Even Small Spikes in Air Pollution Can Threaten Children’s Mental Health, Research Suggests
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Climate change is making air pollution worse and is exacerbating smog-related health risks such as heart and lung diseases, pregnancy complications and development issues. Now, a study by the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has identified another health risk associated with rising air pollution: childhood psychiatric issues.
According to the study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, short-term spikes in ambient air pollution are linked with an increase in hospital visits for childhood psychiatric issues. Also, children in low-income neighborhoods with poor access to healthcare appeared to be more susceptible to the mental health effects of air pollution.
CNN reported that while previous research has shown an association between particulate matter pollution in the air and adult mental health issues, this is the first time researchers have looked into its effect on children.
During the five-year study, researchers focused on a very small type of particulate matter called PM 2.5 — fossil fuel-powered vehicles and power plants, cooking, dust and brush fires are all sources — can be easily inhaled and end up in organs and the bloodstream, causing inflammation in the lungs or brain, and, in the long term, may trigger cancer and heart attacks.
The researchers looked at more than 13,000 visits by children to Cincinnati Children's emergency psychiatric unit and compared it with data on the concentrations of PM 2.5 where they live. Results showed that spikes in PM 2.5 concentration were associated with increased childhood psychiatric visits one or two days later for adjustment disorder, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, while same-day visits were usually related to schizophrenia.
All daily exposures to PM 2.5 in the study were below levels set in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Ambient Air Quality Standards, researchers said.
These spikes in air pollution increased the risk of hospitalization for suicidal thoughts by 44 percent overall, the Daily Mail reported, but the risk for children from disadvantaged areas was almost double that. These children were also 39 percent more likely to need treatment for anxiety.
The researchers noted that the study was observational and more research would be needed to rule out other causes, Newsweek reported.
"More research is needed to confirm these findings, but it could lead to new prevention strategies for children experiencing symptoms related to a psychiatric disorder," lead author Cole Brokamp said in a press release. "The fact that children living in high poverty neighborhoods experienced greater health effects of air pollution could mean that pollutant and neighborhood stressors can have synergistic effects on psychiatric symptom severity and frequency."
While this study only looked at PM 2.5, it builds on other recent research by Cincinnati Children's demonstrating that exposure to air pollution in general during childhood may contribute to a host of mental health issues at an early age.
In May, researchers at the Cincinnati Children's published a study in Environmental Research showing a link between increased exposure to high traffic related air pollution (TRAP) and generalized anxiety. Another study published in June found that exposure to TRAP shortly in early childhood was linked with symptoms of anxiety and depression in 12-year-olds.
"All the organ systems are in development. For the protection of future generations, we have to reduce exposure." https://t.co/bbo2muQrpz @CleanAirCouncil
— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) September 19, 2019
From Your Site Articles
- Young People in Polluted Cities at Greater Risk for Alzheimer's ... ›
- Study Links Air Pollution and Teenage Psychotic Experiences ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Contribute
EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Over the next couple of weeks, crews will fully remove the 125-foot-wide, 25-foot-tall dam, allowing the Middle Fork Nooksack to run free for the first time in 60 years. Ctyonahl / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 3.0
By Tara Lohan
The conclusion to decades of work to remove a dam on the Middle Fork Nooksack River east of Bellingham, Washington began with a bang yesterday as crews breached the dam with a carefully planned detonation. This explosive denouement is also a beginning.
<p><br/></p>
<p class=""><a href="https://therevelator.org/author/taralohan/" target="_blank"><em>Tara Lohan </em></a><em>is deputy editor of The Revelator and has worked for more than a decade as a digital editor and environmental journalist focused on the intersections of energy, water and climate. Her work has been published by The Nation, American Prospect, High Country News, Grist, Pacific Standard and others. She is the editor of two books on the global water crisis.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/nooksack-dam-removal/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nooksack-dam-removal" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>.</em></p>
<p>Over the next couple of weeks, crews will fully remove the 125-foot-wide, 25-foot-tall dam, allowing the Middle Fork Nooksack to run free for the first time in 60 years. With the dam's removal, 16 miles of river and tributary habitat will open up to help boost populations of three threatened Puget Sound fish species: Chinook salmon, steelhead and bull trout.</p><p>"This project has always ranked at the top of the list for fish recovery projects in this area because of the sheer number of miles of river habitat that are available upstream in a fairly remote and pristine area," says Renee LaCroix, assistant public works director for the city of Bellingham, which owns the dam. "There's no other single project in this area that can match this."</p><p>Two local tribes, the Nooksack and Lummi Nation, have been behind the effort to help restore fish passage and the river's ecological integrity.</p><p>"Our natural resources are our cultural resources," says Trevor Delgado, the Nooksack tribal historic preservation officer. "With this removal we get a little piece of our home back — a place where our people have visited for hundreds of generations."</p><p>LaCroix says the project has no downsides for the city, and it's expected to increase the resilience of the municipal water supply, remove a safety hazard for kayakers, help fish recovery and restore culturally significant resources for the tribes.</p><p>Proponents also hope to see indirect benefits for <a href="https://therevelator.org/save-southern-resident-killer-whales-extinction/" target="_blank">endangered Southern Resident killer whales</a>. This population of orcas ranges across Pacific Northwest coastal waters and <a href="https://www.mmc.gov/priority-topics/species-of-concern/southern-resident-killer-whale/" target="_blank">relies on dwindling numbers of Chinook</a> as a main food source. Fewer than 80 of the whales remain, and Chinook populations have fallen so low that the orcas have started <a href="https://www.q13fox.com/news/chinook-salmon-decimated-southern-resident-orcas-are-residents-no-more" target="_blank">altering their traditional migration patterns</a> as they search for fish to eat.</p><p>But even with the dam removal's many benefits and municipal and tribal support, the path to this moment hasn't been easy.</p>
The History
<p>The Middle Fork Nooksack drains glacier-fed headwater streams that run off the icy summit of 10,778-foot Mt. Baker. The Middle Fork joins the North Fork and then the mainstem of the Nooksack River, which travels to Bellingham Bay and Puget Sound. The entire Nooksack watershed stretches 830 square miles across Washington and into British Columbia.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQ1ODg5Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0OTM4MjU3OX0.xukdfxAnfHt_A24vvWHf30SCX0R9jk3qcWK6PcBHyhI/img.png?width=980" id="c3923" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0033be9942c3db23fca400a4533dfc6e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
American Rivers
<p>For generations the river and its surrounding habitat have physically and spiritually nourished Indigenous peoples — including the Nooksack Indian Tribe and the Lummi Nation.</p><p>But all that changed when the dam was built in in 1961 to divert water to the city of Bellingham to supplement its main water supply in Lake Whatcom — the drinking water for the now-85,000 residents in the city and county. As soon as it went up, the dam obstructed fish passage, altered the river's flow, and disrupted the ability of tribal members to use a culturally significant area.</p><p>For the past four decades, Delgado says, the Nooksack have pushed for dam removal. They got close in the early 2000s, when the Nooksack and Lummi Nation entered into an official agreement with the city and state to work on a solution that would allow fish passage, including the possible installation of fish ladders. But despite years of work, a suitable fix wasn't found, and the effort had completely stalled by 2016.</p><p>The following year the nonprofit <a href="https://www.americanrivers.org/" target="_blank">American Rivers</a>, which works on watershed restoration and has extensive experience in dam-removal efforts, stepped in with financial backing from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. American Rivers' April McEwan assumed a project management role and brought parties back to the table and soon into agreement on a plan to remove the dam and reengineer the city's water intake from the river.</p><p>"What we know about dam removal is that if you can remove the infrastructure and restore the channel to natural conditions, that's always the best way to get fish passage," says McEwan.</p><p>The final cost of the project came in at around $20 million — way more than the city could afford on its own. About half of the cost eventually came from the state and the city is collaborating with federal agencies on the distribution of another $2 million in Pacific Salmon Treaty funds. But before applying for that money, the city had to complete costly initial design and permitting work. Private foundations — largely the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, along with Resources Legacy Fund — picked up 70% of those initial costs.</p><p>LaCroix says help from American Rivers and the foundations was hugely important in getting the project "shovel ready" so it could apply for the construction funds it needed.</p><p>Removing the dam infrastructure was just part of the cost, though. Reworking the city's water intake also required some tricky engineering.</p>
A Plan Comes Together
<p>The Middle Fork dam is not a pool dam built for water storage. Much of the time, water flows over the top until dam operators drop a floodgate to divert water to new locations. That water travels about 14 miles through tunnel and pipeline to Mirror Lake, then Anderson Creek, and to Lake Whatcom before finally being delivered to residents' taps.</p><p>Before removing the dam, engineers had to move the water intake 700 feet upstream and situate it at an elevation that still enabled city water withdrawals throughout the year, regardless of flow conditions.</p><p>They also needed to make sure that the rushing water didn't sweep up fish and accidentally send them through the water-supply system.</p><p>"The solution required a fairly complex design in the intake structure, including a fish exit pipe out of that structure to put fish back into the river in a way that meets current environmental permit standards," explains LaCroix.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQ1ODk1Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTcxODcyN30.stOgraXNQZGmfADeQUdXCB2RR3Aka6FwLOxl377s-3w/img.jpg?width=980" id="7669a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7ee070ad97b1353f5baa7c8886acb341" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Project layout for the removal of the Middle Fork Nooksack diversion dam and rebuilding of water intake. City of Bellingham
<p>Despite the cost and the work, she says, being able to continue to meet their municipal water obligations while opening up habitat for threatened species has been a win-win.</p><p>"I think there's a lot of benefits to having a dam removal versus fish passage — the main one being that you get a free-flowing river that can be a dynamic ecosystem and change over time," she says. "A static fish ladder just can't provide that same level of ecosystem benefit."</p>Restoration Success
<p>Despite local authorities' championing dam removal on the Middle Fork, the project has largely flown under the radar, overshadowed in the Pacific Northwest by heated discussions about a much larger potential project — removing <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/feds-reject-removal-of-4-snake-river-dams-in-key-report/" target="_blank">four federal hydroelectric dams on the lower Snake River</a>, a major tributary of the Columbia River.</p><p>Proponents of dam removal there see it as the best chance for recovering threatened salmon populations, including Chinook, which could help starving Southern Resident killer whales. Those dams also provide irrigation water, barge navigation and hydropower, so there's been more pushback against removal efforts.</p><p>Previous dam removals around the country, however, have proved successful at aiding fish recovery and river restoration.</p><p>Most notably the 1999 demolition of <a href="https://therevelator.org/edwards-dam-removal/" target="_blank">Edwards Dam on Maine's Kennebec River</a> restored the annual run of alewives, a type of herring essential to the food web. The fish run has gone from zero to 5 million in the two decades since dam removal. Blueback herring, striped bass, sturgeon and shad have also extended their reach. And the resurgence has brought back osprey, bald eagles and other wildlife, too.</p><p>The overwhelming success of river restoration on the Kennebec helped to spur a nationwide dam removal movement that's now seen 1,200 dams come down since 1999. Last year a record <a href="https://www.americanrivers.org/conservation-resource/a-record-26-states-removed-dams-in-2019/" target="_blank">90 dams</a> were removed in 26 states, including <a href="https://therevelator.org/cleveland-forest-dam-removal/" target="_blank">20 dams in California's Cleveland National Forest</a>.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQ1ODk4MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NjM5NTQ0Nn0.X2icIzmemq9oxKqfGRz4nox9rsOYZMTgUCLbCTGc5ZE/img.jpg?width=980" id="e9db0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7f227785f21cb59b1ff2fd70db6ccc6c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Spider excavators remove on dam on San Juan Creek in California's Cleveland National Forest. Julie Donnell, USFS
<p>The results have been seen in the Pacific Northwest, as well, which boasts the largest dam removal thus far in the country. In 2011 and 2014, the demolition of <a href="https://therevelator.org/elwha-dam-removal/" target="_blank">two dams</a> on Elwha River, which runs through Washington's Olympic National Park, opened up 70 miles of habitat that had been blocked for a century. Scientists have started seeing all five species of salmon native to the river coming back, particularly Chinook and coho. Bull trout, they've observed, have increased in size since the dams were removal.</p>Benefits on the Middle Fork Nooksack
<p>McEwan hopes to see a similar outcome on the Middle Fork.</p><p>Like the Elwha the Middle Fork Nooksack is a relatively pristine river with little development, and dam removal is expected to provide a big boost to fish. The additional miles of spawning habitat are important, but so is the temperature of that water.</p><p>The dam removal will open access to cold upstream waters, which are ideal for salmon and getting harder to come by as climate change warms waters and reduces mountain runoff.</p><p>"This is really great for the climate change resiliency for these species," says McEwan.</p><p>Steelhead will get back 45% of their historic habitat in the river, and scientists expect Chinook populations to increase in abundance by 31%.</p><p>That <em>could</em> help Southern Resident killer whales.</p><p>"When you get to the ocean, it's a little bit of a black box in terms of what you can model and say definitively is going to help, but more fish is better for orcas," McEwan says.</p><p>Upstream habitat will see benefits, too.</p><p>Oceangoing fish like salmon enrich their bodies with carbon and nitrogen while at sea. When they return to their natal rivers to spawn and die, the marine-derived nutrients they carry back upriver become important food and fertilizer for both riverine and terrestrial ecosystems — aiding everything from trees to birds to bears.</p><p>"Once the fish start making their way back, it will start changing the whole ecological system," says Delgado.</p><p><span></span>But any ecological benefit from salmon restoration, either in the ocean or the upper watershed, won't be immediate.<br></p><p>"The population of salmon on the Middle Fork is so low that we expect it's going to take quite a while to rebound," she says. "But the big picture is that what's good for salmon is good for the region — our history and our destiny are intricately intertwined."</p><p>After decades of work, that process of restoration has finally begun.</p>From Your Site Articles
- 4 Exciting Dam-Removal Projects to Watch - EcoWatch ›
- Jump-Starting the Dam Removal Movement in the U.S. - EcoWatch ›
- Boom: Removing 81 Dams Is Transforming This California Watershed ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read More
Show Less
A man observes a flooded stretch of Dock Street in Annapolis, Maryland on Jan. 25, 2010. Matt Rath / Chesapeake Bay Program
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Tuesday that a trend of increased coastal flooding will continue to worsen as the climate crisis escalates.
<p>Increased flooding is happening even without storms. "Nuisance" or "sunny day" high-tide flooding is becoming more commonplace across the U.S., according to the NOAA report that warns such flooding will worsen in the decades to come as <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-level-rise" target="_self">seas continue to rise</a>, according to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/07/14/coastal-flooding-continue-increase-noaa-report-says/5437524002/" target="_blank">USA Today</a>.</p><p>The agency noted record levels of high-tide flooding in 2019. Some of the hardest hit areas were on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, where the increase in high-tide flooding has been "extraordinary," according to the report, <a href="https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/publications/Techrpt_092_2019_State_of_US_High_Tide_Flooding_with_a_2020_Outlook_30June2020.pdf" target="_blank"><em>2019 State of High-Tide Flooding and 2020 Outlook</em></a>.</p>
<p>The number of days with high-tide flooding set or tied records in 19 places around the country last year, including Corpus Christi, Texas, which recorded 18 days of flooding; Galveston, Texas (18 days); Annapolis, Maryland (18 days); and Charleston, South Carolina (13 days), as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/climate/coastal-flooding-noaa.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported. The place with the greatest number of recorded flood days was Eagle Point, Texas, in Galveston Bay; it dealt with high-tide flooding on 64 days, or about one out of every five days.</p><p>Those numbers represent huge jumps in a short period of time, the report found. In 2000, Corpus Christi had just three days of tidal flooding; Charleston had two. The report notes that Charleston recorded just 13 days of high-tide flooding in the more than 50 years that measurements were first kept — the exact amount that occurred in 2019 alone, according to The New York Times.</p>
<p>The Southeast, on average, has seen a three-fold increase in flooding since 2000, according to NOAA.</p><p>The Northeast will not be spared. NOAA predicts that from May 2020 to April 2021, the national high tide flood frequency is expected to accelerate, with U.S. coastal communities seeing an average of 2 to 6 days of flooding in the coming year. Communities along the northeast and western Gulf coasts are projected to see even more days of flooding, according to the report.</p><p>"America's coastal communities and their economies are suffering from the effects of high tide flooding, and it's only going to increase in the future," said Nicole LeBoeuf, acting director of NOAA's National Ocean Service, in a <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/us-high-tide-flooding-continues-to-increase" target="_blank">statement</a>. "NOAA is committed to working with coastal communities to provide the information and data they need to tackle the problem of high tide flooding, both now and in the coming years as sea levels continue to rise."</p>
<p><a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/nuisance-flooding.html" target="_blank">High-tide flooding</a> occurs when tides reach anywhere from 1.75 to 2 feet above the daily average high tide and start spilling onto streets or coming up from storm drains, according to NOAA. As sea level rise accelerates, damaging floods that used to happen only during severe storms now happen much more regularly, such as during a full-moon tide or with a change in prevailing winds or currents.</p><p>By 2030, NOAA projected, the frequency of high-tide flooding could double or triple, according to The New York Times. By 2050, that number could be five to 15 times as great, with the typical coastal community flooding between 25 and 75 days a year, NOAA said, as The New York Times reported.</p><p>"You see where this is going," LeBoeuf said. "We all need to pay attention."</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Sea Level Rise Is Speeding up Along Most of the U.S. Coast ... ›
- Protecting Mangroves Can Prevent Billions of Dollars in Global ... ›
- Flooding Risk for U.S. Homes: Millions More Are Vulnerable Than ... ›
- 300 Million People Worldwide Could Suffer Yearly Flooding by 2050 ... ›
- Sea Level Rise Could Put 2.4 Million U.S. Coastal Homes at Risk ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read More
Show Less
A new tool called The Food Systems Dashboard aims to save decision makers time and energy by painting a complete picture of a country's food system. Photo courtesy of Dr. Jessica Fanzo and Dr. Rebecca McLaren
By Katie Howell
A new tool called The Food Systems Dashboard aims to save decision makers time and energy by painting a complete picture of a country's food system. Created by the Johns Hopkins' Alliance for a Healthier World, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Dashboard compiles food systems data from over 35 sources and offers it as a public good.
<p>"Trying to fix a food system without data is like trying to fix a car engine without any light in the garage," says Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director of GAIN and one of the contributing partners behind the Dashboard.</p><p>The new Food Systems Dashboard enables government officials, policy makers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and others to see what is working in their food systems and what isn't.</p><p>The Dashboard has three main objectives — describe, diagnose, and decide. It presents data to describe a country's food system, help decision makers diagnose the problem areas in their systems, and suggest policies, programs, and interventions to address identified issues.</p>
<p>Pulling data on over 180 indicators, the Dashboard presents more than 230 countries' food systems. These indicators, which range from agriculture production factors to diet-related disease rates, are broken down into five broad categories: food supply chains, food environments, individual factors, consumer behavior, and outcomes. Of these indicators, the team also selected 41 measures they deem critical to describe a food system.</p><p>"We hope that the Dashboard not only draws attention to the importance of food systems in shaping development priorities, but that it also can be used as a data-driven problem solving tool for more difficult food system challenges that countries may face," Dr. Jessica Fanzo of Johns Hopkins University and Dr. Rebecca McLaren, global coordinator for the Dashboard, tell Food Tank.</p><p>The layout for each country's page presents information in simple, visual ways so that users are able to quickly understand and take away key messages. Users can then compare their food systems with those of other countries, either by region, income classification, or a food system typology.</p>
<p>The tool also highlights issues like consumer behavior, that require more research to generate usable data. Fanzo and partners hope the Dashboard will simultaneously serve as a tool for data advocacy and lead to more comprehensive global data collection.</p><p>In the future, the Dashboard will continue to develop as the team works to further identify specific challenges countries face, Fanzo and McLaren tell Food Tank. It will also increase focus on recommended policies, programs, investments, and other interventions targeted to those specific challenges, Fanzo and McLaren tell Food Tank.</p><p>"The Dashboard is open to all and will foster much needed cooperation in transforming our food systems," says FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, "With the threats and opportunities presented by COVID-19, we need more collaboration between stakeholders who care about hunger, nutrition, livelihoods, climate, biodiversity, and sustainable natural resource use."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from<a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2020/07/new-tool-enables-decision-makers-to-see-what-works-in-their-food-systems/" target="_blank"> Food Tank</a>.</em></p>
Read More
Show Less
White's seahorse, also called the Sydney seahorse, is native to the Pacific waters off Australia's east coast. Sylke Rohrlach / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 2.0
By Manuela Callari
It can grow to a maximum of six inches (16 centimeters), change color depending on mood and habitat, and, like all seahorses, the White's seahorse male gestates its young. But this tiny snouted fish is under threat.
<p>White's seahorse, also called the Sydney seahorse, is native to the Pacific waters off Australia's east coast. In recent years, populations have decreased drastically. It and the South African Knysna seahorse are the only two out of around 50 seahorse species to be listed as endangered.</p><p>A wild storm season from 2010 to 2013 left the Sydney seahorses' habitat in tatters, wiping out <a href="http://www.projectseahorse.org/seahorses" target="_blank">90%</a> of the population in the area. Several large storms shifted huge volumes of sand, smothering the soft corals, sponges and seagrass they call home.</p><p>That's why researchers in Sydney Harbor have built special seahorse hotels to help restore their habitat and encourage would-be White's seahorse dads to fall pregnant. </p><p>"There are two things that we're trying to gain from this project," said Robbie McCracken, an aquarist at Sydney Sea Life Aquarium, who's working with researchers from University of Technology Sydney and the New South Wales DPI Fisheries on the program.</p><p>"Number one is that we can breed these animals in an aquarium to release them into the wild. And number two is that the seahorse hotels provide a suitable environment for them to live on." </p>
Building an Ocean Seahorse Destination
<p>Seahorses are found in tropical and temperate coastal water worldwide, but are most abundant around Australia, China and the Philippines. </p><p>Trade in the tiny creatures is strictly regulated because of their use in traditional medicine, aquariums and their sale as dried curios. But because they are poor swimmers and cannot easily move elsewhere, habitat loss is a particular threat for these curious animals. </p><p>Seahorses wrap their tails around seagrass and corals to avoid being carried away on currents. They use the habitat to spawn and hide from predators such as crabs, while also feeding on riches of plankton and small crustaceans living in the reef.</p><p><span></span>Where corals aren't available, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/aqc.1217" target="_blank">scientists</a> found seahorses taking up residence in fishing nets and old crab traps abandoned at the bottom of the ocean. </p><p>This inspired the Sydney team to increase available habitat in the famous Australian harbor by building cages of net and steel. Over time, algae, sponges and corals colonize the structures, creating a safe, welcoming environment for the seahorses, say the researchers. The hotel frame will eventually corrode, leaving behind the coral mounds that have grown around them.</p><p>The researchers trialed the first hotels in 2018. Within two months, seahorses had begun to move in and soon a few males fell pregnant. Knowing that the hotels were a hit, the next step was to boost seahorse numbers. </p><p>In 2019, the team caught eight pairs of White's seahorses — the creatures are monogamous and, so, mate with one partner for life. The babies were born in September and October of last year. </p><p>"We were able to watch them court with each other, and mate with each other, and then we were able to watch the dads deliver," said McCracken, "so, it was always quite exciting." </p>
Mixing With the Locals
<p>Baby seahorse mortality is high in the wild because they are easily caught, so those bred in the protected environment of the aquarium weren't ready to be released into the wild until early May.</p><p>The team released 90 new arrivals into Sydney Harbor, placing some directly into the purpose-built hotels, and others onto a net that wild seahorses had already settled on.</p><p>Before setting them free, the researchers marked each young seahorse with a fluorescent tag with unique IDs inserted just beneath the skin to track how they get on in the different environments. </p><p>"The most exciting part was being able to put these animals into the wild and then go back a month later and still see them surviving and growing," said McCracken. </p><p>The seahorses will be old enough to mate and reproduce around October or November 2020. And researchers hope that by then, they will be able to breed with the wild population. </p>Building a Global Seahorse Hotel Chain
<p>With seahorses everywhere facing the loss of their coral reef homes, similar projects have sprung up in places like Greece and South Africa, home to the world's most endangered seahorse, the Knysna seahorse. </p><p>"The endangered South African seahorse is benefiting from something quite similar, even though it wasn't intentional," said Peter Teske, professor at the Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg.</p><p>In the South African <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322649251_An_endangered_seahorse_selectively_chooses_an_artificial_structure" target="_blank">case</a>, seahorses have bedded down in "Reno mattresses" — wire cages filled with rocks — that were used to build a new marina. Researchers from NGO Knysna Basin Project found the structures acted as a refuge for the animals.<span></span></p><p><span></span>While Teske describes the seahorse hotels as "a positive news story" and a great way to create public awareness of conservation, he added that establishing artificial habitats in some areas will only prevent the extinction of local populations.</p><p>"For a complete recovery, it is necessary to give the natural habitat a chance to regenerate," said the seahorse expert. </p>Underwater Mascot
<p>In Australia, the researchers hope the project could provide an opportunity to raise awareness not only of the plight of the Sydney seahorses but the other animals with which it shares its ocean habitat.</p><p>The waters around Sydney and the east coast are rich in biodiversity and include several threatened species like the weedy seadragon — a relative of the seahorse — and the grey nurse shark. Like the seahorse, they're also under pressure from pollution, ocean traffic and habitat loss through storms and coastal construction. </p><p>"It's a good thing to get people's support and interest. The seahorses are a useful vehicle to get people concerned if the harbor is in trouble," said David Booth, professor of marine ecology at the University of Technology Sydney who is also working on the project. </p><p>The hotels have become an attraction for divers hoping to catch a glimpse of these small but near mythical creatures. </p><p>"Everyone loves seahorses," added Booth, "they are so popular." </p>From Your Site Articles
- 7 Amazing New Fish Species Discovered in 2017 - EcoWatch ›
- Millions of Seahorses Wind Up Dead on the Black Market for This ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read More
Show Less
Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks at a "Build Back Better" Clean Energy event on July 14, 2020 at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware. Joe Biden / Facebook
Presidential hopeful Joe Biden announced a $2 trillion plan Tuesday to boost American investment in clean energy and infrastructure.
<p>His plan would spend the money over the next four years to boost the transportation, electricity and building sectors' clean energy profiles. It is also part of a plan to create new economic opportunities, improve the nation's aging infrastructure, and to combat the climate crisis, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/us/politics/biden-climate-plan.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p><p>Biden's sweeping proposals would put an end to all greenhouse gas emissions spewed by U.S. power plants by 2035, arguing that large-scale dramatic moves are necessary to tackle the impending threat of the climate crisis and to revive the economy after the coronavirus pandemic, as <a href="https://apnews.com/7cdf40d9bd40c75861fc0053212d034a" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported. It would also ban fracking on public lands.</p>
<p>Speaking near his home in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden also sought to reframe the discussion around the climate crisis, moving it away from a moral imperative and toward an economic one, dismissing <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_self">Trump</a>'s and the Republicans' arguments that investments in green energy would cost jobs. Biden looked to play up how many jobs clean energy creates.</p><p>"When Donald Trump thinks about climate change, the only word he can muster is 'hoax,'" Biden told reporters, <a href="https://apnews.com/7cdf40d9bd40c75861fc0053212d034a" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported. "When I think about climate change, what I think of is jobs."</p><p>Biden's <a href="https://joebiden.com/clean-energy/" target="_blank">climate initiative</a> calls to chart the U.S. on "an irreversible path" to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. In addition to achieving a carbon-free power grid by 2035, Biden's plan calls for upgrades to 4 million buildings and to weatherize 2 million homes over four years to increase energy efficiency, as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/07/14/890814007/biden-outlines-2-trillion-climate-plan" target="_blank">NPR</a> reported. Homeowners would be given cash rebates to upgrade home appliances and install more efficient windows. Car owners would receive rebates to swap their old, less efficient cars for newer ones that release fewer pollutants, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-set-to-offer-newly-ambitious-climate-goals/2020/07/14/39ced8b8-c578-11ea-b037-f9711f89ee46_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p>The proposal, Biden's campaign said, would aim to shift major cities towards increased use of public transportation and "create millions of good, union jobs rebuilding America's crumbling infrastructure," according to NPR.</p><p>"We're not just going to tinker around the edges," Biden said his speech. "We're going to make historic investments and seize the opportunity and meet this moment in history."</p><p>Environmentalists and liberals quickly praised the climate initiative as a step forward in the climate effort. Predictably, Republicans quickly denounced it as an unwieldy plan that would raise energy costs, as The Washington Post reported.</p>
<p>The new goals align Biden more closely with three primary opponents: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Washington Governor Jay Inslee. They follow the recommendations of a unity task force of Sanders and Biden supporters that was co-chaired by New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who co-sponsored the Green New Deal, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/14/joe-biden-climate-jobs-plan" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>"This is not a status quo plan," said Inslee, as The New York Times reported. "It is comprehensive. This is not some sort of, 'Let me just throw a bone to those who care about climate change.'"</p><p>Inslee called the proposal "visionary."</p><p>Gina McCarthy, the former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator who is now president of the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, told The Guardian that the plan was "by a long shot – the most ambitious we have ever seen from any president in our nation's history."</p>
<p>In the proposal, Biden also linked environmental advocacy with racial justice, noting that pollution and other toxins disproportionately affect communities of color. His plan calls for establishing an office of environmental and climate justice within the Justice Department and developing a broad set of tools to address how "environmental policy decisions of the past have failed communities of color," according to The New York Times.</p><p>Varshini Prakash, co-founder of the youth-led Sunrise Movement, said, as The Guardian reported, that Biden's plan responds to many of the group's previous criticisms by "dramatically increasing the scale and urgency of investments, filling in details on how he'd achieve environmental justice and create good union jobs, and promising immediate action — on day 1, in his first 100 days, in his first term, in the next decade — not just some far off goals."</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Green New Deal Champion AOC Will Serve on Biden Climate Panel ... ›
- Biden-Sanders Unity Task Forces Unveil Improved Climate Policy ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read More
Show Less
President Donald J. Trump, joined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, left, and Dr. Robert R. Redfield, director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 6, 2020, in Atlanta. Official White House Photo / Shealah Craighead / Wikimedia Commons
By Jake Johnson
Public health experts are warning that coronavirus statistics will soon be newly vulnerable to political manipulation after the Trump administration ordered hospitals to send Covid-19 patient data directly to a Department of Health and Human Services system rather than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which usually receives the information and releases it to the public.
<p><span style="background-color: initial;"><br/></span></p>
<p>The <em>New York Times</em> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/us/politics/trump-cdc-coronavirus.html" target="_blank">reported</a> Tuesday that the HHS database now positioned to collect daily Covid-19 information from hospitals "is not open to the public, which could affect the work of scores of researchers, modelers, and health officials who rely on CDC data to make projections and crucial decisions."</p><p>"Health and Human Services said that going forward, hospitals should report detailed information on a daily basis directly to the new centralized system, which is managed by TeleTracking, a health data firm with headquarters in Pittsburgh," the <em>Times</em> noted.</p><p>The administration's new directive came in the form of a <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/covid-19-faqs-hospitals-hospital-laboratory-acute-care-facility-data-reporting.pdf" target="_blank">document</a> quietly posted online last week by HHS, an agency headed by former pharmaceutical executive and Trump appointee Alex Azar.</p><p>"As of July 15, 2020, hospitals should no longer report the Covid-19 information in this document to the National Healthcare Safety Network site," the directive states, referring to the CDC's data-gathering system.</p><p>Dr. Nicole Lurie, who served in former President Barack Obama's HHS, told the <em>Times</em> that "centralizing control of all data under the umbrella of an inherently political apparatus is dangerous and breeds distrust."</p><p>"It appears to cut off the ability of agencies like CDC to do its basic job," said Lurie.</p><p>HHS spokesperson Michael Caputo confirmed in a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hospitals-told-send-coronavirus-data-washington-not-cdc-n1233861?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma" target="_blank">statement</a> to <em>NBC News</em> that the CDC will "no longer control" coronavirus data collection but said the agency will still participate in the process.</p>
<div id="49bef" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0518b468fbe1a1ca4e77ca17ad161d4d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1283126654471155713" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Trump has been insistently announcing for weeks he wants to cover up the scale of the epidemic by slowing down test… https://t.co/J1toeskjmJ</div> — Chris Hayes (@Chris Hayes)<a href="https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/statuses/1283126654471155713">1594756208.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>While administration officials portrayed the order as part of an attempt to streamline data-collection efforts, health experts were alarmed by the move given President Donald Trump's <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-cdc-criticizes-school-reopening/" target="_blank">public attacks </a>on the CDC and his complaints about how the <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/19/trump-claims-covid-19-testing-overrated-cases-and-hospitalizations-surge-across-us" target="_blank">recent surge</a> in coronavirus cases "makes us look bad."</p><p>"Speechless—Trump White House is now muzzling, bypassing, and kneecapping the CDC," <a href="https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1283140307031396352" target="_blank">tweeted</a> epidemiologist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding. "No other ways to spin this."</p><p>Dr. Leana Wen, a visiting professor at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, said in an <a href="https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1283169663942361093" target="_blank">interview</a> on <em>MSNBC</em> late Tuesday that the decision to cut the CDC off from crucial Covid-19 patient data could undermine the U.S. response to the pandemic as infections surge across the nation.</p><p>"The CDC is supposed to analyze the data coming from different regions of the country," said Wen. "I'm really deeply concerned about what we've seen with the attacks on science and public health in recent days, because public health hinges on public trust. And when politicians—including the top public official, the elected official of our country, President Trump—start attacking public health, it really undermines of all of local, state, and federal response to this pandemic."</p>
<div id="58dc8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5721d4d13b5986e6d7d333de69ce31ab"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1283123929096368128" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">While many governments suppress the virus, the U.S. suppresses information about the virus. https://t.co/Ai6tyW8zIP</div> — James Hamblin (@James Hamblin)<a href="https://twitter.com/jameshamblin/statuses/1283123929096368128">1594755558.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The administration's order came just hours after four former CDC directors wrote in a <em>Washington Post</em> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/07/14/cdc-directors-trump-politics/" target="_blank">op-ed</a> Tuesday that "no president ever politicized [the CDC's] science the way Trump has."</p><p>"Trying to fight this pandemic while subverting scientific expertise is like fighting blindfolded," wrote Tom Frieden, Jeffrey Koplan, David Satcher, and Richard Besser. "It is not too late to give the CDC its proper role in guiding this response. But the clock is ticking."</p><p>In a <a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a33315090/trump-administration-covid-19-data-centralized-database/" target="_blank">column</a> for <em>Esquire</em> Tuesday, Charles Pierce urged hospitals to ignore the Trump administration's directive and "send the data to the CDC anyway."</p><p>"It's time for hundreds of little rebellions," Pierce wrote.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/15/warnings-possible-cover-progress-trump-orders-hospitals-stop-sending-coronavirus" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p><span></span><a href="https://commons.commondreams.org/t/warnings-of-possible-cover-up-in-progress-as-trump-orders-hospitals-to-stop-sending-covid-19-data-to-cdc/80135" target="_blank"></a>From Your Site Articles
- White House Ordered Coronavirus Meetings Be Classified - EcoWatch ›
- Coronavirus and the Terrifying Muzzling of Public Health Experts ... ›
- Trump Admin Rejects CDC Reopening Guidelines - EcoWatch ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read More
Show Less
Trending
First Trial of Moderna's Coronavirus Vaccine Produces Immune Response in All Participants
4h
Health + Wellness
The results from Moderna's Phase 1 coronavirus vaccine show it is safe and effective so far. Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Results from the Phase 1 trial of Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech firm Moderna's coronavirus vaccine show it is safe and produces an immune response.
<p>The preliminary report of the trial, published in <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2022483?query=featured_home" target="_blank">The New England Journal of Medicine Tuesday</a>, reveals that all 45 participants developed so-called neutralizing antibodies that bind to the virus and stop it from attacking other cells. They developed these antibodies at levels comparable to the upper half of COVID-19 survivors.</p><p>"The good news is that this vaccine induced antibodies," director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci told <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-14/moderna-vaccine-produced-antibodies-in-all-patients-tested" target="_blank">Bloomberg News</a>. "Not just any kind of antibodies, but neutralizing antibodies."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We just announced interim results from the NIH-led Phase 1 Study of our <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mRNA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#mRNA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/vaccine?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#vaccine</a> against COVID-19 (mRNA-1273) in <a href="https://twitter.com/NEJM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NEJM</a>. Read more: <a href="https://t.co/YqPyTCgjBB">https://t.co/YqPyTCgjBB</a> <a href="https://t.co/e2AStO92ES">pic.twitter.com/e2AStO92ES</a></p>— Moderna (@moderna_tx) <a href="https://twitter.com/moderna_tx/status/1283149692587708417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">Public health</a> experts agree that a vaccine is necessary to return life to normal in the wake of a pandemic that has infected millions and killed almost 575,000, according to <a href="https://in.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-moderna-idINKCN24F2T3?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook" target="_blank">Reuters</a>. More than one vaccine will probably be required, because it will be difficult for any one company to produce the billions of doses needed, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/health/cornavirus-vaccine-moderna.html" target="_blank">The New York Times pointed out</a>.</p><p>"None of us are safe unless all of us are safe," Columbia University virologist Dr. Angela Rasmussen told The New York Times. "It's not just us. It's everybody in the world."</p><p>The Moderna vaccine candidate was the first to be tested on human subjects, and Tuesday's published paper confirms the positive results <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/moderna-coronavirus-vaccine-trials-2646031857.html" target="_self">reported</a> by the company in May.</p>
<p>In the trial, 45 people aged 18 to 55 received two doses of the vaccine 28 days apart, according to Reuters. They received doses of either 25, 100 or 250 micrograms.</p><p>More than half of the people who received the middle dose experienced side effects like fatigue, chills, headache and muscle pain and 40 percent of them developed a fever after the second dose, according to Bloomberg. Three of the 14 people who received the highest dose suffered severe side effects, but the company has decided to stop testing that dose.</p><p>Fauci said the side-effects were normal and not a cause for concern, but other experts disagreed.</p><p>"Man, that is a lot of adverse events," Tony Moody, a doctor and researcher at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, told Bloomberg.</p><p>However, Moody also said the amount of antibodies produced was "really encouraging."</p>
<p>The vaccine's safety and effectiveness cannot truly be assessed until a larger study is conducted, University of Pennsylvania infectious disease expert Dr. Paul Offit told The New York Times.</p><p>"[I]t's reading the tea leaves," he said. "You just don't know anything until you do a Phase 3 trial."</p><p>Moderna's Phase 3 trial is set to begin July 27 with 30,000 participants, half of whom will receive a placebo. It should be finished by late October, but it is unclear if the company will know if the vaccine works by then, since it has to prove participants are less likely to contract the virus. If the vaccine does work, Moderna said it would be able to manufacture between 500 million and one billion of the 100-microgram doses a year starting in 2021, Reuters reported.</p>
From Your Site Articles
- The Immune System's Fight Against the Coronavirus - EcoWatch ›
- Moderna Announces Promising Coronavirus Vaccine Trials ... ›
- Coronavirus Vaccine Candidate Shows Promise in Mice - EcoWatch ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read More
Show Less