Rescue workers dig through the rubble following a gas explosion in Baltimore, Maryland on Aug. 10, 2020. J. Countess / Getty Images
A "major" natural gas explosion killed two people and seriously injured at least seven in Baltimore, Maryland Monday morning.
<p>The blast destroyed three row homes in the northwestern Baltimore neighborhood of Reisterstown Station and ripped open a fourth, <a href="https://apnews.com/42cb919592a81a4b02f6e2ea30831eb2" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>. One woman and one man were killed, city fire officials said, according to <a href="https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2020/08/10/explosion-rocks-northwest-baltimore-latest/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=93012117&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8SOy65--Y5_AArJL7murOy3jmRBh-Q-W5S3SxpfpJTK0kMdLbvd1Oq3U-nYf006ihKggpGyAifqyhyENxmsCgoQIppTQ&utm_content=93012117&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">WJZ</a>. Rescue crews and dogs worked to pull others from the rubble.</p><p>"I've never seen anything like that and I've lived in Baltimore City all my life," neighbor Dean Jones <a href="https://www.wbaltv.com/article/baltimore-house-explosion-reisterstown-road/33562013?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=93012117&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8z--i_9dSwni-grj097_Src02t3tz53mGKgyEzO142jpKbAtvWlDzTh6KHO0IZxWF2xSu8pNsp1azQCS6dguzZcp8-qg&utm_content=93012117&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">told WBAL</a>. "It's almost like somebody just took a bomb out the side and dropped it on the three houses. It's completely leveled."</p>
<div id="28f6d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4d600ac330cedba0f01ce5304d60a1f2"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1292866070488010752" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Here some images of today's fatal explosion in northwest Baltimore, 4200 block of Labyrinth Rd. We are assisting… https://t.co/0S8IkGkIbh</div> — Baltimore County Fire Department (@Baltimore County Fire Department)<a href="https://twitter.com/BaltCoFire/statuses/1292866070488010752">1597078266.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The blast occurred just before 10 a.m. Monday. Fire Department spokeswoman Blair Adams told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/us/baltimore-explosion.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=93012117&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--w4G9Xtz4r3sbWY1KTYvfOO6W85UFHIN6Kedso1o2cEDMyLF9gF1zIwmuXMBJ4IY4t4s9hwiOTTGXQXQmARo9LYex1jQ&utm_content=93012117&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> it was a "major gas explosion." She said Monday afternoon that rescue crews would continue to work overnight digging through the rubble if needed.</p>
<div id="1b8f2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1b7fe487c8710b4fad2097c1873631e5"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1293176505363726337" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">As FFs combed through the night, the body of an adult male was located just before 1am. #BCFD @BaltimoreOEM remain… https://t.co/g6lj1DMKq9</div> — Baltimore Fire (@Baltimore Fire)<a href="https://twitter.com/BaltimoreFire/statuses/1293176505363726337">1597152279.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The cause of the explosion is currently unknown. Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), the country's oldest gas company, said it was investigating the incident, according to The New York Times.</p><p>The company said in a <a href="https://www.bge.com/News/Pages/Press%20Releases/labyrinth-road-updates.aspx" target="_blank">statement</a> Monday that there were no gas readings or gas leaks found in the buildings or on the road where the explosion took place. There were also no reports of gas smells from the area before the incident. However, people on the ground told WJZ they smelled gas after the blast.</p><p>"BGE is committed to fully understanding the cause of this incident and will inspect all BGE equipment once rescue efforts are complete," the company wrote in the statement.</p>
<div id="ac373" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7844994ac85eabf19c23548792abe69d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1292831837665009665" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Aerial images of the reported explosion in Baltimore.
https://t.co/GK0dpY9pMR https://t.co/vOR5gIQCT7</div> — ABC 7 News - WJLA (@ABC 7 News - WJLA)<a href="https://twitter.com/ABC7News/statuses/1292831837665009665">1597070104.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>BGE is currently working to replace thousands of miles of aging gas <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" target="_self">pipelines</a>, according to a Baltimore Sun story reported by The New York Times. The number of leaks in the city has increased by 75 percent from 2009 to 2016, but the replacement process could take two decades.</p><p>"Founded in 1816, BGE is the oldest gas distribution company in the nation. Like many older gas systems, a larger portion of its gas main and services infrastructure consists of cast iron and bare steel – materials that are obsolete and susceptible to failure with age," the Maryland Public Service Commission wrote when it approved the renovations in 2018, as The Associated Press reported.</p><p>The gas infrastructure in the area where the explosion hit was installed in the early 1960s, BGE said. But when the area was last inspected in June and July of 2019, no leaks were detected.</p><p>Climate campaigner and 350.org founder Bill McKibben wrote that the explosion was another argument for retiring gas heating altogether.</p><p>"Now that we have cheap, effective air source heat pumps, it's time for public policy to help everyone finance them, beginning with the poorest Americans. It is utterly unnecessary to have a tube of flammable gas running into your house," he tweeted.</p>
<div id="397f7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a8ad8a1c091fde87d1c799b912a02f43"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1292881488472616960" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Now that we have cheap, effective air source heat pumps, it's time for public policy to help everyone finance them,… https://t.co/ciJI3zeGHg</div> — Bill McKibben (@Bill McKibben)<a href="https://twitter.com/billmckibben/statuses/1292881488472616960">1597081942.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Monday's tragedy comes a little less than a year after <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/gas-explosion-shopping-center-maryland-2640038158.html" target="_self">another gas explosion</a> destroyed part of an office complex in Columbia, Maryland. Luckily, no one was injured in that blast, according to The Associated Press.</p>
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Powerful Midwest Derecho Slams Trees and Buildings, Knocks Out Power to More Than a Million
8h
Climate
A John Deere agricultural tractor sits under a collapsed building following a derecho storm on Aug. 10, 2020 near Franklin Grove, Illinois. Daniel Acker / Getty Images
A powerful series of thunderstorms roared across the Midwest on Monday, downing trees, damaging structures and knocking out power to more than a million people.
<p>The storms, which produced winds of more than 100 miles per hour, formed a phenomenon known as a derecho, a long-lasting, far-spreading windstorm caused by a series of thunderstorms, <a href="https://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/derechofaq.htm#:~:text=How%20might%20climate%20change%20affect,comprise%20derecho%2Dproducing%20convective%20systems." target="_blank">according to the Storm Prediction Center (SPC)</a>.</p><p>"This is our version of a hurricane," Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini told <a href="https://apnews.com/e7bfc5351814eb111f90f540d605514a" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a>.</p>
<p>While derechos usually occur one to two times a year, they do not usually blow as hard as Monday's storm, National Weather Service (NWS) scientist Patrick Marsh told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/us/derecho-storm-chicago-weather.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. He compared it to the "Super Derecho" of 2009. Gensini, meanwhile, said it would emerge as one of the strongest in recent history and one of the most <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" target="_self">extreme weather</a> events of 2020.</p><p>The storm system began in southeast South Dakota and eastern Nebraska Monday morning before blasting through Iowa, northern and central Illinois, southern Wisconsin, southwest Michigan, Indiana and northwest Ohio, <a href="https://weather.com/storms/severe/news/2020-08-10-derecho-forecast-midwest-severe-thunderstorms-chicago" target="_blank">The Weather Channel reported</a>.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vbWVkaWEucmJsLm1zL2ltYWdlP3U9JTJGbWVkaWElMkZFZklSbWU2V3NBQXd6b2suanBnJTNBbWVkaXVtJmhvPWh0dHBzJTNBJTJGJTJGcGJzLnR3aW1nLmNvbSZzPTM5Jmg9ZjczZTUzMGQ2ODhmZGZmN2YzN2M2ZGI4ZGFlNWJiNDk0MTFmYTFmY2I1NzAxMzMzMTRiYjA0MmIxYWFlNTFjYyZzaXplPTk4MHgmYz0zMDkyMjg5MTA4IiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMzIyMTYyMH0.Enf6XFlpzTRPAVGlA0sPrN1PBi5KoNRV8WTNkVN1Uu0/img.jpg" id="165e4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c5c8469bc2a301c8c79649b2d5beeceb" />Twitter
<p>Winds of up to 100 miles per hour ripped through Marshall County, Iowa, leading to several injuries and extensive property damage, the county's homeland security coordinator Kim Elder told The Associated Press.</p><p>Elder said the storm blew over trees and cars, downed power lines, ripped the roofs off of buildings and started fires. All told, a third of customers in Iowa were without power, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/10/weather/derecho-forecast-chicago-severe-storms/index.html" target="_blank">according to CNN</a>.</p><p>"Everybody in town is without power except those with a generator," Marshalltown, Iowa Mayor Joel Greer told The New York Times. Greer declared a state of emergency for the city, which he said was still recovering from a 2018 tornado. "It hit us at a time when we were just getting back on our feet," Greer said.</p>
<div id="755f8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="34ba091ea22ed744e1615045caabe1f9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1292893389558620160" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Check out images of storm damage sent by viewers across central Iowa. https://t.co/nr4KD4ZbVS #iawx #SevereWX https://t.co/y4rm2uEbBJ</div> — WHO 13 News (@WHO 13 News)<a href="https://twitter.com/WHO13news/statuses/1292893389558620160">1597084779.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The storms entered the Chicago area around 3:30 p.m. according to <a href="https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/more-than-10k-comed-customers-without-power-as-a-result-of-dangerous-winds/2320118/" target="_blank">NBC 5 Chicago</a>. They downed trees and knocked out power to more than 500,000 ComEd customers.</p><p>"Much of northern Illinois has pockets of damage with downed trees, debris, and powerlines blocking roadways," NWS Chicago <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSChicago/status/1292938558274248705" target="_blank">tweeted</a>.</p><p>A wind gust of 92 miles per hour was reported near Dixon, Illinois, about 100 miles west of Chicago, The Associated Press reported.</p>
<div id="eb795" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d0b37a0b02e97bcde0744ec21a9da3a3"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1292928957583687680" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Hold on #chcago here she co.e 80mpg winds @nbcchicago @fox32news https://t.co/vsGhDG0N1t</div> — Michael Kinsch (@Michael Kinsch)<a href="https://twitter.com/MKinsch/statuses/1292928957583687680">1597093259.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Monday's derecho was formed by unstable, wet air that had remained over the Midwest for several days, The Associated Press explained.</p><p>"They are basically self-sustaining amoebas of thunderstorms," Gensini said. "Once they get going like they did across Iowa, it's really hard to stop these suckers."</p><p>It is unclear what impact the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> will have on derechos, as the SPC explained:</p><blockquote>A warmer planet at first glance would appear to be more conducive to the development of the intense thunderstorms that comprise derecho-producing convective systems. But thunderstorm updrafts require the presence of strong <em>vertical</em> temperature gradients; any warming occurring at the surface likely also would occur aloft. Thus, the net change in instability due to thermal changes likely would be minimal. And, although a warmer environment implies greater atmospheric moisture content and conditional instability (instability related to the release of latent heat during condensation), all other factors remaining equal, the increased moisture likely also would yield more widespread low-level cloud cover. Such cloudiness would negatively impact storm initiation and derecho development. What is more certain is that the band of enhanced upper-level flow that encircles the planet --- the <em>jet stream</em> --- would contract poleward in a warmer world. Because derechos tend to form on the equatorward side of the jet stream along the northern fringes of warm high pressure ("fair weather") systems, it is reasonable to conclude that the corridors of maximum derecho frequency would shift poleward with global warming.</blockquote><p>Derechos, however, interact with other extreme weather conditions related to a warming planet. Marsh warned that the power outages could have a negative impact on vulnerable people in the region dealing with high heat. He said the power outages also compounded the problems caused by the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic.</p><p>"[I]t becomes dire pretty quickly," he told The Associated Press.</p>
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
A newly developed catalyst would transform carbon dioxide from power plants and other sources into ethanol. DWalker44 / E+ / Getty Images
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have discovered a cheap, efficient way to convert carbon dioxide into liquid fuel, potentially reducing the amount of new carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere.
<p>The method, published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-020-0666-x" target="_blank">Nature Energy in late July</a>, uses a copper-based catalyst to transform carbon dioxide into ethanol, which is used in almost all U.S. gasoline.</p><p>"The process resulting from our catalyst would contribute to the circular carbon economy, which entails the reuse of carbon dioxide," study coauthor and Argonne senior chemist Di-Jia Liu explained in a <a href="https://www.anl.gov/article/turning-carbon-dioxide-into-liquid-fuel" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p>
<p>Catalysts are an important tool in industrial processes used to speed up chemical reactions, Argonne National Laboratory explained. In conventional energy, they are used to convert heavy <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil" target="_self">oil</a> into jet fuel and gasoline. The new catalyst would be put to less carbon-intensive purposes by converting the carbon dioxide emitted by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuel" target="_self">fossil-fuel</a> plants or alcohol fermentation into ethanol that could be either recycled as fuel or used to make chemicals, drugs or cosmetics. Liquid fuel can also be used to store the output from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/" target="_self">renewable energy</a> for future use, the paper explained.</p>
<p>In a 2019 <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/11/13/20839531/climate-change-industry-co2-carbon-capture-utilization-storage-ccu" target="_blank">deep-dive for Vox</a> on different potential uses of carbon dioxide, David Roberts pointed out that it is always better from a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> standpoint to electrify energy use directly rather than using that power to convert carbon dioxide into fuel. However, carbon-based fuels could be an important tool for reducing the emissions of sectors that are hard to decarbonize otherwise, like industry. They do not remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but they do reduce the amount of planet-warming emissions relative to what they would have been if conventional fuels were burned.</p><p>"Carbon-neutral liquid fuels for sectors that are difficult to decarbonize are both a large market and a key piece of the decarbonization puzzle," Roberts wrote.</p>
<p>But turning carbon dioxide into a different molecule is typically both energy intensive and expensive because carbon dioxide is so stable, according to the Argonne National Laboratory: The new catalyst, however, is highly efficient.</p><p>The lab explained how it works:</p><blockquote>The team's catalyst consists of atomically dispersed copper on a carbon-powder support. By an electrochemical reaction, this catalyst breaks down CO2 and water molecules and selectively reassembles the broken molecules into ethanol under an external electric field. The electrocatalytic selectivity, or "Faradaic efficiency," of the process is over 90 percent, much higher than any other reported process. What is more, the catalyst operates stably over extended operation at low voltage.</blockquote><p>Because the process can work at low pressures and temperatures, it can be paired with renewable energy technologies. This is because it will be able to stop and restart easily in response to a changing power supply.</p><p>"We could couple the electrochemical process of CO2-to-ethanol conversion using our catalyst to the electric grid and take advantage of the low-cost electricity available from renewable sources like <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar-energy" target="_self">solar</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wind" target="_self">wind</a> during off-peak hours," Liu said.</p>
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U.S. Coronavirus Cases Surpass 5 Million, Only 17 Days After Hitting 4 Million
10 August
Health + Wellness
Medics with Austin-Travis County EMS transport a nursing home resident with coronavirus symptoms on Aug. 3, 2020 in Austin, Texas. John Moore / Getty Images
The U.S. passed five million coronavirus cases on Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, just 17 days after it hit the four-million case mark.
<p>The number means the U.S. now has more confirmed coronavirus cases than Ireland and Alabama have people, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/09/health/us-coronavirus-sunday/index.html" target="_blank">CNN pointed out</a>.</p><p>"This is such a sobering number," Vanderbilt University infectious disease professor Dr. William Schaffner told CNN. "That's a huge number of cases and a very large number of hospitalizations and deaths — and more to come. Because over much of this country, this virus is spreading unimpeded because so many folks are not getting with the program to contain it."</p>
<div id="90895" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fcbe6d202c937d5a692acf1d24d955ac"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1292590334577381376" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">It took:
- 99 days to get to 1 million cases
- 43 more days to reach 2 million
- 28 more days to reach 3 million… https://t.co/nBBhEo7ZE3</div> — Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈 (@Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈)<a href="https://twitter.com/Amy_Siskind/statuses/1292590334577381376">1597012525.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The U.S. continues to lead the world with both cases and deaths. It accounts for about a quarter of global cases and 22 percent of global fatalities, according to <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/08/09/900640397/u-s-hits-5-million-coronavirus-cases-as-debate-lingers-over-the-path-forward" target="_blank">NPR</a>. The country has seen 162,938 deaths so far, according to Monday morning figures from <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">Johns Hopkins University</a>. The next hardest-hit country, Brazil, has confirmed more than three million cases and 100,000 deaths.</p><p>The U.S. response to the virus has been marked by President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a>'s <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-infections-trump-2645393552.html" target="_self">repeated dismissals</a> of the severity of the new disease, pushing of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-coronavirus-medicine-science-2645823308.html" target="_self">unproven treatments</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/doctor-bright-coronavirus-trump-drug-2645811981.html" target="_self">clashes</a> with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> experts, <a href="https://apnews.com/2a03a4e685316eb7d5a6e7181000fbfe" target="_blank">The Associated Press pointed out</a>.</p><p>This has diminished the image of the U.S. in Europe, where officials are surprised the country could not manage to curb the outbreak despite having more preparation time before the disease began to spread rapidly on U.S. soil.</p><p>"We Italians always saw America as a model," Corriere della Sera columnist Massimo Franco said, according to The Associated Press. "But with this virus we've discovered a country that is very fragile, with bad infrastructure and a public health system that is nonexistent."</p>
<p>The U.S. is currently reporting around 54,000 cases a day. That is down from a mid-July peak of 75,697, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/08/world/coronavirus-updates.html#link-697eb3e1" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. Still, cases are increasing in almost 20 states, according to The Associated Press, and deaths are increasing in most.</p><p>On a national level, the U.S. has reported more than 1,000 deaths a day for the last five days, and has only reported fewer than 1,000 deaths on four days since July 21.</p><p>More than 40 percent of U.S. cases have been reported in just five states: California, Florida, Texas, New York and Georgia.</p>
<p>New York, however, which was an early epicenter of the outbreak, has largely gotten the disease under control. Its Saturday positivity rate — the rate of positive results out of total coronavirus tests — was 0.78 percent, the lowest since the pandemic started.</p><p>"Our daily numbers remain low and steady, despite increasing infection rates across the country, and even in our region — and we had the lowest one-day positive rate since we started," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement reported by CNN. "That's an incredible achievement, all thanks to the hard work of New Yorkers."</p><p>The other states have not been so successful. Florida reported more than 6,000 new cases for the 13th day in a row Sunday and Texas reported its highest ever seven-day positivity rate, at 19.41 percent.</p><p>The states with the most new cases compared to their populations in the past week were Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi, The New York Times reported.</p><p>Meanwhile, the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicted the U.S. would see 300,000 coronavirus deaths by December, NPR reported. That would make COVID-19 the third leading cause of death in the country this year.</p>
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Bystanders watch the MV Wakashio bulk carrier from which oil is leaking near Blue Bay Marine Park in southeast Mauritius, on August 6, 2020. Photo by Dev Ramkhelawon / L'Express Maurice / AFP / Getty Images
The Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, renowned for its coral reefs, is facing an unprecedented ecological catastrophe after a tanker ran aground offshore and began leaking oil.
<p>The 984-foot MV Wakashio ran aground on July 25 and began to break up due to rough waters, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/07/mauritius-facing-environmental-disaster-after-striken-bulk-carrier-leaks-oil?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco&fbclid=IwAR39uaSW-9_KYfuYZMv1Sqh66zFJLGtQqgCEv42JH6rs73MIOttQcD0iEds" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. It contained about 220.5 tons of diesel fuel and 4,189 tons of bunker fuel.</p><p>"We are in an environmental crisis situation," Mauritius' environment minister Kavy Ramano said according to The Guardian.</p>
<div id="3bdfb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6c8ea0ce2a9151f222fbc67584beda1e"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1291356236219387906" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🇲🇺 The authorities in Mauritius have warned of a major oil spill after a Panama-flagged ship reported a "leakage".… https://t.co/C7irK1e9g8</div> — BBC News Africa (@BBC News Africa)<a href="https://twitter.com/BBCAfrica/statuses/1291356236219387906">1596718293.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The environment ministry announced the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-spill" target="_self">oil spill</a> on Thursday, according to an AFP story published <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/tourist-hotspot-mauritius-hit-oil-spill-ship-grounds-200807054651300.html" target="_blank">by Al Jazeera</a>. The ship ran aground at Pointe d'Esny off the southeast of Mauritius, which is considered a "wetland of international importance" by the <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/water/wetlands/ramsar" target="_blank">Ramsar Convention</a>. Mauritius depends on its <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans" target="_self">oceans</a> for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fish" target="_self">fish</a> and tourism. It is also a major exporter of tuna, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-africa-47639452?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=5f2bf24953c3fb067a7286fd%26Mauritius%20coast%20hit%20by%20oil%20spill%262020-08-06T12:13:14.186Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:b0a37ecf-3c2b-4848-a562-cb28e0403c11&pinned_post_asset_id=5f2bf24953c3fb067a7286fd&pinned_post_type=share" target="_blank">BBC News</a> reported.</p><p>"This is the first time that we are faced with a catastrophe of this kind, and we are insufficiently equipped to handle this problem," Fishing Minister Sudheer Maudhoo said, AFP reported.</p><p>Mauritius is currently receiving help from the French island of Reunion and has asked other international and regional organizations to assist, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-06/mauritius-bars-access-to-beach-as-oil-leaks-from-stranded-vessel" target="_blank">Bloomberg reported</a>.</p>
<p>The MV Wakashio sails under a Panamanian flag but is owned by the Japanese company Nagashiki Shipping, The Guardian reported. All crew members were evacuated safely.</p><p>Nagashiki Shipping said that rough weather had caused the spill and made cleanup more difficult.</p><p>"Due to bad weather and constant pounding over the past few days, the starboard side bunker tanker has been breached and an amount of fuel oil has escaped into the sea," the company told Bloomberg by email. "In view of poor sea conditions salvage efforts are currently on hold."</p>
<p>A floating barrier has been placed around the ship to contain the oil.</p><p>Oceanographer Vassen Kauppaymuthoo said this was the first time Mauritius had seen such a devastating oil spill.</p><p>"It may have caused irreversible environmental damage to the southeastern coast of Mauritius," Kauppaymuthoo told Bloomberg. </p><p><a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/" target="_blank">Greenpeace Africa</a>, meanwhile, said the incident demonstrated another example of the dangers of using and transporting <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a>.</p>
<div id="7eb49" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="83819841e380a7072ec66d3186c160e8"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1291705003984510977" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🚨RESPONSE to #Mauritius #OILSpill 🚨 “Once again we see the risks in oil: aggravating the #ClimateCrisis, as well as… https://t.co/PBLioZat6X</div> — Greenpeace Africa (@Greenpeace Africa)<a href="https://twitter.com/Greenpeaceafric/statuses/1291705003984510977">1596801446.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"There is no guaranteed safe way to extract, transport and store fossil fuel products. This oil leak is not a twist of fate, but the choice of our twisted addiction to fossil fuels. We must react by accelerating our withdrawal from fossil fuels," Greenpeace Africa Senior Climate and Energy Campaign Manager Happy Khambule said in a <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/press/11864/greenpeace-africa-response-to-mauritius-oil-spill/?utm_campaign=oil&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=post&utm_content=single-image&utm_term=mauritius-oil-spill-reactive" target="_blank">statement Friday</a>. "Once again we see the risks in oil: aggravating the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" target="_self">climate crisis</a>, as well as devastating oceans and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiversity</a> and threatening local livelihoods around some of Africa's most precious lagoons."</p>
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As Schools Reopen, Georgia Students Suspended for Blowing the Whistle on Crowded Hallways
07 August
Health + Wellness
Hannah Watters wrote on Twitter that she was suspended for posting a video and photo of crowded hallways at her high school. hannah @ihateiceman
As the debate over how and if to safely reopen schools in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic continues, two student whistleblowers have been caught in the crosshairs.
<p>The students, who attend North Paulding High School in Georgia, told <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/laurenstrapagiel/north-paulding-high-school-suspensions-for-hallway-photos?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bffbbuzzfeedvideo&ref=bffbbuzzfeedvideo&" target="_blank"><u>BuzzFeed News</u></a> they were suspended for posting videos of crowded hallways on social media.</p><p>"Day two at North Paulding High School. It is just as bad. We were stopped because it was jammed," 15-year-old Hannah Watters wrote in the Twitter post that accompanied a photo she took. "We are close enough to the point where I got pushed multiple go to second block. This is not ok. Not to mention the 10% mask rate."</p>
<div id="d143c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4612c650da5606ed7270b92ccc8b9ba4"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1290728743263252480" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Day two at North Paulding High School. It is just as bad. We were stopped because it was jammed. We are close enoug… https://t.co/x0k2JLqEFk</div> — hannah (@hannah)<a href="https://twitter.com/ihateiceman/statuses/1290728743263252480">1596568687.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Watters said she received a five day, out-of-school suspension for sharing a video and photo of the conditions. Another student, who asked to remain anonymous, also said they were suspended for tweeting photos of hallway crowding.</p><p>The school told Watters she had been suspended on three grounds: using her phone without permission, using it to post on social media and posting pictures of minors without their consent.</p><p>However, Watters <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/07/us/georgia-teen-photo-crowded-school-hallway-trnd/index.html" target="_blank"><u>told CNN</u></a> that the rules against phone use do not apply to students in grades nine through 12 and that she posted the video and photo after school. She acknowledged that she broke the rule against posting photos of other students.</p><p>"I'd like to say this is some good and necessary trouble," Watters told CNN. "My biggest concern is not only about me being safe, it's about everyone being safe because behind every teacher, student and staff member there is a family, there are friends, and I would just want to keep everyone safe."</p><p>Watters' wasn't the first image of crowding at the high school to go viral. That honor goes to a photo shared by the account @Freeyourmindkid, according to BuzzFeed News. It is not clear who took the image or if they were penalized.</p>
<div id="9ccc4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c0ec871de71a27b1357a35e0c1f2e455"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1290626349426671617" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">This is the first day of school in Paulding County, Georgia. https://t.co/fzdidaAABM</div> — 🇯🇲Black🇭🇹Aziz🇳🇬aNANsi🇹🇹 (@🇯🇲Black🇭🇹Aziz🇳🇬aNANsi🇹🇹)<a href="https://twitter.com/Freeyourmindkid/statuses/1290626349426671617">1596544275.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The photos of hallway crowding at North Paulding High School have emerged as a symbol for the difficulties of safely reopening schools, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/us/north-paulding-high-school-coronavirus-georgia.html" target="_blank"><u>The New York Times pointed out</u></a>. Schools that have reopened for in-person instruction in Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Indiana have had to impose quarantines and sometimes close classrooms or whole schools in response to new cases. In another Georgia school, for example, an entire second-grade class had to quarantine for two weeks after one of its students tested positive for COVID-19 on the second day, as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-georgia-second-grader-covid-19-positive-test/" target="_blank"><u>CBS News reported</u></a>.</p><p>Paulding County School District superintendent Brian Otott defended the district's decision to reopen in a <a href="https://dam.tmz.com/document/a6/o/2020/08/04/a64748a740a84d25abbaf08e5be5e9be.pdf" target="_blank"><u>letter</u></a> and said the photos were taken out of context. He said they were taken during the "brief" period when high school students change classes and he noted that the Department of Public Health said people catch COVID-19 after being within six feet of an infected person for 15 minutes.</p><p>"Class changes at the high school level are a challenge when maintaining a specific schedule. It is an area we are continuing to work on in this new environment to find practicable ways to further limit students from congregating," he wrote.</p><p>The district has also come under fire for its mask policy. Instead of requiring their use, it considers mask-wearing a "personal choice," BuzzFeed News reported. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends mask use, however.</p><p>Watters also took a tally of how many students in her classes wore masks each day.</p>
<div id="f9c6f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ef4bc65f296bdccb05e99b0c6b04abcb"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1291132959131611137" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">https://t.co/UvJoLjpq5N</div> — hannah (@hannah)<a href="https://twitter.com/ihateiceman/statuses/1291132959131611137">1596665060.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>In every class, a majority of students chose not to wear masks. </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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A warning sign near the Dakota Access Pipeline endpoint in Patoka, Illinois on Nov. 11, 2016. Cyrene Krey / Flickr
The controversial Dakota Access Pipeline won a reprieve Wednesday when an appeals court canceled a lower court order mandating the pipeline be shut down and emptied of oil while a full environmental impact statement is completed.
<p>The shutdown order, which would have gone into effect Wednesday, marked the first time a major oil pipeline was court ordered to cease operations for environmental reasons. But while its reversal is disappointing for pipeline opponents, Wednesday's decision was not wholly favorable for the pipeline, either. The court refused to halt the initial order for a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/dakota-access-pipeline-environmental-review-2645577384.html" target="_self">new environmental review</a> of the pipeline's crossing under the Missouri River, where the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe fears it will pollute its <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" target="_self">drinking water</a> and sacred lands if it leaks.</p><p>"We've been in this legal battle for four years, and we aren't giving up this fight," Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Mike Faith said in an <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2020/dc-circuit-mixed-decision-dakota-access-shutdown-order?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social" target="_blank">Earthjustice press release</a>. "As the environmental review process gets underway in the months ahead, we look forward to showing why the Dakota Access Pipeline is too dangerous to operate."</p>
<div id="e3dbb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f1c6bf3b1b2ec9c26be8e6fd6776c2be"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1291118408277397505" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">But the fight isn't over! DAPL's permit to cross underneath Lake Oahe is vacated, so it's effectively operating ill… https://t.co/EOPn59siC7</div> — Earthjustice (@Earthjustice)<a href="https://twitter.com/Earthjustice/statuses/1291118408277397505">1596661591.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>In its ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit put the question of whether the pipeline could continue to operate without a permit back to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump-administration" target="_self">Trump administration</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-05/dakota-access-pipeline-staves-off-shutdown-order-once-again" target="_blank">Bloomberg News reported</a>. It said it expected the Army Corps of Engineers to clarify the issue.</p><p>"It's interesting what the court did here," Earthjustice lawyer Jan Hasselman, who represents the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, told Bloomberg. "While the focus has been on this judicially imposed shutdown order, the bigger picture is the environmental impact statement and whether a permit will be reissued under the next administration."</p><p>Hasselman argued that the pipeline is now operating illegally, and, if the Army Corps of Engineers decides to let it keep running while a review is completed, the issue will return to court.</p><p>"[W]e are confident that it will be shut down eventually," he said in the press release.</p>
<p>The pipeline's owner Energy Transfer had immediately appealed the shutdown order, and the company's lawyer said it would continue with the legal process.</p><p>"We believe our legal positions are strong, and we are confident that the pipeline will continue to operate," General Counsel Tom Mason told Bloomberg.</p><p>The oil and gas industry more generally had a mixed response to Wednesday's ruling.</p><p>"The Court rightly stayed the decision to shut down and empty the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been operating for over three years and provides millions of tax dollars to states, affordable energy to the entire region, and thousands of jobs along its route," American Petroleum Institute senior vice president and chief legal officer Paul Afonso said in a statement reported by <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/510748-court-cancels-shutdown-of-dakota-access-pipeline" target="_blank">The Hill</a>. "However, the failure to uphold the easement granted years ago by the federal government exemplifies the problems with our outdated permitting system, which allows protracted challenges to advance within the courts and ultimately take away jobs, tax dollars, and investments that pipelines bring to communities that sorely need them."</p>
<p>The Dakota Access Pipeline currently carries 570,000 barrels of oil a day 1,172-miles from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois. The fight against the pipeline garnered international attention through major <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous" target="_self">Indigenous</a>-led <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/what-standing-rock-gave-world-2549906333.html" target="_self">protests</a> in 2016 and 2017. The Obama administration <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/army-corps-permit-dakota-access-pipeline-2128363393.html" target="_self">denied</a> the river crossing permit in late 2016, but President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-dakota-access-pipeline-2211697835.html" target="_self">pushed the project through</a> via executive order early after taking office. It has now been operating a little more than three years.</p>
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President Trump displays his signature after signing The Great American Outdoors Act on August 4, 2020. The White House
The Great American Outdoors Act is now the law of the land.
<p>President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> signed the bill, which passed the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/great-american-outdoors-act-conservation-2646197665.html" target="_self">Senate</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/great-american-outdoors-act-2646574786.html" target="_self">House</a> with bipartisan support, on Tuesday. It is considered a major U.S. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> milestone.</p><p>"You cannot overstate the importance of this bill and what it will mean for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/national-parks" target="_self">national parks</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands" target="_self">public lands</a> and communities across the country," <a href="https://www.npca.org/" target="_blank">National Parks Conservation Association</a> (NPCA) President and CEO Theresa Pierno <a href="https://www.npca.org/articles/2618-npca-celebrates-park-victory-decades-in-the-making" target="_blank">said</a> when it passed the House in July. "This is the largest investment our country has made in our national parks and public lands in more than 50 years, and it comes not a moment too soon."</p>
<div id="e0008" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ffc07febbf5d2d585ad06d3f43e2be56"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1290667833999929344" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🚨Breaking News: The President has just signed the bipartisan #GreatAmericanOutdoorsAct. It will help: 🏗️ Restore… https://t.co/RPefKPMn7S</div> — Fix Our Parks (@Fix Our Parks)<a href="https://twitter.com/FixOurParksUS/statuses/1290667833999929344">1596554165.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The bill is important because it secured permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) for $900 million a year, EcoWatch <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/great-american-outdoors-act-2646574786.html">previously reported</a>. This fund uses <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-and-gas" target="_self">oil and gas</a> revenue to finance national parks and historic sites, along with local and state parks and recreation areas. The bill also earmarked $6.5 billion over the next five years to address the maintenance backlog currently burdening the National Park System, NPCA pointed out.</p><p>Trump claimed the bill signing as a major environmental legacy for himself and the Republicans.</p><p>"From an environmental standpoint and from just the beauty of our country standpoint, there hasn't been anything like this since Teddy Roosevelt, I suspect," he said at the signing ceremony, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/us/politics/trump-land-conservation-bill.html" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>. "At some point, they'll have to start thinking about the Republican Party and all of the incredible things we've done on conservation and many other fronts."</p>
<p><br>Trump's remarks overlook the fact that his administration is the only one in history to strip more protections from public lands than it added, the <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2020/05/21/485260/anti-nature-president-u-s-history/" target="_blank">Center for American Progress calculated in May</a>. In fact, the administration has tried to gut protections for 35 million acres, an area roughly the size of Florida. Trump has also moved to roll back 100 environmental rules since taking office, according to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks.html" target="_blank">New York Times tracker</a>.</p><p>Trump undercut his own conservation bonafides Tuesday when he mispronounced California's famous Yosemite National Park as "Yo-Semites" twice in his speech.</p><p>"When young Americans experience the breathtaking beauty of the Grand Canyon, when their eyes widen in amazement as Old Faithful bursts into the sky, when they gaze upon yo-Semites, yo-Semites, towering sequoias, their love of country grows stronger, and they know that every American has truly a duty to preserve this wondrous inheritance," Trump said, according to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-trump-mispronounces-yosemite-national-park-as-yo-semite-twice-2020-8" target="_blank">Business Insider</a>.</p>
<p>The park is one of the most frequented tourist destinations in the U.S. and welcomed 4.5 million people in 2019. However, the lead official at the park's visitors center told <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/california/yosemite/article244730067.html" target="_blank">The Fresno Bee</a> that Trump's mistake was not uncommon.</p><p>"We hear it all the time, especially from East Coasters for some reason," CEO of <a href="https://www.yosemitethisyear.com/" target="_blank">Visit Yosemite Madera County</a> Rhonda Salisbury said. "I'm always shocked that people don't know how to say Yosemite. I think foreign visitors know how to say it correctly more than American visitors."</p><p>Trump's signing ceremony also obscured the bipartisan origin of the new law. Only Republicans were present, and Trump did not mention any Democrats during his speech, The New York Times reported.</p><p>In fact, the bill was introduced last year by Civil Rights icon and Georgia Democratic Representative John Lewis, who passed away in July. Trump made no mention of this.</p><p>He did credit the man who <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3422/all-info" target="_blank">introduced</a> it in the Senate, Colorado Republican Cory Gardner. Gardner is one of two Republicans who Trump said convinced him to sign the measure. Trump had previously wanted to cut funding for the LWCF by almost 97 percent, according to <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/510272-trump-signs-major-conservation-bill-into-law" target="_blank">The Hill</a>. But a more than hour-long meeting with Gardner and Sen. <a href="https://thehill.com/people/steve-daines" target="_blank">Steve Daines</a> (R-Mont.) persuaded him otherwise.</p><p>Gardner told reporters in June how he and Daines persuaded the president.</p><p>"I showed him a picture of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and I think Steve showed a picture as well and he looked at the park and said 'it's beautiful' and we pointed up at the picture of Teddy Roosevelt on the wall and said this could be the biggest accomplishment going back to Teddy Roosevelt," Gardner said in The Hill article.</p>
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Bicyclists pass a fallen tree in the Greenpoint area of Brooklyn, New York on Aug. 4, 2020 after Isaias left hundreds of thousands without power and prompted flood precautions in New York City. DIANE DESOBEAU / AFP via Getty Images
At least six people are dead after Isaias sped up the East Coast Tuesday, downing trees, spawning tornadoes, and flooding homes and roadways as it went.
<p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tropical-storm-isaias-atlantic-2646825815.html" target="_self">earliest "I" storm</a> of an Atlantic <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes" target="_self">hurricane</a> season on record began its path of destruction late Monday night when it made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. It brought both flames and floods, causing at least five structures to catch fire, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/us/isaias-storm-updates.html#link-665175e7" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>.</p><p>"We didn't think it was going to get to this level," Morgan Strenk, who offered a family shelter from the flames in her vacation home even as its basement filled with three feet of water, told The New York Times.</p>
<div id="8db37" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9e605552627ca15c0e48ee50e3ac748e"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1290507775966154754" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">At approximately 11:40 p.m., there were reports of multiple structure fires in the area of Ocean Isle Beach, North… https://t.co/2gaphSIzf4</div> — Horry SC Fire Rescue (@Horry SC Fire Rescue)<a href="https://twitter.com/hcfirerescue/statuses/1290507775966154754">1596516004.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The hurricane also brought storm surge flooding to Oak Island, North Carolina and rose the Cape Fear River in Wilmington, North Carolina to a record high level, <a href="https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2020-08-04-tropical-storm-isaias-forecast-northeast-flooding-damaging-winds" target="_blank">The Weather Channel reported</a>.</p><p>Isaias weakened to a tropical storm over Eastern North Carolina early Tuesday morning, <a href="https://twitter.com/NHC_Atlantic/status/1290543815502307329" target="_blank">according to the National Hurricane Center</a> (NHC). But it was still a deadly force as it moved up the East Coast.</p><p>One of the major hazards was falling trees, which killed at least three people in New York, Delaware and Maryland, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/04/weather/hurricane-isaias-carolinas-tuesday/index.html" target="_blank">according to CNN</a>. Trees fell from Virginia to New England, and more than three million homes and businesses lost power, The Weather Channel reported.</p>
<div id="1da84" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0ef51bac557980cd33dc801ec6d17598"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1290740659368996865" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Haven’t seen tree damage this extensive since Sandy in Woodbridge, NJ. You can actually smell the trees. No power.… https://t.co/U0zTqaSYtL</div> — Collin Gross (@Collin Gross)<a href="https://twitter.com/CollinGrossWx/statuses/1290740659368996865">1596571528.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Another major hazard was tornadoes. The National Weather Service received more than 20 reports of twisters between North Carolina and Pennsylvania.</p><p>In one tragic incident, 12 people were injured and at least two people were killed when a tornado hit a mobile home park in Windsor, North Carolina, CNN reported.</p><p>"We didn't have a lot of time to react once it finally hit. I mean, it hit all at once," resident Desaree Pike told <a href="https://www.wral.com/" target="_blank">CNN affiliate WRAL</a>. "For lack of a better word, it was hell. You don't really think about anything else but just holding the kids and hoping it doesn't tear the house up."</p>
<p>One of the reasons Isaias was so dangerous, and spawned so many tornadoes without warning, was the speed at which it moved. As of Tuesday evening, it was still moving 40 miles per hour and still had maximum sustained winds of 50 miles per hour.</p><p>In addition to wind, the storm also brought widespread flooding.</p>
<div id="c0467" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="adcda918a351bc1fbeca5f93b86eff8d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1290770765009149952" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">As of 6PM Tuesday, we are forecasting flooding at 14 locations across the Mid-Atlantic region. Please follow the la… https://t.co/FcEKPBbIH2</div> — NWS MARFC (@NWS MARFC)<a href="https://twitter.com/NWSMARFC/statuses/1290770765009149952">1596578706.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Pennsylvania was especially inundated. One person died in the state when floodwaters swept away their vehicle, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/isaias-hurricane-tropical-storm-tornado-flooding-fires-outages/" target="_blank">CBS News reported</a>. Little Lehigh Creek and <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSMARFC/status/1290775238792241154" target="_blank">Perkiomen Creek </a>in Pennsylvania both crested at record levels and Darby Creek flooded a neighborhood in southwest Philadelphia, according to The Weather Channel.</p>
<div id="2ca46" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2c7ff0154aa438fdd332eb7644c0e29b"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1290747910422966277" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">**Breaking - Darby Creek floods its banks into Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood near 84th St and Lindberg Blvd.… https://t.co/N1ZpaWnaGB</div> — Dan Patrick (@Dan Patrick)<a href="https://twitter.com/6abcDan/statuses/1290747910422966277">1596573257.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>A man and woman also had to be rescued in In Charles County, Maryland after flood waters swept their cars off the road, CBS News reported.<br></p><p>However, the storm's speed provided one advantage: It did not linger, which reduced river flooding and allowed emergency workers to respond rapidly, The New York Times reported.</p><p>"All in all, this storm got in, got out pretty quickly," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper told "Good Morning America" on Tuesday, as The New York Times reported.</p><p>He said this meant the damage was "not as great as it could have been."</p><p>The storm has now moved into Canada as a post-tropical cyclone, <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT4+shtml/050837.shtml" target="_blank">according to a 5 a.m. EDT update from the NHC</a>. It is currently about 55 miles northwest of Quebec City and is expected to dissipate over southeastern Canada Thursday.</p>
<p>But as the storm fades, it leaves a sobering reminder of what a future shaped by the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> could look like, The New York Times pointed out. Isaias struck the same week that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/apple-fire-california-coronavirus-2646869340.html" target="_self">Apple Fire</a> forced thousands to evacuate in Southern California, and both disasters came as the nation still struggles to contain the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic, giving a foretaste of the overlapping crises we can expect if the climate continues to destabilize.</p><p>"State and local governments already stretched with Covid responses must now stretch even further," adaptation program director at the Georgetown Climate Center in Washington Lisa Anne Hamilton told The New York Times. She said better planning was needed to prepare for the disasters to come.</p>
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The Food and Drug Administration is now warning against more than 100 potentially dangerous hand sanitizers.
Antonio_Diaz / Getty Images
Antonio_Diaz / Getty Images
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now warning against more than 100 potentially dangerous hand sanitizers.
<p><br>Since June, the agency has been <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fda-hand-sanitizers-list-2646412872.html" target="_self">expanding</a> its list of hand sanitizers that may be contaminated with deadly methanol alcohol. But on Friday, the FDA announced a new problem. While some hand sanitizers contain the wrong kind of alcohol, others don't have enough of the right kind.</p><p>"FDA test results show certain hand sanitizers have concerningly low levels of ethyl alcohol or isopropyl alcohol, which are active ingredients in hand sanitizer products," the FDA <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-updates-hand-sanitizers-consumers-should-not-use" target="_blank">wrote</a>. "The agency urges consumers not to use these subpotent products."</p>
<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-hand-sanitizer.html" target="_blank">recommends</a> washing your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds as the best hand hygiene method to prevent the spread of disease. Soap and water is more effective than hand sanitizer at killing certain germs, and some people do not use hand sanitizer correctly, either wiping it off too early or not using enough.</p><p>However, if soap and water are not available, the CDC recommends using a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent ethanol alcohol.</p><p>"Many studies have found that sanitizers with an alcohol concentration between 60–95% are more effective at killing germs than those with a lower alcohol concentration or non-alcohol-based hand sanitizers," the CDC explained. "Hand sanitizers without 60-95% alcohol 1) may not work equally well for many types of germs; and 2) merely reduce the growth of germs rather than kill them outright."</p><p>The rise in hand sanitizer demand has been driven by attempts to stop the spread of the new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a>, so it is important that products actually work.</p>
<p>The FDA flagged the following hand sanitizers for being less effective:</p><ol><li>dgreen Advanced Sanitizer Alcohol Free</li><li>dgreen Advanced Hand Sanitizer Antibacterial Gel</li><li>Biokaab Inc. Hand Sanitizer</li><li>Biokaab Inc. Hand Sanitizer Gel</li><li>Clean Humans Hand Sanitizer</li><li>Medicare Alcohol Antiseptic Topical Solution</li><li>NeoNatural</li><li>Datsen Hand Sanitizer</li><li>Alcohol Antiseptic 62% Hand Sanitizer</li><li>Bernal Hand Sanitizer</li><li>Inflatables LLC Alcohol Antiseptic 65% Hand Sanitizer and Alcohol Antiseptic 70% Hand Sanitizer</li></ol>
<p>In addition to the subpotent hand sanitizers, the FDA continues to warn against hand sanitizers that contain methanol, or wood alcohol, which is toxic when absorbed through the skin and can be deadly when swallowed. There have been reports of people going blind, damaging their hearts or nervous systems, being hospitalized and even dying because of exposure to these toxic hand sanitizers, the agency <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-reiterates-warning-about-dangerous-alcohol-based-hand-sanitizers" target="_blank">said in a news release</a>. One of the deaths was associated with Blumen Hand Sanitizer, which is distributed by 4e North America and manufactured by 4E Global in Mexico. The company has recalled an expanded list of products.</p><p>"Practicing good hand hygiene, which includes using alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not readily available, is an important public health tool for all Americans to employ. Consumers must also be vigilant about which hand sanitizers they use, and for their health and safety we urge consumers to immediately stop using all hand sanitizers on the FDA's <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-updates-hand-sanitizers-consumers-should-not-use" target="_blank">list</a> of dangerous hand sanitizer products," FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen M. Hahn said in the press release. "We remain extremely concerned about the potential serious risks of alcohol-based hand sanitizers containing methanol. Producing, importing and distributing toxic hand sanitizers poses a serious threat to the public and will not be tolerated. The FDA will take additional action as necessary and will continue to provide the latest information on this issue for the health and safety of consumers."</p><p>There are now 115 hand sanitizers on the agency's "do-not-use list," mostly manufactured in Mexico, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/03/health/fda-hand-sanitizers-list-expands-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>. As such, the FDA has issued import alerts to stop the products from entering the U.S.</p><p>It also sent a warning letter to one of the companies involved, Eskbiochem S.A. de C.V., for poor manufacturing practices, distributing hand sanitizers made at a facility that has undeclared methanol and falsely claiming its products are FDA approved.</p>
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