Thomas A. Jefferson
1. How many vaquitas are left?
A survey released earlier this year estimated the vaquita population was as low as 30 individuals. An all time low for the porpoise, the population is half of what it was just the year before. And a 97 percent drop from the year before that.
2. What do vaquitas look like?
The world's smallest porpoise, vaquitas measure up to 5 feet long and weigh up to 120 lbs. The vaquita's unique facial markings of a black ring around each eye and black curved lips have been compared to a smiling panda. They are dark gray on their dorsal (top) surface with pale gray sides and a white underside with light gray markings. Newborns generally have darker coloration.
3. Where do vaquitas live?
Vaquitas only live in the northern end of Mexico's Gulf of California. Besides the vaquita, the Gulf of California has tremendous biological and economic importance. It supports an extraordinary diversity of marine life including sharks, whales, marine turtles and many species of reef fish. The Upper Gulf of California is considered globally unique because of its ecological characteristics, enormous biodiversity and the amount of species that live in this area.
4. Why are vaquitas so endangered?
Unsustainable and illegal fishing practices are the main drivers pushing vaquita to extinction, particularly due to bycatch from illegal fishing. Vaquitas share waters with the much sought-after totoaba fish and fishing nets inadvertently catch and drown the porpoise. Demand for totoaba swim bladders—believed to cure a variety of illness and diseases in Chinese medicine—is driving the vaquita to extinction. The swim bladders are often illegally smuggled over the U.S. border and then shipped to China where it can sell up to USD 8,500 per kilogram in the black market.
5. What can be done to save the vaquita?
Mexican President Peña Nieto has committed to protecting the vaquita. But totoaba fishing—the main threat to vaquitas—has continued to increase. And of course, vaquita numbers have dropped to dangerous lows.
The solution is a fully enforced gillnet ban and improved community engagement to save the vaquita and preserve the Gulf of California's outstanding universal value.
World Wildlife Fund is asking for an immediate, increased response from the Mexican government, World Heritage Committee and CITES Parties, NGOS and civil society groups to protect the last remaining vaquitas and set the Upper Gulf of California on a path to recovery. Failure to act will result in the imminent extinction of the vaquita.
Take action and ask Mexican President Peña Nieto to enforce protection of the vaquita.
A Healthy Microbiome Builds a Strong Immune System That Could Help Defeat COVID-19
20m
Health + Wellness
Probiotic rich foods. bit245 / iStock / Getty Images Plus
By Ana Maldonado-Contreras
Takeaways
- Your gut is home to trillions of bacteria that are vital for keeping you healthy.
- Some of these microbes help to regulate the immune system.
- New research, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, shows the presence of certain bacteria in the gut may reveal which people are more vulnerable to a more severe case of COVID-19.
You may not know it, but you have an army of microbes living inside of you that are essential for fighting off threats, including the virus that causes COVID-19.
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In the past two decades scientists have learned our bodies are home to more bacterial cells than human ones. This community of bacteria that lives in and on us – called the microbiome – resembles a company, with each microbe species performing specialized jobs but all working to keep us healthy. In the gut, the bacteria balance the immune response against pathogens. These bacteria ensure the immune response is effective but not so violent that it causes collateral damage to the host.
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Bacteria in our guts can elicit an effective immune response against viruses that not only infect the gut, such as <a href="http://doi.org/10.3390/v10020096" target="_blank">norovirus</a> <a href="http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1258025" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">and rotavirus</a>, but also those infecting the lungs, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1019378108" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the flu virus</a>. The beneficial gut microbes do this by ordering specialized immune cells to produce potent antiviral proteins that ultimately eliminate <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.022" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">viral infections</a>. And the body of a person lacking these beneficial gut bacteria won't have as strong an immune response to invading viruses. As a result, infections might go unchecked, taking a toll on health.
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<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=4y55zc0AAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">I am a microbiologist</a> fascinated by the ways bacteria shape human health. <a href="https://www.umassmed.edu/nutrition/melody-trial-info/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">An important focus of my research</a> is figuring out how the beneficial bacteria populating our guts combat disease and infection. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.05.20249061" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">My most recent work focuses on the link</a> between a particular microbe and the severity of COVID-19 in patients. My ultimate goal is to figure out out how to enhance the gut microbiome with diet to evoke a strong immune response – for not just SARS-CoV-2 but all pathogens.</p>
How Do Resident Bacteria Keep You Healthy?
<p>Our immune defense is part of a complex biological response against harmful pathogens, such as viruses or bacteria. However, because our bodies are inhabited by trillions of mostly beneficial bacteria, virus and fungi, activation of our immune response is tightly regulated to distinguish between harmful and helpful microbes.</p><p>Our bacteria are spectacular companions diligently helping prime our immune system defenses to combat infections. A seminal study found that mice treated with antibiotics that eliminate bacteria in the gut exhibited an impaired immune response. These animals had low counts of virus-fighting white blood cells, weak antibody responses and poor production of a protein that is vital for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1019378108" target="_blank">combating viral infection and modulating the immune response</a>.</p><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184976" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">In another study</a>, mice were fed <em>Lactobacillus</em> bacteria, commonly used as probiotic in fermented food. These microbes reduced the severity of influenza infection. The <em>Lactobacillus</em>-treated mice did not lose weight and had only mild lung damage compared with untreated mice. Similarly, others have found that treatment of mice with <em>Lactobacillus</em> protects against different <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep04638" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">subtypes of</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17487-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">influenza</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1008072" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">virus</a> and human respiratory syncytial virus – the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39602-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">major cause of viral bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children</a>.</p>Chronic Disease and Microbes
<p>Patients with chronic illnesses including Type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease exhibit a hyperactive immune system that fails to recognize a harmless stimulus and is linked to an altered gut microbiome.</p><p>In these chronic diseases, the gut microbiome lacks bacteria that activate <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1198469" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">immune cells</a> that block the response against harmless bacteria in our guts. Such alteration of the gut microbiome is also observed in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1002601107" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">babies delivered by cesarean section</a>, individuals consuming a poor <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12820" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">diet</a> and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11053" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">elderly</a>.</p><p>In the U.S., 117 million individuals – about half the adult population – <a href="https://health.gov/our-work/food-nutrition/2015-2020-dietary-guidelines/guidelines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">suffer from Type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease or a combination of them</a>. That suggests that half of American adults carry a faulty microbiome army.</p><p>Research in my laboratory focuses on identifying gut bacteria that are critical for creating a balanced immune system, which fights life-threatening bacterial and viral infections, while tolerating the beneficial bacteria in and on us.</p><p>Given that diet affects the diversity of bacteria in the gut, <a href="https://www.umassmed.edu/nutrition/melody-trial-info/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">my lab studies show how diet can be used</a> as a therapy for chronic diseases. Using different foods, people can shift their gut microbiome to one that boosts a healthy immune response.</p><p>A fraction of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease, develop severe complications that require hospitalization in intensive care units. What do many of those patients have in common? <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6912e2.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Old age</a> and chronic diet-related diseases like obesity, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.</p><p><a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2008.12.019" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Black and Latinx people are disproportionately affected by obesity, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease</a>, all of which are linked to poor nutrition. Thus, it is not a coincidence that <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6933e1.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">these groups have suffered more deaths from COVID-19</a> compared with whites. This is the case not only in the U.S. but also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/blacks-in-britain-are-four-times-as-likely-to-die-of-coronavirus-as-whites-data-show/2020/05/07/2dc76710-9067-11ea-9322-a29e75effc93_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in Britain</a>.</p>Discovering Microbes That Predict COVID-19 Severity
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has inspired me to shift my research and explore the role of the gut microbiome in the overly aggressive immune response against SARS-CoV-2 infection.</p><p>My colleagues and I have hypothesized that critically ill SARS-CoV-2 patients with conditions like obesity, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease exhibit an altered gut microbiome that aggravates <a href="https://theconversation.com/exercise-may-help-reduce-risk-of-deadly-covid-19-complication-ards-136922" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">acute respiratory distress syndrome</a>.</p><p>Acute respiratory distress syndrome, a life-threatening lung injury, in SARS-CoV-2 patients is thought to develop from a <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cytogfr.2020.05.003" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fatal overreaction of the immune response</a> called a <a href="https://theconversation.com/blocking-the-deadly-cytokine-storm-is-a-vital-weapon-for-treating-covid-19-137690" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cytokine storm</a> <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30216-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">that causes an uncontrolled flood</a> <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30216-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">of immune cells into the lungs</a>. In these patients, their own uncontrolled inflammatory immune response, rather than the virus itself, causes the <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-020-05991-x" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">severe lung injury and multiorgan failures</a> that lead to death.</p><p>Several studies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trsl.2020.08.004" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">described in one recent review</a> have identified an altered gut microbiome in patients with COVID-19. However, identification of specific bacteria within the microbiome that could predict COVID-19 severity is lacking.</p><p>To address this question, my colleagues and I recruited COVID-19 hospitalized patients with severe and moderate symptoms. We collected stool and saliva samples to determine whether bacteria within the gut and oral microbiome could predict COVID-19 severity. The identification of microbiome markers that can predict the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 disease is key to help prioritize patients needing urgent treatment.</p><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.05.20249061" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">We demonstrated</a>, in a paper which has not yet been peer reviewed, that the composition of the gut microbiome is the strongest predictor of COVID-19 severity compared to patient's clinical characteristics commonly used to do so. Specifically, we identified that the presence of a bacterium in the stool – called <em>Enterococcus faecalis</em>– was a robust predictor of COVID-19 severity. Not surprisingly, <em>Enterococcus faecalis</em> has been associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2011.05.035" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">chronic</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-9440(10)61172-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">inflammation</a>.</p><p><em>Enterococcus faecalis</em> collected from feces can be grown outside of the body in clinical laboratories. Thus, an <em>E. faecalis</em> test might be a cost-effective, rapid and relatively easy way to identify patients who are likely to require more supportive care and therapeutic interventions to improve their chances of survival.</p><p>But it is not yet clear from our research what is the contribution of the altered microbiome in the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. A recent study has shown that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.11.416180" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers an imbalance in immune cells</a> called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/imr.12170" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">T regulatory cells that are critical to immune balance</a>.</p><p>Bacteria from the gut microbiome are responsible for the <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.30916.001" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">proper activation</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1198469" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">of those T-regulatory</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nri.2016.36" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cells</a>. Thus, researchers like me need to take repeated patient stool, saliva and blood samples over a longer time frame to learn how the altered microbiome observed in COVID-19 patients can modulate COVID-19 disease severity, perhaps by altering the development of the T-regulatory cells.</p><p>As a Latina scientist investigating interactions between diet, microbiome and immunity, I must stress the importance of better policies to improve access to healthy foods, which lead to a healthier microbiome. It is also important to design culturally sensitive dietary interventions for Black and Latinx communities. While a good-quality diet might not prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection, it can treat the underlying conditions related to its severity.</p><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ana-maldonado-contreras-1152969" target="_blank">Ana Maldonado-Contreras</a> is an assistant professor of Microbiology and Physiological Systems at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.</em></p><p><em>Disclosure statement: Ana Maldonado-Contreras receives funding from The Helmsley Charitable Trust and her work has been supported by the American Gastroenterological Association. She received The Charles A. King Trust Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. She is also member of the Diversity Committee of the American Gastroenterological Association.</em></p><p><em style="">Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-healthy-microbiome-builds-a-strong-immune-system-that-could-help-defeat-covid-19-145668" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>From Your Site Articles
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Michael Mann photo inset by Joshua Yospyn.
By Jeff Masters, Ph.D.
The New Climate War: the fight to take back our planet is the latest must-read book by leading climate change scientist and communicator Michael Mann of Penn State University.
<p>Published Jan. 12, 2021, <em>The New Climate War</em> describes how outright <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-denier" target="_self">denial</a> of the physical evidence of human-caused climate change simply is no longer credible. It describes in explicit detail how forces of denial and delay – fossil fuel companies, right-wing partisans, media and talking heads, and oil-funded governments – continue to profit from our dependence on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a>. It explores how they have shifted to new tactics, using "an array of powerful Ds: disinformation, deceit, divisiveness, deflection, delay, despair-mongering, and doomism."</p>
<p>In better understanding how prospects for climate action still are threatened, readers will learn fascinating climate history and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/science/">science</a>, and will be uplifted by Mann's take on how close society may be to a tipping point on solving the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a>. "A clean energy revolution and climate stabilization are achievable with current technology," Mann writes. "All we require are policies to incentivize the needed shift."</p><p>The new Mann book consists of nine sections:</p><p>The first two chapters, "The Architects of Misinformation and Misdirection" and "The Climate Wars," outline the history of climate science denial over the years.</p>
<p><strong>The Crying Indian' and the Birth of the Deflection Campaign</strong> details how vested interests use <em>deflection</em> campaigns to defeat policies they dislike. A classic example is the iconic "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7OHG7tHrNM" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Crying Indian</a>" commercial of the 1970s, which alerted viewers to accumulating glass bottle and can waste litter. The commercial was part of a successful deflection campaign by the beverage industry to blame the public rather than corporations, emphasizing individual responsibility over collective action and regulations.</p>
<p><strong></strong><strong>It's YOUR Fault</strong> describes how fossil fuel interests, using <em>deflection</em> campaigns, "are actually all too happy to talk about the environment. They just want to keep the conversation around individual responsibility, not systemic change or corporate culpability." Mann also details how deflection campaigns criticize individuals for their air travel to attend conferences.</p><p>Internet bots and trolls from oil-rich Russia are also involved in deflection campaigns, Mann writes. He writes that barbs aimed at 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton "appeared to come from the environmental left, criticizing her climate policies (for example, her position on fracking). We now know that many of those attacks were actually Russian trolls and bots seeking to convince younger, greener progressives that there was no difference between the two candidates (so they might as well stay home)." Mann writes also that Russia is believed to have helped instigate the 2018 'Yellow Vest' revolts that undercut French governmental efforts to introduce a carbon tax.</p><p>Mann describes a number of "wedge" campaigns run to divide climate advocates. He points to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/feb/21/climate-tweets-twitter-bots-analysis" target="_blank">a 2020 news story in The Guardian</a> reporting that "the social media conversation over the climate crisis is being reshaped by an army of automated Twitter bots." That article estimated that "a quarter of all tweets about climate on an average day are produced by bots," with a goal of "distorting the online discourse to include far more climate science denialism than it would otherwise."</p>
<p><strong>Put a Price on It. </strong><em><strong>Or Not.</strong></em> This chapter begins with Mann's concerns that "the fuel industry has been granted the greatest market subsidy ever: the privilege to dump its waste products into the atmosphere at no charge." When <em>implicit</em> subsidies are included like the health costs and environmental pollution damage, including the damage done by climate change, Mann writes, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-the-challenge-of-defining-fossil-fuel-subsidies" target="_blank">estimated</a> subsidies of over $5 trillion were paid in the year 2015 alone. These subsidies need to end, Mann argues, preferring a price on carbon emissions to force polluters to pay for the climate damage done by their product, fossil fuels, and a tilt giving an advantage to clean and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a> forms.</p><p>Mann rejects flat-out concerns over a potential carbon tax. For instance, he writes that "whether a carbon tax is progressive or regressive depends on how it is designed. A fee-and-dividend method, for example, returns any revenue raised back to the people."</p><p>Mann also expresses support for supply-side measures like "blocking pipeline construction, banning fracking, stopping mountain-top-removal coal mining, divesting in fossil fuel companies, and putting a halt to most new fossil fuel infrastructure."</p>
<p>In <strong>Sinking the Competition</strong>, Mann backs explicit incentives for renewable energy and elimination of incentives for fossil fuels. He says fossil fuel interests and their backers have "put their thumbs on the scale by promoting programs that favor fossil fuel energy while sabotaging those that incentivize renewables, and engaging in propaganda campaigns to discredit renewable energy as a viable alternative to fossil fuels."</p>
<p><strong>The Non-Solution Solution</strong> chapter details Mann's concerns that those opposing climate action promote "solutions" (natural gas, carbon capture, geo-engineering) that Mann argues aren't real solutions at all. "Part of their strategy is using soothing words and terms – 'bridge fuels,' 'clean coal,' 'adaptation,' 'resilience' – that convey the illusion of action but, in context, are empty promises," he writes. Mann's preferred "viable path forward on climate involves a combination of energy efficiency, electrification, and decarbonization of the grid through an array of complementary renewable energy sources. The problem is that fossil fuel interests lose out in that scenario, and so they have used their immense wealth and influence to stymie any efforts to move in that direction."</p>
<p><strong>The Truth Is Bad Enough</strong> decries obsessive pessimism and "doomism" as unhelpful to tackling the climate crisis. "Exaggeration of the climate threat by purveyors of doom – we'll call them 'doomists' – is unhelpful at best," he writes. "Indeed, doomism today arguably poses a greater threat to climate action than outright denial. For if catastrophic warming of the planet were truly inevitable and there were no agency on our part in averting it, why should we do anything?"</p>
<p><strong>Meeting the Challenge</strong> presents a summary of Dr. Mann's four-point battle plan, which he outlines in the introduction to the book:</p><p><em>Disregard the Doomsayers:</em> The misguided belief that "it's too late" to act has been co-opted by fossil fuel interests and those advocating for them, Mann argues. It's just another way of legitimizing business-as-usual and a continued reliance on fossil fuels. Overt doom and gloom arguments should be ignored.</p><p><em>A Child Shall Lead Them:</em> Youths are fighting to save their planet, and there is a moral authority and clarity in their message that only the most jaded can disregard. Youths are the game-changers climate advocates have been waiting for, and their actions, methods, and idealism are models for all.</p><p><em>Educate, Educate, Educate:</em> Most hard-core climate-change deniers are unmovable, with an ideology impervious to facts. Don't waste time and effort trying to convince them. Instead, work with and help inform victims of climate change disinformation campaigns so they can join efforts to combat the climate challenge.</p><p><em>Changing the System Requires Systemic Change:</em> Those responsible for fossil fuel disinformation engage in either-or arguments rather than address larger systemic issues and consider incentives. Policies need to incentivize shifts away from fossil fuel burning toward a clean, green global economy, and those policies warrant the support of elected leaders.</p><p>The bottom line on <em>The New Climate War</em>: The book could benefit from more graphics and cartoons as complements to its 267 pages of text. Overall, though, the book still is a must-read for every climate-savvy and climate-dependent. (Only air breathers need apply!)</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/01/scientist-mike-manns-must-read-book-the-new-climate-war/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
- 12 New Books Explore Fresh Approaches to Act on Climate Change ... ›
- Dr. Michael Mann on Climate Denial: 'It's Impaired Our Ability to ... ›
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Trending
Flames approach homes during the Blue Ridge Fire on October 27, 2020 in Chino Hills, California. David McNew / Getty Images
By Tara Lohan
2020 was so bad that even disasters outdid themselves. Last year the United States alone experienced at least 16 weather and climate disasters with losses topping $1 billion each. That's more than twice the long-term average.
<p>What's worse: Expensive disasters are on the rise. 2020 was the sixth year in a row that the United States saw 10 or more billion-dollar weather and climate disasters. And as climate change supercharges storms, wildfires and droughts, this trend will continue to climb.</p><p>To stave off the worst outcomes, scientists say we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which will require steadfast effort from elected officials, policymakers and businesses.</p><p>But since there are no quick fixes for the climate changes already underway, there's one group of experts we'll also need to call on: emergency managers. Unfortunately, although they're tasked with making sure communities are prepared to respond to disasters, they're often left out of conversations about climate change.</p><p><a href="http://www.disaster-ology.com/" target="_blank">Samantha Montano</a>, an assistant professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, and a "disasterlogist," has been working to change that. She's also been calling for emergency management professionals, including government agencies like FEMA, to <a href="http://www.disaster-ology.com/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">put the climate crisis and environmental justice</a> at the forefront of their work.</p><p>We spoke to Montano about why we need emergency managers involved in climate conversations, whether disasters are on the rise, and how we prepare for a future with climate-supercharged storms.</p>
<p><strong>We often think of emergency management as responding to "natural disasters," but as you wrote in an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths-about-floods/2019/03/29/d87edce0-5181-11e9-88a1-ed346f0ec94f_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">op-ed</a> for <em>The Washington Post</em>, that term is a bit fraught.</strong></p><p><strong></strong>Disaster experts don't really use the term "natural disaster" because it's a bit of a misnomer. When we're talking about disasters, we're talking about the actual human toll that they take. Is it the fact that a river, which naturally overflows its banks, has caused the disaster? Or is it that we have built homes right next to the river; that we have not maintained the levees that are meant to protect those homes from flooding; that the people who live in that neighborhood and don't have a lot of money aren't able to evacuate; that there aren't government programs there to help people recover quickly?</p><p>All of those things are not natural, right? Those are the human decisions that have ended up making a situation into a disaster. So while a river overflowing its banks may be natural, the fact that it has led to a disaster isn't. So that term "natural disaster" helps to obscure the role of human responsibility in disasters. If everything that happens are just these <em>natural</em> events that we have no control over, then some people may think we can't do anything about it.</p><p>This thinking isn't new in disaster research, but it has gotten a bit more attention in recent years as folks try to understand how climate change fits into all of this. The new term that we hear people using is "climate disaster," which runs into a similar problem.</p><p>Climate change may be a factor that is contributing to a disaster that happened, but it's certainly, again, not the only factor. But if we understand the root causes better, then we can make different decisions and prevent disasters from happening.</p>
<p><strong></strong><strong>There's ample evidence that climate change is supercharging a lot of weather events. Are emergency managers included in conversations about how to fight climate change?</strong></p><p>Within the broader climate change conversation, most of the focus is on carbon emissions and that's very important. And more recently we've seen an uptick in conversations about climate adaptation, which is also important as we begin to experience the consequences of climate change.</p><p>But we hear much less about the pretty significant overlap between climate adaptation and what we in emergency management call "hazard mitigation." It feels sometimes from an emergency management perspective like we're reinventing the wheel a little bit.</p><p>Flooding and wildfires aren't new. We in the emergency management community have been dealing with these hazards for a very long time and we have a lot of knowledge about them. We want to make sure that, especially because of the urgency of the climate crisis, we are pulling from this base of knowledge and experience that we have.</p><p>How much emergency management is integrated into conversations about climate change varies greatly across the country. Maine, for example, just released their plan for a statewide climate council and emergency managers were all on that committee and helped to produce the plan.</p><p>This is a great example of trying to bridge emergency management and adaptation work. But there are other places in the country where you have a part-time emergency manager working in a rural community and they don't have the resources or they're not a part of those climate conversations. There's definitely more work that needs to be done to help bring emergency management and climate adaptation work together.</p>
<p><strong>Climate change can help fuel short-term hazards, like a hurricane, or lead to slow-moving threats such as sea-level rise. How do you differentiate between these from a management perspective?</strong></p><p>We think about hurricanes, wildfires — these more acute events — as ones that emergency management is very obviously on the front line of managing. But issues like sea-level rise, and even longer-term chronic issues like droughts, are areas emergency management is still involved in because it still has an impact on our overall risk.</p><p>Something like an earthquake, which seems pretty far removed from climate change itself, is actually impacted by climate change. Because when we think about the vulnerabilities in our communities that climate change exacerbates, that has an effect on how people are, or aren't, able to respond to an earthquake or the resources that can go toward preparing for an earthquake or mitigating damages.</p><p>So even these events that seem more chronic, or don't seem like they have this direct link to climate change, are actually pretty significantly affected from an emergency management perspective.</p>
<p><strong>It seems there's a new disaster almost every day. Are there really more now? And is climate change to blame?</strong></p><p>It's pretty difficult to find any part of the country that has been untouched by disaster in the past few years. I also think that the way we consume media now also makes them feel more present.</p><p>We watch these disasters unfold live on television in front of us. We get alerts sent to our pockets when a disaster happens. So it's everywhere.</p><p>Climate change, though, I think is a huge part of that. I heard people joke around about not being able to wait until 2020 ends. And I get that. It was a really bad year. But these disasters aren't just going to go away. We're not making the changes we need to be to lessen those disasters or prevent those disasters from happening. We're in this for the long haul until we start making some different choices.</p><p><strong>The coronavirus pandemic is a different kind of disaster than a weather-related event. What were the biggest lessons you'll take away from our response to it?</strong></p><p>The way that we normally approach emergency management in these acute disasters is with help converging from neighboring communities, the state and the federal government. This March, however, was the first time that every single emergency agency in the country at all levels of government was activated simultaneously. So we didn't have the mutual aid, expertise and funding that we can usually send to places in a crisis because everyone was in the middle of their own crisis.</p><p>That has never happened before in the United States. It was a unique situation to see the strain on our systems and to start doing research and analyzing the effect that it has had on the response.</p><p>I draw the parallel there to climate change. Not that there is going to be a flood happening in every single state at one time, but as we see our risk increase, we'll see these disasters increase. In 2017 we saw hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria all happening nearly at once.</p><p>When that happens, what is our ability to meet all of those needs? How does the capacity of the emergency management system handle that? I think COVID has given us a little bit of a window into the future.</p><p>As a researcher I'm really hopeful that by studying how emergency management agencies specifically have responded to COVID we'll be able to take that data and take those findings and use it to inform policy changes for emergency management as we go into the climate crisis.</p>
<p><strong>You have a book coming out this summer about climate change and emergency management. Who do you hope it reaches?</strong></p><p>The book I'm writing is a combination of my experience going to different disasters and pulls from the disaster research to help the public understand what emergency management is and all that is involved in disasters. But it's also a pretty stark warning about the problem that we are barreling headfirst into in terms of how the emergency management system is unprepared to address the consequences of the climate crisis.</p><p>It's a book that will hopefully inspire people to some kind of action, whether locally or nationally, to make sure that disaster survivors across the country, who are the ones on the front lines of the climate crisis, are getting the help that they need. And that we're doing everything we can to prevent those disasters from happening. I'm hoping that it's really an empowering book that gives people the language and the education that they need to play a more active role in their community.</p>
<p><a href="https://therevelator.org/author/taralohan/" target="_blank"><em>Tara Lohan </em></a><em>is deputy editor of The Revelator and has worked for more than a decade as a digital editor and environmental journalist focused on the intersections of energy, water and climate. Her work has been published by The Nation, American Prospect, High Country News, Grist, Pacific Standard and others. She is the editor of two books on the global water crisis.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/disaster-climate-montano/" target="_blank">The Revelator.</a></em></p>
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An image grab taken from an AFP TV shows people standing among damage in the port city of Beira on January 24, 2021, after Tropical Cyclone Eloise hit Mozambique. -/AFPTV / AFP / Getty Images
Tropical cyclone Eloise deluged Mozambique's Sofala Province with heavy rain and hurricane-force winds on Saturday, killing at least nine, displacing nearly 7,000, and destroying more than 300,000 acres of crops.
<p>Mozambique officials also estimated the storm completely destroyed over 1,000 homes and partially destroyed or flooded another 4,843. </p><p>Extreme precipitation is a clear signal of human-caused climate change; global warming increases ocean evaporation and the amount of moisture the atmosphere can hold, effectively creating and filling a bigger bucket that can dump more water when it rains. </p><p>Social media posts showed large swaths of the port city of Beira submerged by severe flooding, Deutsche Welle reported.</p>
<p>Forecasts show more than 200,000 people in Mozambique alone are still at risk for more flooding. </p><p>Water levels are already high following Tropical Storm Chalane, which hit near Beira last month, and aid workers are working to prevent a cholera outbreak. </p><p>Yesterday, the storm — downgraded to a tropical storm — continued to dump heavy rain on Zimbabwe, eSwatini (formerly known as Swaziland) and South Africa.</p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mozambique-cyclone-idUSKBN29T0H6?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108000642&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_HZGifd2iiKvoKYWlooRQig97LDdRq1NBeHfrCCwquWUaHuICnqDBmMr_VkTrxOmU_jj0IPqOS9es-t6iX9NCSk6RvmsNts7D5Tg7RxZyUYMi13lI&utm_content=108000642&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Reuters</a>, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/tropical-cyclone-eloise-several-dead-as-storm-sweeps-africas-east-coast/a-56326719?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108000642&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A8OXySvlbON3b4JnYldGYKOyRIlDxyLXGTHochjgwtMrXBpy-fJR9wuRCO4uBFWeBEMfFiUyJchP2Fm2dAtf88C0julEHZBRX0l2PXcsqy9lafQ8&utm_content=108000642&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-22/ports-power-plants-brace-for-storm-heading-to-southern-africa?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108000642&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8AEXo87y0qFKstCagGBXPs9gFmGUbYarHRkmREvWjklYVMK4R0ji6ftKeYF3ZBFkwIp0duyMXS4PdKHJz9VG-SknP4QCMODC3-lEl2Jd8l2z-0Uxo&utm_content=108000642&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210125-cyclone-eloise-leaves-hundreds-homeless-in-mozambique?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108000642&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9xtUaw2tM8LdtLKHE012pQLJnvg0QcOfOZzcDMtjTVspdYGc6on5NWs__AOcMOZKnOyeIj7I183C-h16Ba3VZ2lP69VW3KfQDLX1_Msz7srxETdu0&utm_content=108000642&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">AFP</a>, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2021/1/25/in-pictures-cyclone-eloise-displaced-thousands-in-mozambique?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108000642&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--pZLXksePtvYpeFg_klX96qPqWv4hOCyh2oWvHG4QxZulcwlkqzwHlXq5Snt6Kr0nkvhnws9CjwhJ7GFZrnWsjnHh0NyUog2ZHh75YNx2ZlHwZSU8&utm_content=108000642&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Al Jazeera</a>; Climate Signals background: <a href="https://www.climatesignals.org/climate-signals/extreme-precipitation-increase?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108000642&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8i6jKj4ax0lkqZBkByuaClh18R3Aj_iS_kq1_z0vx54F1QVXx4Qn-unte5q1yePTniIHvl2Zz6v6UhUL1l6q20dEfQEoIpeFdEWONQfr7tnQxhx9s&utm_content=108000642&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Extreme precipitation increase</a><br/></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" rel="noopener noreferrer" 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/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, sign up for daily </em><a href="https://www.linktrack.live/hot-news-sign-up" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>, and visit their news site, </em><a href="https://nexusmedianews.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Nexus Media News</em></a><em>. </em></p>
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Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the UN and chair of the Global Center on Adaptation, is seen speaking during a press briefing on the upcoming Climate Adaptation Summit 2021 to be held Jan. 25 and 26. Sem van der Wal / ANP / AFP/ Getty Images
Political leaders from around the world appeared online for the first Climate Adaptation Summit on Monday aimed at preparing the planet for the effects of the climate crisis.
<p>The list of speakers included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The summit is being hosted by the Netherlands.</p><p>The host nation launched the event by announcing a pledge to pump €20 million ($24 million) into a fund to help the world's least-developed nations adapt to changes related to the climate.</p><p>A further €100 million ($121 million) has been earmarked to support sustainable farming in <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/vegetable-gardens-against-climate-change/a-44723671" target="_blank">Africa's Sahel region</a>.</p>
<p>The current and former heads of the UN Antonio, Guterres and Ban Ki-Moon, are also taking part in the meeting in order to produce an "adaptation action agenda."</p><p>U.S. President Joe Biden's newly appointed climate envoy John Kerry was also set to talk during the summit.</p><p>Kerry said on Thursday that he lamented the "wasted years" under Donald Trump's presidency when little was done to slow climate change.</p><p>One of Biden's first acts after entering the Oval Office was to sign an executive order to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/biden-signs-series-of-orders-recommits-us-to-paris-climate-accord/a-56295226" target="_blank">bring the U.S. back into the Paris Agreement</a>.</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="Deutsche%20Welle" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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