Helena Smith in Athens
Sunday August 26, 2007
The Observer
The charred remains of a mother holding her child in her arms; people burned alive in cars as they tried to flee; panic-stricken villagers trapped in flame-encircled homes; and thousands evacuated to beaches - these were among the scenes being witnessed in Greece as some of the worst wildfires in living memory ravaged the country.
With 46 dead yesterday afternoon and the toll expected to climb, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis declared a state of emergency, saying the forest fires 'can't be a coincidence'. He vowed that the arsonists would be found. Within hours police had arrested a suspect.
'All regions of the country are declared in a state of emergency in order to mobilise all means and forces to face this disaster,' he said in a televised address to the nation. 'We are living a national tragedy,' said Karamanlis.
He called an extraordinary cabinet meeting after visiting villages that had been reduced to cinders in the southern Peloponnese. With at least two tourists among the dead - and hundreds more holiday-makers threatened - Karamanlis urged Greece's EU partners to despatch more water-dropping planes and helicopters, saying it was a crisis Greece could not handle alone.
It was, he said, a day of 'national mourning' that would not be forgotten soon. All state buildings, including parliament, were ordered to fly flags at half-mast.
'These are very difficult times for all of us,' said Karamanlis, whose government has faced criticism for its handling of an unrivalled spate of forest fires that has wrought destruction across Greece this summer.
'I wish to express my deep grief over the lost lives. We are fighting against heavy odds, on many fronts and under particularly tough conditions.'
With new fires erupting almost hourly and authorities battling some 170 blazes from the Ionian Sea in the west, Ioannina in the north and the Peloponnese in the south, firefighting services have been stretched to the limit - despite the military being mobilised by the government. Gale-force winds known as the meltemi, which sweep across Greece in August, were also hampering efforts to extinguish the flames.
By late afternoon yesterday, as fires erupted on the fringes of Athens, threatening buildings, forcing the evacuation of monks from a monastery and closing the national highway, a wall of flames stretched across the Peloponnese with witnesses describing harrowing scenes.
Officials said the devastation was on a scale not seen in peacetime. Entire villages looked as though they had been vaporised, people and livestock incinerated. People who had tried to escape fires engulfing homesteads were found dead in their burnt-out cars. In one village near the Peloponnesian town of Zaharo, police discovered the bodies of a mother and her four children.
'There's absolute pandemonium here. It's like a war zone. In a single night everything we know has been destroyed,' Nikos Kakovessis, a resident of the town, said. 'People have lost their homes, their cattle, everything they own. May God cast his hand to stop this evil. May the worst be over.'
Frightened locals, authorities said, had been joined on the beaches of the peninsula by tourists forced to flee hotels and resorts at the peak of the holiday season. Many had fled the flames with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. With thousands expected to spend last night outside, nearby tavernas were providing tablecloths for evacuees to sleep on.
Officials yesterday said they feared arsonists were behind the wildfires. 'This is unprecedented. At least 21 of the fires that we are fighting erupted after 9pm Friday, which points to the crime of arson,' said Yannis Stamoulis, a spokesman for the firefighting service.
The high casualty toll, by far the worst in a 24-hour period since June, was blamed on people refusing to leave their homes, and in some cases bungled rescue efforts. 'People are not evacuating when we ask them to because they are afraid of losing their possessions, but they have to listen to us,' he said.
Greece has seen more than 300 fires in the past three months. The ecological disaster has dented the popularity of the ruling Conservatives, who have called early elections to take place on 16 September.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Modest start to Kyoto trade on Chicago exchange
NEW YORK (Reuters) - One contract representing Kyoto Treaty greenhouse gas reductions traded on the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange on Friday, the first such trade to take place in the United States, a trade source said.
The CCFE launched trade on the certified emissions reductions contract on Friday. December 2008 CER futures settled 25 cents weaker at $21.60.
One contract, representing a reduction of 1,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, changed hands, the source said.
CERs represent emissions reductions under Kyoto's clean development mechanism projects that allow companies in rich countries that ratified the protocol to meet their emissions requirements by investing in the clean projects in developing countries.
Often the projects cut emissions by destroying greenhouse gases at places like coal mines and chemical plants.
CCX is a subsidiary of Climate Exchange Plc, which also owns the European Climate Exchange, the world's largest live carbon emissions trading market.
The CCFE launched trade on the certified emissions reductions contract on Friday. December 2008 CER futures settled 25 cents weaker at $21.60.
One contract, representing a reduction of 1,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, changed hands, the source said.
CERs represent emissions reductions under Kyoto's clean development mechanism projects that allow companies in rich countries that ratified the protocol to meet their emissions requirements by investing in the clean projects in developing countries.
Often the projects cut emissions by destroying greenhouse gases at places like coal mines and chemical plants.
CCX is a subsidiary of Climate Exchange Plc, which also owns the European Climate Exchange, the world's largest live carbon emissions trading market.
Giant panda can survive
New research challenges perceptions of endangered species
The giant panda is not at an evolutionary dead end and could have a long term viable future, according to new research involving scientists from Cardiff University.
Previous studies have found that the giant panda's isolation, unusual dietary requirements and slow reproductive rates have led to a lack of genetic diversity that will inevitably lead the species to extinction.
Now a study by Professor Michael Bruford and Dr Benoit Goossens from the School of Biosciences, in collaboration with Professor Fuwen Wei and colleagues from the Institute of Zoology along with the China West Normal University in Sichuan, has found that the decline of the species can be linked directly to human activities rather than a genetic inability to adapt and evolve.
Our research challenges the hypothesis that giant pandas are at an evolutionary dead end said Professor Bruford. It is however clear that the species has suffered demographically at the hands of human activities such as deforestation and poaching.
The study gives a new genetic perspective on the giant panda, as well as tracing its demographic history. The research also shows that in areas where habit conservation projects are in place, the giant panda is flourishing and population numbers are increasing.
Our research suggests we have to revise our thinking about the evolutionary prospects for the giant panda said Professor Bruford. �The species has a viable future and possesses the genetic capacity to adapt to new circumstances. Conservation efforts should therefore be directed towards habitat restoration and protection. In their natural environment, the giant panda is a species that can have a bright future.
The giant panda is not at an evolutionary dead end and could have a long term viable future, according to new research involving scientists from Cardiff University.
Previous studies have found that the giant panda's isolation, unusual dietary requirements and slow reproductive rates have led to a lack of genetic diversity that will inevitably lead the species to extinction.
Now a study by Professor Michael Bruford and Dr Benoit Goossens from the School of Biosciences, in collaboration with Professor Fuwen Wei and colleagues from the Institute of Zoology along with the China West Normal University in Sichuan, has found that the decline of the species can be linked directly to human activities rather than a genetic inability to adapt and evolve.
Our research challenges the hypothesis that giant pandas are at an evolutionary dead end said Professor Bruford. It is however clear that the species has suffered demographically at the hands of human activities such as deforestation and poaching.
The study gives a new genetic perspective on the giant panda, as well as tracing its demographic history. The research also shows that in areas where habit conservation projects are in place, the giant panda is flourishing and population numbers are increasing.
Our research suggests we have to revise our thinking about the evolutionary prospects for the giant panda said Professor Bruford. �The species has a viable future and possesses the genetic capacity to adapt to new circumstances. Conservation efforts should therefore be directed towards habitat restoration and protection. In their natural environment, the giant panda is a species that can have a bright future.
41 die as fires ravage Greece
ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- Greek authorities and counter-terrorism squads are investigating whether arsonists started some of the forest fires that have claimed at least 41 lives as they sweep across the south of the country.
The blazes have destroyed numerous homes and put a damper on political campaigning ahead of next month's national elections, authorities say.
Many firefighters have told CNN they are suspicious of the fire's source, given several witness reports that the blazes cropped up simultaneously along a 20-kilometer (12 mile) front of lush greenery in southern Greece.
Counter-terrorism squads have been sent to investigate and authorities are terming the fires a "criminal act."
In the past 24 hours, hundreds of firefighters, soldiers and planes loaded with water have been battling the blazes on a dozen different fronts, authorities said. Yet, despite their efforts, officials Saturday said the flames had not been tamed.
"Our emergency services are over stretched and it is humanely impossible to battle this force of nature," a top fire official told CNN, highlighting the amount of stress emergency crews have been faced with lately.
The fires were mainly concentrated in the southern Greece Peloponnese region, but on Saturday afternoon heavy smoke billowing above Mount Hymettus southeast of Athens signaled a new fire had broken out.
It was burning close to Athens International Airport, forcing officials to close a nearby highway. Watch footage of the fires sweeping across Greece Video
A day after government officials appealed to Greece's European Union allies for "urgent help," an EU statement said 30 countries had offered their assistance.
France on Saturday was slated to send two planes to help quell the fires and Norway and Germany pledged to send aircraft as well, the statement said.
Efforts to temper the flames have been stymied due to the sweltering heat wave currently gripping the area, which has left forests and scrubland parched.
That, coupled with strong winds fanning the flames, have led authorities to call this the country's worst fire season on record. Since June more than 3,000 fires have razed thousands of hectares of forests and scrubland across the country -- nearly triple last year's total -- according to officials.
Scores of people have been killed or hospitalized in the southern Greece Peloponnese region.
A mother, her child and at least seven other people died while trying to flee a burning, wooded area in the mountainous villages in the western Peloponnese, near the town of Zaharo -- one of the worst hit areas, according to a fire brigade official. On Friday, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis said he planned to visit the area.
Further south, six people -- including two French tourists found by rescue crews in an embrace -- were killed in a forest fire that swept near their hotel in the town of Areopolis, located 190 km (120 miles) southwest of Athens.
Meanwhile, scores of people have been hospitalized with severe burns and respiratory problems, state-run television reported.
Emergency crews leading the charge to evacuate several hotels and villages in the south have said they are overstretched.
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As the deadly forest fires rage, Greece prepares for national elections, which are slated for September 16.
Greece's ruling party has called for a temporary suspension of political campaigning as a sign of respect to those who perished in the flames Friday and flags on government buildings were flying Saturday at half staff.
The blazes have destroyed numerous homes and put a damper on political campaigning ahead of next month's national elections, authorities say.
Many firefighters have told CNN they are suspicious of the fire's source, given several witness reports that the blazes cropped up simultaneously along a 20-kilometer (12 mile) front of lush greenery in southern Greece.
Counter-terrorism squads have been sent to investigate and authorities are terming the fires a "criminal act."
In the past 24 hours, hundreds of firefighters, soldiers and planes loaded with water have been battling the blazes on a dozen different fronts, authorities said. Yet, despite their efforts, officials Saturday said the flames had not been tamed.
"Our emergency services are over stretched and it is humanely impossible to battle this force of nature," a top fire official told CNN, highlighting the amount of stress emergency crews have been faced with lately.
The fires were mainly concentrated in the southern Greece Peloponnese region, but on Saturday afternoon heavy smoke billowing above Mount Hymettus southeast of Athens signaled a new fire had broken out.
It was burning close to Athens International Airport, forcing officials to close a nearby highway. Watch footage of the fires sweeping across Greece Video
A day after government officials appealed to Greece's European Union allies for "urgent help," an EU statement said 30 countries had offered their assistance.
France on Saturday was slated to send two planes to help quell the fires and Norway and Germany pledged to send aircraft as well, the statement said.
Efforts to temper the flames have been stymied due to the sweltering heat wave currently gripping the area, which has left forests and scrubland parched.
That, coupled with strong winds fanning the flames, have led authorities to call this the country's worst fire season on record. Since June more than 3,000 fires have razed thousands of hectares of forests and scrubland across the country -- nearly triple last year's total -- according to officials.
Scores of people have been killed or hospitalized in the southern Greece Peloponnese region.
A mother, her child and at least seven other people died while trying to flee a burning, wooded area in the mountainous villages in the western Peloponnese, near the town of Zaharo -- one of the worst hit areas, according to a fire brigade official. On Friday, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis said he planned to visit the area.
Further south, six people -- including two French tourists found by rescue crews in an embrace -- were killed in a forest fire that swept near their hotel in the town of Areopolis, located 190 km (120 miles) southwest of Athens.
Meanwhile, scores of people have been hospitalized with severe burns and respiratory problems, state-run television reported.
Emergency crews leading the charge to evacuate several hotels and villages in the south have said they are overstretched.
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As the deadly forest fires rage, Greece prepares for national elections, which are slated for September 16.
Greece's ruling party has called for a temporary suspension of political campaigning as a sign of respect to those who perished in the flames Friday and flags on government buildings were flying Saturday at half staff.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Greek fires claim 12 lives:worst blazes to hit the country in a decade
Mark Tran and agencies
Friday August 24, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Twelve people died today as fires raged out of control in southern Greece in some of the worst blazes to hit the country in a decade, caused by high temperatures, drought and arsonists.
As several villages were evacuated, the fire department said at least six people were killed when they were trapped in their cars near the village of Komotheika in the western Peloponnese. Earlier, six people died to the southeast in another massive fire near the town of Areopolis, 190 miles south of Athens.
Article continues
"The situation is extremely dire," the mayor of the coastal town of Zacharo, Pantazis Chronopoulos, told reporters. "The speed with which this fire has been spreading is astonishing."
Dozens of villages asked for help, from the Peloponnese's western coast to the southern region of Mani some 50 miles further east, as strong winds fanned the fires.
The government announced a state of emergency in the provinces of Lakonia and Messinia, where six aircraft and seven helicopters were deployed, along with dozens of fire engines.
Police said they were evacuating Areopolis and the nearby villages. The interior ministry called an emergency meeting to coordinate firefighting and rescue efforts.
The government's popularity has been hit as the public blamed it for failures to stop the fires, which have reached the outskirts of Athens and destroyed much of the nearby Mount Parnitha nature reserve in the past two months.
Greeks go to the polls on September 16.
"Unfortunately we are experiencing another great environmental disaster in our country," said Yannis Ragousis, spokesman for the socialist opposition party, PASOK.
Greece's weather service said the winds were expected to weaken late in the evening. Other firefighters were attacking smaller fires near the towns of Elefsina to the west of Athens and Lagonissi to the east, with two planes and two helicopters.
Dozens of other fires broke out across the country as winds picked up after a three-day heatwave that saw temperatures rise to 41C (106F).
Friday August 24, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Twelve people died today as fires raged out of control in southern Greece in some of the worst blazes to hit the country in a decade, caused by high temperatures, drought and arsonists.
As several villages were evacuated, the fire department said at least six people were killed when they were trapped in their cars near the village of Komotheika in the western Peloponnese. Earlier, six people died to the southeast in another massive fire near the town of Areopolis, 190 miles south of Athens.
Article continues
"The situation is extremely dire," the mayor of the coastal town of Zacharo, Pantazis Chronopoulos, told reporters. "The speed with which this fire has been spreading is astonishing."
Dozens of villages asked for help, from the Peloponnese's western coast to the southern region of Mani some 50 miles further east, as strong winds fanned the fires.
The government announced a state of emergency in the provinces of Lakonia and Messinia, where six aircraft and seven helicopters were deployed, along with dozens of fire engines.
Police said they were evacuating Areopolis and the nearby villages. The interior ministry called an emergency meeting to coordinate firefighting and rescue efforts.
The government's popularity has been hit as the public blamed it for failures to stop the fires, which have reached the outskirts of Athens and destroyed much of the nearby Mount Parnitha nature reserve in the past two months.
Greeks go to the polls on September 16.
"Unfortunately we are experiencing another great environmental disaster in our country," said Yannis Ragousis, spokesman for the socialist opposition party, PASOK.
Greece's weather service said the winds were expected to weaken late in the evening. Other firefighters were attacking smaller fires near the towns of Elefsina to the west of Athens and Lagonissi to the east, with two planes and two helicopters.
Dozens of other fires broke out across the country as winds picked up after a three-day heatwave that saw temperatures rise to 41C (106F).
Group to Meet, Launch Frog-Saving Effort
ST. LOUIS -- Kermit the Frog might be recruited, along with governments, corporations, and philanthropists, to help in a worldwide effort to stem the deaths of frog populations around the world.
Next week, leaders of the world's zoos and aquariums meeting in Budapest, Hungary, will discuss the logistics of the frog-saving effort, dubbed Amphibian Ark.
Members of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums will discuss who's going to take which species for safekeeping and breeding.
The plan calls for 500 frogs of 500 species to be held in biosecure facilities around the world. The frogs' temporary digs would be regulated for temperature, humidity and other living conditions.
At the Budapest meeting, zoo and aquarium leaders also will be presented with a strategy for raising global awareness of the crisis and the initial $50 million needed to avert it.
"We'll need Kermit and everybody we can get to make this the thing that people talk about," said Jeffrey Bonner, chairman of the Amphibian Ark initiative, who also heads the Saint Louis Zoo.
"Protective custody has got to happen now, or within a year or two. Otherwise, it'll be too late. Extinction is forever."
A mysterious killer fungus is wiping out frog populations around the globe, and scientists have a plan to isolate hundreds of frogs at the world's zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens until they can be released in the wild safely.
Scientists say they have to figure out a way to get the killer fungus, called chytrid fungus, out of the environment or help the frogs develop a resistance. They can be cured with a fungicide, more easily than a person can shake athlete's foot, Bonner said. But they'll be affected again upon re-entry.
Because the species are dying rapidly, scientists want to put the frogs in safe environments while they figure out long-term solutions.
The deadly fungus causes frogs to suffocate. Since the late '90s, it has spread around the world rapidly, wiping out 80 percent of frogs in its reach within 12 months.
"The remainder can't find each other to reproduce," Bonner said.
Frogs consume a huge volume of insects, and they also are prey for birds.
The extinction of frog species, Bonner said, "may unbalance the ecosystem in a way that global warming could only hope to."
Amphibians also serve important biomedical purposes. Some species produce a chemical used as a pain reliever for humans; one species is linked to a chemical that inhibits the virus that causes AIDS.
St. Louis-based Fleishman-Hillard, an international marketing firm, developed Amphibian Ark's communications and fundraising plan.
It will be kicked off with worldwide events on New Year's Eve, leading into 2008, which conservationists have declared The Year of the Frog.
Feb. 29, or Leap Day, will be International Frog Day, when some of the amphibian rescues may occur.
Major corporate sponsors are being courted now.
TV naturalist and prominent conservationist Sir David Attenborough is patron of the 2008 Year of the Frog campaign.
----
On the Net:
Amphibian Ark: http://www.amphibianark.org
Source: Associated Press
Next week, leaders of the world's zoos and aquariums meeting in Budapest, Hungary, will discuss the logistics of the frog-saving effort, dubbed Amphibian Ark.
Members of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums will discuss who's going to take which species for safekeeping and breeding.
The plan calls for 500 frogs of 500 species to be held in biosecure facilities around the world. The frogs' temporary digs would be regulated for temperature, humidity and other living conditions.
At the Budapest meeting, zoo and aquarium leaders also will be presented with a strategy for raising global awareness of the crisis and the initial $50 million needed to avert it.
"We'll need Kermit and everybody we can get to make this the thing that people talk about," said Jeffrey Bonner, chairman of the Amphibian Ark initiative, who also heads the Saint Louis Zoo.
"Protective custody has got to happen now, or within a year or two. Otherwise, it'll be too late. Extinction is forever."
A mysterious killer fungus is wiping out frog populations around the globe, and scientists have a plan to isolate hundreds of frogs at the world's zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens until they can be released in the wild safely.
Scientists say they have to figure out a way to get the killer fungus, called chytrid fungus, out of the environment or help the frogs develop a resistance. They can be cured with a fungicide, more easily than a person can shake athlete's foot, Bonner said. But they'll be affected again upon re-entry.
Because the species are dying rapidly, scientists want to put the frogs in safe environments while they figure out long-term solutions.
The deadly fungus causes frogs to suffocate. Since the late '90s, it has spread around the world rapidly, wiping out 80 percent of frogs in its reach within 12 months.
"The remainder can't find each other to reproduce," Bonner said.
Frogs consume a huge volume of insects, and they also are prey for birds.
The extinction of frog species, Bonner said, "may unbalance the ecosystem in a way that global warming could only hope to."
Amphibians also serve important biomedical purposes. Some species produce a chemical used as a pain reliever for humans; one species is linked to a chemical that inhibits the virus that causes AIDS.
St. Louis-based Fleishman-Hillard, an international marketing firm, developed Amphibian Ark's communications and fundraising plan.
It will be kicked off with worldwide events on New Year's Eve, leading into 2008, which conservationists have declared The Year of the Frog.
Feb. 29, or Leap Day, will be International Frog Day, when some of the amphibian rescues may occur.
Major corporate sponsors are being courted now.
TV naturalist and prominent conservationist Sir David Attenborough is patron of the 2008 Year of the Frog campaign.
----
On the Net:
Amphibian Ark: http://www.amphibianark.org
Source: Associated Press
Global Warming Causing Mediterranean Sea to Rise, Threatening Egypt's Lush Nile Delta
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt -- Millions of Egyptians could be forced permanently from their homes, the country's ability to feed itself devastated.
That's what likely awaits this already impoverished and overpopulated nation by the end of the century, if predictions about climate change hold true. The World Bank describes Egypt as particularly vulnerable to the effects of global warming, saying it faces potentially "catastrophic" consequences.
"The situation is serious and requires immediate attention. Any delay would mean extra losses," said Mohamed el-Raey, an environmental scientist at Alexandria University.
A big reason is the vulnerability of Egypt's breadbasket -- the Nile Delta, a fan-shaped area of rich, arable land where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. Although the Delta makes up only 2.5 percent of Egypt's land mass, it is home to more than a third of this largely desert country's 80 million people.
The Delta was already in danger, threatened by the side effects of southern Egypt's Aswan Dam. Though the dam, completed in 1970, generates much-needed electricity and controls Nile River flooding, it also keeps nutrient sediment from replenishing the eroding Delta.
Add climate change to the mix, and the Delta faces new uncertainties that could have a potentially more devastating effect on Egypt.
Scientists generally predict that the Mediterranean, and the world's other seas, will rise between one foot (30 centimeters) and 3.3 feet (one meter) by the end of the century, flooding coastal areas along the Delta.
Already, the Mediterranean has been creeping upward about .08 inches annually for the last decade, flooding parts of Egypt's shoreline, el-Raey said.
By 2100, the rising waters could wipe out the sandy beaches that attract thousands of tourists. Also at risk would be the buried treasures archaeologists are still uncovering in ancient Alexandria, once the second most important city in the Roman Empire.
But those losses would pale to the impact of the worst-case scenario that some scientists are predicting -- global warming unexpectedly and rapidly breaking up the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets.
If this happens, seas could rise by about 16 feet (4.9 meters), causing mass devastation to the region, according to a World Bank study released this year.
Richard Alley, a geosciences professor at Penn State University, said the sheets are collapsing at slow rate, but much faster than scientists thought a decade ago. A complete collapse could take "at least centuries," said Alley, an expert on ice melt.
But even minimal sea rise in the next century would have serious consequences for Egypt, experts warn.
A rise of 3.3 feet (one meter) would flood a quarter of the Delta, forcing about 10.5 percent of Egypt's population from their homes, according to the World Bank. The impact would be all the more staggering if Egypt's population, as expected, doubles to about 160 million by the middle of the century. The Delta is already densely packed with about 4,000 people per square mile (2.6 square kilometer).
Also hit would be Egypt's food supply. Nearly half of Egypt's crops, including wheat, bananas and rice, are grown in the Delta.
Areas not under water would also be affected, with salt water from the Mediterranean contaminating the fresh ground water from the Nile River used for irrigation.
But the unique and fragile ecosystem of the Delta makes the job of protecting it much greater -- and human activity has already made the task harder.
For thousands of years, annual Nile floods deposited mud, sand and minerals that replenished the Delta and prevented erosion. But for the past three decades, the Aswan Dam has curbed the sediment from resettling in the Delta and allowed erosion to flourish.
"The sediment created a balance. Now the coastal processes are acting alone without sediments counteracting, and the balance has been changed," said Omran Frihy, a retired coastal researcher in Alexandria who has published several reports on sea level rise and erosion.
In Egypt, as in much of Africa, global warming is rarely discussed. But the government in Cairo is beginning to confront the problem.
In Alexandria, authorities are spending US$300 million (euro222 million) to build concrete sea walls to protect the beaches along the Mediterranean, Frihy said. Sand is being dumped in some areas to replenish dwindling beaches.
Similar walls are going up in other parts of the coast including Rashid, where archaeologists in 1799 discovered the Rosetta Stone that unlocked the secrets of ancient Egyptian writing.
The government is also preparing a "national strategy study" on ways to adapt to climate change, said Maged George, Egypt's minister of environmental affairs.
Mohamed el-Shahawy, a climate scientist at the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, said the government was obtaining a "vulnerability index and detecting the most vulnerable regions."
"Egypt is trying to protect its shores," el-Shahawy said. "After this we will request that the world help. We have to protect ourselves. But it costs so much."
------
Associated Press Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.
--
International Panel on Climate Change: http://www.ipcc.ch/
Source: Associated Press
That's what likely awaits this already impoverished and overpopulated nation by the end of the century, if predictions about climate change hold true. The World Bank describes Egypt as particularly vulnerable to the effects of global warming, saying it faces potentially "catastrophic" consequences.
"The situation is serious and requires immediate attention. Any delay would mean extra losses," said Mohamed el-Raey, an environmental scientist at Alexandria University.
A big reason is the vulnerability of Egypt's breadbasket -- the Nile Delta, a fan-shaped area of rich, arable land where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. Although the Delta makes up only 2.5 percent of Egypt's land mass, it is home to more than a third of this largely desert country's 80 million people.
The Delta was already in danger, threatened by the side effects of southern Egypt's Aswan Dam. Though the dam, completed in 1970, generates much-needed electricity and controls Nile River flooding, it also keeps nutrient sediment from replenishing the eroding Delta.
Add climate change to the mix, and the Delta faces new uncertainties that could have a potentially more devastating effect on Egypt.
Scientists generally predict that the Mediterranean, and the world's other seas, will rise between one foot (30 centimeters) and 3.3 feet (one meter) by the end of the century, flooding coastal areas along the Delta.
Already, the Mediterranean has been creeping upward about .08 inches annually for the last decade, flooding parts of Egypt's shoreline, el-Raey said.
By 2100, the rising waters could wipe out the sandy beaches that attract thousands of tourists. Also at risk would be the buried treasures archaeologists are still uncovering in ancient Alexandria, once the second most important city in the Roman Empire.
But those losses would pale to the impact of the worst-case scenario that some scientists are predicting -- global warming unexpectedly and rapidly breaking up the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets.
If this happens, seas could rise by about 16 feet (4.9 meters), causing mass devastation to the region, according to a World Bank study released this year.
Richard Alley, a geosciences professor at Penn State University, said the sheets are collapsing at slow rate, but much faster than scientists thought a decade ago. A complete collapse could take "at least centuries," said Alley, an expert on ice melt.
But even minimal sea rise in the next century would have serious consequences for Egypt, experts warn.
A rise of 3.3 feet (one meter) would flood a quarter of the Delta, forcing about 10.5 percent of Egypt's population from their homes, according to the World Bank. The impact would be all the more staggering if Egypt's population, as expected, doubles to about 160 million by the middle of the century. The Delta is already densely packed with about 4,000 people per square mile (2.6 square kilometer).
Also hit would be Egypt's food supply. Nearly half of Egypt's crops, including wheat, bananas and rice, are grown in the Delta.
Areas not under water would also be affected, with salt water from the Mediterranean contaminating the fresh ground water from the Nile River used for irrigation.
But the unique and fragile ecosystem of the Delta makes the job of protecting it much greater -- and human activity has already made the task harder.
For thousands of years, annual Nile floods deposited mud, sand and minerals that replenished the Delta and prevented erosion. But for the past three decades, the Aswan Dam has curbed the sediment from resettling in the Delta and allowed erosion to flourish.
"The sediment created a balance. Now the coastal processes are acting alone without sediments counteracting, and the balance has been changed," said Omran Frihy, a retired coastal researcher in Alexandria who has published several reports on sea level rise and erosion.
In Egypt, as in much of Africa, global warming is rarely discussed. But the government in Cairo is beginning to confront the problem.
In Alexandria, authorities are spending US$300 million (euro222 million) to build concrete sea walls to protect the beaches along the Mediterranean, Frihy said. Sand is being dumped in some areas to replenish dwindling beaches.
Similar walls are going up in other parts of the coast including Rashid, where archaeologists in 1799 discovered the Rosetta Stone that unlocked the secrets of ancient Egyptian writing.
The government is also preparing a "national strategy study" on ways to adapt to climate change, said Maged George, Egypt's minister of environmental affairs.
Mohamed el-Shahawy, a climate scientist at the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, said the government was obtaining a "vulnerability index and detecting the most vulnerable regions."
"Egypt is trying to protect its shores," el-Shahawy said. "After this we will request that the world help. We have to protect ourselves. But it costs so much."
------
Associated Press Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.
--
International Panel on Climate Change: http://www.ipcc.ch/
Source: Associated Press
Worldwatch Perspective: Nothing is Simple, Not Even Biofuels
If you want to do something right, then it’s not going to be simple. Unfortunately, this is a general rule of life. It’s true not only for cooking, relationships, and work, but also for understanding what “sustainable” biofuels really are.
A recent article in Science by Renton Righelato and Dominick V. Spracklen (with the World Land Trust and the University of Leeds, respectively) has prompted a flurry of discussion about whether biofuels are a good idea or not. In their article, “Carbon Mitigation by Biofuels or by Saving and Restoring Forests?” they note that the world’s richest natural stores of carbon are in forests. They point out that, over a 30-year period, more greenhouse gas emissions can be avoided per acre of land by restoring forests than by using current biofuel technologies.
This analysis has inspired news articles and blogs with titles such as “EU biofuel policy is a ”˜mistake’”and “Ethanol dirtier than regular oil.” It has led skeptics worldwide to question whether the accelerating global investment in biofuels is really worth it, both as a renewable alternative to fossil fuels and as a remedy for climate change.
But does this mean that promoting all biofuel technologies is wasteful and counterproductive? Not really. As it turns out, even Mr. Righelato is supportive of so-called “second-generation” biofuels—or liquid fuels derived from grasses and woody materials. In the article, he praises the idea of using “woody biomass” as a way to conserve carbon in soil and plant matter while also cultivating a biofuel feedstock.
Of course, the “first-generation” biofuels we use today are not very sustainable. Ethanol made from corn—the most popular biofuel in the United States—has a particularly low sustainability score, although each gallon of corn ethanol used still reduces greenhouse gas emissions by about 13 percent compared to gasoline.
If that 13-percent benefit comes from using land that would have been used to grow corn anyway, then most people would say it’s a modest improvement. But if that land was supposed to be set aside for conservation, and is converted to corn instead, then we have a problem: we have just caused more environmental damage than we can make up for by using corn ethanol. Even more damaging would be choosing to convert intact forestlands—particularly intact tropical forests—to cropland for growing biofuels.
Are forests and other conservation lands being converted to cropland for biofuels? In some cases, yes. Palm oil plantations for biodiesel in Indonesia and Malaysia are the most infamous example of this. In Brazil, the savannah and edges of the Amazon are also being eaten away by expanding agriculture production, some of which is for biofuels. (Most of the pressure, however, comes from cattle ranching operations and the rising demand for soybeans for animal feed.)
The expansion of world croplands for biofuels is not inevitable, and even most policymakers in the European Union realize it is not desirable. Second-generation biofuels, which are produced using typically non-edible, cellulosic plant matter, are much more energetically efficient than current-generation biofuels. Moreover, cultivating these perennial grasses and trees provides net environmental and climate benefits, whether or not the plant matter is ultimately converted to fuel.
But that doesn’t mean all of our energy should come from grasses and forests. A sustainable future depends on a diversified energy supply—one that takes advantage first of savings from energy efficiency, and then relies on a range of renewable energy sources, including wind energy, solar power, and fuels derived from biomass.
In nearly every human endeavor, policymakers, consumers, and others must look at all of the impacts of their decisions to avoid unintended negative consequences. In the case of biofuels, all efforts should be taken to ensure that forests and grasslands are preserved and restored wherever possible.
So, nothing is simple, but nothing is impossible either. Biofuels can do harm—but they can do a lot of good too. When evaluating them, as when evaluating any technologies, it is imperative that we take the time to consider the full range of factors to assess whether they are really sustainable or not.
Raya Widenoja is a researcher and biofuels expert at the Worldwatch Institute. In August 2007, Worldwatch released its landmark report Biofuels for Transport, which discusses in detail many of the issues raised here.
If you want to do something right, then it’s not going to be simple. Unfortunately, this is a general rule of life. It’s true not only for cooking, relationships, and work, but also for understanding what “sustainable” biofuels really are.
A recent article in Science by Renton Righelato and Dominick V. Spracklen (with the World Land Trust and the University of Leeds, respectively) has prompted a flurry of discussion about whether biofuels are a good idea or not. In their article, “Carbon Mitigation by Biofuels or by Saving and Restoring Forests?” they note that the world’s richest natural stores of carbon are in forests. They point out that, over a 30-year period, more greenhouse gas emissions can be avoided per acre of land by restoring forests than by using current biofuel technologies.
This analysis has inspired news articles and blogs with titles such as “EU biofuel policy is a ”˜mistake’”and “Ethanol dirtier than regular oil.” It has led skeptics worldwide to question whether the accelerating global investment in biofuels is really worth it, both as a renewable alternative to fossil fuels and as a remedy for climate change.
But does this mean that promoting all biofuel technologies is wasteful and counterproductive? Not really. As it turns out, even Mr. Righelato is supportive of so-called “second-generation” biofuels—or liquid fuels derived from grasses and woody materials. In the article, he praises the idea of using “woody biomass” as a way to conserve carbon in soil and plant matter while also cultivating a biofuel feedstock.
Of course, the “first-generation” biofuels we use today are not very sustainable. Ethanol made from corn—the most popular biofuel in the United States—has a particularly low sustainability score, although each gallon of corn ethanol used still reduces greenhouse gas emissions by about 13 percent compared to gasoline.
If that 13-percent benefit comes from using land that would have been used to grow corn anyway, then most people would say it’s a modest improvement. But if that land was supposed to be set aside for conservation, and is converted to corn instead, then we have a problem: we have just caused more environmental damage than we can make up for by using corn ethanol. Even more damaging would be choosing to convert intact forestlands—particularly intact tropical forests—to cropland for growing biofuels.
Are forests and other conservation lands being converted to cropland for biofuels? In some cases, yes. Palm oil plantations for biodiesel in Indonesia and Malaysia are the most infamous example of this. In Brazil, the savannah and edges of the Amazon are also being eaten away by expanding agriculture production, some of which is for biofuels. (Most of the pressure, however, comes from cattle ranching operations and the rising demand for soybeans for animal feed.)
The expansion of world croplands for biofuels is not inevitable, and even most policymakers in the European Union realize it is not desirable. Second-generation biofuels, which are produced using typically non-edible, cellulosic plant matter, are much more energetically efficient than current-generation biofuels. Moreover, cultivating these perennial grasses and trees provides net environmental and climate benefits, whether or not the plant matter is ultimately converted to fuel.
But that doesn’t mean all of our energy should come from grasses and forests. A sustainable future depends on a diversified energy supply—one that takes advantage first of savings from energy efficiency, and then relies on a range of renewable energy sources, including wind energy, solar power, and fuels derived from biomass.
In nearly every human endeavor, policymakers, consumers, and others must look at all of the impacts of their decisions to avoid unintended negative consequences. In the case of biofuels, all efforts should be taken to ensure that forests and grasslands are preserved and restored wherever possible.
So, nothing is simple, but nothing is impossible either. Biofuels can do harm—but they can do a lot of good too. When evaluating them, as when evaluating any technologies, it is imperative that we take the time to consider the full range of factors to assess whether they are really sustainable or not.
Raya Widenoja is a researcher and biofuels expert at the Worldwatch Institute. In August 2007, Worldwatch released its landmark report Biofuels for Transport, which discusses in detail many of the issues raised here.
Smog Smothers Japan, Experts Point to China
www.tokyoprogressive.org/
TOKYO - Smog is menacing Japanese cities for the first time in 30 years and cropping up in rural areas for the first time ever, alarming the government and prompting experts to point the finger at neighboring China.
Warnings for high levels of hazardous smog have been issued in a record 28 prefectures so far this year, from sparsely populated isles in southern Japan to Niigata, western Japan, where 350 people have suffered stinging eyes and throats.
While the government is cautious about placing blame, experts say much of the rise in pollution is coming from China, where air quality is a focus ahead of the Beijing Olympics next year.
The type of smog -- called "photochemical smog" because it is created when sunlight reacts with exhaust from cars and factories -- is made up of photochemical oxidant particles such as ozone. These particles can cause breathing difficulties and headaches.
"In terms of average levels of photochemical oxidants measured annually across Japan, there has been quite a rise since the 1990s," said Toshimasa Ohara, head of the National Institute of Environmental Studies' regional atmospheric modeling section. "We believe a substantial part of that rise has come from increasing emissions in China. We're looking into what percentage this factor has accounted for."
Smog adds to a string of environmental concerns that experts say originate in China, including acid rain and sandstorms that gain toxicity as they pass over its industrial regions.
But academics say Japan may find it hard to put pressure on China to cut emissions, with studies yet to show a precise figure on how much of Japan's smog is caused by cross-border pollution.
"If we are going to take action against other countries, we can't be vague," said Atsuko Mori, senior researcher at the Institute for Environmental Research and Public Health in Nagasaki, southern Japan. "There needs to be a thorough, scientific study into the causes."
RESEARCH COMPLICATED
Mori and other experts say research is complicated because domestic factors are also to blame for the recent rise in smog across Japan, which has taken pride in its efforts to cut emissions since its days of rapid economic growth in the 1970s.
For example, while emissions from cars have been restricted, those from paint and gasoline vapors, which also contribute to smog, have been harder to control. Smog can also be exacerbated by strong sunlight.
The Environment Ministry asked a group of academics and local health officials last month to carry out a study on pollution trends, but detailed research into the causes could take years.
"Research to base environmental policies on requires a lot of time and money," said Hajime Akimoto, program director at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, noting that the United States spent a decade on research before it took steps against cross-border pollution.
"Research like that in Japan could take another five years."
As a first step, government officials say Japan is working together with China to measure its pollution, although the country still lacks high-tech equipment to analyze some pollutants such as ozone.
Ohara at the National Institute of Environmental Studies said the region could in future look to the example of the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, an agreement to cut pollution under the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe signed by countries such as the United States and Canada.
"If it becomes clear that the effects of cross-border pollution are big, then it will be imperative to create international regulatory rules within East Asia, similar to Europe," he said.
TOKYO - Smog is menacing Japanese cities for the first time in 30 years and cropping up in rural areas for the first time ever, alarming the government and prompting experts to point the finger at neighboring China.
Warnings for high levels of hazardous smog have been issued in a record 28 prefectures so far this year, from sparsely populated isles in southern Japan to Niigata, western Japan, where 350 people have suffered stinging eyes and throats.
While the government is cautious about placing blame, experts say much of the rise in pollution is coming from China, where air quality is a focus ahead of the Beijing Olympics next year.
The type of smog -- called "photochemical smog" because it is created when sunlight reacts with exhaust from cars and factories -- is made up of photochemical oxidant particles such as ozone. These particles can cause breathing difficulties and headaches.
"In terms of average levels of photochemical oxidants measured annually across Japan, there has been quite a rise since the 1990s," said Toshimasa Ohara, head of the National Institute of Environmental Studies' regional atmospheric modeling section. "We believe a substantial part of that rise has come from increasing emissions in China. We're looking into what percentage this factor has accounted for."
Smog adds to a string of environmental concerns that experts say originate in China, including acid rain and sandstorms that gain toxicity as they pass over its industrial regions.
But academics say Japan may find it hard to put pressure on China to cut emissions, with studies yet to show a precise figure on how much of Japan's smog is caused by cross-border pollution.
"If we are going to take action against other countries, we can't be vague," said Atsuko Mori, senior researcher at the Institute for Environmental Research and Public Health in Nagasaki, southern Japan. "There needs to be a thorough, scientific study into the causes."
RESEARCH COMPLICATED
Mori and other experts say research is complicated because domestic factors are also to blame for the recent rise in smog across Japan, which has taken pride in its efforts to cut emissions since its days of rapid economic growth in the 1970s.
For example, while emissions from cars have been restricted, those from paint and gasoline vapors, which also contribute to smog, have been harder to control. Smog can also be exacerbated by strong sunlight.
The Environment Ministry asked a group of academics and local health officials last month to carry out a study on pollution trends, but detailed research into the causes could take years.
"Research to base environmental policies on requires a lot of time and money," said Hajime Akimoto, program director at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, noting that the United States spent a decade on research before it took steps against cross-border pollution.
"Research like that in Japan could take another five years."
As a first step, government officials say Japan is working together with China to measure its pollution, although the country still lacks high-tech equipment to analyze some pollutants such as ozone.
Ohara at the National Institute of Environmental Studies said the region could in future look to the example of the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, an agreement to cut pollution under the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe signed by countries such as the United States and Canada.
"If it becomes clear that the effects of cross-border pollution are big, then it will be imperative to create international regulatory rules within East Asia, similar to Europe," he said.
Storms play havoc with travel in Midwest, Southeast
(CNN) -- Severe weather in the U.S. Midwest and Southeast overnight bedeviled air traffic, knocked out power to large sections of Chicago, Illinois, and pushed rivers and streams out of their banks.
Flood watches and warnings were posted Thursday night and Friday for parts of Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio.
Thousands of passengers at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport were significantly delayed early Friday as 90 percent of departures were running late or very late overnight.
More than 500 flights out of the city's two main airports were canceled Thursday due to severe weather, and more delays could be expected Friday as thunderstorms remained in the forecast.
The weather also cut power to parts of the O'Hare complex, witnesses said Friday, following a day when severe thunderstorms moving slowly through Chicago knocked out power to more than 300,000 customers. Video Watch lightning light up the Chicago skyline »
The storms kept people huddled inside businesses -- including taverns -- in Chicago.
"It was out of control," bartender Nick McCann told The Associated Press. "People would not leave. ... We had $2 margaritas, and people were getting hammered."
An Air France flight from Paris to Chicago was diverted to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where passengers became restive while being forced to wait on the plane for seven hours, CNN affiliate WISN reported.
"Forcing us to sit seven hours on a plane and not even let us sit in here [the airport terminal] while they sort it out; leaving us on a non-air-conditioned plane for seven hours until they got customs people here was unforgivable," a passenger told WISN.
Passengers also got stuck on a plane for hours in Georgia.
In Atlanta, a major hub for Delta Air Lines, thunderstorms tied up air traffic, forcing authorities to divert more than 30 planes to nearby airports, a company spokeswoman said.
"The weather has been a nightmare with diversions," Delta spokeswoman Susan West said.
Scores of passengers on a flight from the Dominican Republic to Atlanta were kept on board a Delta MD-88 for more than five hours after being rerouted to Columbus, Georgia.
Bryan Pettigrew, a passenger on Flight 242, said that after his plane landed, refueled and was taxiing to the gate, its wing clipped a nearby Boeing 757.
"There were a lot of [planes] in a small area ... and, as the plane was being positioned, the wing of Flight 242 grazed the nose of a 757," West said.
No one was injured and the larger 757 was undamaged, West said. Delta eventually sent another plane to ferry the passengers to Atlanta.
Nashville International Airport in Tennessee also had weather problems overnight, with up to 80 percent of its flights running late or very late.
Another round of severe thunderstorms was forecast to hit from the Texas panhandle to the Great Lakes on Friday.
Rain and thunderstorms were possible for much of the United States on Friday, with severe thunderstorms and flash flooding a threat again across the upper Midwest, according to the National Weather Service.
As much as 4 inches of rain was possible in the Chicago area, according to the AP.
Temperatures in the mid-90s were expected across the nation's midsection.
A 7-month-old baby in St. Louis, Missouri, and a 2-year-old toddler near Cincinnati, Ohio, died Thursday after being left in hot cars, CNN affiliate WLWT reported.
Cincinnati public schools canceled classes Thursday and Friday as temperatures flirted with 100 degrees, WLWT reported.
After touring flood-stricken Findlay and other towns Thursday in northwest Ohio, Gov. Ted Strickland said, "Mother Nature was not kind to us." Photo See images of flooding from all over »
Bucyrus, Ohio, endured 9 inches of rain in about a 24-hour period, he said.
Strickland has declared an emergency in nine counties and promised to ask the federal government for assistance.
"The major problem was a decision of Mother Nature to pour large amounts of water on this region and other regions across our country in a very short period of time," Strickland said. See tips for surviving floods »
The Des Moines River rose after 5½ inches of rain pounded central Iowa. Streets flooded in Lehigh, Iowa, leaving several homes isolated, CNN affiliate KCCI reported.
"You want it to stop, but I guess we're pretty good-natured about the whole deal, but, you know, what do you do? You can't control it," Lehigh homeowner Mark Johnson told KCCI as his dog swam around.
Mary Lovejoy of Omaha, Nebraska, ended up sleeping with her grandchildren in a park after storms ripped the roof off her house, CNN affiliate KETV reported. Rain pouring through the roof ruined most of the family's possessions, including their clothes, and their food spoiled during a power outage, Lovejoy told the station.
A local church gave her $20 to buy groceries, but it didn't go very far.
"That's what I'm worried about, is getting them food and getting them their school clothes and stuff and trying to get back some of the stuff we lost," a tearful Lovejoy told KETV.
President Bush declared a major disaster in three Minnesota counties Thursday, making federal funding available to flood victims.
Flood watches and warnings were posted Thursday night and Friday for parts of Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio.
Thousands of passengers at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport were significantly delayed early Friday as 90 percent of departures were running late or very late overnight.
More than 500 flights out of the city's two main airports were canceled Thursday due to severe weather, and more delays could be expected Friday as thunderstorms remained in the forecast.
The weather also cut power to parts of the O'Hare complex, witnesses said Friday, following a day when severe thunderstorms moving slowly through Chicago knocked out power to more than 300,000 customers. Video Watch lightning light up the Chicago skyline »
The storms kept people huddled inside businesses -- including taverns -- in Chicago.
"It was out of control," bartender Nick McCann told The Associated Press. "People would not leave. ... We had $2 margaritas, and people were getting hammered."
An Air France flight from Paris to Chicago was diverted to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where passengers became restive while being forced to wait on the plane for seven hours, CNN affiliate WISN reported.
"Forcing us to sit seven hours on a plane and not even let us sit in here [the airport terminal] while they sort it out; leaving us on a non-air-conditioned plane for seven hours until they got customs people here was unforgivable," a passenger told WISN.
Passengers also got stuck on a plane for hours in Georgia.
In Atlanta, a major hub for Delta Air Lines, thunderstorms tied up air traffic, forcing authorities to divert more than 30 planes to nearby airports, a company spokeswoman said.
"The weather has been a nightmare with diversions," Delta spokeswoman Susan West said.
Scores of passengers on a flight from the Dominican Republic to Atlanta were kept on board a Delta MD-88 for more than five hours after being rerouted to Columbus, Georgia.
Bryan Pettigrew, a passenger on Flight 242, said that after his plane landed, refueled and was taxiing to the gate, its wing clipped a nearby Boeing 757.
"There were a lot of [planes] in a small area ... and, as the plane was being positioned, the wing of Flight 242 grazed the nose of a 757," West said.
No one was injured and the larger 757 was undamaged, West said. Delta eventually sent another plane to ferry the passengers to Atlanta.
Nashville International Airport in Tennessee also had weather problems overnight, with up to 80 percent of its flights running late or very late.
Another round of severe thunderstorms was forecast to hit from the Texas panhandle to the Great Lakes on Friday.
Rain and thunderstorms were possible for much of the United States on Friday, with severe thunderstorms and flash flooding a threat again across the upper Midwest, according to the National Weather Service.
As much as 4 inches of rain was possible in the Chicago area, according to the AP.
Temperatures in the mid-90s were expected across the nation's midsection.
A 7-month-old baby in St. Louis, Missouri, and a 2-year-old toddler near Cincinnati, Ohio, died Thursday after being left in hot cars, CNN affiliate WLWT reported.
Cincinnati public schools canceled classes Thursday and Friday as temperatures flirted with 100 degrees, WLWT reported.
After touring flood-stricken Findlay and other towns Thursday in northwest Ohio, Gov. Ted Strickland said, "Mother Nature was not kind to us." Photo See images of flooding from all over »
Bucyrus, Ohio, endured 9 inches of rain in about a 24-hour period, he said.
Strickland has declared an emergency in nine counties and promised to ask the federal government for assistance.
"The major problem was a decision of Mother Nature to pour large amounts of water on this region and other regions across our country in a very short period of time," Strickland said. See tips for surviving floods »
The Des Moines River rose after 5½ inches of rain pounded central Iowa. Streets flooded in Lehigh, Iowa, leaving several homes isolated, CNN affiliate KCCI reported.
"You want it to stop, but I guess we're pretty good-natured about the whole deal, but, you know, what do you do? You can't control it," Lehigh homeowner Mark Johnson told KCCI as his dog swam around.
Mary Lovejoy of Omaha, Nebraska, ended up sleeping with her grandchildren in a park after storms ripped the roof off her house, CNN affiliate KETV reported. Rain pouring through the roof ruined most of the family's possessions, including their clothes, and their food spoiled during a power outage, Lovejoy told the station.
A local church gave her $20 to buy groceries, but it didn't go very far.
"That's what I'm worried about, is getting them food and getting them their school clothes and stuff and trying to get back some of the stuff we lost," a tearful Lovejoy told KETV.
President Bush declared a major disaster in three Minnesota counties Thursday, making federal funding available to flood victims.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
25 dead as storms collide in Midwest, Plains
(CNN) -- Two storm systems colliding along the nation's midsection set off a spate of weather warnings from Colorado to Ohio as the deadly combination moved toward the Great Lakes on Wednesday.
art.wedflood.ap.jpg
Twenty-five people have been killed, mostly from flooding, according to media reports.
Roads have been closed or washed out, governors have declared states of emergency and thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed.
"Mother Nature has been really cruel to our state the last four or five days," said Wisconsin Emergency Management spokeswoman Lori Getter. "For many of these people, they've lost everything."
Compounding problems are the myriad closed and washed-out roads, which are impeding rescue efforts and thwarting attempts to deliver water and other supplies to the hardest-hit areas, Getter said. Get a closer look at the dangerous conditions »
Gov. Jim Doyle has declared several counties disaster areas, and the Wisconsin National Guard is working to clear some of the roads left blocked or underwater after 16 inches of rain fell in some parts of the state earlier this week.
In Madison, Wisconsin, a lightning strike Wednesday downed power lines, which fell onto a flooded street and killed a child and two adults who were standing in the water, the city's fire department said. Video Watch what floods have done across Midwest »
In Wisconsin's Kenosha County alone, the damage tally for residences, businesses and infrastructure is more than $30 million, according to WISN-TV. Of that, almost $14 million is road damage.
To add to the misery, up to two more inches of rain fell overnight in parts of Wisconsin, a state where the flooding has already caused mudslides, derailed a train, wrecked homes and forced some residents to seek shelter or higher ground, WISC-TV reported.
"It's really awe-inspiring to see how much damage has been done and what this water has done," Doyle told WISC. "We've really seen in these counties that everyone pulled together. Everybody knew what they were supposed to do. They were well-drilled."
The American Red Cross said that in neighboring Minnesota, about 4,200 homes were affected by the weather, and nearly 600 of those homes are destroyed or have major damage.
Also in Minnesota, the state Pollution Control Agency reported it was working to clean up more than a dozen fuel spills in people's houses. The agency expects the number to climb as people return home.
The state Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, was sending officials to the Rushford area, about 130 miles southeast of Minneapolis, after receiving reports that 1,500 turkeys had been killed.
The National Weather Service predicted record flooding in northwest Ohio, where Gov. Ted Strickland has declared emergencies in nine counties, WHIO-TV reported.
Near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, three high school athletes running on a trail near a flooded lake fell into the water: Two were rescued, but one disappeared and is missing, KOCO-TV reported. Fire officials told the station the search for the teenager is no longer a rescue operation, but a recovery effort.
Parts of Texas were still reeling after remnants of Tropical Storm Erin hammered the state last week.
Rain was still falling and flood warnings were in effect in the south-central portion of the state as San Antonio residents attended a City Council session to express concern about the response to the flooding.
"Who is going to fix our homes?" resident Anita Eakman asked, according to KSAT-TV. "Don't you think that after this happened that somebody should have been out here?"
In Clare, Iowa, homeowners said they have seen more than a foot of rain since Friday night. Photo View photos from the flooding »
"I was going to put a sign out that said, 'House boat for sale, lower deck has built-in swimming pool,' " Tracy Wilson told KCCI-TV.
Residents along the Des Moines River near Fort Dodge were urged to evacuate as water neared the tops of levees north of town. The flood stage is 10 feet, and the river was at 14 feet -- and rising -- Wednesday morning, Webster County Emergency Management Coordinator Tony Jorgenson told KCCI.
In Omaha, Nebraska, several neighborhoods remained without power Wednesday morning. High winds toppled trees and power lines across the northeast section of the city Monday, leaving 22,000 people without electricity.
About 300 were still without power Wednesday afternoon, KETV reported, but Omaha Public Power District spokesman Jeff Hansen said it should be fully restored by Wednesday evening.
Tiffany Peak had to close her home daycare center because she didn't have power. She told KETV that she spent the day guarding power lines in her yard so children wouldn't play with the deadly cables.
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"The little kids were swinging from the power line in the tree," Peak said.
Clean-up crews are doing all they can as they work 12-hour shifts, but heavy rain Wednesday hampered their efforts, city officials told KETV.
art.wedflood.ap.jpg
Twenty-five people have been killed, mostly from flooding, according to media reports.
Roads have been closed or washed out, governors have declared states of emergency and thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed.
"Mother Nature has been really cruel to our state the last four or five days," said Wisconsin Emergency Management spokeswoman Lori Getter. "For many of these people, they've lost everything."
Compounding problems are the myriad closed and washed-out roads, which are impeding rescue efforts and thwarting attempts to deliver water and other supplies to the hardest-hit areas, Getter said. Get a closer look at the dangerous conditions »
Gov. Jim Doyle has declared several counties disaster areas, and the Wisconsin National Guard is working to clear some of the roads left blocked or underwater after 16 inches of rain fell in some parts of the state earlier this week.
In Madison, Wisconsin, a lightning strike Wednesday downed power lines, which fell onto a flooded street and killed a child and two adults who were standing in the water, the city's fire department said. Video Watch what floods have done across Midwest »
In Wisconsin's Kenosha County alone, the damage tally for residences, businesses and infrastructure is more than $30 million, according to WISN-TV. Of that, almost $14 million is road damage.
To add to the misery, up to two more inches of rain fell overnight in parts of Wisconsin, a state where the flooding has already caused mudslides, derailed a train, wrecked homes and forced some residents to seek shelter or higher ground, WISC-TV reported.
"It's really awe-inspiring to see how much damage has been done and what this water has done," Doyle told WISC. "We've really seen in these counties that everyone pulled together. Everybody knew what they were supposed to do. They were well-drilled."
The American Red Cross said that in neighboring Minnesota, about 4,200 homes were affected by the weather, and nearly 600 of those homes are destroyed or have major damage.
Also in Minnesota, the state Pollution Control Agency reported it was working to clean up more than a dozen fuel spills in people's houses. The agency expects the number to climb as people return home.
The state Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, was sending officials to the Rushford area, about 130 miles southeast of Minneapolis, after receiving reports that 1,500 turkeys had been killed.
The National Weather Service predicted record flooding in northwest Ohio, where Gov. Ted Strickland has declared emergencies in nine counties, WHIO-TV reported.
Near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, three high school athletes running on a trail near a flooded lake fell into the water: Two were rescued, but one disappeared and is missing, KOCO-TV reported. Fire officials told the station the search for the teenager is no longer a rescue operation, but a recovery effort.
Parts of Texas were still reeling after remnants of Tropical Storm Erin hammered the state last week.
Rain was still falling and flood warnings were in effect in the south-central portion of the state as San Antonio residents attended a City Council session to express concern about the response to the flooding.
"Who is going to fix our homes?" resident Anita Eakman asked, according to KSAT-TV. "Don't you think that after this happened that somebody should have been out here?"
In Clare, Iowa, homeowners said they have seen more than a foot of rain since Friday night. Photo View photos from the flooding »
"I was going to put a sign out that said, 'House boat for sale, lower deck has built-in swimming pool,' " Tracy Wilson told KCCI-TV.
Residents along the Des Moines River near Fort Dodge were urged to evacuate as water neared the tops of levees north of town. The flood stage is 10 feet, and the river was at 14 feet -- and rising -- Wednesday morning, Webster County Emergency Management Coordinator Tony Jorgenson told KCCI.
In Omaha, Nebraska, several neighborhoods remained without power Wednesday morning. High winds toppled trees and power lines across the northeast section of the city Monday, leaving 22,000 people without electricity.
About 300 were still without power Wednesday afternoon, KETV reported, but Omaha Public Power District spokesman Jeff Hansen said it should be fully restored by Wednesday evening.
Tiffany Peak had to close her home daycare center because she didn't have power. She told KETV that she spent the day guarding power lines in her yard so children wouldn't play with the deadly cables.
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"The little kids were swinging from the power line in the tree," Peak said.
Clean-up crews are doing all they can as they work 12-hour shifts, but heavy rain Wednesday hampered their efforts, city officials told KETV.
U.N.: Diseases spreading faster than ever
GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) -- Infectious diseases are emerging more quickly around the globe, spreading faster and becoming increasingly difficult to treat, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
art.child.vaccine.afp.jpg
A health worker gives polio drops to a child in Amritsar, India, in 2006.
In its annual World Health Report, the United Nations agency warned there was a good possibility that another major scourge like AIDS, SARS or Ebola fever with the potential of killing millions would appear in the coming years.
"Infectious diseases are now spreading geographically much faster than at any time in history," the WHO said.
It said it was vital to keep watch for new threats like the emergence in 2003 of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which spread from China to 30 countries and killed 800 people.
"It would be extremely naive and complacent to assume that there will not be another disease like AIDS, another Ebola, or another SARS, sooner or later," the report warned.
Since the 1970s, the WHO said, new threats have been identified at an "unprecedented rate" of one or more every year, meaning that nearly 40 diseases exist today which were unknown just over a generation ago.
During the past five years alone, WHO experts had verified more than 1,100 epidemics of different diseases.
With more than 2 billion people traveling by air every year, the U.N. agency said: "an outbreak or epidemic in one part of the world is only a few hours away from becoming an imminent threat somewhere else."
Monitoring vital, report says
The report called for renewed efforts to monitor, prevent and control epidemic-prone ailments such as cholera, yellow fever and meningococcal diseases.
International assistance may be required to help health workers in poorer countries identify and contain outbreaks of emerging viral diseases such as Ebola and Marburg haemorrhagic fever, the WHO said.
It warned that global efforts to control infectious diseases have already been "seriously jeopardized" by widespread drug resistance, a consequence of poor medical treatment and misuse of antibiotics.
This is a particular problem in tuberculosis, where extensively drug-resistant (XDR-TB) strains of the contagious respiratory ailment have emerged worldwide.
"Drug resistance is also evident in diarrhoeal diseases, hospital-acquired infections, malaria, meningitis, respiratory tract infections, and sexually transmitted infections, and is emerging in HIV," the report declared.
Although the H5N1 bird flu virus has not mutated into a form that passes easily between humans, as many scientists had feared, the next influenza pandemic was "likely to be of an avian variety" and could affect some 1.5 billion people.
"The question of a pandemic of influenza from this virus or another avian influenza virus is still a matter of when, not if," the WHO said.
It said all countries must share essential health data, such as virus samples and reports of outbreaks, as required under international health rules, to mitigate such risks.
Accidents involving toxic chemicals, nuclear power and other environmental disasters should also be communicated quickly and clearly to minimize public health threats.
art.child.vaccine.afp.jpg
A health worker gives polio drops to a child in Amritsar, India, in 2006.
In its annual World Health Report, the United Nations agency warned there was a good possibility that another major scourge like AIDS, SARS or Ebola fever with the potential of killing millions would appear in the coming years.
"Infectious diseases are now spreading geographically much faster than at any time in history," the WHO said.
It said it was vital to keep watch for new threats like the emergence in 2003 of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which spread from China to 30 countries and killed 800 people.
"It would be extremely naive and complacent to assume that there will not be another disease like AIDS, another Ebola, or another SARS, sooner or later," the report warned.
Since the 1970s, the WHO said, new threats have been identified at an "unprecedented rate" of one or more every year, meaning that nearly 40 diseases exist today which were unknown just over a generation ago.
During the past five years alone, WHO experts had verified more than 1,100 epidemics of different diseases.
With more than 2 billion people traveling by air every year, the U.N. agency said: "an outbreak or epidemic in one part of the world is only a few hours away from becoming an imminent threat somewhere else."
Monitoring vital, report says
The report called for renewed efforts to monitor, prevent and control epidemic-prone ailments such as cholera, yellow fever and meningococcal diseases.
International assistance may be required to help health workers in poorer countries identify and contain outbreaks of emerging viral diseases such as Ebola and Marburg haemorrhagic fever, the WHO said.
It warned that global efforts to control infectious diseases have already been "seriously jeopardized" by widespread drug resistance, a consequence of poor medical treatment and misuse of antibiotics.
This is a particular problem in tuberculosis, where extensively drug-resistant (XDR-TB) strains of the contagious respiratory ailment have emerged worldwide.
"Drug resistance is also evident in diarrhoeal diseases, hospital-acquired infections, malaria, meningitis, respiratory tract infections, and sexually transmitted infections, and is emerging in HIV," the report declared.
Although the H5N1 bird flu virus has not mutated into a form that passes easily between humans, as many scientists had feared, the next influenza pandemic was "likely to be of an avian variety" and could affect some 1.5 billion people.
"The question of a pandemic of influenza from this virus or another avian influenza virus is still a matter of when, not if," the WHO said.
It said all countries must share essential health data, such as virus samples and reports of outbreaks, as required under international health rules, to mitigate such risks.
Accidents involving toxic chemicals, nuclear power and other environmental disasters should also be communicated quickly and clearly to minimize public health threats.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Six Western states and parts of Canada join to cut greenhouse gases
25% by 2020? We're going to have to do better than that...
-blogger
Matthew Yi, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
(08-22) 12:04 PDT SACRAMENTO -- A coalition of six Western states and two Canadian provinces will announce this afternoon that they have set a regional goal to fight global warming - a goal similar to last year's California legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Six months ago, governors in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington signed an agreement to create the Western Climate Initiative partnership to improve the environment by reducing carbon emissions. Since then, Utah and Canadian provinces Manitoba and British Columbia have also joined the effort.
The partners today will announce that they have set a goal to reduce the region's greenhouse gas emissions about 25 percent by 2020, which is similar to California's AB32 legislation that passed with much fanfare.
The region's new standard was based on some existing goals that the states and provinces have set to reduce their emissions, said Sarah Cottrell, energy and environmental policy adviser to Gov. Bill Richardson in New Mexico.
The partnership also plans to later create a blueprint for the so-called "cap-and-trade" system in the region, a proposal that would allow high-polluting businesses to buy carbon credits from low-polluting firms in other states and the provinces.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and business organizations have championed such a system for California, although Democratic lawmakers and environmentalists have argued that AB32 requires regulations to cut emissions before considering such market-based systems of trading carbon credits.
It is not yet clear exactly what measures will be taken to reduce greenhouse gases in other states or California. Some of the governments involved in today's decision still must pass laws to establish long-term or short-term reduction goals for the gases like carbon dioxide and methane.
E-mail Matthew Yi at myi@sfchronicle.com.
-blogger
Matthew Yi, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
(08-22) 12:04 PDT SACRAMENTO -- A coalition of six Western states and two Canadian provinces will announce this afternoon that they have set a regional goal to fight global warming - a goal similar to last year's California legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Six months ago, governors in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington signed an agreement to create the Western Climate Initiative partnership to improve the environment by reducing carbon emissions. Since then, Utah and Canadian provinces Manitoba and British Columbia have also joined the effort.
The partners today will announce that they have set a goal to reduce the region's greenhouse gas emissions about 25 percent by 2020, which is similar to California's AB32 legislation that passed with much fanfare.
The region's new standard was based on some existing goals that the states and provinces have set to reduce their emissions, said Sarah Cottrell, energy and environmental policy adviser to Gov. Bill Richardson in New Mexico.
The partnership also plans to later create a blueprint for the so-called "cap-and-trade" system in the region, a proposal that would allow high-polluting businesses to buy carbon credits from low-polluting firms in other states and the provinces.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and business organizations have championed such a system for California, although Democratic lawmakers and environmentalists have argued that AB32 requires regulations to cut emissions before considering such market-based systems of trading carbon credits.
It is not yet clear exactly what measures will be taken to reduce greenhouse gases in other states or California. Some of the governments involved in today's decision still must pass laws to establish long-term or short-term reduction goals for the gases like carbon dioxide and methane.
E-mail Matthew Yi at myi@sfchronicle.com.
Brazil Rejects Reports of Amazon Logging in Camps
This after Brazil announced (just last week) that the rate of deforestation is "declining". Just another reason why you can't trust these government's "official" position on logging. Illegal logging is big business, and very difficult to enforce when it is the governments doing it. This is the reason that so called "FSC" certified lumber is a complete joke.
-blogger
BRASILIA -- Brazil's government rejected accusations Tuesday that its settlement of poor peasants in the Amazon was fueling the destruction of the world's largest rain forest but promised an investigation.
Several reports said this week that settlements of landless peasants were being used to extract timber. They said the government land reform agency, Incra, promoted timber companies through "suspect" contracts and "phantom" settlements.
Incra intentionally chose forested areas with valuable trees, Greenpeace said in a report picked up by some newspapers.
The government denied the reports, saying that deforestation in settlements had been falling, not rising, and was not always illegal.
But Environment Minister Marina Silva pledged on Tuesday a full investigation into the accusations.
"This is an investigation that certainly will be carried out by Incra and other authorities," she told reporters in the western farm city Cuiaba.
The government of left-leaning President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been increasing protected areas, promoting sustainable development and recovering deforested areas, the government's land reform institute Incra said in a statement.
As a result, satellite images published last week showed that deforestation in such settlements fell by 52 percent last year, the fourth consecutive annual reduction, Incra said.
The government said last week that overall deforestation in the Amazon fell by about a third in the 12 months through July to the lowest rate in at least seven years.
Deforested settlements cited by Epoca news magazine at the weekend were created in the three decades before 2002, Incra said. Until then it was legal to cut 50 percent of the forest, compared to 37 percent actually cut in those settlements.
Successive Brazilian governments, particularly during the 1964-1985 military dictatorship, settled scores of landless peasants in the Amazon as a way to stem the flow of poor migrants to overcrowded cities.
TV Globo Sunday showed a deforested settlement in the south of the Amazon's Para state. Incra said the settlement was created after the area was cleared by an illegal land speculator who was expropriated and imprisoned.
A Greenpeace study, which was used in some of the reports, claimed that Incra was allowing timber companies to cut wood in exchange for building schools and roads for the settlements.
Incra said in two settlements, settlers had reached an agreement with timber companies, which operate legally and according to an approved environmental management plan.
But Greenpeace responded Tuesday that more than 140 settlements showed "irregularities," including "suspect" accords with logging companies.
"The government has yet to give a satisfactory explanation," Andre Muggiati, a Greenpeace campaigner in Manaus, told Reuters.
Since 2003 police have arrested more than 120 civil servants on accusations of illegal logging.
(Additional reporting by Jonas da Silva in Cuiaba)
Source: Reuters
-blogger
BRASILIA -- Brazil's government rejected accusations Tuesday that its settlement of poor peasants in the Amazon was fueling the destruction of the world's largest rain forest but promised an investigation.
Several reports said this week that settlements of landless peasants were being used to extract timber. They said the government land reform agency, Incra, promoted timber companies through "suspect" contracts and "phantom" settlements.
Incra intentionally chose forested areas with valuable trees, Greenpeace said in a report picked up by some newspapers.
The government denied the reports, saying that deforestation in settlements had been falling, not rising, and was not always illegal.
But Environment Minister Marina Silva pledged on Tuesday a full investigation into the accusations.
"This is an investigation that certainly will be carried out by Incra and other authorities," she told reporters in the western farm city Cuiaba.
The government of left-leaning President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been increasing protected areas, promoting sustainable development and recovering deforested areas, the government's land reform institute Incra said in a statement.
As a result, satellite images published last week showed that deforestation in such settlements fell by 52 percent last year, the fourth consecutive annual reduction, Incra said.
The government said last week that overall deforestation in the Amazon fell by about a third in the 12 months through July to the lowest rate in at least seven years.
Deforested settlements cited by Epoca news magazine at the weekend were created in the three decades before 2002, Incra said. Until then it was legal to cut 50 percent of the forest, compared to 37 percent actually cut in those settlements.
Successive Brazilian governments, particularly during the 1964-1985 military dictatorship, settled scores of landless peasants in the Amazon as a way to stem the flow of poor migrants to overcrowded cities.
TV Globo Sunday showed a deforested settlement in the south of the Amazon's Para state. Incra said the settlement was created after the area was cleared by an illegal land speculator who was expropriated and imprisoned.
A Greenpeace study, which was used in some of the reports, claimed that Incra was allowing timber companies to cut wood in exchange for building schools and roads for the settlements.
Incra said in two settlements, settlers had reached an agreement with timber companies, which operate legally and according to an approved environmental management plan.
But Greenpeace responded Tuesday that more than 140 settlements showed "irregularities," including "suspect" accords with logging companies.
"The government has yet to give a satisfactory explanation," Andre Muggiati, a Greenpeace campaigner in Manaus, told Reuters.
Since 2003 police have arrested more than 120 civil servants on accusations of illegal logging.
(Additional reporting by Jonas da Silva in Cuiaba)
Source: Reuters
Marine Bird Populations Declining
BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Marine bird populations in northern Puget Sound have seen significant declines since the late 1970s, according to a Western Washington University study.
The four-year study included a census of 80 north Puget Sound marine bird species -- those that live in the water, not just the shores. Students gathered data from about 150 sites between Tsawwassen, British Columbia, and Whidbey Island.
John Bower, a professor of field biology at Western, says he's still working on the final report but that early results point to steep declines in a number of key species.
Among them: the common murre, a long-billed black and white seabird, whose population has declined 93 percent since the 1970s census; and the Western grebe, a long-necked black and white seabird, which has seen its numbers drop 81 percent.
Other birds in decline include the brant, a coastal goose common on Padilla Bay, and the scoter, a sea duck that's a popular catch for hunters.
Bower's study compares the latest numbers with data collected between 1978 and 1979, when the construction of oil refineries in the region prompted the federal government to document marine species in the area that could be harmed by an oil spill.
"It was perfectly normal to go out to the bay and see several thousand Western grebes on the shores," Bower said. But the recent study found a one-day average of 10 Western grebes on Padilla Bay and 436 on Bellingham Bay, Bower said. Now "they just aren't around," he said.
The study seems to confirm earlier results from bird counts by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, but this time the birds were counted from the ground, not in the air.
David Nysewander, a Fish and Wildlife project leader who assesses marine birds on Puget Sound, said he wasn't surprised by the study results, but he says a lack of money prevents his department from doing much about it.
Bower said water pollution, eel grass destruction, global warming and habitat loss could all be factors in the bird decline, but he doesn't have the research to back that up.
In addition to government restrictions on shoreline development, he said individuals can do a lot to help the birds by limiting pollution and not allowing their dogs to disturb birds when walking on beaches.
By protecting the region's marine birds, Bower said, the public will be protecting the whole Puget Sound.
"If we have declines in the birds, it means the ecosystem that supports those birds is in trouble," he added.
------
Information from: Skagit Valley Herald, http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com
Source: Associated Press
The four-year study included a census of 80 north Puget Sound marine bird species -- those that live in the water, not just the shores. Students gathered data from about 150 sites between Tsawwassen, British Columbia, and Whidbey Island.
John Bower, a professor of field biology at Western, says he's still working on the final report but that early results point to steep declines in a number of key species.
Among them: the common murre, a long-billed black and white seabird, whose population has declined 93 percent since the 1970s census; and the Western grebe, a long-necked black and white seabird, which has seen its numbers drop 81 percent.
Other birds in decline include the brant, a coastal goose common on Padilla Bay, and the scoter, a sea duck that's a popular catch for hunters.
Bower's study compares the latest numbers with data collected between 1978 and 1979, when the construction of oil refineries in the region prompted the federal government to document marine species in the area that could be harmed by an oil spill.
"It was perfectly normal to go out to the bay and see several thousand Western grebes on the shores," Bower said. But the recent study found a one-day average of 10 Western grebes on Padilla Bay and 436 on Bellingham Bay, Bower said. Now "they just aren't around," he said.
The study seems to confirm earlier results from bird counts by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, but this time the birds were counted from the ground, not in the air.
David Nysewander, a Fish and Wildlife project leader who assesses marine birds on Puget Sound, said he wasn't surprised by the study results, but he says a lack of money prevents his department from doing much about it.
Bower said water pollution, eel grass destruction, global warming and habitat loss could all be factors in the bird decline, but he doesn't have the research to back that up.
In addition to government restrictions on shoreline development, he said individuals can do a lot to help the birds by limiting pollution and not allowing their dogs to disturb birds when walking on beaches.
By protecting the region's marine birds, Bower said, the public will be protecting the whole Puget Sound.
"If we have declines in the birds, it means the ecosystem that supports those birds is in trouble," he added.
------
Information from: Skagit Valley Herald, http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com
Source: Associated Press
Diesel Spill off Vancouver Island Could Threaten Killer Whale Habitat
VANCOUVER -- Scientists and environmentalists are concerned that the recent diesel spill off Vancouver Island could threaten the habitat of the killer whales who frequent the area.
About 50 killer whales have swum through the slick after a barge overturned Monday and dumped a loaded diesel truck near an ecological reserve off northern Vancouver Island.
"There couldn't have a been a worse time and a worse place for this to happen," said Jennifer Lash, executive director of Living Oceans, a nonprofit organization that works to preserve marine biological diversity and create sustainable fisheries. "This is when there's whales all over the place up here and particularly in that exact spot."
Kate Thompson, a spokeswoman with British Columbia's Ministry of the Environment, said the barge was just outside the reserve's boundary when it overturned.
Lash said reports from the scene suggest the barge was about 100 to 200 meters (328 to 656 feet) inside the protected area.
It is not known how much fuel the truck was carrying, but a slick of between two and eight kilometers (one to four miles) long was reported. The truck had a capacity of about 10,000 liters (two gallons) of diesel.
Strong currents will dissipate the oil quickly, but the whales could breathe fumes until then, said Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard, a research scientist who studies the whales' habitat in the area.
A cleanup company was at the site of the spill.
The spill follows last month's accident where 1,400 barrels of crude sprayed over homes and into a nearby inlet in a Vancouver suburb when a pipe line burst during roadwork construction.
That spill is still under investigation.
Source: Associated Press
About 50 killer whales have swum through the slick after a barge overturned Monday and dumped a loaded diesel truck near an ecological reserve off northern Vancouver Island.
"There couldn't have a been a worse time and a worse place for this to happen," said Jennifer Lash, executive director of Living Oceans, a nonprofit organization that works to preserve marine biological diversity and create sustainable fisheries. "This is when there's whales all over the place up here and particularly in that exact spot."
Kate Thompson, a spokeswoman with British Columbia's Ministry of the Environment, said the barge was just outside the reserve's boundary when it overturned.
Lash said reports from the scene suggest the barge was about 100 to 200 meters (328 to 656 feet) inside the protected area.
It is not known how much fuel the truck was carrying, but a slick of between two and eight kilometers (one to four miles) long was reported. The truck had a capacity of about 10,000 liters (two gallons) of diesel.
Strong currents will dissipate the oil quickly, but the whales could breathe fumes until then, said Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard, a research scientist who studies the whales' habitat in the area.
A cleanup company was at the site of the spill.
The spill follows last month's accident where 1,400 barrels of crude sprayed over homes and into a nearby inlet in a Vancouver suburb when a pipe line burst during roadwork construction.
That spill is still under investigation.
Source: Associated Press
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Smashing Capitalism by Barbara Ehrenreich
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070827/ehrenreich
Somewhere in the Hamptons a high-roller is cursing his cleaning lady and
shaking his fists at the lawn guys. The American poor, who are usually
tactful enough to remain invisible to the multi-millionaire class,
suddenly leaped onto the scene and started smashing the global financial
system. Incredibly enough, this may be the first case in history in which
the downtrodden manage to bring down an unfair economic system without
going to the trouble of a revolution.
First they stopped paying their mortgages, a move in which they were
joined by many financially stretched middle class folks, though the poor
definitely led the way. All right, these were trick mortgages, many of
them designed to be unaffordable within two years of signing the contract.
There were "NINJA" loans, for example, awarded to people with "no income,
no job or assets." Conservative columnist Niall Fergusen laments the low
levels of "economic literacy" that allowed people to be exploited by
sub-prime loans. Why didn't these low-income folks get lawyers to go over
the fine print? And don't they have personal financial advisors anyway?
Then, in a diabolically clever move, the poor--a category which now
roughly coincides with the working class--stopped shopping. Both Wal-Mart
and Home Depot announced disappointing second quarter performances,
plunging the market into another Arctic-style meltdown. H. Lee Scott, CEO
of the low-wage Wal-Mart empire, admitted with admirable sensitivity, that
"it's no secret that many customers are running out of money at the end of
the month."
CONTINUED BELOW
I wish I could report that the current attack on capitalism represents a
deliberate strategy on the part of the poor, that there have been secret
meetings in break rooms and parking lots around the country, where cell
leaders issued instructions like, "You, Vinny--don't make any mortgage
payment this month. And Caroline, forget that back-to-school shopping,
OK?" But all the evidence suggests that the current crisis is something
the high-rollers brought down on themselves.
When, for example, the largest private employer in America, which is
Wal-Mart, starts experiencing a shortage of customers, it needs to take a
long, hard look in the mirror. About a century ago, Henry Ford realized
that his company would only prosper if his own workers earned enough to
buy Fords. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, never seemed to figure out that
its cruelly low wages would eventually curtail its own growth, even at the
company's famously discounted prices.
The sad truth is that people earning Wal-Mart-level wages tend to favor
the fashions available at the Salvation Army. Nor do they have much use
for Wal-Mart's other departments, such as Electronics, Lawn and Garden,
and Pharmacy.
It gets worse though. While with one hand the high-rollers, H. Lee Scott
among them, squeezed the American worker's wages, the other hand was
reaching out with the tempting offer of credit. In fact, easy credit
became the American substitute for decent wages. Once you worked for your
money, but now you were supposed to pay for it. Once you could count on
earning enough to save for a home. Now you'll never earn that much, but,
as the lenders were saying--heh, heh--do we have a mortgage for you!
Pay day loans, rent-to-buy furniture and exorbitant credit card interest
rates for the poor were just the beginning. In its May 21st cover story on
" The Poverty Business," Business Week documented the stampede, in just
the last few years, to lend money to the people who could least afford to
pay the interest: Buy your dream home! Refinance your house! Take on a car
loan even if your credit rating sucks! Financiamos a Todos! Somehow, no
one bothered to figure out where the poor were going to get the money to
pay for all the money they were being offered.
Personally, I prefer my revolutions to be a little more pro-active. There
should be marches and rallies, banners and sit-ins, possibly a nice color
theme like red or orange. Certainly, there should be a vision of what you
intend to replace the bad old system with--European-style social
democracy, Latin American-style socialism, or how about just American
capitalism with some regulation thrown in?
Global capitalism will survive the current credit crisis; already, the
government has rushed in to soothe the feverish markets. But in the long
term, a system that depends on extracting every last cent from the poor
cannot hope for a healthy prognosis. Who would have thought that
foreclosures in Stockton and Cleveland would roil the markets of London
and Shanghai? The poor have risen up and spoken; only it sounds less like
a shout of protest than a low, strangled, cry of pain.
---
www.justhealthcare.org
www.freehighered.org
Somewhere in the Hamptons a high-roller is cursing his cleaning lady and
shaking his fists at the lawn guys. The American poor, who are usually
tactful enough to remain invisible to the multi-millionaire class,
suddenly leaped onto the scene and started smashing the global financial
system. Incredibly enough, this may be the first case in history in which
the downtrodden manage to bring down an unfair economic system without
going to the trouble of a revolution.
First they stopped paying their mortgages, a move in which they were
joined by many financially stretched middle class folks, though the poor
definitely led the way. All right, these were trick mortgages, many of
them designed to be unaffordable within two years of signing the contract.
There were "NINJA" loans, for example, awarded to people with "no income,
no job or assets." Conservative columnist Niall Fergusen laments the low
levels of "economic literacy" that allowed people to be exploited by
sub-prime loans. Why didn't these low-income folks get lawyers to go over
the fine print? And don't they have personal financial advisors anyway?
Then, in a diabolically clever move, the poor--a category which now
roughly coincides with the working class--stopped shopping. Both Wal-Mart
and Home Depot announced disappointing second quarter performances,
plunging the market into another Arctic-style meltdown. H. Lee Scott, CEO
of the low-wage Wal-Mart empire, admitted with admirable sensitivity, that
"it's no secret that many customers are running out of money at the end of
the month."
CONTINUED BELOW
I wish I could report that the current attack on capitalism represents a
deliberate strategy on the part of the poor, that there have been secret
meetings in break rooms and parking lots around the country, where cell
leaders issued instructions like, "You, Vinny--don't make any mortgage
payment this month. And Caroline, forget that back-to-school shopping,
OK?" But all the evidence suggests that the current crisis is something
the high-rollers brought down on themselves.
When, for example, the largest private employer in America, which is
Wal-Mart, starts experiencing a shortage of customers, it needs to take a
long, hard look in the mirror. About a century ago, Henry Ford realized
that his company would only prosper if his own workers earned enough to
buy Fords. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, never seemed to figure out that
its cruelly low wages would eventually curtail its own growth, even at the
company's famously discounted prices.
The sad truth is that people earning Wal-Mart-level wages tend to favor
the fashions available at the Salvation Army. Nor do they have much use
for Wal-Mart's other departments, such as Electronics, Lawn and Garden,
and Pharmacy.
It gets worse though. While with one hand the high-rollers, H. Lee Scott
among them, squeezed the American worker's wages, the other hand was
reaching out with the tempting offer of credit. In fact, easy credit
became the American substitute for decent wages. Once you worked for your
money, but now you were supposed to pay for it. Once you could count on
earning enough to save for a home. Now you'll never earn that much, but,
as the lenders were saying--heh, heh--do we have a mortgage for you!
Pay day loans, rent-to-buy furniture and exorbitant credit card interest
rates for the poor were just the beginning. In its May 21st cover story on
" The Poverty Business," Business Week documented the stampede, in just
the last few years, to lend money to the people who could least afford to
pay the interest: Buy your dream home! Refinance your house! Take on a car
loan even if your credit rating sucks! Financiamos a Todos! Somehow, no
one bothered to figure out where the poor were going to get the money to
pay for all the money they were being offered.
Personally, I prefer my revolutions to be a little more pro-active. There
should be marches and rallies, banners and sit-ins, possibly a nice color
theme like red or orange. Certainly, there should be a vision of what you
intend to replace the bad old system with--European-style social
democracy, Latin American-style socialism, or how about just American
capitalism with some regulation thrown in?
Global capitalism will survive the current credit crisis; already, the
government has rushed in to soothe the feverish markets. But in the long
term, a system that depends on extracting every last cent from the poor
cannot hope for a healthy prognosis. Who would have thought that
foreclosures in Stockton and Cleveland would roil the markets of London
and Shanghai? The poor have risen up and spoken; only it sounds less like
a shout of protest than a low, strangled, cry of pain.
---
www.justhealthcare.org
www.freehighered.org
Monday, August 20, 2007
"Eco"-capitalists cashing in
Being "green"....it's all about getting rich I suppose.....
From: Reuters; Gerard Wynn
Published August 19, 2007
Eco-Mil0 Milionaires See Boom Times Ahead
LONDON - Mankind's response to climate change will shift how the world gets its energy and is already making "green barons" out of early investors in renewable energy, clean technologies and carbon trading.
Reuters spoke to four entrepreneurs who are cashing in on the energy revolution and who say there is more money to be made.
BRUCE KHOURI, co-founder of Solar Integrated Technologies, based in Los Angeles, has at the age of 48 made $5 million by cashing in shares in the company.
He still has a $11 million stake in the company, which makes lightweight solar panels for commercial roofs. He saw the opportunity while running his own industrial roofing firm.
Q: How did you get rich?
A: "It hasn't been easy but we transformed an old-world roofing material into a renewable energy technology. It's a miracle Solar Integrated is still here but a pioneer charging across the prairie is bound to get hit by a few arrows."
As long ago as the early 1990s Khouri saw a market for flexible solar panels which could be laminated on to large roofs, such as warehouses. He did not found Solar Integrated until 2001 once tax and subsidy incentives made the market more attractive.
Q: Is 'the business of green' a bubble?
A: "No. For political reasons the United States has been behind others on green issues, but once it catches up it will be a domino effect. In 20 years they won't talk about regular roofing because it just won't exist ... there is so much rooftop real estate that is completely under-utilized.
"And 50 years from now every bit of a building that is struck by the sun will be generating power in some way."
PEDRO MOURA COSTA, co-founder of Oxford-based EcoSecurities, 44, made 4.8 million pounds ($10 million) when he sold some shares in the firm which helps convert emission cuts into tradable carbon credits. His remaining shares are worth about 37 million pounds ($73 million).
Q: How did you get rich?
A: "I saw the carbon market could be big business and the Kyoto Protocol confirmed my views. But I didn't expect it to take 10 years to come into force."
Moura Costa was working as a forester in Malaysia when he saw the potential for an international carbon credit market.
He spent the early 1990s advising on a project to plant trees in Borneo to compensate for extra carbon pollution from new power plants in the Netherlands.
Q: Is 'the business of green' a bubble?
A: "No. It's become quite obvious we do something now or it will be an irreversible trend with catastrophic consequences.
"The only chance of it being a bubble is if we lack the political commitment to drive emission reductions worldwide -- and if we do that we might as well forget about any environmental effort whatsoever because climate change is hitting us hard and the trend is likely to accelerate. I think it's very unlikely political support will go away."
DAVID SCAYSBROOK, founder of Novera Energy, a 43-year old Australian, made 3 million pounds ($6 million) when he cashed in some of his shares in the wind power and landfill gas firm he founded in 1998. He has about 3 million pounds ($6 million) worth of shares invested in Novera and carbon cutter Camco International, which he advises.
Q: How did you get rich?
A: Three things had pushed up share valuations in the wind power industry, he said.
First, people were more worried about energy security and producing energy themselves. Second, the cost of traditional energy sources such as oil and gas had gone up. Third, tax breaks, subsidies and emissions caps had prompted even more conservative investors "to finally move off their perch".
Q: Is 'the business of green' a bubble?
A: "The scale of investment to date is nothing compared to what is coming.
"The bubble aspect is ill-informed investors chasing pipe-dream technology. For example, there are hundreds of firms competing for the next generation of technology in solar panels but it won't necessarily be the best technology that wins."
NEIL ECKERT, chief executive of Climate Exchange, which runs the main European exchange for carbon trading, has shares worth about 18 million pounds ($36 million). He is also non-executive chairman of Trading Emissions and Econergy, both involved in emission-cutting projects and generating revenue from carbon credits.
Q: How did you get rich?
A: Despite the high paper value of his holdings in Climate Exchange, Eckert has yet to cash in. He already made millions selling his shares in Brit Insurance, which he set up and ran for 10 years until 2005.
Q: Is 'the business of green' a bubble?
A: "No. We have the biggest opportunity to replace fossil fuel, which has a market capitalization of hundreds of billions of pounds, but it's vital we listen to the scientific consensus and create a financial solution.
"I believe we have a chance to meet the stated mitigation targets much quicker than people think ... but it depends on whether people believe money can be made."
From: Reuters; Gerard Wynn
Published August 19, 2007
Eco-Mil0 Milionaires See Boom Times Ahead
LONDON - Mankind's response to climate change will shift how the world gets its energy and is already making "green barons" out of early investors in renewable energy, clean technologies and carbon trading.
Reuters spoke to four entrepreneurs who are cashing in on the energy revolution and who say there is more money to be made.
BRUCE KHOURI, co-founder of Solar Integrated Technologies, based in Los Angeles, has at the age of 48 made $5 million by cashing in shares in the company.
He still has a $11 million stake in the company, which makes lightweight solar panels for commercial roofs. He saw the opportunity while running his own industrial roofing firm.
Q: How did you get rich?
A: "It hasn't been easy but we transformed an old-world roofing material into a renewable energy technology. It's a miracle Solar Integrated is still here but a pioneer charging across the prairie is bound to get hit by a few arrows."
As long ago as the early 1990s Khouri saw a market for flexible solar panels which could be laminated on to large roofs, such as warehouses. He did not found Solar Integrated until 2001 once tax and subsidy incentives made the market more attractive.
Q: Is 'the business of green' a bubble?
A: "No. For political reasons the United States has been behind others on green issues, but once it catches up it will be a domino effect. In 20 years they won't talk about regular roofing because it just won't exist ... there is so much rooftop real estate that is completely under-utilized.
"And 50 years from now every bit of a building that is struck by the sun will be generating power in some way."
PEDRO MOURA COSTA, co-founder of Oxford-based EcoSecurities, 44, made 4.8 million pounds ($10 million) when he sold some shares in the firm which helps convert emission cuts into tradable carbon credits. His remaining shares are worth about 37 million pounds ($73 million).
Q: How did you get rich?
A: "I saw the carbon market could be big business and the Kyoto Protocol confirmed my views. But I didn't expect it to take 10 years to come into force."
Moura Costa was working as a forester in Malaysia when he saw the potential for an international carbon credit market.
He spent the early 1990s advising on a project to plant trees in Borneo to compensate for extra carbon pollution from new power plants in the Netherlands.
Q: Is 'the business of green' a bubble?
A: "No. It's become quite obvious we do something now or it will be an irreversible trend with catastrophic consequences.
"The only chance of it being a bubble is if we lack the political commitment to drive emission reductions worldwide -- and if we do that we might as well forget about any environmental effort whatsoever because climate change is hitting us hard and the trend is likely to accelerate. I think it's very unlikely political support will go away."
DAVID SCAYSBROOK, founder of Novera Energy, a 43-year old Australian, made 3 million pounds ($6 million) when he cashed in some of his shares in the wind power and landfill gas firm he founded in 1998. He has about 3 million pounds ($6 million) worth of shares invested in Novera and carbon cutter Camco International, which he advises.
Q: How did you get rich?
A: Three things had pushed up share valuations in the wind power industry, he said.
First, people were more worried about energy security and producing energy themselves. Second, the cost of traditional energy sources such as oil and gas had gone up. Third, tax breaks, subsidies and emissions caps had prompted even more conservative investors "to finally move off their perch".
Q: Is 'the business of green' a bubble?
A: "The scale of investment to date is nothing compared to what is coming.
"The bubble aspect is ill-informed investors chasing pipe-dream technology. For example, there are hundreds of firms competing for the next generation of technology in solar panels but it won't necessarily be the best technology that wins."
NEIL ECKERT, chief executive of Climate Exchange, which runs the main European exchange for carbon trading, has shares worth about 18 million pounds ($36 million). He is also non-executive chairman of Trading Emissions and Econergy, both involved in emission-cutting projects and generating revenue from carbon credits.
Q: How did you get rich?
A: Despite the high paper value of his holdings in Climate Exchange, Eckert has yet to cash in. He already made millions selling his shares in Brit Insurance, which he set up and ran for 10 years until 2005.
Q: Is 'the business of green' a bubble?
A: "No. We have the biggest opportunity to replace fossil fuel, which has a market capitalization of hundreds of billions of pounds, but it's vital we listen to the scientific consensus and create a financial solution.
"I believe we have a chance to meet the stated mitigation targets much quicker than people think ... but it depends on whether people believe money can be made."
Family Planning Needs In Developing Countries Spurs W.H.O., Johns Hopkins, To Publish Science-Based Contraception Handbook
Family Planning Needs In Developing Countries Spurs W.H.O., Johns Hopkins, To Publish Science-Based Contraception Handbook
BALTIMORE, MD. - The World Health Organization and Johns Hopkins University, have published a handbook on family planning for developing nations. The handbook, is based on the best available scientific evidence was driven by the urgent unmet needs of millions of women and families who seek information on contraception.
"People need help now," says Paul F.A. Van Look, Director of WHO's Department of Reproductive Health and Research. "The Global Handbook stands alone as the single most important, authoritative resource for family planning in the developing world. It will go a long way in helping to inform and instruct the correct applications of family planning methods."
He adds, "The handbook offers practical guidance to meet reproductive health needs of women at various stages during their child bearing years. It provides information to those practitioners in reproductive health whether they are training health professionals or working with clients."
Published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs' INFO Project, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the handbook brings together the best available scientific evidence on family planning methods and related topics into one easy-to-use publication. The book is a result of collaboration among 30 leading health organizations around the world.
Despite great progress over the last several decades, more than 100 million married women worldwide want to prevent pregnancy but are not using a contraceptive method.(1) Reasons for this unmet need are numerous. Services and supplies are not yet available everywhere; therefore, contraceptive choices are limited. Fears of social disapproval regarding use of contraception or partner's opposition to contraceptive use also pose formidable barriers. Worries about side effects or lack of knowledge about contraceptive options also prevent many women from using contraception.
The handbook updates a previous book, The Essentials of Contraceptive Technology. First published in 1997 by the Center for Communication Programs, nearly one million copies of The Essentials of Contraceptive Technology have been published in over 10 languages. This book is used extensively by family planning providers in the developing world.
"This was a remarkable undertaking that WHO convened with 30 of the world's leading health organizations," said Michael J. Klag, Dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Pubic Health.
As the fourth in WHO's cornerstones of family planning guidance series, Family Planning: A Global Handbook for Providers offers technical information to help health care providers deliver family planning methods appropriately and effectively. Together, the four cornerstones support the safe and effective provision and use of family planning methods and can be used to develop national guidelines.
The handbook is currently available in an English edition both on-line and as a printed and bound publication. Translations are planned for 10 languages, including: Spanish, French, Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese (African), Romanian, Russian, Swahili, Arabic and Urdu.
All handbooks will be distributed with a free copy of "Do You Know Your Family Planning Choices?" a wall chart summarizing key points for each contraceptive method that providers can display to clients.
Further information and instructions for ordering can be found at: http://www.fphandbook.org/.
What People Say About The Handbook
On behalf of CEDPA, I feel honored that I was part of the team which worked on the handbook. Hope this is used extensively in the field and as was discussed at the last meeting in Geneva, we should have a plan to disseminate this new book soon in the field. Hope this would result in providers giving evidence based advice to their clients. -- Dr. Bulbul Sood, Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA)/India
Good work -- We're glad to have been an integral part of the handbook's conceptualization and realization! -- Dr. Roy Jacobstein, EngenderHealth
It is an honor for JSI to be added to the list of contributing organizations to use and promote this handbook in the field projects throughout the world. Congratulations to your department WHO, USAID, and JHSPH for this excellent contribution to the cause of reproductive health. -- Dr. Theo Lippeveld, Vice President, John Snow Inc.
I have just returned from the DR, where I was working with PROFAMILIA. Once more I realized that the Handbook will be a tremendous help to providers and policy-makers. -- Roberto Rivera, Family Health International (FHI)
Thank you very much for this major contribution to our efforts towards mainstreaming family planning into reproductive health programming. -- Prof. O. A. Ladipo FRCOG, OON, President/CEO, Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH), Ibadan
About the INFO Project:
The INFO Project, based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs, envisions a world of interconnected communities where shared reproductive health information improves and saves lives. Our mission is to support health care decision- making in developing countries by providing global leadership in reproductive health knowledge management.
The project receives support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
About the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs:
With representatives in more than 30 countries, The Center for Communication Programs (CCP) is a leader in the field of strategic, evidence- based, communication programs for behavior change to save lives, improve health, and enhance well-being in communities around the world. The Center is part of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the oldest and best-ranked institution of its kind. CCP works with a variety of public and private sector partners to design, implement and evaluate strategic communication programs that address the world's most pressing health concerns including HIV/AIDS, Reproductive Health, Malaria, Avian and Pandemic Influenza, Safe Water, Nutrition, and Infectious and Chronic Diseases. For more information visit: http://www.jhuccp.org/.
(1)This is from a study released July 2007 by the Guttmacher Institute. See: http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2007/07/09/index.html
Source: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs
BALTIMORE, MD. - The World Health Organization and Johns Hopkins University, have published a handbook on family planning for developing nations. The handbook, is based on the best available scientific evidence was driven by the urgent unmet needs of millions of women and families who seek information on contraception.
"People need help now," says Paul F.A. Van Look, Director of WHO's Department of Reproductive Health and Research. "The Global Handbook stands alone as the single most important, authoritative resource for family planning in the developing world. It will go a long way in helping to inform and instruct the correct applications of family planning methods."
He adds, "The handbook offers practical guidance to meet reproductive health needs of women at various stages during their child bearing years. It provides information to those practitioners in reproductive health whether they are training health professionals or working with clients."
Published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs' INFO Project, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the handbook brings together the best available scientific evidence on family planning methods and related topics into one easy-to-use publication. The book is a result of collaboration among 30 leading health organizations around the world.
Despite great progress over the last several decades, more than 100 million married women worldwide want to prevent pregnancy but are not using a contraceptive method.(1) Reasons for this unmet need are numerous. Services and supplies are not yet available everywhere; therefore, contraceptive choices are limited. Fears of social disapproval regarding use of contraception or partner's opposition to contraceptive use also pose formidable barriers. Worries about side effects or lack of knowledge about contraceptive options also prevent many women from using contraception.
The handbook updates a previous book, The Essentials of Contraceptive Technology. First published in 1997 by the Center for Communication Programs, nearly one million copies of The Essentials of Contraceptive Technology have been published in over 10 languages. This book is used extensively by family planning providers in the developing world.
"This was a remarkable undertaking that WHO convened with 30 of the world's leading health organizations," said Michael J. Klag, Dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Pubic Health.
As the fourth in WHO's cornerstones of family planning guidance series, Family Planning: A Global Handbook for Providers offers technical information to help health care providers deliver family planning methods appropriately and effectively. Together, the four cornerstones support the safe and effective provision and use of family planning methods and can be used to develop national guidelines.
The handbook is currently available in an English edition both on-line and as a printed and bound publication. Translations are planned for 10 languages, including: Spanish, French, Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese (African), Romanian, Russian, Swahili, Arabic and Urdu.
All handbooks will be distributed with a free copy of "Do You Know Your Family Planning Choices?" a wall chart summarizing key points for each contraceptive method that providers can display to clients.
Further information and instructions for ordering can be found at: http://www.fphandbook.org/.
What People Say About The Handbook
On behalf of CEDPA, I feel honored that I was part of the team which worked on the handbook. Hope this is used extensively in the field and as was discussed at the last meeting in Geneva, we should have a plan to disseminate this new book soon in the field. Hope this would result in providers giving evidence based advice to their clients. -- Dr. Bulbul Sood, Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA)/India
Good work -- We're glad to have been an integral part of the handbook's conceptualization and realization! -- Dr. Roy Jacobstein, EngenderHealth
It is an honor for JSI to be added to the list of contributing organizations to use and promote this handbook in the field projects throughout the world. Congratulations to your department WHO, USAID, and JHSPH for this excellent contribution to the cause of reproductive health. -- Dr. Theo Lippeveld, Vice President, John Snow Inc.
I have just returned from the DR, where I was working with PROFAMILIA. Once more I realized that the Handbook will be a tremendous help to providers and policy-makers. -- Roberto Rivera, Family Health International (FHI)
Thank you very much for this major contribution to our efforts towards mainstreaming family planning into reproductive health programming. -- Prof. O. A. Ladipo FRCOG, OON, President/CEO, Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH), Ibadan
About the INFO Project:
The INFO Project, based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs, envisions a world of interconnected communities where shared reproductive health information improves and saves lives. Our mission is to support health care decision- making in developing countries by providing global leadership in reproductive health knowledge management.
The project receives support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
About the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs:
With representatives in more than 30 countries, The Center for Communication Programs (CCP) is a leader in the field of strategic, evidence- based, communication programs for behavior change to save lives, improve health, and enhance well-being in communities around the world. The Center is part of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the oldest and best-ranked institution of its kind. CCP works with a variety of public and private sector partners to design, implement and evaluate strategic communication programs that address the world's most pressing health concerns including HIV/AIDS, Reproductive Health, Malaria, Avian and Pandemic Influenza, Safe Water, Nutrition, and Infectious and Chronic Diseases. For more information visit: http://www.jhuccp.org/.
(1)This is from a study released July 2007 by the Guttmacher Institute. See: http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2007/07/09/index.html
Source: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs
Islands Emerge As Arctic Ice Shrinks To Record Low
Islands Emerge As Arctic Ice Shrinks To Record Low
* Fossil Arctic Animal Tracks Point to Climate Risks
NY ALESUND, Norway - Previously unknown islands are appearing as Arctic summer sea ice shrinks to record lows, raising questions about whether global warming is outpacing U.N. projections, experts said.
Polar bears and seals have also suffered this year on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard because the sea ice they rely on for hunts melted far earlier than normal.
"Reductions of snow and ice are happening at an alarming rate," Norwegian Environment Minister Helen Bjoernoy said at a seminar of 40 scientists and politicians that began late on Monday in Ny Alesund, 1,200 km (750 miles) from the North Pole.
"This acceleration may be faster than predicted" by the U.N. climate panel this year, she told reporters at the August 20-22 seminar. Ny Alesund calls itself the world's most northerly permanent settlement, and is a base for Arctic research.
The U.N. panel of 2,500 scientists said in February that summer sea ice could almost vanish in the Arctic towards the end of this century. It said warming in the past 50 years was "very likely" the result of greenhouse gases caused by fossil fuel use.
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"There may well be an ice-free Arctic by the middle of the century," Christopher Rapley, director of the British Antarctic Survey, told the seminar, accusing the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of underestimating the melt.
The thaw of glaciers that stretch out to sea around Svalbard has revealed several islands that are not on any maps.
"Islands are appearing just over the fjord here" as glaciers recede, said Kim Holmen, research Director at the Norwegian Polar Institute, gesturing out across the bay. "We're already seeing adverse effects on polar bears and other species."
UNCLAIMED
"I know of two islands that appeared in the north of Svalbard this summer. They haven't been claimed yet," said Rune Bergstrom, environmental expert with the Norwegian governor's office on Svalbard.
He said he had seen one of the islands, roughly the size of a basketball court. Islands have also appeared in recent years off Greenland and Canada.
Rapley also said the IPCC was "restrained to the point of being seriously misleading" in toning down what he said were risks of a melt of parts of Antarctica, by far the biggest store of ice on the planet that could raise world sea levels.
Still, in a contrast to the warnings about retreating ice and climate change, snow was falling in Ny Alesund on Monday, several weeks earlier than normal in a region still bathed by the midnight sun. About 30 to 130 people live in the fjord-side settlement, backed by snow-covered mountains.
Bjoernoy said it was a freak storm that did not detract from an overall warming trend.
The U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center said on Friday that Arctic sea ice had "fallen below the 2005 record low absolute minimum and is still melting". Arctic sea ice reaches an annual minimum in September before freezing again.
The U.S. records are based on satellite data back to the 1970s.
Rapley said that shrinking ice was bad for indigenous peoples and for much wildlife but could help anyone wanting to hunt for oil and gas or open short-cut shipping lanes between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Norway hopes the seminar, with delegates from countries including top greenhouse gas emitters the United States and China, may put pressure on governments to agree to make deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, Bjoernoy said.
* Fossil Arctic Animal Tracks Point to Climate Risks
NY ALESUND, Norway - Previously unknown islands are appearing as Arctic summer sea ice shrinks to record lows, raising questions about whether global warming is outpacing U.N. projections, experts said.
Polar bears and seals have also suffered this year on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard because the sea ice they rely on for hunts melted far earlier than normal.
"Reductions of snow and ice are happening at an alarming rate," Norwegian Environment Minister Helen Bjoernoy said at a seminar of 40 scientists and politicians that began late on Monday in Ny Alesund, 1,200 km (750 miles) from the North Pole.
"This acceleration may be faster than predicted" by the U.N. climate panel this year, she told reporters at the August 20-22 seminar. Ny Alesund calls itself the world's most northerly permanent settlement, and is a base for Arctic research.
The U.N. panel of 2,500 scientists said in February that summer sea ice could almost vanish in the Arctic towards the end of this century. It said warming in the past 50 years was "very likely" the result of greenhouse gases caused by fossil fuel use.
ADVERTISEMENT
"There may well be an ice-free Arctic by the middle of the century," Christopher Rapley, director of the British Antarctic Survey, told the seminar, accusing the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of underestimating the melt.
The thaw of glaciers that stretch out to sea around Svalbard has revealed several islands that are not on any maps.
"Islands are appearing just over the fjord here" as glaciers recede, said Kim Holmen, research Director at the Norwegian Polar Institute, gesturing out across the bay. "We're already seeing adverse effects on polar bears and other species."
UNCLAIMED
"I know of two islands that appeared in the north of Svalbard this summer. They haven't been claimed yet," said Rune Bergstrom, environmental expert with the Norwegian governor's office on Svalbard.
He said he had seen one of the islands, roughly the size of a basketball court. Islands have also appeared in recent years off Greenland and Canada.
Rapley also said the IPCC was "restrained to the point of being seriously misleading" in toning down what he said were risks of a melt of parts of Antarctica, by far the biggest store of ice on the planet that could raise world sea levels.
Still, in a contrast to the warnings about retreating ice and climate change, snow was falling in Ny Alesund on Monday, several weeks earlier than normal in a region still bathed by the midnight sun. About 30 to 130 people live in the fjord-side settlement, backed by snow-covered mountains.
Bjoernoy said it was a freak storm that did not detract from an overall warming trend.
The U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center said on Friday that Arctic sea ice had "fallen below the 2005 record low absolute minimum and is still melting". Arctic sea ice reaches an annual minimum in September before freezing again.
The U.S. records are based on satellite data back to the 1970s.
Rapley said that shrinking ice was bad for indigenous peoples and for much wildlife but could help anyone wanting to hunt for oil and gas or open short-cut shipping lanes between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Norway hopes the seminar, with delegates from countries including top greenhouse gas emitters the United States and China, may put pressure on governments to agree to make deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, Bjoernoy said.
Tourists Flee In Mexico, Dean Bears Down
Tourists Flee In Mexico, Dean Bears Down
noaa.gov
TULUM, Mexico - Thousands of tourists headed for makeshift shelters on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Monday to escape from Hurricane Dean, a potentially catastrophic storm which killed nine people in the Caribbean.
Police ordered vehicles off the road and banned the sale of alcohol on the "Mayan Riviera", a strip of beach resorts with bright white sands that is yet to fully recover from the devastation of Hurricane Wilma in 2005.
With winds near 150 mph (240 kph), Dean was likely to become a rare Category 5 -- the strongest type of hurricane -- before making landfall near Mexico's border with Belize early on Tuesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The approaching storm brought back nightmare memories of Wilma, the strongest Atlantic storm recorded, which wrecked Cancun and other beach resorts. It washed away whole beaches, killed seven people and caused $2.6 billion in damages.
"A Category 5 is horrible. We've been through that," said . Marcos Ruiz, 31, a tourism ministry official in the resort of Tulum, just north of Dean's path. "The wind is so strong you can't breathe."
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Popular with European tourists, Tulum was particularly in danger as many of its arty hotels and cabins are built next to the sea.
Thousands of tourists and local residents were told to go to 2,000 shelters across the Yucatan Peninsula,
"I hate the waiting," said Scottish film producer Abbie Harper, 27, one of 150 tourists in Tulum who were taken further inland to a cramped hotel without air conditioning.
Belize, a former British colony that is home to some 250,000 people and a famous barrier reef, was also in Dean's sights. Prime Minister Said Musa went into an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss contingency plans and heavy rain began to fall in Belize City.
SPACE SHUTTLE
Dean swiped Jamaica at the weekend with howling winds and pelting rain. Roads were blocked by toppled trees and power poles. A man had been reported missing in Jamaica but police said they could not confirm any casualties
The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour is to return to Earth from the International Space Station a day early in case the storm forces NASA to evacuate its Houston center.
Some 70,000 tourists have fled Cancun and the nearby area in recent days but the resort, whose five-star hotels were gutted by ferocious wind and waves in 2005, was not forecast to take a major hit this time around.
The few tourists still left there wandered through stores picking up food and drink.
The windows of shops and restaurants on the vacation island of Cozumel, a major scuba diving center, were boarded up as winds slowly began to get stronger.
Poor local residents with badly built homes are often the worst hit by hurricanes in Mexico.
"Let's see if the house can stand it. If not, we'll go to the shelter," said Luisa Villafana, 27, an office cleaner who shares a thatched-roof home with eight other people near the town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto.
Category 5 hurricanes are rare but in 2005 there were four, including Katrina which devastated New Orleans. The number of high power storms is reinforcing research that suggests global warming may increase the strength of tropical cyclones.
The latest computer tracking models forecast the hurricane would spare the U.S. Gulf Coast but cross the Yucatan to the Campeche Sound in the southern Gulf of Mexico and then hit central Mexico.
Mexico is closing and evacuating all of its 407 oil and gas wells in the Campeche Sound due to Hurricane Dean, meaning lost production of 2.65 million barrels of crude per day.
Four people were killed by the storm in Haiti, U.N. officials said, putting the number killed at nine since Dean roared into the Caribbean.
Dean was on Monday passing more than 125 miles to the southwest of the tiny Cayman Islands, a British territory in the western Caribbean.
noaa.gov
TULUM, Mexico - Thousands of tourists headed for makeshift shelters on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Monday to escape from Hurricane Dean, a potentially catastrophic storm which killed nine people in the Caribbean.
Police ordered vehicles off the road and banned the sale of alcohol on the "Mayan Riviera", a strip of beach resorts with bright white sands that is yet to fully recover from the devastation of Hurricane Wilma in 2005.
With winds near 150 mph (240 kph), Dean was likely to become a rare Category 5 -- the strongest type of hurricane -- before making landfall near Mexico's border with Belize early on Tuesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The approaching storm brought back nightmare memories of Wilma, the strongest Atlantic storm recorded, which wrecked Cancun and other beach resorts. It washed away whole beaches, killed seven people and caused $2.6 billion in damages.
"A Category 5 is horrible. We've been through that," said . Marcos Ruiz, 31, a tourism ministry official in the resort of Tulum, just north of Dean's path. "The wind is so strong you can't breathe."
ADVERTISEMENT
Popular with European tourists, Tulum was particularly in danger as many of its arty hotels and cabins are built next to the sea.
Thousands of tourists and local residents were told to go to 2,000 shelters across the Yucatan Peninsula,
"I hate the waiting," said Scottish film producer Abbie Harper, 27, one of 150 tourists in Tulum who were taken further inland to a cramped hotel without air conditioning.
Belize, a former British colony that is home to some 250,000 people and a famous barrier reef, was also in Dean's sights. Prime Minister Said Musa went into an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss contingency plans and heavy rain began to fall in Belize City.
SPACE SHUTTLE
Dean swiped Jamaica at the weekend with howling winds and pelting rain. Roads were blocked by toppled trees and power poles. A man had been reported missing in Jamaica but police said they could not confirm any casualties
The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour is to return to Earth from the International Space Station a day early in case the storm forces NASA to evacuate its Houston center.
Some 70,000 tourists have fled Cancun and the nearby area in recent days but the resort, whose five-star hotels were gutted by ferocious wind and waves in 2005, was not forecast to take a major hit this time around.
The few tourists still left there wandered through stores picking up food and drink.
The windows of shops and restaurants on the vacation island of Cozumel, a major scuba diving center, were boarded up as winds slowly began to get stronger.
Poor local residents with badly built homes are often the worst hit by hurricanes in Mexico.
"Let's see if the house can stand it. If not, we'll go to the shelter," said Luisa Villafana, 27, an office cleaner who shares a thatched-roof home with eight other people near the town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto.
Category 5 hurricanes are rare but in 2005 there were four, including Katrina which devastated New Orleans. The number of high power storms is reinforcing research that suggests global warming may increase the strength of tropical cyclones.
The latest computer tracking models forecast the hurricane would spare the U.S. Gulf Coast but cross the Yucatan to the Campeche Sound in the southern Gulf of Mexico and then hit central Mexico.
Mexico is closing and evacuating all of its 407 oil and gas wells in the Campeche Sound due to Hurricane Dean, meaning lost production of 2.65 million barrels of crude per day.
Four people were killed by the storm in Haiti, U.N. officials said, putting the number killed at nine since Dean roared into the Caribbean.
Dean was on Monday passing more than 125 miles to the southwest of the tiny Cayman Islands, a British territory in the western Caribbean.
WWII airman’s body found on receding Kings Canyon glacier
Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer
.
(08-20) 19:10 PDT -- The frozen remains of a missing World War II airman have been discovered on a remote glacier in Kings Canyon National Park, not far from the spot where the body of his apparent crewmate was discovered in 2005, it was announced on Monday.
A hiker discovered the remains on Wednesday at an elevation of 12,300 feet near Mount Darwin inside the park. The remains, which were accompanied by a World War II era uniform and parachute, were being taken on Monday to the the Fresno County coroner's office.
Because of the cold temperature at the recovery site on the Mendel Glacier, the remains included skin, hair and soft tissue, according to Army Major Brian DeSantis of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Hawaii. The command will work to identify the body once the coroner releases it to the military.
"This body was found 100 feet from where the last one was found,'' DeSantis said. "We're hopeful it's from the same incident.''
On Oct. 16, 2005, an ice climber found the body of a man later identified as Leo Mustonen, 22, one of four fliers aboard an Army Air Corps AT-7 plane that took off from Mather Air Force Base on Nov. 18, 1942, on a routine training mission and was never heard from again. The plane was believed to have crashed in a blizzard.
After Mustonen's body was found, searchers scoured the area, looking for other remains, but were hampered by the thick snowpack.
This summer, however, the snowpack at the site was about one-third of normal, DeSantis said.
"Basically, the snow and ice receded enough for the remains to become exposed,'' he said.
DeSantis said a military forensic anthropologist is on his way to Fresno to assist authorities in identifying the remains.
E-mail Steve Rubenstein at srubenstein@sfchronicle.com
.
(08-20) 19:10 PDT -- The frozen remains of a missing World War II airman have been discovered on a remote glacier in Kings Canyon National Park, not far from the spot where the body of his apparent crewmate was discovered in 2005, it was announced on Monday.
A hiker discovered the remains on Wednesday at an elevation of 12,300 feet near Mount Darwin inside the park. The remains, which were accompanied by a World War II era uniform and parachute, were being taken on Monday to the the Fresno County coroner's office.
Because of the cold temperature at the recovery site on the Mendel Glacier, the remains included skin, hair and soft tissue, according to Army Major Brian DeSantis of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Hawaii. The command will work to identify the body once the coroner releases it to the military.
"This body was found 100 feet from where the last one was found,'' DeSantis said. "We're hopeful it's from the same incident.''
On Oct. 16, 2005, an ice climber found the body of a man later identified as Leo Mustonen, 22, one of four fliers aboard an Army Air Corps AT-7 plane that took off from Mather Air Force Base on Nov. 18, 1942, on a routine training mission and was never heard from again. The plane was believed to have crashed in a blizzard.
After Mustonen's body was found, searchers scoured the area, looking for other remains, but were hampered by the thick snowpack.
This summer, however, the snowpack at the site was about one-third of normal, DeSantis said.
"Basically, the snow and ice receded enough for the remains to become exposed,'' he said.
DeSantis said a military forensic anthropologist is on his way to Fresno to assist authorities in identifying the remains.
E-mail Steve Rubenstein at srubenstein@sfchronicle.com
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Dean to hit Jamaica with 155 mph winds
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNN) -- Residents and tourists hunkered down Sunday morning as Hurricane Dean, a Category 4 storm, roared through the western Caribbean on a collision course with Jamaica.
art.dean.haiti.ap.jpg
A curfew was imposed Saturday evening and remained in effect Sunday, the police commissioner said.
At 10 a.m. (11 a.m. ET) Sunday, officials planned to cut the island's electricity as a precaution, according to Jamaica Public Service Company -- the sole distributor of electricity in Jamaica. In addition, the National Water Commission said it has already turned off some water pumps, especially in places prone to flooding.
Storm forecasters described Dean as "extremely dangerous" with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph. It is forecast to reach Category 5 intensity with winds in excess of 155 mph before bearing down on Jamaica.
In an advisory at 11 a.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center said hurricane-force winds extended 60 miles from the center; tropical storm-force winds extend up to 205 miles. It was moving west at 18 mph and was expected to continue moving west or northwest over the next day. Video Watch Dean from space »
The massive storm was about 130 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and is expected to be very near Jamaica by early Sunday afternoon, the advisory said.
A hurricane watch has been issued for part of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, from Chetumal to San Felipe, the hurricane center said.
The storm has been blamed for at least five deaths as it crossed the Lesser Antilles. Police on St. Lucia said a man drowned in a river while trying to retrieve a cow. Media on Dominica reported a woman and her son died in a landslide. Two more people died on Martinique, The Associated Press reported, citing local authorities.
Jamaica and the Cayman Islands were under a hurricane warning, as was the southwestern peninsula of Haiti from west of the Haiti-Dominican Republic border to Port-au-Prince. A hurricane warning means hurricane conditions are expected in the warning area within 24 hours.
The full force of the hurricane was anticipated near dawn Sunday.
U.N. officials in Port-au-Prince have urged residents to seek shelter in churches and other sturdy buildings before dark, emphasizing that once winds increase, it would be too late to move around. Flights in and out of the city were canceled Saturday, meaning no one else was getting on or off the island.
North of Port-au-Prince -- to the northern Haiti-Dominican Republic border --remained under a tropical storm warning, which means tropical storm conditions are expected within 24 hours.
As of 5 a.m., a tropical storm warning covering the Dominican Republic was no longer in effect. See Dean' projected path »
"I think the Jamaican people have taken the warning very seriously," said Lincoln Robinson, spokesman for Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, referring Saturday to government announcements ordering people to be prepared.
Jamaicans rushed to supermarkets to stock up on groceries, batteries and nonperishable food items, said Jamaican reporter Kirk Abraham. "There are long lines."
In Montego Bay, Jamaica, the weather was calm, but residents were tense. Food and water was being put in place for emergency aid to be offered.
The airport had closed, and the last planes off the island had left. Earlier, Air Jamaica said all flights Sunday from Jamaica to the United States, Toronto and London will be canceled, but Sunday flights from New York to St. Lucia and Barbados will operate as scheduled.
Long-range computer models show Dean entering the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico early next week after crossing the tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and blowing toward the U.S. Gulf Coast at Category 3 strength. It is expected to make landfall at mid-week.
If Dean hits the United States mainland as a hurricane, it would be the first landfall since October 2005 when Wilma ripped across south Florida.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency, as did Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who called Dean an "imminent" threat and took steps to begin deploying emergency responders to the coast.
Blanco, whose state was devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, urged state residents to "be prepared for the worst and hope for the best."
Perry requested and received a pre-landfall emergency disaster declaration from President Bush on Saturday, National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters.
The declaration allows the federal government to move in supplies and authorize federal money. In addition, Johndroe said, the federal government was reaching out to the Mexican government and preparing to help those with special needs along the Texas coast, including the elderly and those with medical conditions.
Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador in Jamaica is working with authorities there, Johndroe said, and U.S. Agency for International Development teams are in place to distribute emergency relief if necessary.
Early Sunday, officials in Cuba issued a tropical storm watch over eastern portions of the island nation and the province of Guantanamo, where the U.S. naval base is located. Photo See how the Caribbean is bracing for the monster storm »
Five to 10 inches of rain can be expected over Jamaica, with maximum amounts of up to 20 inches. Southern Haiti could receive 4 to 6 inches of rain, with a maximum of 10 inches possible.
The remainder of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and eastern Cuba could receive 2 to 4 inches of rain, with up to 7 inches possible. The Cayman Islands could receive 4 to 8 inches of rain, with a maximum of 12 inches possible
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Forecasters warned that the rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.
A coastal storm surge of 7 to 9 feet over normal tide levels, along with large and dangerous waves, are possible near the center of the storm in the hurricane warning area, forecasters sai
art.dean.haiti.ap.jpg
A curfew was imposed Saturday evening and remained in effect Sunday, the police commissioner said.
At 10 a.m. (11 a.m. ET) Sunday, officials planned to cut the island's electricity as a precaution, according to Jamaica Public Service Company -- the sole distributor of electricity in Jamaica. In addition, the National Water Commission said it has already turned off some water pumps, especially in places prone to flooding.
Storm forecasters described Dean as "extremely dangerous" with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph. It is forecast to reach Category 5 intensity with winds in excess of 155 mph before bearing down on Jamaica.
In an advisory at 11 a.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center said hurricane-force winds extended 60 miles from the center; tropical storm-force winds extend up to 205 miles. It was moving west at 18 mph and was expected to continue moving west or northwest over the next day. Video Watch Dean from space »
The massive storm was about 130 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and is expected to be very near Jamaica by early Sunday afternoon, the advisory said.
A hurricane watch has been issued for part of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, from Chetumal to San Felipe, the hurricane center said.
The storm has been blamed for at least five deaths as it crossed the Lesser Antilles. Police on St. Lucia said a man drowned in a river while trying to retrieve a cow. Media on Dominica reported a woman and her son died in a landslide. Two more people died on Martinique, The Associated Press reported, citing local authorities.
Jamaica and the Cayman Islands were under a hurricane warning, as was the southwestern peninsula of Haiti from west of the Haiti-Dominican Republic border to Port-au-Prince. A hurricane warning means hurricane conditions are expected in the warning area within 24 hours.
The full force of the hurricane was anticipated near dawn Sunday.
U.N. officials in Port-au-Prince have urged residents to seek shelter in churches and other sturdy buildings before dark, emphasizing that once winds increase, it would be too late to move around. Flights in and out of the city were canceled Saturday, meaning no one else was getting on or off the island.
North of Port-au-Prince -- to the northern Haiti-Dominican Republic border --remained under a tropical storm warning, which means tropical storm conditions are expected within 24 hours.
As of 5 a.m., a tropical storm warning covering the Dominican Republic was no longer in effect. See Dean' projected path »
"I think the Jamaican people have taken the warning very seriously," said Lincoln Robinson, spokesman for Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, referring Saturday to government announcements ordering people to be prepared.
Jamaicans rushed to supermarkets to stock up on groceries, batteries and nonperishable food items, said Jamaican reporter Kirk Abraham. "There are long lines."
In Montego Bay, Jamaica, the weather was calm, but residents were tense. Food and water was being put in place for emergency aid to be offered.
The airport had closed, and the last planes off the island had left. Earlier, Air Jamaica said all flights Sunday from Jamaica to the United States, Toronto and London will be canceled, but Sunday flights from New York to St. Lucia and Barbados will operate as scheduled.
Long-range computer models show Dean entering the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico early next week after crossing the tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and blowing toward the U.S. Gulf Coast at Category 3 strength. It is expected to make landfall at mid-week.
If Dean hits the United States mainland as a hurricane, it would be the first landfall since October 2005 when Wilma ripped across south Florida.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency, as did Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who called Dean an "imminent" threat and took steps to begin deploying emergency responders to the coast.
Blanco, whose state was devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, urged state residents to "be prepared for the worst and hope for the best."
Perry requested and received a pre-landfall emergency disaster declaration from President Bush on Saturday, National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters.
The declaration allows the federal government to move in supplies and authorize federal money. In addition, Johndroe said, the federal government was reaching out to the Mexican government and preparing to help those with special needs along the Texas coast, including the elderly and those with medical conditions.
Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador in Jamaica is working with authorities there, Johndroe said, and U.S. Agency for International Development teams are in place to distribute emergency relief if necessary.
Early Sunday, officials in Cuba issued a tropical storm watch over eastern portions of the island nation and the province of Guantanamo, where the U.S. naval base is located. Photo See how the Caribbean is bracing for the monster storm »
Five to 10 inches of rain can be expected over Jamaica, with maximum amounts of up to 20 inches. Southern Haiti could receive 4 to 6 inches of rain, with a maximum of 10 inches possible.
The remainder of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and eastern Cuba could receive 2 to 4 inches of rain, with up to 7 inches possible. The Cayman Islands could receive 4 to 8 inches of rain, with a maximum of 12 inches possible
advertisement
Forecasters warned that the rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.
A coastal storm surge of 7 to 9 feet over normal tide levels, along with large and dangerous waves, are possible near the center of the storm in the hurricane warning area, forecasters sai
Heat wave claims 49 lives in Southeast, Midwest
CNN
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- Authorities in Memphis and Alabama reported 10 more heat-related deaths Saturday, bringing the toll in the Southeast and Midwest to at least 49 since oppressive triple-digit temperatures settled over the region last week.
art.110f.ap.jpg
A sign on Thursday tells the story about the heat in Huntsville, Alabama.
Click to view previous image
1 of 2
Click to view next image
more photos »
In Memphis alone, heat has been blamed as a factor in 12 deaths, mostly elderly victims, in nine days. A 62-year-old man was found dead in his home Friday, the Shelby County Medical Examiner's office announced. The body of a 77-year-old woman was found Thursday evening in her residence, where the temperature inside was 101.
"She had a fan on and had a small AC unit, but it was switched to 'fan' and was only blowing out hot air," said Shelby County Medical Examiner Karen Chancellor said Friday.
The woman had no known medical conditions, but an autopsy showed signs of heart disease, Chancellor said. Photo Photos of how nation is coping »
Memphis has had nine straight days of triple-digit temperatures and forecasters say the high could reach 102 on Sunday. The local health department said the city's heat index -- a measure that factors in humidity to describe how hot it feels -- has broken 100 every day since June 27.
The city's senior and community centers extended hours and offered shuttle service to allow people without air conditioning to escape the sweltering heat. The city-owned Memphis Light, Gas and Water utility will start donating and installing 200 window AC units next week.
"It would be best to get to an air-conditioned environment for a least a few hours a day," Chancellor said.
Don't Miss
* Heat wave broils Southeast
In north Alabama, one reactor at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant remained idle Friday and two others were operating at reduced power because of overheated water in the Tennessee River, which is used to cool the plant.
"This all comes down to the drought and the hot weather," said plant spokesman Jason Huffine.
Health officials in Alabama announced Friday that eight people there had died of heat-related causes this week and last week. The state has had 11 straight days with triple-digit temperatures, breaking records that dated back to 1881 in some areas.
Details concerning all the deaths were not immediately available, but officials said they included a 59-year-old woman found dead Wednesday in her Decatur home, and a 64-year-old man found dead Monday in his home in the Lacey's Spring community.
In Elmore County, an anonymous donor gave county schools 20,160 bottles of water Friday for children to drink on school buses that have no air conditioning. County schools spokeswoman Judy Caton said the system began receiving donations of bottled water after school officials announced earlier this week they would allow students to drink water on buses because of the heat.
"The kids were so thrilled. They were quiet on the buses and just sat in their seats and drank their water," Caton said.
advertisement
For the weekend, the National Weather Service forecast highs in the lower 90s in much of the Midwest and in the middle and upper 90s across the Southeast.
Last summer, a heat wave killed at least 50 people in the Midwest and East. California officially reported a death toll of 143, but authorities last month acknowledged the number may have been far higher. A 1995 heat wave in Chicago was blamed for 700 deaths. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- Authorities in Memphis and Alabama reported 10 more heat-related deaths Saturday, bringing the toll in the Southeast and Midwest to at least 49 since oppressive triple-digit temperatures settled over the region last week.
art.110f.ap.jpg
A sign on Thursday tells the story about the heat in Huntsville, Alabama.
Click to view previous image
1 of 2
Click to view next image
more photos »
In Memphis alone, heat has been blamed as a factor in 12 deaths, mostly elderly victims, in nine days. A 62-year-old man was found dead in his home Friday, the Shelby County Medical Examiner's office announced. The body of a 77-year-old woman was found Thursday evening in her residence, where the temperature inside was 101.
"She had a fan on and had a small AC unit, but it was switched to 'fan' and was only blowing out hot air," said Shelby County Medical Examiner Karen Chancellor said Friday.
The woman had no known medical conditions, but an autopsy showed signs of heart disease, Chancellor said. Photo Photos of how nation is coping »
Memphis has had nine straight days of triple-digit temperatures and forecasters say the high could reach 102 on Sunday. The local health department said the city's heat index -- a measure that factors in humidity to describe how hot it feels -- has broken 100 every day since June 27.
The city's senior and community centers extended hours and offered shuttle service to allow people without air conditioning to escape the sweltering heat. The city-owned Memphis Light, Gas and Water utility will start donating and installing 200 window AC units next week.
"It would be best to get to an air-conditioned environment for a least a few hours a day," Chancellor said.
Don't Miss
* Heat wave broils Southeast
In north Alabama, one reactor at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant remained idle Friday and two others were operating at reduced power because of overheated water in the Tennessee River, which is used to cool the plant.
"This all comes down to the drought and the hot weather," said plant spokesman Jason Huffine.
Health officials in Alabama announced Friday that eight people there had died of heat-related causes this week and last week. The state has had 11 straight days with triple-digit temperatures, breaking records that dated back to 1881 in some areas.
Details concerning all the deaths were not immediately available, but officials said they included a 59-year-old woman found dead Wednesday in her Decatur home, and a 64-year-old man found dead Monday in his home in the Lacey's Spring community.
In Elmore County, an anonymous donor gave county schools 20,160 bottles of water Friday for children to drink on school buses that have no air conditioning. County schools spokeswoman Judy Caton said the system began receiving donations of bottled water after school officials announced earlier this week they would allow students to drink water on buses because of the heat.
"The kids were so thrilled. They were quiet on the buses and just sat in their seats and drank their water," Caton said.
advertisement
For the weekend, the National Weather Service forecast highs in the lower 90s in much of the Midwest and in the middle and upper 90s across the Southeast.
Last summer, a heat wave killed at least 50 people in the Midwest and East. California officially reported a death toll of 143, but authorities last month acknowledged the number may have been far higher. A 1995 heat wave in Chicago was blamed for 700 deaths. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend
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