Lit candles, flowers and signs are seen in front of the U.S. embassy in Warsaw, Poland on May 31, 2020. Aleksander Kalka / NurPhoto / Getty Images
As protests are taking place across our nation in response to the killing of George Floyd, we want to acknowledge the importance of this protest and the Black Lives Matter movement. Over the years, we've aimed to be sensitive and prioritize stories that highlight the intersection between racial and environmental injustice. From our years of covering the environment, we know that too often marginalized communities around the world are disproportionately affected by environmental crises.
<p>Now seems like a critical time to reshare a selection of these stories from our writers and our media partners. We know that if we want a healthier planet and life, environmental racism needs to be addressed. Here are 15 stories that highlight racial and environmental injustice and are worth reading during this time. There is no environmental justice without racial justice.<strong></strong></p>
<h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/black--hispanic-americans-coronavirus-2645677258.html" target="_self">Black and Hispanic Americans Suffer Disproportionate Coronavirus Infections</a><br></h2><p><em><strong>Published April 9, 2020, Author Jordan Davidson<br>Excerpt: </strong><br></em>Across the country, the novel coronavirus is severely affecting black people at much higher rates than whites, according to data released by several states, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/us/coronavirus-race.html?campaign_id=54&emc=edit_clim_20200408&instance_id=17477&nl=climate-fwd%3A&regi_id=86064351&segment_id=24329&te=1&user_id=bb077276a084ddee06decfc0648f4eef" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p><p>In New York, which has seen the most COVID-19 related deaths, the virus has disproportionately affected both the black and Hispanic population. In New York City, Hispanics make up 29 percent of the population, but 34 percent of the city's COVID-19 deaths, while African Americans are 22 percent of the city's population and 28 percent of the fatalities, according to <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/imm/covid-19-deaths-race-ethnicity-04082020-1.pdf" target="_blank">new statistics</a> from the city and <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2020-04-08/coronavirus-disproportionally-kills-hispanics-and-blacks-in-new-york-city" target="_blank">US News and World Report</a>.</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-environmental-racism-policy-messages-2618309116.html" target="_blank">Environmental Racism at EPA: First Policy, Now Racist Messages Written at Headquarters</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published Nov. 6, 2018, Author Olivia Rosane<br></em></strong><strong><em>Excerpt:</em></strong><br>When it comes to the EPA's internal culture, EPA union AFGE 3331 President Nate James implied more education was needed about the impacts of racist messages like the ones that have popped up since August.</p><p>"We have diversity training but nothing that addresses, for lack of better words, when hateful language is being used it creates a threatening atmosphere, a hostile environment, where employees are concerned about their safety," James told ABC News.</p><p>James said that, earlier in the summer, another incident occurred where a note was left on an African American employee's desk reading "BACK TO THE JUNGLE U GO." The union said that EPA management's response to that incident showed "callous disregard and inattentiveness" and "demoralized" the employee.</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/lead-environmental-racism-2645941587.html" target="_self">Lead Poisoning Reveals Environmental Racism in the U.S.</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published May 7, 2020, Author Ben Knight / </em>Deutsche Welle<br></strong><em><strong>Excerpt:</strong><br></em>Statistically, the increased risk of lead poisoning associated with being black persists even when you correct for all other factors, from poverty to education levels to the presence of smokers in the home, to quality of housing.</p><p>"A lot of people had been saying: 'Oh black children are just more at risk because they're more likely to be poor,'" said study co-author Deniz "Dersim" Yeter, an independent academic and undergraduate nursing student in Kansas. "Yeah, poverty's a problem, but it's nothing compared to being a black child in America."</p><p>Yeter was "astounded" by the results of their three-year analysis. "I knew it was bad, but I was expecting something like a marginal increase, something statistically significant, but ... not two to six times higher," they told DW. "That is obscene."</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/racial-gap-air-pollution-2631407042.html" target="_blank">First-of-Its-Kind Study Finds Racial Gap Between Who Causes Air Pollution and Who Breathes It</a></h2><p><em><strong>Published March 12, 2019, Author Olivia Rosane <br>Excerpt:</strong></em><br>The first-of-its-kind study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that black and Hispanic Americans breathe in large amounts of dangerous air pollution that is mainly caused by the actions of non-Hispanic whites.</p><p>Even though minorities are contributing less to the overall problem of air pollution, they are affected by it more," study co-author and University of Minnesota engineering professor Jason Hill, who is white, told USA Today. "Is it fair (that) I create more pollution and somebody else is disproportionately affected by it?"</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-louisiana-cancer-alley-2645667499.html" target="_self">Coronavirus Comes for Louisiana's Cancer Alley</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published April 8, 2020, Author Climate Nexus<br>Excerpt: </em></strong><br>An area in Louisiana whose predominantly black and brown residents are hard-hit by health problems from industry overdevelopment is experiencing one of the highest death rates from coronavirus of any county in the United States.</p><p>St. John the Baptist parish, which sits along the Gulf Coast region known as Cancer Alley, has seen 30 of its 43,000 residents die of COVID-19 since the outbreak began – a death rate of 68.7 per 100,000 people, compared to New York City's rate of 29.</p><p>"We were getting calls almost every hour," parish coroner Christy Montegut told The Guardian. "...They all died in the same way. They got to a hospital, were on a ventilator, but the body just couldn't keep going. They died in spite of full treatment. The virus is overwhelming."</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/environmental-justice-civil-rights-2609569072.html" target="_self">Environmental Negligence vs. Civil Rights: Black and Hispanic Communities Get More Pollution, Fewer Jobs</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published Oct. 2, 2018, Author Olivia Rosane<br>Excerpt: </em></strong><br>By the numbers, black Americans hold 10.8 percent of the jobs at industrial facilities, but suffer 17.4 percent of the exposure to air pollution. Hispanics hold 9.8 percent of the jobs, but suffer 15 percent of the pollution exposure. Both populations have less than seven percent of the high-paying jobs offered at industrial sites, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2018-10-01/minority-communities-near-industrial-sites-get-pollution-not-jobs" target="_blank">U.S. News & World Report reported</a>.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> industry was the worst offender. At petroleum industry and coal-product facilities, blacks and Hispanics suffered 48 percent of the pollution exposure and only received around a fifth of the jobs.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/african-americans-extreme-heat-exposure-2639313007.html" target="_self">African Americans Are Disproportionately Exposed to Extreme Heat</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published July 23, 2019, Author Adrienne Hollis / Union of Concerned Scientists<br>Excerpt: <br></em></strong>The extreme heat is almost three additional weeks' worth of extreme heat days for places that are more than 25% African American as opposed to those that are less than 25% African American. The reasons why African American communities are and will continue to experience more extreme heat days are likely complex, but it's probable that the root of the problem can be traced back to centuries of systemic mistreatment of people of color.<span></span></p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-hurts-the-poor-2639163107.html" target="_self">Why Climate Change Hurts the Poor the Most</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published July 11, 2019, Author Mallika Khanna / Common Dreams<br>Excerpt:</em></strong><br>The idea that environmentalism is an "elite" concern is a lie. Those who stand to gain the most from sweeping environmental protections are the marginalized people corporations assume can be put in toxic environments without fear of backlash.</p><p>That's the best reason yet to support <a href="https://otherwords.org/the-green-new-deal-lets-get-visionary/" target="_blank">a Green New Deal</a>, which would not only curb climate change, but also revitalize the U.S. economy, create millions of jobs, and create alternatives to harmful, unsustainable industries like the petrochemical industry in Cancer Alley that have harmed people for years.</p><p>That could make poor communities a lot less poor — and a lot more resilient.</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/african-americans-air-pollution-2509714660.html" target="_self">African Americans Disproportionately Suffer Health Effects of Oil and Gas Facilities</a></h2><p><em><strong>Published Nov. 15, 2017, Author David Leestma<br>Excerpt: </strong></em><br>The study found oil and natural gas facilities were built or currently exist within a half-mile of more than one million African Americans, exposing these communities to higher risks of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/cancer" target="_self">cancer</a> due to toxic emissions. "African-Americans are exposed to 38 percent more polluted air than Caucasian Americans, and they are 75 percent more likely to live in fence-line communities than the average American," the report said, referring to neighborhoods near to gas and oil facilities.</p><p>Counties located in the Gulf Coast Basin are home to the most counties with oil refineries and higher percentages of African Americans. Michigan, Louisiana and Tennessee, the report found, have the highest percentage of African American residents living in oil refinery counties. Texas and Louisiana, both in the Gulf Coast Basin, were home to the largest African American individuals at risk for cancer, with nearly 900,000 living in areas above the EPA's level of concern.</p><p>"The effects of oil and gas pollution are disproportionately afflicting African Americans, particularly cancer and respiratory issues, and the trend is only increasing," said Dr. Doris Browne, the National Medical Association president.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-gutting-nepa-2645437802.html" target="_self">Environmental Racism in Action: The Trump Administration's Plans to Gut NEPA</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published March 9, 2020, Author Derrick Z. Jackson / Union of Concerned Scientists <br>Excerpt:</em></strong><br>For communities long polluted by industry, which are <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/03/11/702348935/study-finds-racial-gap-between-who-causes-air-pollution-and-who-breathes-it" target="_blank">disproportionately poor and of color</a>, the Trump administration's changes promise particular devastation. Such communities already suffer higher rates of illnesses from asthma to cancer, life-altering effects such as low birth weight and cognitive child development, and daily insults to quality of life in diesel exhaust, soot penetrating into homes and contaminated yards and playgrounds.</p><p>If the administration has its way, NEPA implementation guidelines would be rewritten so that even in neighborhoods already densely packed with toxic industries, a proposed facility need only assess its own pollutants, not how much they combine and compound those of nearby facilities to worsen the overall quality of air, water and land.</p><p>To make sure residents cannot complain about such compounded damage, the Trump administration is trying to severely limit the opportunity for mothers, fathers, seniors, teens and community leaders to speak directly to the government.</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-science-environmental-justice-2645194069.html" target="_self">Beginning a Courageous Journey: Connecting Science & Justice</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published Feb. 19, 2020, Author Dr. Brian R. Shmaefsky / Union of Concerned Scientists <br>Excerpt: </em></strong><br>Historically, the benefits of science and technology have not been shared equally as is discussed in the 2016 Nature article <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/is-science-only-for-the-rich-1.20650" target="_blank"><em>Is science only for the rich?</em></a> A 2018 The Atlantic article <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/the-trump-administration-finds-that-environmental-racism-is-real/554315/" target="_blank"><em>Trump's EPA Concludes Environmental Racism Is Real</em></a> discusses that at times science has been used against environmental justice communities. In addition, the "Belmont Report," produced by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/sites/default/files/the-belmont-report-508c_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank">documents a long history</a> of unequal benefits of medical research.</p><p>In part due to this history, scientists are not always or immediately trusted or welcome in environmental justice communities. Scientists also have a reputation for 'parachuting' into communities to conduct research and make recommendations for change without ever fully consulting the knowledge and lived experience of the people who live there. Community members want equal access to data, policymakers, and science or technology that can remediate environmental injustice.</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/formosa-plastics-louisiana-slave-burial-ground-2641658521.html" target="_self">Plastics Plant Will Bulldoze Over Black History in 'Cancer Alley'</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published Dec. 20, 2019, Author Climate Nexus <br>Excerpt:<br></em></strong>A major <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="_self">plastics</a> manufacturing complex planned for construction in a highly-polluted region of Louisiana may disrupt a historic slave burial site, The Intercept reports.</p><p>Human remains and evidence of grave shafts were discovered earlier this year on land being developed by Formosa Plastics Group in St. James Parish in Louisiana. The plant could double the amount of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" target="_self">air pollution</a> in the region and emit 13 million tons of carbon pollution each year. Many of the residents of St. James Parish, located in a stretch of the state known as "Cancer Alley," one of the most polluted stretches in America, say they are descended from slaves who worked on various plantations in the area. "That's sacred ground," activist and St. James Parish resident Sharon Lavigne told The Intercept. "They're saying they don't care about your ancestors. They're slapping us in the face."</p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/formosa-plastics-louisiana-slave-burial-ground-2641658521.html" target="_self"><br></a></p>
<h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/environmental-racism-trump-2638817301.html" target="_self">How 'Freeway Revolts' Helped Create the People's Environmental Law</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published June 14, 2019, Author Teju Adisa-Farrar & Raul Garcia / Earthjustice <br>Excerpt: </em></strong><br>The spirit that drove communities of color and neighborhood residents throughout the U.S. to hang banners, picket, sit in and stand up in the 1950s and 1960s is alive today. Even though several communities of color across the nation have been displaced and burdened by pollution because of freeway development projects in the 1960s, NEPA helps to fight against exclusionary and environmentally disruptive planning processes.</p><p>As we fight to end environmental racism, we cannot allow the Trump administration and its allies in Congress to retrench the people's tools for access to justice. We cannot allow them to limit public comments and continue to shut communities out of the NEPA process. It is through direct action and community engagement that NEPA came to be; safeguarding it gives people more power to be a part of the decisions that determine what happens in their communities.</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fighting-for-a-just-covid-19-response-2645641251.html" target="_self">Fighting for a Just COVID-19 Response</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published April 5, 2020, Author Derrick Z. Jackson / Union of Concerned Scientists <br>Excerpt:</em></strong><br>The risk of unequal treatment is embedded in even the seemingly universal "we're-all-in-this-together" advice we are getting to protect ourselves and stop the spread of the coronavirus. One person who sees this clearly is <a href="https://www.michiganradio.org/post/pediatrician-says-poisoned-accurate-description-what-happened-flint-children" target="_blank">Lawrence Reynolds</a>, a pediatrician in Flint, Michigan. He served on the 2016 Michigan task force <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/documents/snyder/FWATF_FINAL_REPORT_21March2016_517805_7.pdf" target="_blank">which determined</a> that the Flint Water Crisis in that <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/flintcitymichigan" target="_blank">54-percent</a> African American city was "a story of government failure, intransigence, unpreparedness, delay, inaction, and environmental injustice."</p><p>Reynolds retired a year ago but was asked by Flint's mayor to be an advisor for COVID-19 care.</p><p>He said he already sees where daily life for disadvantaged people is not being factored into public health advisories. "Take social distancing," he said. "That is much easier to do for a family that owns a single-family home where they can spread out inside the home and have a backyard to get some fresh air in private. That is much harder for people who live in small apartments in buildings where people are always passing each other in the hallways. No one has come up with a strategy as to how those folks are supposed to 'social distance.'"</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/green-new-deal-farmland-2645649043.html" target="_blank">We Need a Green New Deal for Farmland</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published April 7, 2020, Author Liz Carlisle / Yes! Magazine<br>Excerpt:</em></strong><br>The absence of a coherent U.S. land policy can be blamed for some of the current problems with farmland concentration, say the authors of the Data for Progress memo. But co-lead author Leah Penniman, founding co-director of Soul Fire Farm in Upstate New York, argues that the U.S. government has had a very influential de facto land policy over the past century, even if it wasn't articulated as such. "The very basis of U.S. land policy is rooted in the theft of land and the exclusion of people of color from land," Penniman explains. "This, of course, started with the genocidal stealing of almost the entire continent from the stewardship of Indigenous people … [and] throughout much of our history, there have been various state-level property ownership requirements that excluded people of color from being able to own property."</p><p>When people of color did amass property, Penniman says, they were targeted with violence.</p><p>"The Ku Klux Klan, the White Caps, and the White Citizens Council were responsible for lynching almost 4,500 people, many of whom were landowners, who they saw as having the audacity to get off the plantation and to want to stop sharecropping." The federal government also discriminated against black farmers through USDA programs, Penniman explains, resulting in a rapid decline of black farmers from 14% of the nation's farmers in 1910 to approximately 1% today.</p>
From Your Site Articles
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- First-of-Its-Kind Study Finds Racial Gap Between Who Causes Air ... ›
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Sockeye salmon are seen swimming at a fish farm. Natalie Fobes / Getty Images
By Peter Beech
Using waste food to farm insects as fish food and high-tech real-time water quality monitoring: innovations that could help change global aquaculture, were showcased at the World Economic Forum's Virtual Ocean Dialogues 2020.
<p>Two young entrepreneurs addressed a breakout session of the event called <em>Harnessing the Power of Innovation to Achieve SDG14.</em> Syrine Chaalala, co-founder of the French-Tunisian company <a href="http://nextprotein.co/" target="_blank">nextProtein</a>, and Charlotte Dupont, co-founder of the French company <a href="https://www.bioceanor.com/products-and-services" target="_blank">BiOceanOr</a>, revealed the ideas that drove their rapidly accelerating startups.</p><p>Chalaala's nextProtein uses food waste to mass-produce insect protein to feed farmed fish in place of fishmeal – the production of which, often from corporate fisheries' by-catch, can lead to the depletion of ecosystems and the collapse of local fisheries. As our demand for farmed fish is growing 8% a year, her innovation could play a vital role in reducing the knock-on impact of aquaculture on the ocean.</p><p>She said that farming insects requires a fraction of the space as animal feed production – 100 square meters (1,076 square feet) of space can produce as much protein as 100 hectares (247 acres) of soy field.</p><p>"Because we wanted to have maximum impact, we wanted to provide solutions to other problems," said Chalaala, naming food waste and land scarcity as two key issues her business tackles. "Here, we can convert 20 kilos (44 pounds) of food waste into 1 kilo (2 pounds) of product."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM2NjM0OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5ODgwNzI4Mn0.97Q4mo_iOgbdUuiRS35PKdK1-e0QKv8C3-ewjkAmhTg/img.png?width=980" id="e712b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="94432f70b397eba50b44653468421d60" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Fly fishing. nextProtein
<p>The method uses vertical farming, little energy and almost no water – testament, said session host Christian Lim of <a href="https://www.blueoceanspartners.com/" target="_blank">Blue Oceans Partners</a>, to the efficiency of the insects at thriving on low input. The insect nextProtein uses is the Black Soldier Fly, selected due to its high-yield quality, and the ease of processing it into powder, oil and fertilizer. Her business is aiming to produce 100,000 tonnes of insect protein annually by 2025 – or around 10% of the insect meal market.</p><p>Meanwhile Charlotte Dupont and her colleagues at BiOceanOr have developed what they term "the first underwater weather station for real-time monitoring of water quality." One of its many applications is for fish farmers who aren't yet monitoring their water quality in real time.</p><p>She painted a picture of an industry that is only reluctantly changing, with water quality largely still monitored by hand. Since this process is time-consuming and arduous, it's generally done only once a day. But once the firm's underwater 'weather-stations' are installed, farmers can get a moment-by-moment grasp on conditions for their stock.</p><p>"Our first customer called us a few days later to tell us our tool wasn't working – the oxygen levels couldn't be so low," she said. But the equipment was fine: the unprecedented readings had thrown him. He was used to taking his readings only once a day, in the late morning, and had no idea how low oxygen levels could get overnight.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM2NjM1My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTIyMTUyNn0.x-eiOr4B5_0GZvmVnYiD0YYGyDR32PO0YJ0H-3tFrzM/img.png?width=980" id="b4249" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8a25143f13bdf53b3e5fdfd0833eaf7c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
BiOceanOr's AquaREAL system. BiOceanOr
<p>"There are a lot of aquaculturists who don't realize right now the power of real-time monitoring," said Dupont. "It's a knowledge that they transmit from generation to generation, like agriculture a century ago: 'I know it because my father knows it.' They think there's nothing you can learn from tools, but just as in agriculture, there's a lot you can learn."</p><p>"I think data will be really central in the future," said Dupont, predicting a future where people subscribe to the water forecast just as today they subscribe to a weather forecast.</p><p>"With sensitive ecosystems like reefs and coastal systems, people will be able to subscribe to the data and see what is going on," she said. These water-quality forecasts will play a vital role in protecting ocean health.</p><p>Their session provided a short but telling insight into two crucial innovations in aquaculture as we set a course for a sustainable blue economy in the post-COVID-19 era. For more from the Virtual Ocean Dialogues 2020, you can access the whole event <a href="https://www.weforum.org/events/virtual-ocean-dialogues-2020/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/virtual-ocean-dialogues-water-forecasting-fish-farms-waste-innovation-blue-economy/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Shanika Reaux walks through the devastated Lower Ninth Ward on May 10, 2006 in New Orleans, Louisiana, after her home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Mario Tama / Getty Images
The big three broadcast channels failed to cover the disproportionate impacts of extreme weather on low-income communities or communities of color during their primetime coverage of seven hurricanes and one tropical storm over three years, a Media Matters for America analysis revealed.
<p>Evening news programs for ABC, CBS, and NBC from 2017 through 2019 aired 669 segments on eight storms, but never once discussed the disproportionate harm inflicted upon marginalized communities, often compounded by <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VVpTCP84cTPKVxPt4P6QtKsgW5n2k0f49S0dwM3ZwQ75nxGrV3Zsc37CgDFPW2NYhr57SFc-mW7l0XZZ7HJQHsW4N7K6M6jLlYhN6lS6Xyb6bscW2GR-XG2gBCPYW41TTzx6cpPCqW8bvNXl6fQ-97W6sj32Y1hNZjBV5k3zp436cPDW7KfLX114c3nNW8Gpfn391ZxXTW157MFS8yxPRWW3hdtLl580rddN6bkqM4wdtVqW6XFnDj4FpjQyW8Qpmbc89qZKlW8NLGXb7Zwgm2W4PP6Bp6t4D7lVnnxhq8XFB4CW6zYjvB7KJFBZVf5CPB3kl0MzN1RrqRqW3hKTW2HsRkd3fcJzXW6JypmQ6nSf--W80rxRN8Gn8TLW5J4L9Q6Lx54vW4LvHtX4Rkz_zW9c_phn7TTgg0W8yl90s6Wvtb-W56xQ131l1kXLW4MjZ7x3DlHjFN6gMb4B_72vDW91MSRk1mtFvRW4S7rq29lJ7CB3pVB1" target="_blank">discriminatory practices</a> in the <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VVpTCP84cTPKVxPt4P6QtKsgW5n2k0f49S0dwM3ZwRD3p_9LV1-WJV7CgMbZW7qblky26JBq4W5rNhZ95m5YFWW6bP6qP7HyL85W5_29qx78Fc8kW39VxXt4rdgHQW8Kn4Wr9314f5W6xHRrG7PJ8FZW3NnvDL7d4t1XW4pV_ym8wL05fW5bBJnQ8sm0QdW6tdVjm6sxZsZN126yptttdLBN8wbVwl9vnXDVmcGfF1TNtCYV_z7r35cHnT-W5_vRXh2_T96MW279lM66brN3bW1cS7rr632bSbW3jlbCZ4KFKGvN8YdCwvPPBrYW8c4QZ18wc4ykW5SmySD2hS3lPW42kmCg41H_w-W4l3SXL6TyXt3W3GFm5b3WwxtsW1y-kfM5g_f08W4KT8MQ4J8JLCN8-kLF5R4FS934G41" target="_blank">distribution</a> of <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VVpTCP84cTPKVxPt4P6QtKsgW5n2k0f49S0dwM3ZwQL3p_8SV1-WJV7CgBtyW3B-d_R5Zf1BMW8VY3b15c4Tb-W3By2gv7Gjw-KW731Qwt3DP6ndW3XhVq38DGFrjW4PYRtL87yRVXW85T2sP2-vYMRW8BKSr15wjF_2N5_LvHq516CbW2d3q107Z6vGtW9kTWcl671nhWW1Y9G4k4M9M2vVH3K998C8dslW837vfQ2DFGpLW2dphq45yX7xKW10mGfP7ll4PTW1x5BfV19tWZPN7CnWWFKB58lN9lbwgTQMWp2N1FRV6NFB9hWW7hM3RW3KjMJcW4fwksf5QQw4531nB1" target="_blank">federal aid</a>. Communities of color, low-income communities, and communities with low English proficiency -- three groups that often overlap -- are <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VVpTCP84cTPKVxPt4P6QtKsgW5n2k0f49S0dwM3ZwR13p_97V1-WJV7CgW-ZW6Vhd0_7HBzHmW4YqFxS3pbGSGW2JY85Q2MKKL9W34QCb354d6f-W1J0mww7hpS9BW3BDd4s4Gx98_W936cQX2RZnP1W7tdmrn68N3wtW7mxw2Q7W7xW0W8ZqbDb4RvbmMW8C0M8b8MGzMwN4n8CBVh81NZW9bpNBW4Xg5sGVdBVHb5xxy_-N38bDtCHTSVpW416Zgs5K6s-gW18n0FB62cWJdW84yYWz1w7TdlW69MmPh45klXmW2dbxgR273TtWW498BX095bvy1W4Fd6f86D8CnCW4p_Tbc4YZ96NW7sJLPp1fGdLj2tZ1" target="_blank">disproportionately hurt</a> by <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VVpTCP84cTPKVxPt4P6QtKsgW5n2k0f49S0dwM3ZwQ75nxGrV3Zsc37Cg_46W2ZfH6-4mS0-GW1Fh4V188wQZSVx_XpF7vXf47W44n5MY6qsN33W1rBz0L4t0J5SW6yGdN95-xxw8W14_q6j744ZYDW9crgZ94qkdc-W8nQy2f7gmYccW6gPwyr8SNn--W74-4Qz2MzNLpW3VFCnh5Rn7kkW2VH50V62yHG8VMLjyK7WwDQzW7h2PK97xtD7SVl6bQy3_9hsJW81FcqG5MJbM0W4Xk_dW92V1XyW1b5DLq8c-GpWW8zhns35VbqsNW7X3N7887QPRyW2z5Z3K7Zj4PHVDyMp35wGHPzV8BXhb4ff9LxW394YY58QDPJjW1XjY7k2wTzR2W7pFdNq25-VSkW6hbwFt4_L6j-W42yPMx1-cQR_W2SWK3Y3HNtT1W8smDYf7cJ9lRW7BMzc314b3HpW6yRw5h6g-cspW8fdNY44VvkS53j9R1" target="_blank">extreme weather</a> because <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VVpTCP84cTPKVxPt4P6QtKsgW5n2k0f49S0dwM3ZwPS5nxG7V3Zsc37CgStDW4QsmST6HbLv3W874DjS7pJDBvW1v9xrk7YjhPcW8w_HZM8-hnbtW2K19Nn6LXByDW4b1k3N6Z-kD6W7RBCr-6b6P8hVrC4DT293WSRVmjrKW8mVSZ8W68f5YQ3q-pzRW1Vxrq-4vzyDDW5chNZ58vH27dW6RJQdn1lSjK1W8f-g4v2YXM-XW1KkwKH5y6jRdW1BkJBt6FymgnW5CrVJn6gMfhGW6SPnrr1cvBtQW4tFb-D44GLGNW98zBhx2ktK6xW8RzN-B9g8TM5V_X1CV1_lYN7W7hR5WB4sXtp4W6BFC-Y73p0CVW8CLhsG2ZN8JfMvjqpdGPCMyW5r-0Sp5jnXl3W4z5Sl14xsv83W5cjbSf7LHCYGW5X2ntG1yTWvgW7tnfbY4VnXrhW7Wb8L1198ZRc3l3x1" target="_blank">legacies</a> of racism, economic exploitation, and <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VVpTCP84cTPKVxPt4P6QtKsgW5n2k0f49S0dwM3ZwPS5nxG7V3Zsc37CgLb1W418jQH5NvpDQW5BYVQZ66pB2qW4SHhrV893KY8VNysmk98lWB-W8l-Tn65JrgGWW8yNYHM1dkYbjW4xs4Nj47X512N1Lcrg7dYmFYVxdtzH8V60ZXW2m2H2024fYZPW1_15Wf5DncPjW5cMYD03syHhNW6P4t5y2mcdjMV8N3l82y3b0qW36_KK-929tgMW2YRWbK2V34CwN7l17B7sgFDwF7ddlzNylycW79ChnD585T79W1djBwN2S5yw6W87_39p7fnx07W6B7TMv8MQ_JNW7bqZKV2vGXQtW4fyk6N5TLz7HW4FvpJy5292tpW18rSlV3RL0CyN7fhRKJSsqNdW78VN045VZPZ9N5yfFTWRSD8ZVkKf954Mtd8vW50Dtyp4NQ-PHW8hMl7X6y4hf92H31" target="_blank">environmental injustice</a> have left them less equipped to prepare for, evacuate, and rebuild after storms. </p>
<p>While the corporate broadcast channels failed to inform audiences about it, PBS managed to include nine mentions of impacts on low-income communities and communities of color out of 233 segments on extreme weather events over the time frame analyzed by MMFA. </p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/broadcast-networks/three-years-corporate-broadcast-news-hurricane-coverage-failed-mention-specific" target="_blank">Media Matters for America</a><br/><a href="http://www.chron.com/technology/businessinsider/article/EPA-blasts-Associated-Press-journalist-over-12170978.php" target="_blank"></a></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Several drugmakers and research institutions are working on vaccines, antivirals and other treatments to help people infected with COVID-19. krisanapong detraphiphat / Moment / Getty Images
Researchers at the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced yesterday that it will start a trial on a new drug designed specifically for COVID-19, a milestone in the race to stop the infectious disease, according to STAT News.
<p>The early-stage trial is the world's first for an antibody treatment that specifically targets the novel coronavirus. Eli Lilly is one of the several drugmakers and research institutions working on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vaccines" target="_self">vaccines</a>, antivirals and other treatments to help people infected with the virus that has already killed over 370,000 worldwide, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lilly-treatments/eli-lilly-starts-human-study-of-potential-covid-19-treatment-idUSKBN23825Y" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>The treatment that Eli Lilly will test uses an antibody that was developed using a blood sample from one of the first U.S. patients to recover from coronavirus. As <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/500425-eli-lilly-gives-patients-first-doses-in-trial-of-new-coronavirus-treatment" target="_blank">The Hill</a> noted, antibody treatments that are developed specifically to fight COVID-19 show promise as effective treatments. The drug remdesivir, which has been touted as a potential treatment, already existed and was repurposed to help patients with COVID-19. In trials so far, it has shown moderate results as it slightly shortened the time that patients were infected.</p>
<p>The first phase of the trial will test if the therapy is safe and well-tolerated with results expected later this month. The first COVID-19 patients to receive the new drug are hospitalized at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine in New York, Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, and Emory University in Atlanta, Eli Lilly told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/health/eli-lilly-antibody-therapy-human-trial-covid-19/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p><p>The trial will test for side effects and is only being tested in 32 people at the various sites.</p><p>The company said that if the trial shows the medicine is effective against COVID-19, it may be fast tracked through the regulatory process and be available by the autumn, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/health/eli-lilly-antibody-therapy-human-trial-covid-19/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>"Until now, scientists have been trying to repurpose medicines, drugs, that were designed for new diseases to see if they work in COVID-19, but as soon as this epidemic started, we got to work making a new medicine against this disease," said Dr. Dan Skovronsky, Eli Lilly's senior vice president and chief scientific officer, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/health/eli-lilly-antibody-therapy-human-trial-covid-19/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. "Now we're ready and testing it in patients."</p><p>While Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly is developing the drug, the medicine was actually discovered by a Vancouver company, AbCellera. Other companies are also working on developing an antibody drug, too. Biotech firm Regeneron expects to begin a test soon as does a partnership of Vir Biotechnology and GlaxoSmithKline, according to <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/01/eli-lilly-begins-first-human-tests-of-an-antibody-drug-against-covid-19/" target="_blank">STAT News</a>.</p><p>"We're not racing against each other," said Skovronsky of the other companies, as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/STAT%20News" target="_self">STAT News</a> reported. "We're racing against the death toll from the virus. I hope there will be multiple successful [antibody drugs]. I expect there will be."</p>
<p>Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has said it plans to start clinical studies in June to test its antibody cocktail treatment and is aiming to have hundreds of thousands of preventative doses available by the end of August, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lilly-treatments/eli-lilly-starts-human-study-of-potential-covid-19-treatment-idUSKBN23825Y" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p><p>Lilly's treatment is designed to block it from locking on to human cells, thus neutralizing the virus, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lilly-treatments/eli-lilly-starts-human-study-of-potential-covid-19-treatment-idUSKBN23825Y" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>Scientists at AbCellera and the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases selected the specific antibodies they thought would be most potent. Then Lilly scientists engineered the treatment, known as a monoclonal antibody therapy. Monoclonal antibodies have an approach has worked to treat other illnesses. There are monoclonal antibody therapies that treat HIV, asthma, lupus, Ebola and some forms of cancer, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/health/eli-lilly-antibody-therapy-human-trial-covid-19/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>"Ultimately, what we would hope is that this would be an effective treatment that would provide very strongly neutralizing antibodies to lower the virus and help patients recover," said Mark Mulligan, the director of the vaccine center at New York University Langone Health, who is one of the doctors working in the study that Lilly is funding, as <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/01/eli-lilly-begins-first-human-tests-of-an-antibody-drug-against-covid-19/" target="_blank">STAT News</a> reported.</p><p>"It feels it feels like we're making history," said Skovronsky, according to <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/01/eli-lilly-begins-first-human-tests-of-an-antibody-drug-against-covid-19/" target="_blank">STAT News</a>. Just three months after Covid-19 became a global pandemic, the pharmaceutical industry has been able to confront it, he said. "This has got to be a new phase in the fight."</p>
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The Sumatran rhino is one of 515 endangered species of land animals on the brink of extinction. Mark Carwardine / Photolibrary / Getty Images
The sixth mass extinction is here, and it's speeding up.
<p>A new study, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/05/27/1922686117" target="_blank">published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Monday</a>, found that 515 land <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/animals/" target="_self">animals</a> are currently on the brink of extinction. That's slightly less than the at least 543 species that disappeared last century. However, these extremely <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> are expected to disappear in the next two decades, <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/press/view/34340" target="_blank">Stanford University explained in a press release</a>.</p><p>"When humanity exterminates populations and species of other creatures, it is sawing off the limb on which it is sitting, destroying working parts of our own life-support system," study coauthor and Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich said in the press release. "The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> of endangered species should be elevated to a national and global emergency for governments and institutions, equal to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate</a> disruption to which it is linked."</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8768fc2a38d4601fb0f3f9fbfae1718c"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vES3YlXcrrc?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>Ehrlich helped to write a 2015 study confirming that a sixth mass extinction had begun, and he now says the extinction rate is likely higher than previously thought. Species are going extinct at rates hundreds or thousands of times faster than the "background" rate for the last tens of millions of years, and are being killed off by one overriding factor: us. Several specific human actions are behind these losses, including habitat loss, hunting, the introduction of invasive species, pollution, the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> trade and the climate crisis.</p><p>"The massive losses that we are experiencing are being caused, directly or indirectly, by the activities of <em>Homo sapiens,</em>" the study authors wrote.</p>
<p>To draw their conclusions, the researchers looked at data on 29,400 land vertebrate species compiled by the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/" target="_blank">IUCN Red List of Threatened Species</a> and <a href="https://www.birdlife.org/" target="_blank">BirdLife International</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/01/sixth-mass-extinction-of-wildlife-accelerating-scientists-warn?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco" target="_blank">The Guardian explained</a>. Of those species, 515 had populations of fewer than 1,000, and about half of the 515 were down to less than 250 individuals.</p><p>Most of the at-risk species live in the tropics or subtropics. They include the Sumatran rhino, the Clarión wren, the Española giant tortoise and the harlequin frog.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM2NjEyOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTE4NDI1MX0.2WWSb0c89DNXcCCPJ1goB36-HAqJ3BcWogNMRMHbSL8/img.jpg?width=980" id="18b32" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0d1e4850694f3b468f7ee20744b33763" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Terrestrial vertebrates on the brink (i.e., with 1,000 or fewer individuals) include species such as (A) Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis; image credit: Rhett A. Butler [photographer]), (B) Clarion island wren (Troglodytes tanneri; image credit: Claudio Contreras Koob [photographer]), (C) Española Giant Tortoise (Chelonoidis hoodensis; image credit: G.C.), and (D) Harlequin frog (Atelopus varius; the population size of the species is unknown but it is estimated at less than 1,000; image credit: G.C.).
<p>Because ecosystems are so interconnected, the disappearance of any of these at-risk species would put other species at risk. For example, when sea otters were overhunted in the Bering Sea, the population of sea urchins bloomed, devouring kelp forests and driving the Steller's sea cow to extinction. Eighty-four percent of species with populations under 5,000 live in the same regions as species with populations under 1,000, making such a domino effect more likely.</p><p>"Extinction breeds extinction," the researchers wrote.</p>
<p>The eradication of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiversity</a> is also a major threat to human civilization. The most timely example is the spread of the new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a>, which originated in bats and is believed to have passed to humans through another animal at a wildlife market, the press release explained.</p><p>"Based on our research and what we're seeing, the extinction crisis is so bad that whatever we do in the next 10 to 50 years is what will define the future of humanity," study coauthor professor Gerardo Ceballos of the National University of Mexico in Mexico City told <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52881831" target="_blank">BBC News</a>.</p><p>The researchers called for a ban on the international wildlife trade, according to Stanford. They have also started an initiative called <a href="https://stopextinctions.org/" target="_blank">Stop Extinction</a> to raise awareness of the biodiversity crisis.</p><p>"In view of the current extinction crisis and the lack of widespread actions to halt it, it is very important that scientists should metaphorically take to the streets," they wrote.</p>
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People are having a hard time trying to understand what information is reliable and what information they can trust. Aekkarak Thongjiew / EyeEm / Getty Images
By Cathy Cassata
With more than 1.7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States and more than 100,000 deaths from the virus, physicians face unprecedented challenges in their efforts to keep Americans safe.
They also encounter what some call an "infodemic," an outbreak of misinformation that's making it more difficult to treat patients.
<p>"The most prevailing theme regardless of misinformation on a website or someone sharing a Facebook post is eroding trust. Medical experts and doctors who are trying to help patients, whether in general or in the office, [are seeing] the doctor-patient relationship being broken down over time and especially during this pandemic," <a href="https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/find-a-doctor/profiles/david-r-stukus" target="_blank">Dr. David Stukus</a>, associate professor of pediatrics in the division of allergy and immunology at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, told Healthline.</p><p>Stukus says people are having a hard time trying to understand what information is reliable and what information they can trust.</p><p>"Oftentimes their personal doctor may give them information that contradicts what they heard online or from someone else, and that really puts the patient in a tough position as they try to determine the best path forward for their own health," he said.</p><p>While misinformation online has been around for a while, Stukus says it has increased during the pandemic.</p>
<p>"Previously, there were different focuses of misinformation, such as anti-vaccine groups or conspiracy theorists or unsubstantiated claims about supplements. Now all those different areas are focused on one area, and that's COVID-19," he said.</p><p><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/experts/joe-pierre-md" target="_blank">Dr. Joseph M. Pierre</a>, health sciences clinical professor of psychiatry at University of California, Los Angeles, says the damage that misinformation can have depends on how much people's belief in the misinformation leads to behaviors that increase the risk of infection, worsen the course of the illness, or pose other risks in their own right.</p><p>"Most of the evidence falls into the first category: By not observing proper social distancing and not wearing masks, the risk of infection is greater. More cases mean more morbidity and more death and the potential to overwhelm medical resources," Pierre told Healthline.</p><p>Lack of understanding when it comes to proper use of masks and personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers poses a challenge.</p><p>"If some people are not wearing masks, but others are stockpiling N95 masks and other PPE, that puts healthcare workers at risk," Pierre said.</p>
When Leaders and Doctors Spread Misinformation
<p>When people in charge of towns, cities, states, and countries spread misinformation, the potential for belief in misinformation to result in policies can have harmful effects.</p><p><a href="https://www.northwell.edu/find-care/find-a-doctor?q=Bruce+E.+Hirsch%2C+MD&insurance=&location=&query_type=provider&physician_partners=false&default_view=list&gender=&language=&sort=relevancy" target="_blank">Dr. Bruce E. Hirsch</a>, attending physician and assistant professor in the infectious disease division of Northwell Health in Manhasset, New York, says an example of this is when President Trump informed the public he was taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure.</p><p>"To approach this enormous challenge, we need some intellectual honesty and clarity, and to disregard expertise and to make decisions and model decisions based on hunches is inviting us to handle challenges on the basis of rumor and uninformed opinion. The magnitude of that error is epic," Hirsch told Healthline.</p><p>Stukus agrees, noting that the harm of this proclamation is documented.</p><p>"Early on when the president touted the benefits of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, people started to hoard this medicine, and state boards had to shut it down because they were getting so many prescriptions for this unproven therapy that it was not available for those who truly needed it, such as those who have lupus and autoimmune conditions," Stukus said.</p><p>He adds that calls to poison control centers increased after the president suggested using disinfectant to prevent contracting the new coronavirus.</p><p>"When people in charge who have large platforms make recommendations regarding treating and/or public health policies, their words absolutely matter because people will follow their advice. It's imperative that they base their recommendations upon evidence and expertise of doctors and other medical professionals," Stukus said.</p><p>Same goes for doctors spreading information that's contrary to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH).</p><p>Stukus says as videos and dialogue from naysayer doctors spread on social media, it can be difficult to navigate.</p><p>"This is the next wave of misinformation. Certain political ideologies are using doctors to promote their agendas, so now you have someone who is qualified, and maybe they are giving information to counteract the CDC for instance. It's hard to reconcile that," he said.</p><p>His best suggestion is to research what studies and data they're sharing. Ensure that the studies are peer reviewed or published, and that the medical experts don't have a financial motive.</p><p>"If the source of information is also selling a product and/or service, they are by definition conflicted, so that should be a giant red flag. There are well-established tricks and marketing ploys that people will use often in the realm of pseudoscience where they will offer these explanations that aren't backed by evidence," Stukus said.</p><p>"As a general rule, if information is an extreme outlier, it's probably not accurate, or if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't," he added.</p>
Listen to Science, Even When it Changes
<p>When recommendations change or evidence flip-flops, skepticism may arise. However, Stukus says change is the beauty of science.</p><p>"That shows us that we can evolve, and if the evidence shows that our prior thoughts were incorrect, we need to be able to change our recommendations and advice based upon the best quality of evidence at the time," he said.</p><p>Pierre agrees.</p><p>"Science is an iterative process, whereby we arrive at facts and truth through repeated and controlled observations. That means that it's inherently self-correcting as we revise conclusions based on ongoing research. Scientific facts aren't immutable dogma chiseled on a tablet. They change based on the best available evidence we have at a given point in time," he said.</p><p>Because research of COVID-19 has only been underway for 6 months, information is evolving rapidly, and new information may contradict old.</p><p>"There's still much we don't know about exactly how [COVID-19] spreads, what effects it has on the body, or how to best treat it. That means that the best available evidence is preliminary, but that doesn't mean that we should ignore it or turn to other sources of information or opinion as if they're just as valid," Pierre said.</p><p>He explains that conspiracy theories based on mistrust lead to vulnerability to misinformation.</p><p>If people mistrust science because it sometimes "changes its mind," Pierre said, "that shouldn't be used to embrace other opinions based on no evidence at all, which are typically selected based on confirmation bias: what we want to believe rather than what the objective evidence supports."</p>Where to Find the Best Information
<p>Stukus says to start with the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html" target="_blank">CDC</a> and <a href="https://www.nih.gov/health-information/coronavirus" target="_blank">NIH</a>. Then check with your local health officials, because COVID-19 guidelines may vary depending on where you live.</p><p>If you can't find information you need or have questions specifically related to you, call your primary care doctor.</p><p>"Your personal doctor should always be a resource for individual specific questions because they know best how to apply all the nuances retaining to your health, and how to incorporate all the other general [COVID-19] recommendations," Stukus said.</p><p><a href="https://www.eehealth.org/find-a-doctor/b/boyd-laura-b/" target="_blank">Dr. Laura Boyd</a>, primary care physician at Edward-Elmhurst Health Center in Elmhurst, Illinois, says her clinic receives a lot of calls about COVID-19.</p><p>"Most doctors' offices are receiving calls and answering questions, and doing phone or video visits to help clarify and/or order testing over the phone based on patients' symptoms. It is always best to call your doctor's office first instead of worrying about symptoms and waiting too long to seek treatment," she told Healthline.</p><p>If your primary care doctor has limited testing, she suggests looking on your state's public health website for available testing sites.</p><p>With a lot of unknowns related to this virus and disease, Boyd says many patients are feeling overwhelmed and anxious for a treatment.</p><p>"Unfortunately, there is no specific medication recommended for COVID for outpatient. There are a lot of ongoing studies with various drugs going on within the hospital setting. Patients should always contact their doctors about their specific symptoms as they can treat the symptoms that go along with COVID, but there is no cure," Boyd said.</p><p>While we wait for treatment and a vaccine, Hirsch, who treats patients hospitalized for COVID-19 complications on a daily basis, says everyone can do their part by washing hands, wearing a mask, and staying 6 feet apart.</p><p>"As an infectious disease doctor working in the hospital, I see the damage of the pandemic and the worst cases of what's happening. We are trying to get the best possible outcome and confronting this overwhelming biologic reality of this terrible epidemic the best we can," Hirsch said.</p><p>Everyone at home can help in the fight too, he adds.</p><p>"Follow information that is science- and evidence-based, and avoid that which is not," he said.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Clean Water Act Rollback: Trump's EPA Limits States’ and Tribes’ Rights to Block Pipelines
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Politics
Workers clean up a crude oil leak from a pipeline in Minnesota in 2002. JOEY MCLEISTER / Star Tribune via Getty Images
The Trump administration has finalized a rule making it harder for states and tribal communities to block pipelines and other infrastructure projects that threaten waterways.
<p>The change concerns Section 401 of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/clean-water-act" target="_self">Clean Water Act</a>, which essentially gives states and tribes veto power over projects that would hurt their water quality, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/500480-trump-rule-limits-states-from-blocking" target="_blank">The Hill explained</a>. The changes, announced by the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" target="_self">Environmental Protection Agency</a> (EPA) Monday, give states and tribes a one-year deadline for reviewing projects and narrow the scope of what they can consider to only water issues, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/climate/trump-clean-water-pipelines.html" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>. They may no longer block projects because they would contribute to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>.</p><p>"This is a dangerous mistake," director of federal water policy at the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> (NRDC) Jon Devine said in a <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/nrdc/epa-curbs-state-and-tribal-authority-block-projects-harm-waterways?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=tweet&utm_campaign=EJ" target="_blank">statement</a>. "It makes a mockery of this EPA's claimed respect for 'cooperative federalism.'"</p>
<p>In recent years, states have used Section 401 to block a number of high profile <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a> projects, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/06/01/epa-limits-states-tribes-ability-protest-pipelines-other-energy-projects/" target="_blank">The Washington Post reported</a>. Last month, New York and New Jersey <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/new-york-rejects-williams-pipeline-2646023924.html" target="_self">blocked permits</a> for the Northeast Supply Enhancement Pipeline, which would have carried fracked <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/natural-gas" target="_self">natural gas</a> from Pennsylvania through both states. New York also blocked the Constitution pipeline that would have also moved gas from Pennsylvania. And Washington state blocked a $680 million <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" target="_self">coal</a> export facility in 2017.</p><p>Climate activists have seen Section 401 as a useful tool for keeping fossil fuels in the ground, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/01/867224980/trump-administration-limits-states-power-to-stop-oil-and-gas-pipelines" target="_blank">NPR explained</a>. But industry groups and the Trump administration have accused states of abusing their veto powers, and President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> issued an executive order in April 2019 mandating federal agencies ease the completion of energy infrastructure projects, according to The Washington Post.</p><p>"Today, we are following through on President Trump's Executive Order to curb abuses of the Clean Water Act that have held our nation's energy infrastructure projects hostage, and to put in place clear guidelines that finally give these projects a path forward," EPA Administrator and former coal lobbyist <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/andrew-wheeler" target="_self">Andrew Wheeler</a> said in a statement reported by The Hill.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">EPA announced a final rule that will streamline the construction of modern infrastructure projects across the United States, while ensuring our nation’s waterways are protected. <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realdonaldtrump</a> is delivering on another promise! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PromisesMadePromisesKept?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PromisesMadePromisesKept</a> <a href="https://t.co/hFGqKzraO0">https://t.co/hFGqKzraO0</a> <a href="https://t.co/LcrGsm4si8">pic.twitter.com/LcrGsm4si8</a></p>— EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler (@EPAAWheeler) <a href="https://twitter.com/EPAAWheeler/status/1267525012489146370?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Fossil Fuel groups welcomed the change.</p><p>"We hope that EPA's action today will help end the abuse of the section 401 permitting process, which has been used to obstruct projects for reasons that had nothing to do with protecting water quality," National Mining Association President and CEO Rich Nolan told NPR.</p><p>Lawyer, former EPA employee and Clean Water Act expert Mark Ryan told The Hill that the changes were a major departure that would put states at a disadvantage.</p><p>"This changes the balance of power that has existed over the last 40 years from the states to the applicants," he said.</p><p>He explained that applicants would be incentivized to run down the clock on states by withholding information. However, he also thought it was unlikely the changes would hold up in court.</p><p>"The new rule will be very vulnerable to a legal challenge; the EPA will have a very hard time convincing the Supreme Court that its current interpretation of the Clean Water Act is correct," he said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch.</p>
<p>And a legal challenge looks likely.</p><p>"We won't stand idly by as they rip away our authority under the law to preserve water quality," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, whose state has sued the Trump administration <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-fuel-efficiency-rollback-lawsuit-2646114003.html" target="_self">82 times</a>, said in a statement reported by The Washington Post.</p>
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The Pile River flows into the northern end of Lake Iliamna. The lake and its tributaries are the headwaters of the Bristol Bay region, one of the richest salmon fisheries in the world. Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wrote a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers last week to say that it would not oppose or put a stop to a huge copper and gold mine near the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery, as The Washington Post reported.
<p>The Pebble Mine, a vast copper and gold deposit, is worth an estimated $500 billion in natural resources. However, it is in the Bristol Bay region of southwest <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/alaska">Alaska</a>, a resource that brings in $1.5 billion annually and provides a vital food source for thousands of Alaska Native residents who live there, according to <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/alaska-pebble-mine-bristol-bay/" target="_blank">PBS</a>. An effort to build the mine at the heart of the Bristol Bay watershed has been an ongoing fight in Alaska.</p><p>The project was seemingly dead in 2012, but it got a new lease on life with the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> administration when the Pebble Partnership filed for a permit with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in late 2017. The EPA has raised many concerns about the project, saying that it may result in substantial and unacceptable impacts to "aquatic resources of national importance," as <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/05/28/in-showdown-over-pebble-mine-epa-blinks/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a> reported.</p>
<p>In response, the Army Corps of Engineers announced what that the least damaging way to bring the ore out of the mine would be to take it out around the north side of Lake Iliamna, according to <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/05/28/in-showdown-over-pebble-mine-epa-blinks/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a>.</p><p>Christopher Hladick, the EPA's regional administrator for Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, wrote to the Alaska district engineer, Col. David Hibner, that the agency's serious concerns about the plan continued. He noted that the concerns include the fact that dredging for the open pit mine "may well contribute to the permanent loss of 2,292 acres of wetlands and ... 105.4 miles of streams," as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/05/29/epa-opts-not-delay-controversial-alaska-mine-now/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p><p>The EPA will still have the authority to veto the project, but the latest letter makes it unlikely to do so.</p>
<p>Mark Ryan, a lawyer in private practice who served as regional counsel in EPA Region 10 between 1990 and 2014, told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/05/29/epa-opts-not-delay-controversial-alaska-mine-now/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> that the EPA's letter appears contradictory.</p><p>"It's a very odd letter," Ryan said. "It points out the mine's very serious environmental damage but then does not invoke EPA's powers to elevate the issue for further discussion."</p><p>"Today's decision ... gives us more reason to believe that there will be no veto," Pebble CEO Tom Collier said in a written statement, as <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/05/28/in-showdown-over-pebble-mine-epa-blinks/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a> reported. "This is consistent with our observation that (the Corps) and EPA, and the other cooperating agencies, have been working well together to resolve all outstanding issues."</p>
<p>Opponents of the project argue that the mine will damage the salmon, which are critical for the economy, for sustenance and for the region's cultural heritage.</p><p>"There are still many substantive issues with the project proposal that have yet to be resolved," said Daniel Cheyette, the vice president of Bristol Bay Native Corp., whose Alaska Native corporation opposes the mine, which would be the largest in North America, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/05/29/epa-opts-not-delay-controversial-alaska-mine-now/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p>
<p>While the Army Corps of Engineers has said the mine will have minimal impact on the salmon, environmental groups strongly disagree.</p><p>"It's about four times larger than the largest mine the EPA said that it was willing to consider for permitting," said Joel Reynolds of the Natural Resources Defense Council, to <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/alaska-pebble-mine-bristol-bay/" target="_blank">PBS</a>. "The notion that the contaminants can be contained in any reliable fashion in that kind of environment has never been proven, never been tested, and in the judgment of virtually any independent scientist, simply can't be done."</p>
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A crowd of protestors on May 31, 2020 in Washington, DC. Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images
The nationwide horror at the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police has triggered protests in 75 cities. People are demonstrating against the systemic racism that has made people of color targets of lethal actions by law enforcement. In response, elected officials and public health experts are walking a fine line of affirming the rights of protestors while simultaneously worrying that the protests will lead to a new wave of coronavirus infections.
<p>It is worth noting that unlike the protests against stay-at-home orders and mask wearing, many of the demonstrators against racial injustice were wearing masks and gloves.</p><p>"All things considered, there's little doubt that these protests will translate into increased risk of transmission for COVID-19," said Maimuna Majumder, a computational epidemiologist at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/06/protests-pandemic/612460/" target="_blank">The Atlantic</a>. However, she added the protests are important and necessary.</p><p>"Structural racism has been a public-health crisis for much longer than the pandemic has," she said.</p>
<p>The protests over the injustice of police officers disproportionately killing people of color have coincided with how COVID-19 deaths disproportionately hit racial minority communities. That phenomenon exposed huge disparities in resources and access to care in a country without universal healthcare.</p><p>As <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/06/protests-pandemic/612460/" target="_blank">The Atlantic</a> noted, the pandemic and unrest together have trapped the country in a bind. The demonstrations oppose police brutality. But peaceful, masked protesters — and the journalists covering them — have sometimes been met with an overly aggressive police response. Yet, the demonstrations and the aggressive response by police are likely to exacerbate the spread of the coronavirus.</p>
<p>The scenes of protestors holding hands, or shouting in the face of police, or singing in close quarters has raised concern that the protests will act as super spreaders.</p><p>"If you were out protesting last night, you probably need to go get a COVID test this week," said Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms at a news briefing Sunday, as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/protests-could-accelerate-spread-coronavirus-public-health-experts-say-n1220551" target="_blank">NBC News</a> reported. "[B]ecause there's still a pandemic in America that's killing black and brown people at higher numbers."</p><p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/06/protests-pandemic/612460/" target="_blank">The Atlantic</a> noted the aspects of the protests and the police response that may contribute to a spread of the coronavirus. "The virus <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/how-will-we-ever-be-safe-inside/611953/" target="_blank">seems to spread</a> the most when people yell (such as to chant a slogan), sneeze (to expel pepper spray), or cough (after inhaling tear gas). It is transmitted most efficiently <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-japan-tackled-coronavirus-without-a-lockdown-2020-5" target="_blank">in crowds and large gatherings</a>, and research has found that just a few contagious people <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/why-do-some-covid-19-patients-infect-many-others-whereas-most-don-t-spread-virus-all" target="_blank">can infect</a> hundreds of susceptible people around them. The virus can spread especially easily in small, cramped places, such as police vans and jails."</p>
<p>Public health experts have urged demonstrators to take precautions so they mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.</p><p>"Crowded protests, like any large gathering of people in a close space, can help facilitate the spread of covid-19, which is why it's so important participants wear masks, eye protection and bring hand-gel," Saskia Popescu, an infectious-disease epidemiologist at George Mason University's Schar School of Policy and Government, wrote in an email to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/crowded-protests-spark-concerns-about-fresh-outbreaks-of-the-deadly-coronavirus/2020/05/31/27397194-a364-11ea-b473-04905b1af82b_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>. "Shouting and screaming, as some studies have shown with singing, can project droplets farther, which makes the use of masks ... and eye protection ... that much more important."</p><p>While masks will reduce the spread of airborne droplets, their effectiveness is limited, unless they are N95 masks, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/crowded-protests-spark-concerns-about-fresh-outbreaks-of-the-deadly-coronavirus/2020/05/31/27397194-a364-11ea-b473-04905b1af82b_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>. However, N95 masks are in short supply and should be reserved for frontline clinicians.</p>
<p>"The question is: how do we do protesting safely?" Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of the global health institute at Harvard's TH Chan School of Public Health, told CNN, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/31/fears-grow-of-surge-in-us-coronavirus-cases-from-george-floyd-protests" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported. "I think masks are a critical part of it."</p><p>Some public health experts take solace that the protests are outdoors where droplets containing the virus are diluted in the air. Also, studies have shown that the virus is seldom transmitted in open-air situations.</p><p>"Yes, the protests are outside, but they are all really close to each other, and in those cases, being outside doesn't protect you nearly as much," said Howard Markel, a medical historian who studies pandemics, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/health/protests-coronavirus.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported. "Public gatherings are public gatherings — it doesn't matter what you're protesting or cheering. That's one reason we're not having large baseball games and may not have college football this fall."</p><p>Furthermore, he noted, that many of the protestors are young and he worries that they will be asymptomatic, but bring home the virus to elderly relatives. Also, aggressive police tactics for crowd control, like using tear gas and pepper spray, increase respiratory secretions from the eyes, nose and mouth. Police also corral crowds, penning people together in small spaces.</p>
<p>Dr. Theodore Long, who is leading New York City's contact tracing efforts, echoed the mayor of Atlanta, urging anyone who had been involved in the protests to get tested for the virus and to protect themselves.</p><p>"We strongly encourage anybody who is out in the protests to wear a mask, practice proper hand hygiene and to the extent possible, socially distance, though we know that's not always going to be feasible," Dr. Long said, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/nyregion/coronavirus-new-york-live-updates.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p>
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Increasing your exercise intensity is fairly simple to do. You can still participate in your favorite activities — just at a more vigorous pace. SrdjanPav / Getty Images
By Sara Lindberg
Whether you've hit a workout plateau or you're just ready to turn things up a notch, adding more strenuous exercise — also known as high-intensity exercise — to your overall fitness routine is one way to increase your calorie burn, improve your heart health, and boost your metabolism.
However, to do it safely and effectively, there are some guidelines you should follow. Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of vigorous exercise and how to safely dial up the intensity of your workouts.
What Is Considered Strenuous Exercise?
<p>When it comes to exercise, the intensity of how hard you work out is just as important as the duration of your exercise session. In general, exercise intensity is divided into three categories:</p><ul><li>low</li><li>moderate</li><li>vigorous or strenuous</li></ul><p>For an activity to be vigorous, you need to work at 70 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate, according to the<a href="https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/fitness-basics/target-heart-rates" target="_blank"> American Heart Association</a>. Examples of vigorous exercise include:</p><ul><li>running</li><li>cycling at 10 mph or faster</li><li>walking briskly uphill with a heavy backpack</li><li>jumping rope</li></ul><p>Low to moderate exercise is easier to sustain for longer periods since you work below 70 percent of your maximum heart rate and, sometimes, well below that level.</p><p>To reap health benefits, the <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/fitness/be-active/physical-activity-guidelines-for-americans/index.html" target="_blank">Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans</a> recommends that people age 18 and older get one of the following:</p><ul><li><strong>150 minutes</strong> of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week</li><li><strong>75 minutes</strong> of vigorous aerobic activity per week</li><li><strong>combination of both types</strong> of activity spread throughout the week</li></ul>Strenuous Exercise Vs. Moderate Exercise
<p>Increasing your exercise intensity is fairly simple to do. You can still participate in your favorite activities — just at a more vigorous pace.</p><p>One of the benefits of more strenuous exercise is that you can reap the same rewards as moderate-intensity exercise but in less time. So, if time is of the essence, doing a more strenuous 20-minute workout can be just as beneficial as doing a slower 40-minute workout session.</p><p>Here are some examples of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/physical/pdf/pa_intensity_table_2_1.pdf" target="_blank">strenuous vs. moderate exercise<span></span></a>.</p><table><tbody><tr><th>Moderate intensity</th><th>Strenuous intensity</th></tr><tr><td>bicycling at less than 10 mph</td><td>bicycling at more than 10 mph</td></tr><tr><td>walking briskly</td><td>running, or hiking uphill at a steady pace</td></tr><tr><td>jog-walk intervals</td><td>water jogging/running</td></tr><tr><td>shooting baskets in basketball</td><td>playing a basketball game</td></tr><tr><td>playing doubles tennis</td><td>playing singles tennis</td></tr><tr><td>raking leaves or mowing the lawn</td><td>shoveling more than 10 lbs. per minute, digging ditches</td></tr><tr><td>walking stairs</td><td>running stairs</td></tr></tbody></table>Benefits of Vigorous Exercise
<p>Besides being more efficient, turning up the heat on your fitness sessions can benefit your health in a variety of ways. Let's take a closer look at some of the evidence-based benefits of a higher intensity workout.</p><ul><li><strong>Higher calorie burn.</strong> According to the <a href="https://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/professional/expert-articles/5008/7-things-to-know-about-excess-post-exercise-oxygen-consumption-epoc/?utm_source=Rakuten&utm_medium=10&ranMID=42334&ranEAID=TnL5HPStwNw&ranSiteID=TnL5HPStwNw-hYlKnAcfzfixAUsvnO6Ubw" target="_blank">American Council on Exercise</a>, working out at a higher intensity requires more oxygen, which burns more calories. It also contributes to excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) or the "afterburn effect" that allows you to continue burning calories even after you finish working out. This means your metabolism will stay elevated for longer after a vigorous exercise session.</li><li><strong>More weight loss.</strong> A <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health-news/interval-workouts-will-help-you-lose-weight-more-quickly" target="_blank">higher calorie burn</a> and an elevated metabolism will help you lose weight more quickly than doing low- or moderate-intensity exercise.</li><li><strong>Improved heart health.</strong> According to a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16377300" target="_blank">2012 study</a>, high- and moderate-intensity exercise appears to offer low chance of cardiovascular events, even in those with heart disease. Cardiovascular benefits may include improvements in:<ul><li><a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/diastole-vs-systole" target="_blank">diastolic blood pressure</a></li><li><a href="https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-ways-to-lower-blood-sugar#TOC_TITLE_HDR_1" target="_blank">blood sugar control</a></li><li>aerobic capacity</li></ul></li><li><strong>Improved mood.</strong> High-intensity exercise may also boost your mood. According to a large <a href="https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jpts/27/4/27_jpts-2014-736/_article" target="_blank">2015 study</a> that analyzed the data of more than 12,000 participants, researchers found a significant link between strenuous exercise and fewer depressive symptoms.</li><li><strong>Lower risk of mortality.</strong> According to a 2015 <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25844882" target="_blank">study</a>, researchers found that vigorous activity may be key to avoiding an early death. The study, which followed 204,542 people for more than 6 years, reported a 9 to 13 percent decrease in mortality for those who increased the intensity of their exercise sessions.</li></ul>How to Measure Exercise Intensity
<p>So, how do you know for sure that you're exercising at a strenuous level? Let's look at three ways to measure the intensity of your physical activity.</p><h3>1. Your heart rate</h3><p>Monitoring your heart rate is one of the most reliable methods for measuring exercise intensity. Exercising at 70 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate qualifies as vigorous exercise intensity.</p><blockquote><strong><strong>WHAT IS YOUR MAXIMUM HEART RATE?</strong></strong>Your maximum heart rate is the fastest your heart can safely beat. To find out what your maximum heart rate is you need to subtract your age from 220. For example, for a 40-year-old person: <ul><li>220 bpm (beats per minute) minus age</li><li>220 – 40 = 180 bpm</li></ul>To work out at a vigorous pace, you'll want to exercise within 70 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. For example: <ul><li>180 x 0.70 (70 percent) = 126</li><li>180 x 0.85 (85 percent) = 153</li></ul>For a 40-year-old person, a vigorous training range is 126 to 153 bpm.<br></blockquote><p>You can check your heart rate while you're working out by wearing a heart rate monitor or <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-check-heart-rate" target="_blank">taking your pulse</a>.</p><h3>2. The talk test</h3><p>The <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21904237" target="_blank">talk test</a> is one of the easiest ways to measure exercise intensity.</p><ul> <li>If you find it difficult to carry on a conversation, you're probably working out at a vigorous or strenuous pace.</li><li>If you can talk fairly easily with some breathlessness, you're likely exercising at a moderate pace.</li><li>If you find it easy to sing out loud, your pace may be too slow. To get more benefits from your workout, you may want to consider picking up the pace.</li></ul><h3>3. Rate of perceived exertion (RPE)</h3><p>The <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/RPE" target="_blank">rate of perceived exertion</a> (RPE) scale is a subjective measure of exercise intensity.</p><p>When using RPE, you'll pay attention to your heart rate, breathing, and muscle fatigue, and rate your exertion level based on a scale that ranges from 1 to 10. No exertion is rated as a 1 and maximum effort is rated as 10.</p><p>To be considered vigorous, an activity should meet or exceed a level of 6 to 7, which is considered hard on the RPE scale. This includes jogging, biking, or swimming. Running without stopping is ranked as 8 to 9 on the RPE scale.</p>
How to Add Vigorous Activity to Your Workout
<p>Adding strenuous activity to your weekly workout routine requires some careful planning. Fortunately, many of the activities that you do at a moderate level can easily be performed at a higher intensity.</p><p>One way of incorporating vigorous aerobic activity into your routine is to do a <a href="https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/benefits-of-hiit" target="_blank">high-intensity interval training (HIIT)</a> workout. This type of workout combines short bursts of intense activity — typically performed at 80 to 95 percent of your maximum heart rate — with recovery periods at 40 to 50 percent maximum heart rate.</p><p>To sustain this level of training, consider following a 2:1 work to rest ratio. For example, a <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/treadmill-weight-loss#hiit" target="_blank">treadmill workout </a>or outdoor running session could include:</p><ul><li>running at 9 to 10 mph for 30 seconds</li><li>followed by walking at 3 to 4 mph for 60 seconds</li><li>alternating this work-to-rest ratio for 20 to 30 minutes</li></ul><p>Playing a fast-paced sport like soccer, basketball, or racquetball is another effective way to add strenuous activity to your fitness routine. Participating in <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-a-spin-class" target="_blank">cycling classes</a> or swimming laps are other ways to build more strenuous exercise into your workouts.</p>Safety Tips
<p>Before you turn up the intensity on your workouts, it's important to keep the following safety tips in mind.</p><h3>Check with your doctor</h3><p>If you have a health condition or you haven't been active in a while, make sure you talk to your doctor before you start a high-intensity exercise routine. Your doctor can advise you on a safe level of exercise or how to become more active in the safest way possible.</p><h3>Build up the intensity slowly</h3><p>Going from low- or moderate-intensity workouts to vigorous exercise requires time and patience. While you may be ready to jump in with both feet, the safest way to add more vigorous exercise is to do it in bite-size increments. Pushing yourself too quickly can result in injuries and burnout.</p><p>For example:</p><ul><li><strong>Week 1:</strong> Swap out one moderate-paced cardio session for a HIIT workout.</li><li><strong>Week 2:</strong> Swap one moderate-paced session with a HIIT workout, and also add a circuit strength training session to your weekly routine.</li><li><strong>Week 3 and 4: </strong>Repeat weeks 1 and 2 before you start adding more high-intensity exercise to your weekly routine.</li></ul><p>It's also a good idea to space out your vigorous workouts throughout the week. Try not to do two strenuous sessions back-to-back.</p><h3>Don't forget the recovery time</h3><p>Your body requires more time to recover from a vigorous workout compared to a low- or moderate-intensity session.</p><p>To help your body recover, make sure to always include a cooldown and <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/exercise-fitness/static-stretching" target="_blank">stretch routine</a> after strenuous physical activity.</p><h3>Stay hydrated</h3><p><a href="https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/7-health-benefits-of-water" target="_blank">Staying hydrated</a> is especially important when you're exercising hard. Not drinking enough fluids can affect the quality of your workout and make you feel tired, lethargic, or dizzy. It may even lead to <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/dehydration-headache" target="_blank">headaches</a> and <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/pain-relief/how-to-stop-leg-muscle-cramps" target="_blank">cramps</a>.</p>The Bottom Line
<p>Turning up the intensity of your workout sessions can be an effective way of boosting your overall health and fitness. It's also an easy way to save time when trying to fit a workout into your day.</p><p>To play it safe, always start slow and pay attention to how your body feels.</p><p>While vigorous exercise offers many health benefits, it's not appropriate for everyone. If you have a health condition or you haven't been active in a while, make sure to talk with your doctor before working out at a more strenuous level.</p>From Your Site Articles
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As restoration managers repair damaged corals, sound recordings can help jumpstart the process of restoring vibrant – and noisy – coral reef ecosystems. CC by 2.0
A healthy coral reef is a noisy place.
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<p>"You've got this constant crackling sound. … That's the sound of snapping shrimp," says Steve Simpson of the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. "Then on top of that, pops, grunts, growls, trumpeting sounds, whooping sounds … and these are generally made by fish that are communicating with each other."</p><p>But Simpson says after damaging coral bleaching events – which are growing more common as oceans warm – that soundscape changes.</p><p>He says that when his team visited part of the Great Barrier Reef after a major bleaching event, "really to our shock, we found that the reef had gone quiet."</p>
<p>It was a sign that many sea creatures had left the area. Now Simpson's team is using sound to draw some of that life back.</p><p>At 11 locations in the Great Barrier Reef, they played recordings of a healthy reef ecosystem. After six weeks, they compared the fish life in those places with that in other areas. They found that twice as many fish had returned to the audio-enriched sites.</p><p>So Simpson says that as restoration managers repair damaged corals, sound recordings can help jumpstart the process of restoring vibrant – and noisy – coral reef ecosystems.</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/06/scientists-use-recorded-sounds-to-lure-fish-back-to-great-barrier-reef/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections.</a></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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