#Environmental Risk Mitigation

[freyrsolutions]

Explore the EU regulatory landscape for environmental risk assessments of pharmaceuticals. Learn about key requirements, guidelines, and compliance strategies.

[m2ysafety1]

NEBOSH Environmental Awareness at Work Qualification

The NEBOSH Environmental Awareness at Work Qualification offered in partnership with M2Y Safety Consultancy provides essential knowledge and skills to enhance environmental awareness and promote sustainable practices in the workplace. This qualification equips individuals with the tools to identify and mitigate environmental risks, ensuring compliance with environmental regulations and fostering a culture of environmental responsibility within organizations.

[collapseofindustrialcivilization]

Sea Level Rise and the Collapse of Industrial Civilization: Lessons from Paleoclimate and Modern Science

Introduction The collapse of industrial civilization is often imagined as a distant, almost cinematic event, triggered by war, pandemic, or sudden resource exhaustion. Yet the most credible threat may be the slow, relentless encroachment of the sea—a process already underway, driven by the warming atmosphere and the melting of ancient ice. Recent advances in paleoclimate research, especially the…

[asestimationsconsultants]

How a Cost Estimating Service Might Integrate with Smart City Infrastructure

The concept of smart cities is rapidly transforming urban environments, with technology-driven systems aiming to improve the quality of life, reduce costs, and enhance sustainability. As cities evolve, integrating advanced infrastructure that supports data collection, automation, and efficient resource management becomes essential. However, these developments often require significant investments, making cost estimation a critical part of the planning process. A cost estimating service can play a vital role in the successful integration of smart city infrastructure, providing essential financial insights and risk mitigation strategies for city planners, developers, and government entities.

The Role of Cost Estimating Services in Smart City Projects

Smart city projects involve a broad range of infrastructure components, from intelligent transportation systems to energy-efficient buildings and waste management networks. Each component presents its own set of challenges, particularly in terms of budget and resource allocation. A cost estimating service can break down these complex projects into manageable financial segments, offering detailed cost assessments for every phase of development.

For example, when building a smart transportation network, the cost estimating service can analyze various components like sensors, communication systems, and data analytics platforms. By providing detailed cost breakdowns, the service helps planners determine the financial feasibility of each technology, as well as its potential for long-term returns. Similarly, in the development of smart energy grids or green building technologies, accurate cost estimation ensures that projects are financially viable and sustainable over time.

Forecasting and Planning for Long-Term Costs

One of the primary benefits of integrating a cost estimating service into smart city planning is its ability to forecast long-term costs. While the initial investment in smart infrastructure may be high, these technologies often lead to substantial savings in the long run. For instance, smart lighting systems can reduce energy consumption by adjusting brightness based on real-time data, and smart water systems can optimize usage to reduce waste. A cost estimating service can project these long-term savings, allowing stakeholders to assess whether the benefits outweigh the initial costs.

By accurately forecasting long-term maintenance and operational expenses, the estimating service also helps planners build more comprehensive and sustainable budgets. This ensures that city governments or private developers are not only focused on the upfront costs but also prepared for ongoing expenses that are integral to maintaining smart infrastructure.

Risk Mitigation and Contingency Planning

Like any large-scale urban project, smart city infrastructure development comes with its own set of risks, including technological challenges, regulatory hurdles, and unexpected material price fluctuations. A cost estimating service integrates risk mitigation strategies into its financial models, helping stakeholders anticipate and prepare for potential issues.

For example, if a particular technology used in the smart city project faces delays in production or suffers from unforeseen compatibility issues, the cost estimating service can adjust the project budget to reflect these changes. Additionally, by considering factors like inflation and regulatory changes, the service can provide contingency plans that safeguard the project’s financial health.

Integration with Smart City Technologies

A significant advantage of utilizing a cost estimating service in smart city infrastructure projects is its ability to integrate with other smart technologies. For instance, the estimating service can be connected to sensors and real-time data streams from construction sites and infrastructure systems. This integration allows for the continuous monitoring of project costs, providing up-to-date financial assessments that adapt to the evolving needs of the smart city.

Furthermore, through the use of digital twins—virtual replicas of physical assets—cost estimating services can continuously track the performance of smart infrastructure once it is operational. By integrating these technologies, the estimating service can forecast maintenance costs and predict when upgrades or replacements will be necessary, ensuring that financial planning remains accurate over the lifetime of the infrastructure.

Supporting Sustainable Development Goals

As cities aim to meet ambitious sustainability goals, a cost estimating service is crucial for ensuring that smart infrastructure aligns with these objectives. For example, when planning for energy-efficient buildings, a cost estimating service can assess the cost of green building technologies such as solar panels, energy-efficient HVAC systems, and eco-friendly construction materials.

Additionally, estimating services can help prioritize projects that have the greatest environmental impact, such as sustainable water management systems or renewable energy grids. By factoring in the environmental benefits of smart infrastructure, the estimating service not only supports the financial viability of projects but also contributes to broader sustainability goals for smart cities.

Conclusion

The integration of smart city infrastructure presents an exciting opportunity for urban development, but it also brings a unique set of financial challenges. By utilizing a cost estimating service, city planners, developers, and governments can ensure that these projects are financially feasible, sustainable, and equipped to meet long-term objectives. With the ability to forecast costs, mitigate risks, and integrate with other smart technologies, cost estimating services are essential tools for the successful implementation of smart city initiatives. As urban areas continue to evolve, these services will play an increasingly important role in creating cities that are not only smart but also financially resilient and sustainable.

[asgardian--angels]

Planet's Fucked: What Can You Do To Help? (Long Post)

Since nobody is talking about the existential threat to the climate and the environment a second Trump term/Republican government control will cause, which to me supersedes literally every other issue, I wanted to just say my two cents, and some things you can do to help. I am a conservation biologist, whose field was hit substantially by the first Trump presidency. I study wild bees, birds, and plants.

In case anyone forgot what he did last time, he gagged scientists' ability to talk about climate change, he tried zeroing budgets for agencies like the NOAA, he attempted to gut protections in the Endangered Species Act (mainly by redefining 'take' in a way that would allow corporations to destroy habitat of imperiled species with no ramifications), he tried to do the same for the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (the law that offers official protection for native non-game birds), he sought to expand oil and coal extraction from federal protected lands, he shrunk the size of multiple national preserves, HE PULLED US OUT OF THE PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT, and more.

We are at a crucial tipping point in being able to slow the pace of climate change, where we decide what emissions scenario we will operate at, with existential consequences for both the environment and people. We are also in the middle of the Sixth Mass Extinction, with the rate of species extinctions far surpassing background rates due completely to human actions. What we do now will determine the fate of the environment for hundreds or thousands of years - from our ability to grow key food crops (goodbye corn belt! I hated you anyway but), to the pressure on coastal communities that will face the brunt of sea level rise and intensifying extreme weather events, to desertification, ocean acidification, wildfires, melting permafrost (yay, outbreaks of deadly frozen viruses!), and a breaking down of ecosystems and ecosystem services due to continued habitat loss and species declines, especially insect declines. The fact that the environment is clearly a low priority issue despite the very real existential threat to so many people, is beyond my ability to understand. I do partly blame the public education system for offering no mandatory environmental science curriculum or any at all in most places. What it means is that it will take the support of everyone who does care to make any amount of difference in this steeply uphill battle.

There are not enough environmental scientists to solve these issues, not if public support is not on our side and the majority of the general public is either uninformed or actively hostile towards climate science (or any conservation science).

So what can you, my fellow Americans, do to help mitigate and minimize the inevitable damage that lay ahead?

I'm not going to tell you to recycle more or take shorter showers. I'll be honest, that stuff is a drop in the bucket. What does matter on the individual level is restoring and protecting habitat, reducing threats to at-risk species, reducing pesticide use, improving agricultural practices, and pushing for policy changes. Restoring CONNECTIVITY to our landscape - corridors of contiguous habitat - will make all the difference for wildlife to be able to survive a changing climate and continued human population expansion.

**Caveat that I work in the northeast with pollinators and birds so I cannot provide specific organizations for some topics, including climate change focused NGOs. Scientists on tumblr who specialize in other fields, please add your own recommended resources. **

We need two things: FUNDING and MANPOWER.

You may surprised to find that an insane amount of conservation work is carried out by volunteers. We don't ever have the funds to pay most of the people who want to help. If you really really care, consider going into a conservation-related field as a career. It's rewarding, passionate work.

At the national level, please support:

The Nature Conservancy

Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Cornell Lab of Ornithology (including eBird)

National Audubon Society

Federal Duck Stamps (you don't need to be a hunter to buy one!)

These first four work to acquire and restore critical habitat, change environmental policy, and educate the public. There is almost certainly a Nature Conservancy-owned property within driving distance of you. Xerces plays a very large role in pollinator conservation, including sustainable agriculture, native bee monitoring programs, and the Bee City/Bee Campus USA programs. The Lab of O is one of the world's leaders in bird research and conservation. Audubon focuses on bird conservation. You can get annual memberships to these organizations and receive cool swag and/or a subscription to their publications which are well worth it. You can also volunteer your time; we need thousands of volunteers to do everything from conducting wildlife surveys, invasive species removal, providing outreach programming, managing habitat/clearing trails, planting trees, you name it. Federal Duck Stamps are the major revenue for wetland conservation; hunters need to buy them to hunt waterfowl but anyone can get them to collect!

THERE ARE DEFINITELY MORE, but these are a start.

Additionally, any federal or local organizations that seek to provide support and relief to those affected by hurricanes, sea level rise, any form of coastal climate change...

At the regional level:

These are a list of topics that affect major regions of the United States. Since I do not work in most of these areas I don't feel confident recommending specific organizations, but please seek resources relating to these as they are likely major conservation issues near you.

PRAIRIE CONSERVATION & PRAIRIE POTHOLE WETLANDS

DRYING OF THE COLORADO RIVER (good overview video linked)

PROTECTION OF ESTUARIES AND SALTMARSH, ESPECIALLY IN THE DELAWARE BAY AND LONG ISLAND (and mangroves further south, everglades etc; this includes restoring LIVING SHORELINES instead of concrete storm walls; also check out the likely-soon extinction of saltmarsh sparrows)

UNDAMMING MAJOR RIVERS (not just the Colorado; restoring salmon runs, restoring historic floodplains)

NATIVE POLLINATOR DECLINES (NOT honeybees. for fuck's sake. honeybees are non-native domesticated animals. don't you DARE get honeybee hives to 'save the bees')

WILDLIFE ALONG THE SOUTHERN BORDER (support the Mission Butterfly Center!)

INVASIVE PLANT AND ANIMAL SPECIES (this is everywhere but the specifics will differ regionally, dear lord please help Hawaii)

LOSS OF WETLANDS NATIONWIDE (some states have lost over 90% of their wetlands, I'm looking at you California, Ohio, Illinois)

INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE, esp in the CORN BELT and CALIFORNIA - this is an issue much bigger than each of us, but we can work incrementally to promote sustainable practices and create habitat in farmland-dominated areas. Support small, local farms, especially those that use soil regenerative practices, no-till agriculture, no pesticides/Integrated Pest Management/no neonicotinoids/at least non-persistent pesticides. We need more farmers enrolling in NRCS programs to put farmland in temporary or permanent wetland easements, or to rent the land for a 30-year solar farm cycle. We've lost over 99% of our prairies to corn and soybeans. Let's not make it 100%.

INDIGENOUS LAND-BACK EFFORTS/INDIGENOUS LAND MANAGEMENT/TEK (adding this because there have been increasing efforts not just for reparations but to also allow indigenous communities to steward and manage lands either fully independently or alongside western science, and it would have great benefits for both people and the land; I know others on here could speak much more on this. Please platform indigenous voices)

HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS (get your neighbors to stop dumping fertilizers on their lawn next to lakes, reduce agricultural runoff)

OCEAN PLASTIC (it's not straws, it's mostly commercial fishing line/trawling equipment and microplastics)

A lot of these are interconnected. And of course not a complete list.

At the state and local level:

You probably have the most power to make change at the local level!

Support or volunteer at your local nature centers, local/state land conservancy non-profits (find out who owns&manages the preserves you like to hike at!), state fish & game dept/non-game program, local Audubon chapters (they do a LOT). Participate in a Christmas Bird Count!

Join local garden clubs, which install and maintain town plantings - encourage them to use NATIVE plants. Join a community garden!

Get your college campus or city/town certified in the Bee Campus USA/Bee City USA programs from the Xerces Society

Check out your state's official plant nursery, forest society, natural heritage program, anything that you could become a member of, get plants from, or volunteer at.

Volunteer to be part of your town's conservation commission, which makes decisions about land management and funding

Attend classes or volunteer with your land grant university's cooperative extension (including master gardener programs)

Literally any volunteer effort aimed at improving the local environment, whether that's picking up litter, pulling invasive plants, installing a local garden, planting trees in a city park, ANYTHING. make a positive change in your own sphere. learn the local issues affecting your nearby ecosystems. I guarantee some lake or river nearby is polluted

MAKE HABITAT IN YOUR COMMUNITY. Biggest thing you can do. Use plants native to your area in your yard or garden. Ditch your lawn. Don't use pesticides (including mosquito spraying, tick spraying, Roundup, etc). Don't use fertilizers that will run off into drinking water. Leave the leaves in your yard. Get your school/college to plant native gardens. Plant native trees (most trees planted in yards are not native). Remove invasive plants in your yard.

On this last point, HERE ARE EASY ONLINE RESOURCES TO FIND NATIVE PLANTS and LEARN ABOUT NATIVE GARDENING:

Xerces Society Pollinator Conservation Resource Center

Pollinator Pathway

Audubon Native Plant Finder

Homegrown National Park (and Doug Tallamy's other books)

National Wildlife Federation Native Plant Finder (clunky but somewhat helpful)

Heather Holm (for prairie/midwest/northeast)

MonarchGard w/ Benjamin Vogt (for prairie/midwest)

Native Plant Trust (northeast & mid-atlantic)

Grow Native Massachusetts (northeast)

Habitat Gardening in Central New York (northeast)

There are many more - I'm not familiar with resources for western states. Print books are your biggest friend. Happy to provide a list of those.

Lastly, you can help scientists monitor species using citizen science. Contribute to iNaturalist, eBird, Bumblebee Watch, or any number of more geographically or taxonomically targeted programs (for instance, our state has a butterfly census carried out by citizen volunteers).

In short? Get curious, get educated, get involved. Notice your local nature, find out how it's threatened, and find out who's working to protect it that you can help with. The health of the planet, including our resilience to climate change, is determined by small local efforts to maintain and restore habitat. That is how we survive this. When government funding won't come, when we're beat back at every turn trying to get policy changed, it comes down to each individual person creating a safe refuge for nature.

Thanks for reading this far. Please feel free to add your own credible resources and organizations.

[newsepick]

Global Cyclone Impact: A Detailed Summary

Read to know more about Cyclones- powerful tropical storms, that wreak havoc with high winds and heavy rain. Learn about their formation, intensity, and how they leave a devastating impact on regions worldwide

[organicbeing]

Illuminating the Hidden Perils: How Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Could Impact Your Health

In the hustle and bustle of our modern world, we often overlook the invisible forces that surround us. Among these, radiofrequency radiation, emitted by ubiquitous technologies like Wi-Fi routers and Bluetooth devices, permeates our daily lives. Could this “radiofrequency pollution” be silently wreaking havoc on our health? At first glance, the notion might seem far-fetched, even absurd. Yet, as…

[sgurrenergy11]

Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation- Framework for Flood Risk Analysis for Solar PV Plants

Climate change significantly influences the precipitation pattern of the Area of Impact (AOI) for Solar Power Plants. This influence eventually poses risks to the power generation, inadequacy of the generating assets and damage to the associated infrastructure of the project. Hydrological Risk Assessment being a critical component of solar power plant design, involves the identification of potential hazards and design mitigation strategies. Considering Climate Change scenarios during hydrological risk assessment for solar power is highly important due to the following reasons: –

Changes in precipitation levels can lead to water unavailability and increased runoff. Design of water storage and drainage systems for solar PV system needs to be reviewed and vetted beforehand to ensure resilience. It may lead to more intense and frequent rainfall events. Higher precipitation intensity can overwhelm drainage systems and increase the risk of localised flooding. Climate change can also cause shifts in the distribution of rainfall, affecting the timing and geographic patterns of precipitation. This can lead to changes in river flow regimes and impact flood risk in different regions. Incorporating these changes in the flood risk assessments helps identify areas prone to increased or decreased flood risk. The flood risk assessment must consider these changes in precipitation patterns to accurately assess the likelihood and severity of flooding.

Changes in temperature can lead to changes in evaporation rates, and streamflow. This can impact the design of water management systems for solar power plants.

Increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events: Climate change may cause an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events such as floods and droughts. This can impact the design of flood and drought mitigation strategies for solar power plants.

Sea-level rise: Sea-level rise caused by climate change can impact coastal solar power plants by increasing the risk of flooding and saltwater intrusion into freshwater resources.

Changes in water quality: Climate change can impact water quality, which can affect the performance and lifespan of solar panels. Increased water temperature and changes in nutrients can impact the module cleaning process.

To suggest efficient mitigation measures, it is important to consider the potential impact of climate change on hydrological systems and accordingly design solar power plants that are resilient to these changes. This can be done by incorporating climate projections into the design and operation of solar power plants and developing robust water management and flood mitigation strategies.

Incorporating Climate Change Impact in Hydrological analysis and Flood Risk Assessment

Analysis of historical climate data to understand the baseline climate conditions and identification of trends or patterns. This includes examining long-term precipitation records, temperature data, and other relevant climate variables.

For the potential climate change scenarios, These scenarios are typically derived from global climate models and include tentative projections of temperature, precipitation, and other climate variables based on different greenhouse gas emissions pathways. An appropriate climate change scenario that aligns with the region and time frame of interest is selected.

The coarse-scale climate model outputs are downscaled to a finer resolution that is suitable for hydrological modeling. This can be achieved through statistical or dynamical downscaling techniques, which help capture local-scale climate patterns and variations. Downscaling methods bridge the gap between the global climate models and the local-scale hydrological model.

The downscaled climate data is preprocessed to make it suitable for hydrological modeling. This may involve aggregating the data to the appropriate temporal and spatial resolution, addressing biases or inconsistencies, and ensuring the compatibility of climate variables with the hydrological model inputs.

This downscaled climate data comprising of the future scenarios are then considered for simulating the hydrological response under these changed climate conditions.

The impacts of climate change on flooded areas are then evaluated followed by a comparison of the results obtained from simulations under different climate change scenarios to the baseline conditions. This eventually helps identify the changes in hydrological patterns, shifts in flow regimes, and potential risks related to water resources management.

Based on the findings from the impact assessment, adaptation strategies are developed to address the potential effects of climate change on water resources. These strategies may include improvement in water management practices, infrastructure design, and policies to enhance resilience and adapt to changing hydrological conditions.

[wachinyeya]

When Stockholm’s Traffic Office conducted a general assessment of street traffic in the Swedish capital in 2001, it came to the shocking conclusion that two-thirds of all trees in the city center were dead or dying.

City authorities agreed that an urgent response was needed to nurse these leafy urban ecosystem pillars back to health.

Enter Björn Embrén, Stockholm’s first “tree officer.”

Under his leadership, various technologies and materials were tested in an attempt to create a more suitable living space for trees in the urban environment.

“I knew that they could grow if the circumstances were right,” says Embrén, a former professional gardener.

“It’s like putting a plastic bag over your head and tightening it over your neck,” says Embrén. “That’s what happened to the trees in Stockholm. They were dying.”

Eventually, inspired by railroad embankments — which require only a small amount of organic matter for healthy trees to grow — Embrén concocted what was to become known as the “Stockholm tree pit” model.

By 2002, Embrén had drawn up designs. And by 2003, they were already building.

The design involves digging a pit and constructing a frame underground around the tree’s roots, and then filling said pit with a mixture of soil and stone, sometimes including biochar, to both aerate and fertilize the soil. These permeable layers are very strong and physically adaptable but also allow stormwater to flow in, meaning the trees are provided with sufficient air and water naturally. They also allow rainwater to be soaked up — a necessity amid more extreme weather brought on by climate change.

“We found that the more breathable the materials we used, the happier the trees were,” adds Embrén.

Proponents say the method has a number of benefits, including the fact that pits can be installed around existing trees, they can bear the weight of heavy-vehicle traffic, they require little topsoil — a resource that is becoming scarce — and they need less watering than traditionally-planted trees.

This approach, which allows tree roots to thrive beneath hard surfacing, ergo allowing healthy trees to grow within the modern built environment, is particularly relevant as cities attempt to re-green and reforest in the face of climate change.

According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, urban forests can help “future-proof” cities, which are responsible for about 75 percent of global CO2 emissions. Sustainable urban forestry, it says, can bring multiple benefits, such as lowering temperatures, improving public health, creating habitats for biodiversity, sequestering carbon, generating green jobs, and mitigating risks of floods and landslides.

“It’s more important now than ever before,” says Ryan Klein, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Horticulture at the University of Florida. “We have these massive populations in urban areas. And we’re seeing more extreme weather like hurricanes, wildfires and prolonged droughts. Trees can help to offset some of these negative effects.”

However, amid the rush to rapidly reforest cities, experts like Klein warn that due to ineffective methods and techniques being used, it’s common to see urban trees in poor health, and trees planted in cities often have very high mortality rates.

“We have the understanding of how to grow healthier, more sustainable and resilient forests,” says Klein. “The research backs it. Unfortunately, we don’t always invest the time, money or internal know-how on implementing this.”

A review of 16 scientific studies on urban tree mortality, published in 2019, found that in the first five years after planting, 6.6 to 7 percent of trees died annually.

“Urban soils are not very tree-friendly currently,” says Rik De Vreese, leader of the Urban Forestry Team at the European Forestry Institute. “It’s quite a serious threat.”

When trees aren’t properly anchored, De Vreese adds, it can also lead to other issues, such as trunks falling over and causing damage or roots warping sidewalks.

However, the Stockholm Tree Pit method — and the way that it’s been implemented in Sweden — is helping urban forests genuinely take root.

One of the first locations where Embrén introduced a tree pit was Erik Dahlbergsallén street in Stockholm, not far from the popular Swedish Museum of Natural History.

There, according to research by the municipality, the circumference of a selection of those planted trees increased from 30 to 35 centimeters to 70 to 83 centimeters between 2004 and 2013, even surpassing that of trees without the tree pits that have been there for more than 80 years. The latest figures from 2024 saw them reach between 100 and 136 centimeters.

“It’s easy to see how effective the pits have been,” says Embrén.

The municipality estimates that 2.3 million liters of rainwater are managed by the trees per year, and consequently, 4,600 square meters of roofs and sidewalks have been disconnected from the sewage system, reducing the burden on water treatment services.

This technique has proven so successful that it has become the standard for all other development projects in the public spaces of Stockholm. Embrén says he has been directly involved in constructing more than 3,000 tree pits, and while he has since retired, there are now three “tree officers” who have taken on the expanding role. 

Britt-Marie Alvem, one of the current tree officers, estimates that the city now builds between 500 and 1,000 tree pits a year.

These days, the tree pits are also in almost every Swedish city — with a few variations.

“Some have copied and changed a little bit, like adding pumice to the stone mix,” says Embrén.

Stockholm’s tree pits are now spreading across Europe, too. In Budapest, Hungary’s capital, the tree pits can be found all over Bartók Béla Boulevard and Arany János Street. Embrén says the Spanish city of Madrid has implemented the method using local materials. And it’s become increasingly popular in the U.K.

Ben Rose, the principal arboricultural consultant at U.K. tree service Bosky Trees and the founder of Stockholm Tree Pits, a U.K.-based company that produces the equipment required to make tree pits, says that he has planted about 500 trees using the Stockholm model in the U.K. since he began in 2019, mostly as part of small-scale pilot projects.

“The approach is very suitable for use in urban situations, particularly in car parks, in plazas, and beside walkways or cycle paths,” says Rose.

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Yet there are some drawbacks to the system. Installation costs can be high, the pits can require a large amount of space to install, and it is impossible to reuse existing soil. In addition, for now there is a relative dearth of professionals who know how to construct tree pits.

“Our main concern is the price,” says De Vreese, whose team is currently studying the importance of “structural soils” like those deployed by the tree pits. “Excavating the soil surrounding the tree and refilling it is no small job.”

And while Professor Klein praises the Stockholm Tree Pit’s use of structural soil and how effective it’s proven to be, he notes that the long-term success of urban forestry also relies on other factors such as the supply of high quality nursery stock and proactive tree management such as routine pruning by municipalities.

“If we don’t have these we are setting ourselves up for failure,” he says. “Some cities do the bare minimum. In the U.S.A., it’s the wild west. But others, like Stockholm, are proactive, and they have public officials seriously behind it. That’s what we need.”

By: Peter Yeung, March 4, 2025

[howtoimpersonateanadult]

The hygiene hypothesis is the idea that kids need to be exposed to germs in order to develop healthy immune systems. We know that many common viruses did not circulate as widely during the pandemic, thanks to social distancing, masking, and other COVID mitigation measures. Are there downsides to those missed infections? 

In this Q&A, Caitlin Rivers speaks with Marsha Wills-Karp, PhD, MHS, professor and chair of Environmental Health and Engineering, about the role of household microbiomes, birth, and vaccines in the development of kids’ immune systems—and whether early exposure really is the best medicine.

...

I think there’s some concern among parents who have heard about the hygiene hypothesis that there is a downside to all those stuffy noses that didn’t happen [during the COVID-19 pandemic]. Are there any upsides to viral infections? Do they help the immune system in some meaningful way?

I don’t think so.

You mentioned the hygiene hypothesis, which was postulated back in the ‘80s. German scientists noticed that families with fewer children tended to have more allergic disease. This was interpreted [to mean] that allergic disease was linked to experiencing fewer infections. I have explored this idea in my research for a couple of decades now.

This phenomenon has helped us to understand the immune system, but our interpretation of it has grown and expanded—particularly with respect to viruses.

Almost no virus is protective against allergic disease or other immune diseases. In fact, infections with viruses mostly either contribute to the development of those diseases or worsen them.

The opposite is true of bacteria. There are good bacteria and there are bad bacteria. The good bacteria we call commensals. Our bodies actually have more bacterial cells than human cells. What we’ve learned over the years is that the association with family life and the environment probably has more to do with the microbiome. ...

What does contribute to the development of the immune system, if not exposure to viruses?

There are a number of factors that we’ve associated with the hygiene hypothesis over the last 20 years, and these exposures start very early in life.

Cesarean sections, which do not allow the baby to travel through the birth canal and get exposed to the mother’s really healthy bacterial content, is a risk factor for many different immune diseases.

Getting that early seeding with good bacteria is critical for setting up the child going forward. Breastfeeding also contributes to the development of a healthy immune system.

There are other factors. Our diets have changed dramatically over the years. We eat a lot of processed food that doesn’t have the normal components of a healthy microbiome, like fiber.

These healthy bacteria in our gut need that fiber to maintain themselves. They not only are important for our immune system but they’re absolutely critical to us deriving calories and nutrients from our food. All these things contribute to a healthy child.

We’ve also noticed that people who live on farms have fewer of these diseases because they’re exposed to—for lack of a better term—the fecal material of animals. And what we have found is that it’s due to these commensal bacteria. That is one of the components that help us keep a healthy immune system. Most of us will probably not adopt farm life. But we can have a pet, we can have a dog.

I think all the pet lovers out there will be pleased to hear that.

There’s a lot of evidence that owning a pet in early childhood is very protective.

What about the idea that you need to be exposed to viruses in early life because if you get them as an adult, you’ll get more severely ill? We know that’s true for chickenpox, for example. Do you have any concerns about that?

We should rely on vaccines for those exposures because we can never predict who is going to be susceptible to severe illness, even in early childhood. If we look back before vaccines, children under 4 often succumbed to infections. I don’t think we want to return to that time in history.

Let me just give you one example. There’s a virus called RSV, it’s a respiratory virus. Almost all infants are positive for it by the age of 2. But those who get severe disease are more likely to develop allergic disease and other problems. So this idea that we must become infected with a pathogenic virus to be healthy is not a good one.

Even rhinovirus, which is the common cold, most people recover fine. But there’s a lot of evidence that for somebody who is allergic, rhinovirus exposures make them much worse. In fact, most allergic or asthmatic kids suffer through the winter months when these viruses are more common.

And that’s particularly salient because there is a lot of rhinovirus and enterovirus circulating right now.

From my point of view, right now, avoiding flu and COVID-19 is a priority.

Those are not going to help you develop a healthy immune response, and in fact, they can do a lot of damage to the lungs during that critical developmental time.

Data [show] that children that have more infections in the first 6 months to a year of life go on to have more problems.

It’s always surprising to me when I look at the data of the fraction of time that young children spend with these common colds—and this is pre-pandemic—it’s not uncommon for kids to be sick 50% of the time. That feels right as a parent, but it’s startling.

The other thing people don’t know is that the GI tract is where you get tolerized to all of your foods, allergens and things. Without those healthy bacteria in your gut, you can’t tolerate common allergens.

How does that relate to the guidance that’s changed over the years—that you should withhold peanuts in early life and now you’re supposed to offer them in early life?

The guidance to delay exposure to peanuts didn’t consider the fact that oral exposure to peanuts was not the only exposure kids were getting. There were peanut oils in all kinds of skin creams and other things.

So kids got exposed through their skin, but they had no gut protection—and the GI tract is important for a tolerant system. If you have a healthy immune response, you get tolerized in early life.

This concept is a little bit different for those families who may already have a predisposition to allergies. But for the general public, exposure is key to protecting them in early life.

I think some parents look at the guidance that you should now offer peanuts in early life and say, “Are we not doing that with rhinovirus by masking kids or improving ventilation?”

How should people think about the development of the immune system for food allergies compared to infections?

The thing about rhinoviruses is that after recovering, you’re not protected from the next infection. There is no real immune protection there. Most of us suffer from colds throughout our whole life.

Like I said, bacterial exposure is what’s key to priming the immune response. 

Also, we forget that a lot of kids die from the flu... RSV, too, can be quite severe in young children and older adults.

[dandelionsresilience]

Good News - May 15-21

Like these weekly compilations? Support me on Ko-fi! Also, if you tip me on Ko-fi, at the end of the month I'll send you a link to all of the articles I found but didn't use each week - almost double the content!

1. Translocation of 2,000 rhinos in Africa gets underway in “one of the most audacious conservation efforts of modern times”

“The 2,000 rhinos - more than are currently found in any single wild location in Africa - represent around 12-15% of the continent’s remaining white rhino population. […] “Rhinos perform an important ecological function in the environment as a large grazing herbivore,” says Dale Wepener[….] “The protection of rhino is far more than just looking after rhino; other species that occur in the protected areas will benefit from the protection,” explains Jooste. “This will lead to an increase in diversity and result in much healthier ecosystems.”

2. Florida Corridor Buffers Effects of Climate Change on Wildlife — And People

“A massive multi-partner effort that has conserved 10 million acres for wildlife in Florida over past decades will help buffer wildlife—and people—from the effects of climate change, a new report says. […] Protecting these corridors is important for wildlife genetics, demography and connectivity […], conducting prescribed fires in the corridor can reduce the risk of more intense wildfires [… and] they can provide buffers against hurricanes and seasonal thunderstorms.”

3. Global life expectancy to increase by nearly 5 years by 2050 despite geopolitical, metabolic, and environmental threats

“Increases are expected to be largest in countries where life expectancy is lower, contributing to a convergence of increased life expectancy across geographies. The trend is largely driven by public health measures that have prevented and improved survival rates from cardiovascular diseases, COVID-19, and a range of communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases (CMNNs).”

4. Valencia has Spain’s longest urban park

“Jardin del Turia (Turia Garden) is the green spine of the City of Valencia and Spain’s (and possibly Europe’s) longest urban park stretching for a length of 8.5 kilometres [… and] the current administration plans to make Jardin del Turia Europe’s largest city green space by extending it to the sea[….] Almost all Valencia residents (97 per cent) live within 300 metres of an urban green space. […] Jardin del Turia is a true urban oasis that provides exceptional thermal comfort, with a temperature difference of up to three degrees compared to other areas of the city.”

5. This Paint Could Clean Both Itself and the Air

“When an artificial ultraviolet light source shines on [photocatalytic] paint, the nanoparticles react with pollutants to make them break down—theoretically removing them from the nearby air and preventing a discoloring buildup. [… R]esearchers developed a new photocatalytic paint that they claim works using UV rays from ordinary sunlight, making its self-cleaning properties easier to activate. They’ve also shown that they can effectively produce this paint from recycled materials [including fallen leaves].”

6. Planting Seedlings for a Cooler Rockingham

“A dedicated group of volunteers recently planted over a thousand native seedlings in Lewington Reserve [… and] re-established canopy cover to areas of the reserve to create cooling shade for the local community and provide homes for native wildlife. […] Planting lots of trees and shrubs in urban areas can help create shade and cool cities, mitigating the impacts of climate change, contributing to biodiversity conservation and building greener, more resilient communities.”

7. Sydney’s first dedicated affordable housing for trans women designed to deliver ‘positive outcomes’

“Community housing provider and charity Common Equity NSW, […] which is for people on very low to moderate incomes, prides itself on creating inclusive living and promotes the independence and well-being of people and communities […, and] will deliver the first-of-its-kind social housing in a bid to provide a safe place to live for transgender women seeking an affordable home.”

8. Rewilding: How a herd of bison reintroduced to Romania is helping ‘supercharge’ carbon removal

“170 European Bison reintroduced to Romania’s Țarcu mountains could help capture and store the carbon released by up to 84,000 average US petrol cars each year. […] By grazing a 48 square kilometre area of grassland in a wider landscape of 300 kilometres squared, they helped to capture an additional 54,000 tonnes of carbon each year. That is around 10 times the amount that would be captured by the ecosystem without the bison.”

9. World’s biggest grids could be powered by renewables, with little or no storage

“[…] 100% renewable supply can then match the load by putting surplus electricity into two kinds of distributed storage worth that [an energy expert] says are worth buying anyway – ice-storage air-conditioning and smart bidirectional charging of electric cars, and recover that energy when needed, filling the last gaps with unobtrusively flexible demand.”

10. Supporting the Long-Term Survival of Copper River Salmon and Alaska Native Traditions

“With $4.3 million in NOAA funds, the Copper River Watershed Project and The Eyak Corporation will remove fish passage barriers, opening more streams for salmon spawning and subsistence fishing. [… As part of this effort, o]ld narrow culverts that constrict water flow will be replaced with “stream simulation” culverts wide enough to fit the full stream, including its banks. They are also deep to allow contractors to place stones and other material inside to mimic a natural stream bottom.”

May 8-14 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[would-this-pokemon-be-a-friend]

Would Snorunt make a good pet? /°⌓°\

If you don’t mind keeping your home nice and cold, year-round, and are looking to adopt a few of them at once, snorunts might make a good pet for you. Understandably, this won’t include a lot of owners, hence the score, but the most dedicated snorunt fans out there could certainly find success with one.

As far as their size goes, we’re in the clear. Snorunts are just little guys at two feet tall. You shouldn’t have any issue with space with a snorunt, but temperature may be a deal-breaker for you. In the wild, these pokémon live exclusively in cold regions, usually those with heavy snowfall (Ruby, Moon). Not having snow in your home all the time isn’t a dealbreaker—wild snorunts spend the dry season in caves (Ruby)—but keeping the temperature cool is a must. Having snow on-hand would be a big plus too, though, as these pokémon are known to subside on snow and ice (Sapphire). This makes their care pretty straightforward, if a little chilly.

Another very important thing to keep in mind is that snorunts are intensely social creatures. In the wild, these pokémon live in social groups of around five (Emerald, Platinum). While they are also known to get along well with humans, especially children (Sapphire, Ultra Moon), there is a possibility that they will only be happy alongside a handful of other snorunts. If you have looked into adopting a snorunt before, I have no doubt the shelters you have considered have observed deep bonds between snorunts that need to be adopted together. So, while these pokémon are pretty easy to care for, you’ll likely be looking at adopting more than one at once, which certainly increases how much money you will need to spend to care for them.

While these pokémon are known to be exceptionally friendly, they are certainly no push-overs when it comes to their destructive capabilities. Moves like Icy Wind, Frost Breath, Ice Fang, and Blizzard are all moves that raise alarm-bells, especially if you are already living in a cold environment. Caring for a snorunt would require a keen awareness of their moods and body language in order to mitigate risk, though that risk will always be present. That being said, as I’ve said already, snorunts have a pretty calm, friendly disposition, thankfully.

Overall, while a snorunt may look like a good candidate on the surface, there are several very important factors that brings down their score: their perculiar-yet-straightforward environmental needs, intense social dependency, and threatening power all make them an ill-fit for a lot of owners. A dedicated fan of this species, however, could certainly make it work with the right resources, training, and expectations.

[thetimesofindia]

Pakistan will be hit hard by Indus water pause, especially in politically important Punjab: Prof Anjal Prakash

Water is in the headlines again, not just as a resource but as a strategic asset. Prof Anjal Prakash, research director at the Bharti Institute of Public Policy, ISB, has closely studied these issues and been lead author on multiple IPCC reports. In an interview with Sunday Times, he discusses the use of water as a weapon, impact of melting glaciers, and how to cut annual flood risks in Indian cities

In the past, you’ve advocated for water to be deployed as a bridge, not a weapon. What is your view on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) pause?

On the contrary, I wrote about water to be used as a weapon way back in 2023 when India sought its revision on the basis of new realities of the Indus Basin. The IWT is one of the most unfair treaties India has signed with around 80% of the flow of the river going to Pakistan. In the past, I did advocate for the IWT to be a bridge for peace but looking at recent developments: water should be used as a strategic weapon in our national interest. Suspending it will have severe short and long-term ramifications for Pakistan’s economy. A major proportion of Pakistan’s Punjabi and Sindhi farmers depend on Indus for irrigation, and agriculture contributes to around one-fourth of the country’s GDP. Blocking its flow will help counter its Punjab-based politics that wields terrorism as a strategic weapon against India. India might experience some international criticism and strained relations with nations such as China, but it has a logic for keeping it in abeyance as the upper riparian country.Simultaneously, India should maximise water utilisation for development, particularly in J&K and downstream states. This includes infrastructure projects to divert Indus Basin river water for irrigation, hydropower, and other uses. Building canals and storage enhances water security and boosts regional economies. However, it is important that projects don’t disturb the fragile ecosystem of the Himalayas.

In addition to the political pressures exerted on the Indus river basin are the slow-unfolding environmental forces acting on it from melting glaciers. How does water variability affect the Indus Basin?

Melting glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) significantly affect the Indus Basin’s water variability. In fact, amongst the three major rivers that feed south Asia — Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra — Indus relies very heavily on the glaciers for its base water flow. Due to climate change, the increased meltwater leads to higher river flows, potentially causing floods and erosion. However, as glaciers shrink, this eventually leads to reduced water availability, especially during dry seasons. This variability impacts agriculture, water supply, hydropower generation and ecosystems. Mitigating the adverse effects of glacial melt on the Indus Basin is essential.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from EcoWatch:

Scientists have coined the term “thirstwaves” to describe extended periods of atmospheric thirst when the Earth’s atmosphere more readily takes up moisture from the planet’s surface.

This new term differs from droughts or heatwaves. During thirstwaves, the Earth’s atmosphere could take more water from soil and plants, prompting concerns over how these periods could affect agriculture.

“This idea of thirstwaves I think is really going to catch on,” Mike Hobbins, a Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) researcher at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Physical Sciences Laboratory, said in a statement. “It’s a very powerful metric and it’s a crucial distinction from heatwaves, because we have been hobbled for decades by this idea that temperature is really the only place where the information is.” 

In a new study, published in the journal Earth’s Future, “thirstwave” is defined as a period of time — lasting at least three days in a row — with higher-than-usual evaporative demand compared to the historical 90th percentile amount.

Evaporative demand is a common metric that farmers use to plan water usage for crops. So with increasing risk of thirstwaves, farmers may require more water resources to grow crops. 

The research, written by Hobbins and Meetpal Kukal, a research hydrologist at the University of Idaho, revealed that the chance of no thirstwaves during agricultural growing seasons has gone down dramatically from 1980 to 2021, while frequency, duration and intensity of thirstwaves in the U.S. have all increased in the same period. Frequency is up 23%, duration is 7% higher and intensity has increased by 17%.

In 2022, NOAA warned that increasing evaporative demand in the U.S. was leading to restricted water supplies, drier soil, drier crops and increased risk of fires. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Climate Hub has also noted that even farms in typically dry regions that have implemented adaptive techniques to grow amid droughts can experience lower yields and worsening crop quality with higher evaporative demand.

According to the study authors, the worsening threat of thirstwaves means this phenomenon requires further monitoring and reporting to mitigate impacts. 

[sophieinwonderland]

We finished watching Sweet Tooth and I need to say that I really hate the "humans bad, animals good" narrative.

Humans are animals. We're doing what many species try do on a grand scale, survive and thrive in our environment. It just so happens that we're too good at it and our environment became the entire planet with us at the top of the food chain.

The idea that humans are uniquely bad, morally, for our damage to the environment feels like it misses a lot of important nuance. We didn't even know extinction was possible until a couple hundred years ago.

We've since been doing a lot of damage and playing catch up to fix things. While also contending with the fact that we are an invasive species to most of the planet and are driven by a natural greed like most creatures.

Ironically, we're probably the only invasive species aware enough to realize what we are and to want to try to mitigate it and be better.

I'll admit, we're failing. The environment is getting worse. More species are constantly lost. It's pretty bad.

But I don't see our failures as some unique evil of humanity. It just so happens that we became too good at doing what we do because of evolution. Too well-adapted for spreading across the planet.

But remember that many of the extinctions we cause aren't just caused by us. But by other invasive species we bring with us. The Dodo birds weren't killed directly by human hunting or environmental damage in the traditional sense. They were killed by us introducing new species into their native environment during a period where we didn't realize extinction was a risk.

Now that we know, there are many humans trying to find ways to prevent extinction of animals in the natural world.

I guess what I have a problem with is this idea that these new deer-humans and pig-humans and crocodile-humans are going to be better than normal people simply because they're combined with other animals, as if humans are a uniquely bad species and these other species are morally better rather than just lacking the ability to do harm on the grand scale we've managed.

[feedists4progress]

WHY US? WHY NOW?

Politicians are not perfect people. Voting, especially in the US, is not a perfect system. It's not the be-all end-all of political action and it certainly does not fix everything wrong with our nation and political system. It certainly does not fix the United States' complicity in the Palestinian genocide or its other atrocities overseas.

BUT.

The Harris campaign, by virtue of choosing Tim Walz over any of the other options, more has already demonstrated its willingness to listen to its would-be constituents over voices and donors from within the Democratic party urging them to choose a running mate who caters to the moderate center. In this choice, Harris has already demonstrated that she is flexible: she is not immune to pressure from the people she hopes to govern. This alone gives us as voters and constituents so much more leverage to apply pressure on her administration to achieve political victories we actually want: a ceasefire in Gaza, universal healthcare, nationwide abortion access, protected trans rights and trans healthcare, and more.

There is SO MUCH on the line in this election — and so many of the issues at risk this year are or are adjacent to fat liberation and queer issues:

Healthcare and prescription reform

Racial equity and justice

Abortion access (reminder that Plan B is less effective for those over 155 lbs!)

Trans rights, safety, and healthcare access

LGBTQIA+ rights

Disability rights and healthcare (including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security)

Environmental reform and climate change mitigation

Public health and vaccine funding

Public education funding and related infrastructure

Labor rights

We have a lot to lose this year. But if we can elect an administration that is at least invested in moving forward, we'll also have a lot to gain.

SO, WHAT CAN I DO?

Check your voter registration!

Text voters and help them register!

Phonebank or textbank for blue candidates!

Write postcards to voters in swing states!

Knock doors if you're able!

Join a voter protection & registration hotline!

Donate to your local candidates (find them here)!

If you're not sure where to start, these organizations host tons of events you can get involved with:

Democrats.org

Democratic Volunteer Center

Field Team 6

Mobilize

Sister District

Swing Blue

Swing Left

Vote Save America

WHY TIM WALZ?

The guy gets it. Need I say more?