The fourth edition of the annual Solar Means Business Report, which identifies major commercial solar projects and ranks America’s top 25 corporate solar users, was released today by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).
The report revealed that the amount of solar installed by America’s top companies has nearly tripled since the first edition was released.
Walmart is once again America’s commercial solar leader for the third year in a row with nearly 142 megawatts (MW) installed at 348 installations across its locations.
1. #ActOnClimate
The release of SEIA’s new rankings of the top corporate solar users in America coincides with commitments made by Walmart and 80 other U.S. companies to the American Business Act on Climate Pledge.
By signing the pledge, these companies provided new and ongoing plans for reducing, avoiding and mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) levels in their operations. The pledge was also a showing of strong support to leaders from around the world who are meeting in Paris this week to solidify broader commitments from countries that are working to address climate change.
The 2.7 MW solar array at FedEx's facility in Hagerstown, Maryland consists of nearly 9,000 individual modules and offsets 37 percent of their electricity demand. Photo credit: FedEx
These companies are influential and successful brands that have operations in all 50 states, employ more than nine million people, represent more than $3 trillion in annual revenue and have a combined market capitalization of more than $5 trillion.
Deploying more clean energy is a significant way these companies are reducing their emissions and building more sustainable businesses.
In 2014, 26 percent of Walmart’s electricity was generated from renewable sources. In fact, Walmart pledged to double the number of on-site solar energy projects at its U.S. stores, Sam’s Clubs and distribution centers by 2020, compared with its 2013 baseline.
2. #SolarMeansBiz
Choosing to go solar is a surefire way for companies to take action on climate, but it’s also a smart business decision.
For commercial users, average electricity rates have increased more than 20 percent in 10 years, moving from eight cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to more than 10 cents per kWh.
This report shows that companies are taking advantage of this cost savings by increasingly adopting solar or adding to their existing systems to power their operations.
While the report does not provide a complete dataset of corporate solar systems in the U.S., the companies sampled installed 1,686 systems totaling 907 MW, generating enough electricity to power more than 158,000 homes.
This represents a 59 percent increase over the findings of last year's report.
Commercial solar prices are the lowest they have ever been and are continuing to fall, making solar a cost-effective decision that pays in both dividends for the environment and the bottom line.
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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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While it's often dismissed as stuff for kids, a lot of grownups secretly savor it. TheCrimsonMonkey / Getty Images
By Jeffrey Miller
In January 2015, food sales at restaurants overtook those at grocery stores for the first time. Most thought this marked a permanent shift in the American meal.
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<p>Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, that trend took a U-turn. <a href="https://www.restaurant.org/articles/news/restaurant-sales-and-job-losses-are-widespread" target="_blank">Restaurant revenue cratered</a>, while shoppers emptied grocery shelves stocking up on food to cook at home. And with sales of pantry items soaring, shoppers found themselves reaching for an old reliable.</p><p>In April, sales of Kraft macaroni and cheese <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/business/2020/04/09/we-cant-make-enough-mac-and-cheese-processed-food-is-undergoing-a-renaissance/" target="_blank">were up 27%</a> from the same time last year. General Mills, the maker of Annie's mac and cheese, <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/processed-foods-see-sales-boost-during-coronavirus-pandemic" target="_blank">has seen a similar bump</a>.</p><p>The cheap, boxed meal has long been a poster child for processed food. While it's often dismissed as stuff for kids, a lot of grownups secretly savor it. As I tell my own students, we love to bad mouth processed foods – usually while our mouths are full of it. It's also played an important role in kitchen science, wars and women's liberation.</p>
Solving the Age-Old Problem of Spoiled Cheese
<p>People have eaten pasta and cheese together for hundreds of years. Clifford Wright, the doyen of Mediterranean food history, says <a href="http://www.cliffordawright.com/caw/food/entries/display.php/topic_id/16/id/105/" target="_blank">the first written recipe</a> for macaroni and cheese was created in the court of the king of Naples in the 13th century, while <a href="https://food52.com/blog/9916-the-history-of-macaroni-and-cheese" target="_blank">the first reference</a> in an English language cookbook likely appeared in Elizabeth Raffald's 1769 book "The Experienced English Housekeeper."</p><p><span></span>An internet search for macaroni and cheese recipes will turn up over 5 million hits, but many still prefer to get theirs in a box – the kind with pasta that comes in shapes ranging from shells to Pokemon characters, accompanied by a packet of powdered cheese sauce.</p><p>Boxed macaroni and cheese was one outcome of the quest for ways to keep cheese longer. Some cheese gets better as it ages – a well-aged cheddar is one of life's delights – but once most cheeses hit their prime, <a href="https://www.dairyfoods.com/articles/91548-how-to-maximize-cheese-shelf-life" target="_blank">they tend to quickly go bad</a>. Before household refrigeration became common, many retailers wouldn't even stock cheese in the summer because it spoiled so quickly.</p><p>Processed cheese solved this age-old problem.</p><p>Credit for inventing processed cheese should go to a pair of Swiss food chemists named Walter Gerber and Fritz Stettler who, in 1913, were looking for a way to improve the shelf life of Emmenthaler cheese using sodium citrate. When they heated up the treated cheese, they noticed it <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-03-27/what-exactly-processed-cheese-anyway" target="_blank">melted better as well</a>. But Chicago cheese salesman James L. Kraft was awarded the first patent for processed cheese in 1916.</p><p>Kraft understood the spoilage problem and had tried various solutions to it. He tried putting it tin foil packages, sealing it in jars, even canning it. But none of these solutions caught on with the public.</p><p>He eventually realized that the same bacteria that made cheese age nicely was also the bacteria that ultimately caused it to go bad. So he took some cheddar cheese scraps, heated them to kill the bacteria, ground them up with some sodium phosphate as an emulsifier and voila – <a href="https://www.inventionandtech.com/content/cheese-cheese-food-1" target="_blank">Kraft processed cheese was born</a>.</p><p>These early processed cheeses were similar to the processed American cheese slices we see in the stores today, though wrapping slices individually didn't happen for another 40 years. Kraft's first big customer was the U.S. Army, which <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/08/us-military-helped-invent-cheetos/" target="_blank">bought more than 6 million pounds of the stuff to feed soldiers in World War I</a>. A number of variations appeared in the following years, including Velveeta and Cheez Whiz.</p>
<p>The product was a hit, but Kraft wanted to find more ways to sell processed cheese, and eventually came up with the idea to make a powdered base. The packet in the box of macaroni and cheese is essentially a cheese sauce that has been partially defatted and dehydrated. When you make it, you're adding back the fat and the liquid when you mix in the milk and butter.</p><p>In 1937, Kraft debuted its boxed macaroni and cheese, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/marvelous-macaroni-and-cheese-30954740/" target="_blank">which it sold for 19 cents and contained four servings</a>. Its slogan was "make a meal for four in nine minutes," and the product got a big lift with American consumers during World War II because you could get two boxes and spend only one ration point. With meat hard to come by, the cheap main dish substitute was a hit.</p>
When Natural Was Nasty
<p>Today, food that's simple, pure and natural is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-was-french-cuisine-toppled-as-the-king-of-fine-dining-66667" target="_blank">all the craze</a>, while <a href="https://apnews.com/c06a1200807c4b82a03452d08d480692" target="_blank">disdain for processed foods</a> is practically a credo among sophisticated consumers.</p><p>But when Kraft's different forms of processed cheese came out, they found widespread acceptance despite their strange textures. The fact that it wasn't natural didn't seem to bother consumers at all. In fact, as international food historian Rachel Laudan <a href="https://online.ucpress.edu/gastronomica/article/1/1/36/93394/A-Plea-for-Culinary-Modernism-Why-We-Should-Love" target="_blank">has noted</a>, back then, "natural was something quite nasty." She describes fresh milk as warm and "unmistakably a bodily secretion." Throughout the history of cookery, most recipes aimed to transform an unappetizing raw product into something delightful and delectable.</p><p>So for most consumers, processed foods were a godsend. They kept well, tended to be easily digestible and, most importantly, they tasted good. Many of them could be easily prepared, freeing women from spending entire days cooking and giving them more time to pursue professions and avocations.</p><p>In some ways, processed foods were also healthier. They could be fortified with vitamins and minerals, and, in an era before everyone had access to mechanical refrigeration, the fact that they kept well meant consumers were less likely to contract diseases from spoiled, rotten foods. Pasteurization of dairy products virtually <a href="https://www.the-scientist.com/foundations/rethinking-raw-milk--1918-65126" target="_blank">eliminated diseases like undulant fever</a>, while foods processed and canned in large factories were less likely to harbor food-borne illnesses that could crop up due to faulty or improperly sanitized equipment used by home canners.</p><p>Given today's marketing emphasis on the fresh, local and natural, one might think that processed foods are going the way of the dinosaur. But this isn't the case. Almost all the processed foods invented in the 20th century are still being produced <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-spam-became-one-of-the-most-iconic-american-brands-of-all-time-80030" target="_blank">in one form or another</a>. While you may not see much Tang on American shelves, it's <a href="https://fortune.com/2011/11/29/what-ever-happened-to-tang/" target="_blank">hugely popular</a> in the Middle East and Central and South America.</p><p>And mac and cheese – with roughly 7 million boxes of Kraft's version <a href="https://www.mashed.com/123963/untold-truth-kraft-macaroni-cheese/" target="_blank">sold each week</a> – continues to be devoured in good times and bad. Whether it recalls <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-diets-whats-behind-the-urge-to-eat-like-little-kids-137864" target="_blank">happier, simpler times</a> or feeds a family on a shoestring budget, the Day-Glo orange dinner is here to stay. </p>
<p>
<em>Jeffrey Miller is an Associate Professor, Hospitality Management at Colorado State University.<br/>
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<em>Disclosure statement: </em><em>Jeffrey Miller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</em>
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<em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-ode-to-mac-and-cheese-the-poster-child-for-processed-food-137973" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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A man observes the damages caused to his neighborhood from Tropical Storm Amanda on May 31, 2020 in San Salvador, El Salvador. Guillermo Martínez / APHOTOGRAFIA / Getty Images
At least 14 people were killed when Tropical Storm Amanda walloped El Salvador Sunday, Interior Minister Mario Duran said.
<p>Four people are missing, according to Noticias El Salvador, and around 200 homes were damaged by falling trees, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a> and mudslides, <a href="https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/deadly-tropical-storm-amanda-hits-el-salvador-guatemala-doc-1sm7hb5" target="_blank">AFP reported</a>.</p><p>"We lost everything, we've been left with nowhere to live," San Salvador resident Isidro Gomez, whose home was destroyed when a river overflowed its banks, told AFP.</p>
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<p>San Salvador, the nation's capital, saw half of the nation's total fatalities, its Mayor Ernesto Muyshondt said. He said the storm had forced 4,200 people into government shelters in the midst of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic.</p><p>"We are experiencing an unprecedented situation: one top-level emergency on top of another serious one," he told AFP, referring to the pandemic.</p><p>The government of El Salvador has <a href="https://covid19.gob.sv/" target="_blank">reported</a> a total of 2,582 coronavirus cases. Forty-six people have died, and 1,063 have recovered.</p><p>Amanda strengthened into a tropical storm before making landfall Sunday, making it the first named storm of the East Pacific 2020 <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes" target="_self">hurricane</a> season, <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurricane/amanda-makes-landfall-threatens-major-flooding-in-central-america/749982" target="_blank">AccuWeather reported</a>. It later weakened into a tropical depression and then a tropical rainstorm, but forecasters say its heavy rainfall still poses a major risk to Central America early this week.</p>
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<p>Because of its heavy rainfall, it was forecast to be a 1 on the <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/accuweathers-new-realimpact-scale-for-hurricanes-will-revolutionize-damage-predictions-for-greater-public-safety/329657" target="_blank">AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes</a>.</p><p>"Heavy rainfall will be the greatest threat over Central America, particularly in the higher terrain or Guatemala and El Salvador where rainfall totals of 18-24 inches are possible," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Randy Adkins said.</p>
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<p>In El Salvador, that rainfall has already turned deadly in the form of floods and landslides. One person drowned in a flooding river, while another was crushed by a collapsing wall, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-amanda/tropical-storm-amanda-kills-at-least-seven-people-in-el-salvador-idUSKBN2370MF" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>. An eight-year-old boy was killed when his house collapsed.</p><p>"We've seen people asking for help, asking for the government. We haven't deployed everywhere, the situation is overwhelming," Duran said Sunday, as Reuters reported.</p><p>The storm is estimated to have caused $200 million in damage to El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele said, according to AFP. He declared a 15-day state of emergency to recover from the storm.</p><p>Amanda weakened as it passed on to Guatemala, where it caused flooding and at least five landslides that blocked roads. However, no one had to be evacuated.</p>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is making hurricanes <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-crisis-hurricanes-wetter-2639175731.html" target="_self">wetter</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-extreme-weather-2639274656.html" target="_self">extreme precipitation events </a>more likely. A storm does not have to be a hurricane to cause damage. In 2019, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/houston-imelda-flooding-2640449818.html" target="_self">Tropical Storm Imelda</a> swamped Houston with a 1-in-1,000-year flood event just two years after Hurricane Harvey did the same.</p>
<p><em>Correction: </em><em>This piece has been updated to clarify that all the deaths reported by Reuters took place in El Salvador.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A fire in Greenland on July 10. Zombie fires smolder underground for months, notably in dense peatlands, and then flare-up when it grows warmer and drier. NASA
By Mark Kaufman
Some fires won't die.
They survive underground during the winter and then reemerge the following spring, as documented in places like Alaska. They're called "overwintering," "holdover," or "zombie" fires, and they may have now awoken in the Arctic Circle — a fast-warming region that experienced unprecedented fires in 2019. The European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service is now watching these fires, via satellite.
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.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.pjiv81dzvE2uWSwZVXH_hhoYKLl6go7m4QXYRodC8aQ/img.jpg" id="d48aa" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="79880bae7db4253c569739c541d26709" />Zombie fires could be awakening in the Arctic <p>Zombie fires smolder underground for months, notably in dense <a href="https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/peatlands-and-climate-change" target="_blank">peatlands</a> (wetlands composed of ancient, decomposed plants), and then flare-up when it grows warmer and drier. "Zombie" is fitting.</p><p is="">"It really does describe what these fires do," said Thomas Smith, an assistant professor in environmental geography at the London School of Economics. "They recover and they're difficult to kill."</p><p is="">In April, two snowmachine-riding fire technicians <a href="https://akfireinfo.com/2020/04/24/despite-heavy-snow-melt-deshka-landing-hot-spots-still-smoldering/" target="_blank">found a zombie fire still smoldering</a> near Willow, Alaska. The fire <a is="" href="https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/6532/50551/" target="_blank">started in August 2019</a>.</p><p is="">This smoldering can quickly escalate to new blazes. "Zombie fires start burning as soon as the snow melts," said Jessica McCarty, an Arctic fire researcher and assistant professor in the Department of Geography at Miami University.</p><p is="">These overwintering fires are most likely to emerge <a href="https://presentations.copernicus.org/EGU2020/EGU2020-6013_presentation.pdf" target="_blank">after big wildfire years</a> with lots of burned land. They often light up on the edge of the previous year's blazes. "It suggests a fire might have survived," said Smith. Then, the fires can ignite dried-out vegetation. </p><p is="">Importantly, it's difficult to say with certainty that the remote, early-season Arctic Circle fires identified by the European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service are all actually zombie fires. It's possible people lit some or many of the blazes for agricultural purposes, or by accident. "It's really difficult to say for sure," noted Smith. </p>
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<p is="">If they are truly zombie fires, that means 2019's blazes may ignite robust 2020 fires this summer.</p><p is="">"If this is the case, then under certain environmental conditions, we may see a cumulative effect of last year's fire season in the Arctic, which will feed into the upcoming season and could lead to large-scale and long-term fires across the same region once again," Mark Parrington, a senior scientist and wildfire expert at the European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said in a statement.</p><p is="">Overall, fires in the Arctic Circle — which can release colossal amounts of heat-trapping carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere — have been normal this year, but they're expected to pick up steam in June. What's more, they'll likely be enhanced by both <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/04/europe/russia-warm-temperatures-moscow-climate-intl/index.html" target="_blank">Russia's hottest winter on record</a> and recent <a is="" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/05/22/siberia-heat-wave/" target="_blank">Siberian heat waves</a>, where temperatures reached some 40 degrees Fahrenheit above average.</p><p>"We could have quite a lengthy fire season," said Smith. Wildfires feast on dry vegetation, Smith emphasized, and there will likely be ample amounts of parched land this summer.</p>
So What Happens Now?
<p>In the future, fire researchers expect an uptick in zombie fires. That's because the <a is="" href="https://mashable.com/article/climate-change-business-as-usual-catastrophic/" target="_blank">planet is relentlessly warming</a>, particularly in the Arctic, which means more ready-to-burn vegetation. It's already happening. "Arctic fires<strong> </strong>are becoming more common overall," explained Miami University's McCarty.</p><p is="">And some of these fires will inevitably smolder all winter, under the snow. "With a warmer Arctic, we're more likely to see overwintering fires," noted Smith.</p><p is="">It's challenging to stop zombie fires. They can happen in extremely remote places, without any roads or means of dousing them before they erupt. "We have no way of fighting them," said McCarty. "They're often fairly far-removed. How are we going to put them out?"</p><p is="">It's a question of profound importance in the decades ahead. Preventing human-caused Arctic wildfires will be critical, emphasized McCarty. That's because Arctic fires aren't just burning trees, they're often burning through <a is="" href="https://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2019/12/06/peatlands-release-more-methane-when-disturbed-by-roads/" target="_blank">peatlands</a>, which release bounties of the heat-trapping greenhouse gas methane into the air. When it comes to trapping heat, methane is <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases" target="_blank">25 times more potent</a> than carbon dioxide over the course of a century.</p><p is="">It's a vicious cycle. The warming Arctic produces more fires. More fires burn more forests and peatlands. This releases more methane and carbon dioxide into the air. This contributes to ever more planetary heating.</p><p is="">"Not stopping these zombie fires means further degrading these Arctic ecosystems," said McCarty. "Further warming leads to more zombie fires. It's not great."</p><a target="_blank"></a><blockquote><a href="https://mashable.com/article/zombie-fires-arctic/#" target="_blank"></a></blockquote>Related Articles Around the Web
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