The 'Healthiest Communities' in the U.S. in 2019, Ranked
Los Alamos County, New Mexico ranks second in the U.S. News & World Report's latest list of "healthiest communities." Daniel Schwen / CC BY-SA 4.0
Colorado's Douglas County, in the Denver metropolitan area, is the United States' healthiest community in 2019, according to the U.S. News & World Report's latest rankings.
This year, Douglas County unseated the Washington, DC suburb of Falls Church, Virginia for the top spot in U.S. News' second annual America's Healthiest Communities rankings. Falls Church dropped down to the third spot this year, while Los Alamos County, New Mexico ranked second.
Working with health and research experts, U.S. News evaluated nearly 3,000 communities according to 81 different parameters within the following 10 categories: population health, equity, education, economy, housing, food and nutrition, environment, public safety, community vitality and infrastructure.
The rankings utilized data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, among others, to assess metrics like air and water quality, crime rates and access to healthcare.
Douglas County scored first in at least four of the 81 parameters, and was joined in the top 20 by six other Colorado communities. But among all U.S. states, Iowa was most represented in the top 500, HealthDay News noted, with 62 counties in the rankings. The highest-ranking community in Iowa was Bremer County at 26th.
"We like to say that where you live determines how well and also how long you live," Tim Smart, executive editor at U.S. News, told WTOP. "There's definitely a correlation between living in a healthier community and your overall quality of life and your life expectancy."
Smart noted that in Douglas County, the life expectancy is five years higher than the national average.
The top 10 healthiest communities in 2019 are:
1. Douglas County, CO
2. Los Alamos County, NM
3. Falls Church City, VA (#1 in 2018)
4. Loudoun County, VA
5. Broomfield County, CO
6. Teton County, WY
7. Hamilton County, IN
8. Carver County, MN
9. Delaware County, OH
10. Howard County, MD
View the full rankings at U.S. News.
U.S. News acknowledged that many of the top communities in the rankings are educated and affluent suburbs — Douglas County has one of the highest median income counties in the country — while the poorest counties in America mostly fell outside of the top 500. Another recent study found that high housing costs can have a significant impact on family health, reducing the amount of money available for healthier food, medicine and other needs.
It's important to distinguish between the overall wealth of a community and individual income, Smart told WTOP, as rich people in unhealthy communities can still be exposed to health risks. That said, U.S. News hopes the report will serve as a resource for policymakers to identify and assess local health targets so that wealth is not the only pathway to healthy living.
"The Healthiest Communities rankings continue to provide the insights that are essential to identify key issues and support community organizations, leaders and residents who are tackling the unique social determinants of health that impact their respective neighborhoods," said Larry J. Merlo, president and CEO of CVS Health, in a press release.
The report was a collaboration between U.S. News and World Report and the Aetna Foundation, a philanthropic affiliate of CVS Health.
For Your Health, Where You Live Plays a Powerful Role https://t.co/coZF0ucnOA @MensHealthMag @nytimeshealth @Healthy_Child— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)1516848904.0
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Hurricane Florence on Sept. 12, 2018. ESA / A.Gerst / CC BY-SA 2.0
The 2020 hurricane season is now expected to be the most active since at least the early 1980s, meteorologists at Colorado State University, a standard bearer for seasonal hurricane predictions, announced Wednesday.
<p>The revised <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VWK7-l2CwspQW29Q6_46m2pk6W805GfB4dqjyxN8Qx57h3p_97V1-WJV7CgSS0W6xsw_T4_N3BsW7Qfy_X6G3Xt1W8NfS498hn82QW4SrRQd4P6c9XW7ZyX1x70kMVKW7Kmq0Q4m-6KwW7HS11j1G9rnVW2n6d3p8Jv9lfN6nYfvjvkSS6W76qjVj569-7VW8R-Hzb4jJ-4VW6HLw4T4-snrfW21B3-51N-0VmW15Bw0g8CDSLgW2PTBGh5gWttCW7xwgq995zVcWVWkmVf7sL7rqW3pZWjq2WMb2bW7NwLxr5XrkwFW36RQbj67WX5MW5fPL2D3DLt72W1vwDrl2jL5wjW7jRVtm6kFnjjW4TXzMq7QZr2C33CM1" target="_blank">estimates</a> predict the 2020 season will see 24 named storms, including 12 total hurricanes and 5 major hurricanes. Each of those predictions are about double that for a normal season, and include storms that have already occurred. 2020, which has already set numerous records for its early activity, still has about 90% of the official season ahead.</p>
<p> Even if 2020 sees fewer storms than the new prediction — which is the most dire in CSU's 37-year history — officials may still run out of letters with which to name storms and be forced to use the Greek alphabet for overflow since the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z are not used. The only other time officials were forced to use the Greek alphabet was 2005 which included five hurricanes (Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan and Wilma) so destructive their names have been <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VWK7-l2CwspQW29Q6_46m2pk6W805GfB4dqjyxN8Qx5655nxG7V3Zsc37Cg-j0W8PY-sD4Nhr-bW3FFLl-3n__V9W4s_wWK4HFYK9W2GcLqy43ks0GVxVd5D5pC6MFW2WnD8Z5Rm9s3W5t60156vSX09W3z0sYV3wKZnBN8YfT6GZ09J3V2B2441Kq_FtW2J4gXD5f9Q3TN5WrrMwffm_KW5XpDGs4scFqxW5T_cLF2qwv92W2N8kwl6QC47zW9952gQ1QwF0LW93Wc1z6hdx4hW2Dp-J_69lF2jW8t8wLb1c_9QpW1vx-zX6cd7qjV72KN91Ss932W6j-dV_8fDxj6W7MBwrz16BKYNN3jrFHDMNgZNW7hkrwJ6z1pSBW63f2M95NJDHYW805j4D6PrKyFW8HVG6d2sCfhrW8Zxrc971Q4b1VdBDL97Z6sDVW7TXZ-b3-3qq5W1wVTHQ8rBqX53ksD1" target="_blank">retired</a> from future use.</p>
<p>For a deeper dive: <a href="https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2020-08-05-2020-atlantic-hurricane-season-august-forecast?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=92748923&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9IeFic75USwIHEONdWfCYXQ8_7OUfGg935e2ZWAJ19r-S7PFFYnkEShxJuDADx--LfAWh9Re8qZUABmO28GxjuO6LAZQ&utm_content=92748923&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Weather Channel</a>, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/news/510743-forecasters-predicting-extremely-active-hurricane-season?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=92748923&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--hsOZRdAx5CW0_AthIxD9BdjfNezoxng3dWCeggOgY1yRG8bNuG8vVBKT6Nj7gRdMdKIlp64NhEWe7lEG5AhMtAWbt0Q&utm_content=92748923&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">The Hill</a>, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-season-2020-forecast-extremely-active-24-named-storms/" target="_blank">CBS</a>, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/05/hurricane-season-2020-forecasters-new-prediction-storms/3300043001/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=92748923&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_Gv965dHJB2Gw4UflskHjum7HNV0oIQNQsmt6xf8c7UhOJWdzBmJg6KQG2Y2IUfwcf0SC_5breM_diZwqBsLGlIOCQ1Q&utm_content=92748923&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">USA Today</a>, <a href="https://www.news4jax.com/weather/2020/08/05/csu-now-predicts-24-named-storms-this-hurricane-season/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=92748923&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-98p9Sx1J9aCYELsYqAxq_NvnUKiuPGenlr8RhjE5Vl0BXqwwrTb3-rNVWnqlQ1p_S822-x3M1kH4bO6BQX77k6fXOBQQ&utm_content=92748923&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">News4JAX</a>, <a href="https://www.wyff4.com/article/new-hurricane-season-outlooks-issued-by-csu-following-record-start/33526545?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=92748923&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_Es88-ppyd952aYUVMbtPBKFjm-SCwIgxKgtJa7ARuuYvj0KrpWAJu9weBR8Yj1UNjbNavxkpfTUEgYhXTJXRgWhcpvQ&utm_content=92748923&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">WYFF4</a>, <a href="https://www.wfla.com/weather/tracking-the-tropics/tracking-the-tropics-experts-update-hurricane-season-forecast-to-extremely-active-with-24-named-storms/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=92748923&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8gI_x82R_Ym-JpgNAe36TIeCmpYq_tL0h3E4Po56Is0VXZV7SER6dHcOd5VKF6toR3zyS6NNJt0-HVF9CGsg6Qo3m93A&utm_content=92748923&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">WFLA</a>, <a href="https://www.wmbfnews.com/2020/08/05/first-alert-colorado-state-researchers-now-forecasting-one-most-active-hurricane-seasons-ever/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=92748923&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8LSCUABuP8V2moEiiA_iXxA_lWNdOdQI-Va28nwthmTdB4jA580tIZqCSvXRZ0oxjkjn6TK5jKuXAXmTS8eRePWvdbhw&utm_content=92748923&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">WMBF</a>; Climate Signals background: <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VWK7-l2CwspQW29Q6_46m2pk6W805GfB4dqjyxN8Qx57B3p_9rV1-WJV7CgGrpW7Gz0R23XF3ZhVh2zck28rYDSW7P0DJ56yhFp5W6kXZM-2D0FtpW611m4m2B03y1W4Zr1DR3bx5ypW7Bq_zT3SJD_sW30xvBb6-p0wmV9XJxQ90-YR5N7dQDz7chFMZW1lNKnQ4lfvs6VC1DRX1CmQQ2W3_G0_V67fz6dN3Yts2wmJTDBN7fJpJb9NfShW4HfVvQ5bWCw_W5J8BKs5Fp9NPW1VfTt35YDYcvW5jPjbQ2hRlfxW5HFfBx4MSlm0W16YyZy4fBq5KW6qGJcf4FPc-wN1gdKHLpgq9FW5nsZgC70ZgGyW3S9Z7q1V2NGsW31pbsQ1130MN3mPW1" target="_blank">2020 Atlantic hurricane season</a></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://climatenexus.org/" target="_blank">Climate Nexus</a>.</em></p><p><em><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></em></p>
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The Qamutik cargo ship on July 28, 2020 in Canada's Nunavut province, where two ice caps have disappeared completely. Fiona Paton / Flickr
Three years ago, scientists predicted it would happen. Now, new NASA satellite imagery confirms it's true: two ice caps in Canada's Nunavut province have disappeared completely, providing more visual evidence of the rapid warming happening near the poles, as CTV News in Canada reported.
<p>According to <a href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/a-pair-of-canadian-ice-caps-has-disappeared-completely-1844592208" target="_blank">Gizmodo</a>, scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) <a href="https://nsidc.org/news/newsroom/st-patrick-bay-ice-caps-canada-have-completely-disappeared" target="_blank">said</a> last week that the St. Patrick Bay ice caps in the northeastern Ellesmere Island are nowhere to be seen on satellite imagery. The revelation that the ice caps have disappeared came sooner than scientists had expected.</p><p>"I can't say I was terribly surprised because we knew they were going, but it has happened really fast," Mark Serreze, director of NSIDC in Colorado, told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/weather/st-patrick-bay-ice-caps-climate-change-trnd-scn/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. Serreze co-authored a <a href="https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/11/169/2017/" target="_blank">paper</a> in 2017 estimating the ice caps would be gone within five years.</p>
<p>"When I first visited those ice caps, they seemed like such a permanent fixture of the landscape," said Serreze, in a <a href="https://nsidc.org/news/newsroom/st-patrick-bay-ice-caps-canada-have-completely-disappeared" target="_blank">statement</a>. "To watch them die in less than 40 years just blows me away."<br></p><p>The very hot temperatures in the summer of 2015 reduced the longevity of the St. Patrick's Bay ice caps. "You could really see they got hit. But that heat has really just not stopped. It's just getting too warm," Serreze told CNN.</p>
<p>This year has been especially tough on the region. Recent months have been plagued by heatwaves and wildfires across the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/arctic">Arctic</a>, as Gizmodo reported. The extreme heat likely contributed to the melting of the ice caps. Research has found that summers in the region haven't been this warm in 115,000 years.</p><p>According to CNN, the nearby glaciers that sit at a higher elevation have been shrinking significantly as well.</p><p>"I'll make another prediction that they're gone in a decade," Serreze said to CNN.</p><p>Similar to scientists who <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/icelandic-glacier-monument-2639301498.html" target="_self">mourned a lost glacier in Iceland</a> and a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/swiss-alps-pizol-glacier-funeral-2640547054.html" target="_self">funeral in Switzerland</a> held for a glacier, Serreze has felt the impact of losing these two ice caps.</p><p>"We've long known that as climate change takes hold, the effects would be especially pronounced in the Arctic," Serreze explained, as CTV News reported. "But the death of those two little caps that I once knew so well has made climate change very personal. All that's left are some photographs and a lot of memories."</p><p>Serreze first visited the ice caps in 1982 and has been studying them ever since, according to Gizmodo.</p>
<p>The melted ice caps were one half of a group of small ice caps on the Hazen Plateau, which formed during the Little Ice Age several centuries ago, according to the NSIDC.<br></p><p>Serreze told CNN that the small ice caps in the Arctic are clear indicators of the effects of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a>.</p><p>"There's something called 'Arctic amplification,' which refers to the observation – not the theory – that the Arctic is warming up at a much faster rate than the rest of the globe, anywhere from two to four times faster," Serreze said.</p><p>Hotter heat waves and cold waves that are not as cold as they were in the past are contributing factors.</p><p>"We are starting to see all these things come together." Serreze told CNN, adding that the disappearance of the St. Patrick's Bay ice caps is "an exclamation point of what's happening in the Arctic."</p>
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The European Commission launched a new Farm to Fork strategy in an effort to reduce the social and environmental impact of the European food system. European Environmental Agency / Flickr / CC by 2.0
By Katell Ané
The European Commission launched a new Farm to Fork strategy in an effort to reduce the social and environmental impact of the European food system. It is the newest strategy under the European Green Deal, setting sustainability targets for farmers, consumers, and policymakers.
<p>"Farmers are under extreme pressure," Stefan de Keersmaeker, European Commission Spokesperson for Public Health and Food Safety, tells Food Tank. "But our environment and health are under pressure." </p><p>The strategy aims to reduce the use of chemical pesticides by 50 percent, increase the proportion of land used for organic farming to 25 percent, and reduce nutrient loss by 50 percent before 2030. It is also working to tackle food waste, loss of biodiversity, and unfair wages in the food chain. </p><p>Olivier de Schutter, Co-Chair of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, explains on <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2020/06/new-on-the-podcast-olivier-de-schutter-on-democratic-food-policy-reform/" target="_blank">Food Tank Live</a> that the strategy comes after calls for a single, integrated food policy framework. After three years of advocacy, a <a href="https://www.arc2020.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/EU-FPC_Open-Letter-F2F-2.pdf" target="_blank">coalition</a> of more than 250 European organizations persuaded the newly elected European Commission to consolidate existing agricultural, health, trade, and environmental policies.</p>
<p>To achieve its goals, the European Commission plans to <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/food-farming-fisheries/sustainability_and_natural_resources/documents/analysis-of-links-between-cap-and-green-deal_en.pdf" target="_blank">reformulate</a> the Common Agricultural Policy (<a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/key-policies/common-agricultural-policy/cap-glance_en" target="_blank">CAP</a>), which provides funding for farmers and rural development. The revised CAP will create <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:ea0f9f73-9ab2-11ea-9d2d-01aa75ed71a1.0001.02/DOC_1&format=PDF" target="_blank">eco-schemes</a> to support farmers engaging in sustainable agricultural practices. This new system will reward precision agriculture, agroecology, carbon farming, and agroforestry, amongst other practices.</p><p>"We really believe that if we take this step…if we can set the standard, this will be a win-win situation for all involved," de Keersmaecker tells FoodTank. "What's important is that we ensure that the ensuing value is fairly distributed along the food chain so that those that really invest in this transition are actually rewarded."</p><p>But while de Keersmaekcker says the strategy marks a turning point in food systems legislation, some activists argue that it must go further. </p>
<p>Madeleine Coste, Policy Officer at <a href="https://www.slowfood.com/sloweurope/en/" target="_blank">Slow Food Europe</a>, warns that the 50 percent pesticide reduction target is still too low. </p><p>"[We] are worried that these targets do not go far enough to trigger a much-needed radical shift to agroecological practices," Coste tells Food Tank. If member states do not help farmers transition to more sustainable practices, she explains, "bee and pollinator [species will] continue to be wiped out due to the perpetuation of a farming system based on monoculture and…chemical inputs." </p><p>Coste also fears the European Commission's focus on food waste is too narrow by accounting only for consumer and retail waste. Alongside the <a href="https://eeb.org/" target="_blank">European Environmental Bureau</a> and the <a href="https://www.wwf.eu/" target="_blank">World Wildlife Fund</a>, Slow Food Europe advocates targeting<a href="https://foodpolicycoalition.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/NGO-Joint-letter_EC-Commitment-on-Tackling-Food-Waste-in-the-F2F-Strategy.pdf" target="_blank"> pre-retail waste</a>, which makes up 30-59 percent of Europe's total food waste, according to the <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/mb060e/mb060e.pdf" target="_blank">U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization</a>. </p>
<p>Others worry about the Farm to Fork's stance on industrial animal agriculture. The <a href="https://www.eurovia.org/" target="_blank">European Coordination of Via Campesina</a> (ECVC), joined by more than a dozen civil society organizations, <a href="https://actionaid.org/sites/default/files/publications/Less%20and%20better%20animal%20products%20in%20the%20Farm%20to%20Fork%20strategy.pdf" target="_blank">counseled</a> the European Commission to tackle the overconsumption of meat, dairy, and eggs.</p><p>These organizations argue that a reduction in the consumption of animal products would have a positive effect on the environment. But Pierre Maison, Coordination Committee Member of ECVC tells Food Tank, "we believe the capacity of the Farm to Fork strategy to facilitate this transition is very weak." Maison fears that the current policy environment may thwart the Farm to Fork's chances of moving Europe away from large industrial animal agriculture, and reaching its soil health and organic farming targets.</p><p>In order to meet the Farm to Fork's targets, the CAP must enhance <a href="https://www.eurovia.org/report-and-video-of-the-webinar-food-sovereignty-and-the-farm-to-fork-strategy-building-a-fairer-and-more-just-agricultural-model-in-the-eu/" target="_blank">food sovereignty</a> by centering small farmers, according to Maison. "Without market and product regulation, farmers will not receive decent and stable revenue, which will hinder their transition towards sustainable production systems," Maison tells Food Tank.</p>
<p>But by re-localizing supply chains and improving the resilience of farms, he believes the Farm to Fork strategy has the potential to empower small farmers. And Maison says that while organizers have a long way to go, the strategy is an important first step.</p><p>"The transition towards sustainable food systems cannot be successfully achieved if we do it on our own," de Keersmacker tells Food Tank, "it's a fight we're in together."</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2020/08/social-and-environmental-justice-activists-react-to-eu-farm-to-fork-strategy/" target="_blank">Food Tank.</a></em></p>
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President Trump signs an executive order regulating social media on May 28, 2020 in Washington, DC. Doug Mills-Pool / Getty Images
Facebook and Twitter removed posts by President Donald Trump and his campaign Wednesday for violating their policies against spreading false information about COVID-19.
<p>The offending posts both shared a link to a video in which Trump claimed that children are "almost immune" to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-trump/facebook-twitter-pull-trump-posts-over-coronavirus-misinformation-idUSKCN25136Y?fbclid=IwAR3irRfp4TbdXzi9QJPwT2zlOTR1RbPybVaYok0gNYGKamR_7jMgLkTW-q0&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>. Facebook said it was the first time it had removed a post by the president for sharing coronavirus misinformation.</p><p>"This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19 which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misinformation," Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone told <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/05/899558311/facebook-removes-trump-post-over-false-claim-about-children-and-covid-19?utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_term=nprnews&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3fI3uSsERYZnMc02kZg6EyEv43sCbTSHLz65rabasUg1LG1P2P_AhY7sc" target="_blank">NPR</a> of the social media giant's decision.</p><p>Facebook removed the post from the President's own page, while Twitter removed a post of the video shared from the Trump campaign account @TeamTrump.</p><p>"The @TeamTrump Tweet you referenced is in violation of the Twitter Rules on <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/An-update-on-our-continuity-strategy-during-COVID-19.html__;!!Iwwt!DYFZLtq_zq5IqF-xREGa5P1jGVOACsXYLdUrMDtAvCQvBg3zVAWyR3hkJME%24" target="_blank">COVID-19 misinformation</a>. The account owner will be required to<a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/enforcement-options__;!!Iwwt!DYFZLtq_zq5IqF-xREGa5P1jGVOACsXYLdUrMDtAvCQvBg3zVAWyGr9epH8%24" target="_blank"> remove the Tweet</a> before they can Tweet again," Twitter spokesperson Trenton Kennedy told NPR.</p>
<p>The campaign complied and is now tweeting again.</p><p>The video contained a clip from a Fox News interview Trump gave Wednesday morning, in which he argued for schools to reopen.</p><p>"If you look at children, children are almost — and I would almost say definitely — but almost immune from this disease," Trump told "Fox & Friends," according to a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/politics/fact-check-trump-fox-friends-pandemic-biden-protests/index.html" target="_blank">CNN fact check of the interview</a>. "They don't have a problem. They just don't have a problem."</p><p>But CNN's Daniel Dale explained why that wasn't true.</p>
<p>"While children are, on the whole, less likely to get seriously ill or die from the coronavirus than adults are, they are certainly not 'immune,'" he wrote. "Children get infected, transmit the virus, and do sometimes get seriously ill or die."</p><p>The World Health Organization found that children aged five to 14 years old made up 4.6 percent of 6 million infections between Feb. 24 and July 12, according to Reuters. A large study out of South Korea last month found that younger children were less likely to spread the virus than adults, but children aged 10 to 19 could spread it just as much, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/health/coronavirus-children-schools.html" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>.</p><p>White House deputy national press secretary Courtney Parella defended Trump's statement in the removed video.</p><p>"The president was stating a fact that children are less susceptible to the coronavirus. Another day, another display of Silicon Valley's flagrant bias against this president, where the rules are only enforced in one direction," she said in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/technology/trump-facebook-coronavirus-video.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR0NldbBP1YYL71utJ9dYyuuiwvPEKfPL62ZoyZVj2VKLshwLD18sT4g5Ic" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. "Social media companies are not the arbiters of truth."</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/06/media/facebook-twitter-trump-reliable-sources/index.html" target="_blank">CNN's Oliver Darcy</a> argued that Trump's statement in the Fox interview went much further than Parella's summary. At one point in the interview, Trump said it was a fact that children were "virtually immune" from the disease, and Facebook confirmed to Darcy that this quote was featured in the removed video.</p><p>Darcy further criticized Fox News for allowing Trump's claims to air unchallenged in the first place:</p><blockquote>What is noteworthy is that the action means that — on this issue — the two tech giants have enforced higher standards on their platforms than the Murdoch family has enforced on Fox News. Whereas Twitter and Facebook removed the clip, the hosts of "Fox & Friends" didn't challenge Trump when he made the false claim on the network's air. And, Fox News — which didn't provide me a comment — played Trump's remarks to its large audience later in the day without a fact-check.</blockquote><p>The video was on Facebook for around four hours and seen almost half a million times before it was removed, The New York Times reported.</p>YouTube also told Reuters it had removed the video, but the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOWHlKM1U6E" target="_blank">full interview</a> is still available on the Fox News channel.
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Toxic Chemicals From Fossil Fuels Are Poisoning East Coast Dolphins and Whales, Study Finds
19h
Animals
Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute staff and volunteers try to help a stranded bottlenose dolphin in Cockroach Bay near Ruskin, Florida on Sept. 17, 2015. FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute
A new study gives a first look at the presence and potential effects of plastics and new forms of synthetic chemicals in stranded dolphins and whales along the coast of the southeastern U.S.
<p>New toxins and chemicals entering the market are bombarding the ocean and its inhabitants on an unprecedented scale, according to the research that was published Wednesday in <em><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.00630/full" target="_blank">Frontiers in Marine Science</a></em>, as <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.00630/full" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. Large ocean mammals that washed up ashore between 2012 and 2018 are similar to a canary in a coal mine, according to <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/humanitys-newest-toxins-found-in-stranded-whales-and-dolphins/" target="_blank">Courthouse News</a>, since these animals retain chemical deposits in their blubber and offer a window into the health of the larger ocean ecosystem.</p><p>The animals tested comprised toothed whales, which include dolphins, porpoises and other whales like the melon-headed whale and the Cuvier's beaked whale, according to CNN.</p>
<p>"Marine mammals are ecosystem sentinels that reflected anthropogenic threats through their health — which has implications for human health as well," says lead author assistant professor Annie Page-Karjian of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University, in a <a href="https://blog.frontiersin.org/2020/08/05/tracking-humanitys-latest-toxins-in-stranded-whales-and-dolphins/" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p><p>"For example, many of the species in this study prey upon fishes that are also preferred species for human consumption — so monitoring concentrations of contaminants in these animals provides a relatively low-cost snapshot of the potential exposure risk in humans, as well as other marine animals."</p>
<p>The stranded animals included 11 different species, providing the first evidence for two rarer species: white-beaked dolphin and Gervais' beaked whales, according to <em><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.00630/full" target="_blank">Frontiers in Marine Science</a></em>. The stranded animals represented males and females, young and old, which allowed the scientists to look at differences between the groups.</p><p>The results showed that species such as bottlenose dolphins had higher amounts of lead and mercury in their system than pygmy sperm whales. Female bottlenose dolphins had higher levels of arsenic than their male counterparts. Dolphins stranded in Florida displayed higher concentrations of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/lead">lead</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/mercury">mercury</a> and selenium and lower iron levels than those stranded in North Carolina, according to Courthouse News.</p>
<p>These toxic chemicals mostly enter the ecosystem from the burning of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuels</a> and mining, said Alistair Dove, vice president of research and conservation at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, to CNN. Dove was not involved in the study.</p><p>Dolphins like to eat a wide variety of fish, many of which are also eaten by people. For example, dolphins are known to enjoy shrimp and octopus, and on the U.S. East Coast, dolphins like to eat animals like herring, mackerel and flounder, said Page-Karjian, as CNN reported.</p><p>"If humans eat a lot of fish that contain too much arsenic and mercury, these metals can poison the liver and other organs, or cause neurological damage to the brain and nervous system," said Dove to CNN.</p>
<p>As Courthouse News noted, the most oceanic pollution begins on land. Septic tanks, vehicles, farms and ranches all use or produce pollutants that eventually make their way into the ocean thanks to runoff. Trash produced far inland eventually makes its way into the ocean via rivers and canals. The scientists note that curbing this upstream pollution from runoff and the use of single plastics would go a long way to helping the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans">oceans</a> heal.</p><p>"If we reduce the use of fossil fuels, we can slow the rate of climate change and put fewer pollutants into the ocean," Dove said to CNN. "This applies to mercury, which most often comes from coal-fired power plants, and even plastics, which are ultimately produced from natural gas."</p>
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Smoke rises above wrecked buildings following a deadly explosion on Aug. 4, 2020 in Beirut, Lebanon. Marwan Tahtah / Getty Images
By Alexander Freund
Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab says he believes Tuesday's explosion in Beirut could have been caused by large quantities of ammonium nitrate stored in the port.
<p>The ammonium nitrate in question was said to have been brought to the Lebanese capital on a freight ship that was impounded for safety reasons in 2013. It had been en route from Georgia to Mozambique.</p><p>Diab said about 2,750 metric tons (3,025 short tons) of the highly explosive chemical had been stored at the port since then without the necessary safety precautions in place.</p><p>The blast was so powerful that it could be heard in Cyprus, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) to the west, media reported.</p>
What Is Ammonium Nitrate?
<p>Ammonium nitrate is a white crystalline salt that can be fairly cheaply produced from ammonia and nitric acid. It is soluble and often used as fertilizer, as nitrogen is needed for healthy plant development.</p><p>Ammonium nitrate in its pure form is not dangerous. It is, however, heat sensitive. At 32.2 degrees Celsius (89.96 degrees Fahrenheit), ammonium nitrate changes its atomic structure, which in turn changes its chemical properties.</p><p>When large quantities of ammonium nitrate are stored in one place, heat is generated. If the amount is sufficiently vast, it can cause the chemical to ignite. Once a temperature of 170 C is reached, ammonium nitrate starts breaking down, emitting nitrous oxide, better known as laughing gas. Any sudden ignition causes ammonium nitrate to decompose directly into water, nitrogen and oxygen, which explains the enormous explosive power of the salt.</p>Deadly Disasters
<p>As ammonium nitrate is a highly explosive chemical, many countries strictly regulate its use. Over the past 100 years, there have been several disasters involving the chemical.</p><p>In 1921, for example, a massive blast occurred at a BASF chemical plant in Ludwigshafen in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. About 400 metric tons of a mixture of ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate exploded, killing 559 people and injuring 1,977. The plant was largely destroyed in the blast, which could be heard as far away as Munich, some 300 kilometers (186 miles) distant.</p><p>In 2015, explosions caused by ammonium nitrate ripped through the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/china-convicts-dozens-for-last-years-giant-explosions-in-tianjin/a-36324321" target="_blank">Chinese port city of Tianjin</a>. Eight hundred metric tons of the chemical were said to have been stored along with other substances in a warehouse for hazardous materials. The blasts killed 173 people and destroyed an entire city district.</p><p>Two years earlier, in 2013, an ammonium nitrate explosion occurred at the West Fertilizer Company site in Texas, killing 14 people. And in 2001, 31 people died in Toulouse, France, in an explosion caused by the chemical.</p>Terrorist Favorite
<p>In Germany, the purchase and use of ammonium nitrate is regulated by the explosives act. This is because the cheap, highly explosive and relatively easily obtainable material has in the past been used by terrorists to carry out attacks.</p><p>For example, in 1995, U.S. conspiracy theorist and gun enthusiast Timothy McVeigh used a mixture of ammonium nitrate and other substances to bomb the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik also used ammonium nitrate in a car bomb attack in Oslo in 2011.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Trending
Black Americans are dying from Covid-19 at more than twice the rate of white Americans, and at younger ages, partly due to poor diets that make bodies less resistant to the coronavirus. Mireya Acierto / Getty Images
By Michelle D. Holmes
Most Americans know about the Dietary Guidelines for Americans primarily through their colorful representations: the original food pyramid, which a few years ago morphed into MyPlate. The guidelines represent the government mothering us to choose the healthiest vegetables, grains, sources of protein, and desserts, and to eat them in the healthiest portions.
As innocuous as the food pyramid and MyPlate seem, they are actually a matter of life and death.
<p>The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are, by law, updated every five years. They are <a href="https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/activities/criticisms-2015-2020-dietary-guidelines" target="_blank">often criticized</a> for not clearly and directly condemning red and processed meat and sugar-sweetened beverages, not noting the environmental impact of those foods, and for being heavily influenced by food companies. But the recently released 835-page <a href="https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/ScientificReport_of_the_2020DietaryGuidelinesAdvisoryCommittee_first-print.pdf" target="_blank">final draft</a> from the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, the independent group of nutrition experts charged with the 2020 update, actually represents an important advance for Black Americans.<br></p><p>Poor diets kill <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2608221" target="_blank">nearly 320,000 Americans a year</a>, from heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic conditions. That exceeds the <a href="https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/factsheets/fs_americas_wars.pdf" target="_blank">combat death toll</a> of 291,000 U.S. soldiers in World War II. In a nation where 42% of Americans are obese, this is of particular gravity to Black Americans, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html" target="_blank">half of whom are obese</a>.</p><p>Sugar added to prepared foods and beverages contribute to weight gain. The average American consumes <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/added-sugar-in-the-diet/" target="_blank">22 teaspoons</a> of added sugar a day. That's 350 calories, or more than 17% of the recommended 2,000-calorie daily diet. The <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4135498/" target="_blank">most common sources</a> of added sugar in the American diet are sugar-sweetened beverages, cookies, cake, candy, and ice cream.</p>
<p>This year's Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee recommended nearly halving daily sugar intake, from less than 10% of daily calories, as recommended in <a href="https://health.gov/our-work/food-nutrition/2015-2020-dietary-guidelines" target="_blank">the 2015 guidelines</a>, to less than 6%. The committee also advises that children under age 2 not be given juice or other sugar-sweetened beverages.</p><p>In a daily diet of 2,000 calories, 10% of added sugar represents 200 calories; 6% would be 120 calories. A bowl of <a href="https://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000199349" target="_blank">Frosted Flakes</a> and a <a href="https://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000551321" target="_blank">strawberry Pop-Tart</a>, each at 56 calories of added sugar, would put an individual's breakfast close to the new limit. One 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola is 140 calories of sugar; a 12-ounce can of Pepsi is 150 calories. Both exceed the new recommendation.</p><p>While all Americans eat too much sugar, Black Americans consume about <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Dietary-intake-of-sugar-in-African-Americans-versus-whites_tbl3_264502021" target="_blank">20% more</a> than white Americans. I want to be clear here that I am not blaming Black Americans. Their disproportionate poor health is a direct <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/opinion/coronavirus-race-obesity.html" target="_blank">legacy of slavery</a>, legally enforced housing discrimination, and unattended disparities. Many Black Americans do not have access — financially or geographically — to the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5726305/" target="_blank">healthy food</a> or modes of exercise that white Americans do.</p><p>This disparity is brought into even sharper focus by Black Americans dying from Covid-19 at <a href="https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-race" target="_blank">more than twice</a> the rate of white Americans, and <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/07/10/covid-19-disparity-black-hispanic-americans-deaths-under-65/" target="_blank">at younger ages</a>, partly due to poor diets that make bodies less resistant to the coronavirus. And along with other people of color, they are also overrepresented in so-called essential jobs, in which social distancing is very difficult.</p>
<p>Black Americans need science-based dietary guidelines in an acute way as they disproportionately benefit from federal nutrition programs that are mandated to follow the guidelines, such as school breakfast and lunch programs. For example, 74% of Black children are eligible for <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010015/indicator2_7.asp#1" target="_blank">school lunch programs</a>, compared to 29% of white children. Other guideline-following programs include Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants and Children (<a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/wic-racial-ethnic-group-enrollment-data-2016" target="_blank">WIC</a>); the <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/IF10633.pdf" target="_blank">Nutrition Services Program</a>, mandated under the Older Americans Act; and nutrition programs administered by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.</p><p>If the recommendations by the advisory committee are approved by the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and become part of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, they will ultimately be reflected in healthier offerings in federal programs. These could go a small way toward righting America's wrongs by offering African Americans healthier diet options.</p><p>That would be particularly remarkable because these recommendations are happening under the aegis of the otherwise anti-science Trump administration. Given the toxic political atmosphere, the Union of Concerned Scientists <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/sarah-reinhardt/new-dietary-guidelines-report-is-a-science-success-story" target="_blank">called these recommendations</a> "a science success story."</p><p>But to make this success stand up, people need to make sure that the USDA and HHS hear their voices. The public can <a href="https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/work-under-way/get-involved/submit-comment" target="_blank">comment on the draft report</a> until Aug. 13.</p>
<p>The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee's report then goes into what in the past has been an almost invisible process where corporate food lobbyists and members of Congress who receive heavy food industry contributions often push back hard against the committee's science-based recommendations. As my colleague and nutrition expert Walter Willett once wrote, the advisory committee's report is "yanked this way and that by competing powerful interests, few of which have your health as a central goal."</p><p>The 2015 advisory committee, for example, directly said that Americans should eat less processed red meat, replace sugar-sweetened beverages with water, and that the environmental sustainability of food production should be factored into the guidelines. The language around those issues was either <a href="https://prospect.org/power/junk-food-president-aims-ruin-american-nutrition/" target="_blank">watered down or deleted</a>.</p><p>Americans, and particularly Black Americans, cannot afford another watering down of the recommendations. While we are understandably consumed with the horrific death toll of Covid-19, we cannot forget that so many of the deaths are compounded by a poor diet.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/08/03/black-lives-depend-on-u-s-dietary-guidelines-dont-water-them-down/" target="_blank">STAT</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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