 for research purposes—was caught near Grand Isle, a Louisiana barrier island that was oiled during the Gulf oil disaster.

Miami after Hurricane Wilma in 2005.  Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

submitted by Albert Gomez

By century's end, rising sea levels will turn the nation's urban fantasyland into an American Atlantis. But long before the city is completely underwater, chaos will begin

rollingstone.com - by Jeff Goodell - June 20, 2013

When the water receded after Hurricane Milo of 2030, there was a foot of sand covering the famous bow-tie floor in the lobby of the Fontaine­bleau hotel in Miami Beach. A dead manatee floated in the pool where Elvis had once swum. Most of the damage occurred not from the hurricane's 175-mph winds, but from the 24-foot storm surge that overwhelmed the low-lying city.

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as-coa.org

July 08, 2013

Registration: 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Presentation and Discussion: 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

View map

REGISTER

submitted by Michael Kraft

communities.firstresponder.gov

Lessons Learned: Social Media and Hurricane Sandy
(39 PAGE .pdf FILE)

(FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS - CLICK ON THE HEADLINE, OR "READ MORE")