tingilinde

the transition to electric school buses

Slowly but surely

  In addition to the global warming and lower maintenance arguments, there's a serious children's health issue.

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From a health perspective, there’s urgency to replacing the nation’s diesel buses with cleaner alternatives. Health experts have long known that children are uniquely vulnerable to air pollution because their lungs, brains, and other major organs are still developing. They breathe faster and take in a higher volume of air relative to their body weight.

Diesel exhaust is classified as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization and contains fine particles and nitrogen oxides, both of which are well-documented asthma triggers. Research shows that children in lower-income areas and communities of color are exposed to higher levels of outdoor air pollution — from major roadways, industries, and ports with diesel truck operations. They also suffer much higher rates of asthma and respiratory illness. And so it’s particularly important, say public health experts and school officials, to get polluting school buses off the streets.

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on changing people's minds on climate change

Facts and information doesn't work .. the best paths are through personal conversion.

 

 

maximum temperature

The last in the 99 Percent Invisible series on the impact of global warming...  the dangers of high temperatures. (audio)

 

 

when you go battles

In some ares like New England white nose syndrome decimated bat populations.  Bats are an important part of the ecosystem and something unexpected was noticed.  The evidence isn't perfect, but you don't want to increase neurotoxins in the environment.

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Frank also looked at infant mortality in all the counties. In places where the bat populations had crashed, deaths due to accident or homicides stayed the same. But other deaths, such as those caused by disease or birth defects, rose 8%. In counties with healthy bat populations, the numbers didn’t shift one way or another. “My jaw dropped,” Frick says.

Several lines of evidence connect pesticides and other agrochemicals to human health risks. Although government regulators assess the potential dangers of these compounds before approving them—and set safety guidelines for their use—farm workers and bystanders can still get exposed when these compounds drift away from a farm or end up in groundwater. Epidemiological studies have linked certain compounds to developmental problems in infants and children, for example. Insecticides, which are often neurotoxic, are often of particular concern.

The increase in deaths is “huge,” says Tracey Woodruff, an environmental health scientist at the University of California San Francisco. The connection is plausible and concerning, she says. In an earlier study, she found an increase in infant mortality of similar magnitude due to worsening air pollution. But a puzzling fact about the new study is that other aspects of infant health, such as birth weight, did not correlate with the bat declines.

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animal migrations

A new atlas on ungulate migration mentioned in Science.

and the atlas - note that it's optimized for desktop displays.

 

 

testing the limits

New work shows the danger conditions for people in hot areas is lower than previously thought - even more so for older people.

(some good information, but the layout style is a bit maddening)

 

 

nothing to see here...

just global warming...

100 consecutive days above 100°

 

an earthquake or the last march of the ents?

Two geologists on seismic activity in the Northeast..  an old asteroid strike may have had a hand in things.

definite must read.

 

precision agriculture

little steps