Coral reefs are already in trouble with global warming, over fishing and pollution but now they also have to deal with a bacterial infection called yellow band disease (YBD), according to researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

The bacteria is identified by its “swath of pale-yellow or white lesions along the surface of an infected coral colony. The discolored band is a mark of death, indicating where the bacterial infection has killed the coral’s photosynthetic symbionts, called zooxanthellae. The coral host suffers from cellular damage and starves without its major energy source, and usually does not recover.”

The researchers are also able to show that the disease proliferates and becomes more deadly as temperatures increase. So, with thermal stress being greater, it follows that the pathogenic stress is greater, as well.  With rising temperatures all over the world, and the increase of this bacteria, the fate of carol is grim.

“There is a personal responsibility that everyone has to be prepared,” Caid said.

The scientists who spoke on specific diseases, professor Andrew Comrie of the University of Arizona and Jeremy Hess, a consultant for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are backed up by many scientists worldwide in linking warming to health problems. But they acknowledge a lack of hard research documenting or predicting climate-change-disease links.

While they acknowledge that much more data needs to be gathered and evaluated, they all believe that climate change will see an increase in disease. “Climate change will likely amplify existing health problems, and problems will be linked in a way that hasn’t happened before, Hess said in an interview. While society has adequate means to deal with many of the diseases, a breakdown in public infrastructure systems from climate-related emergencies could cause severe problems, he added.”

I thought this was particularly interesting:
Diseases linked to climate change
• Valley fever: Spiked from less than 1,000 cases in 1997 to 5,000 or more cases in Arizona in 2006 and 2007. Increase causes are under study, but they’re possibly linked to drought caused or aggravated by warming. Also could be caused by better reporting, construction dust and more vulnerable elderly people moving here.
• Dengue fever: 100 million cases caused annually worldwide and generally agreed to be moving north into northern Mexico. The aedes aegypti mosquitoes that cause it already live in Tucson. Warmer weather could move the disease to Arizona. The presence of swimming pools, artificial ponds and stagnant water could also draw disease-bearing mosquitoes.
• Chronic respiratory disease: Could rise if hotter temperatures raise ozone air pollution levels.
• Allergies: Could rise if earlier growing seasons for plants generate more pollen.
• West Nile virus: Could also increase with the continued northward movement of mosquitoes due to warmer weather.
• Asthma and other respiratory diseases: Could rise due to fungus and mold growth caused by extreme variations in temperature and precipitation.
• Heat-related desert deaths of illegal immigrants: Could increase as temperatures rise.
• Heart disease, coughing and breathing problems, decreased lung function: Could be aggravated if global warming brings more drought and dust.
• Malaria: Some areas of Arizona not now suitable for malaria-carrying mosquitoes could become suitable by 2050 due to warmer, more humid weather.

I also thought this was a significant statement: “”Climate is complicated. It forces us to think through what our responsibility is to future generations. It is expensive to deal with. A lot of people don’t want to talk about it,” said Hess, from Emory University.”

I am always writing about the effects of our decisions now, on the children. The truth is that with climate change it is unlikely that you or I may develop asthma or allergies. We are conditioned and we have years of immunity due to exposure. However, children have week immune systems, they are more likely to get dehydrated, and more often outdoors. Yes. It is expensive to deal with, but not compared to the medical cost that will be force upon us if we do not start taking action.

HERE is the article.

The most likely cause is the increase of salt intact, in conjunction with a decrease of water intake. Many of the children in China that drank milk with the chemical Melamine, were also found to have high rates of stones.

You can find the whole article HERE.

I know that times are tough and parents are doing the best that they can. But, maybe the best is not getting prepackaged, preserved food for their child’s meals. We know that the number one way they preserve it is by adding a ton of sodium. The article also says that the children don’t drink water, because they don’t want to leave class to go to the restroom. OK. First, that is heartbreaking. Second, it is going to be easier to fix what they eat then the social stigma of being a bed or pant wetter, right?

We already had to change the name of “Adult Onset Diabetes”. Let’s stop the creation of Pediatric Kidney Stone care.

I know we have all heard about the issues with our bees. But, I just learned what it was actually called… Colony Collapse Disorder.

To get more information go HERE. Some great information can also be found HERE.

I think I might investigate getting a beehive for my roof! I’ll let you know….

Let’s start with the substance that is a very close second to oil as a commodity that we are addicted to… High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Simply, HFCS is a sugar that is added to almost every single food item that is manufactured. The obvious is sodas, cookies, and chocolate. The not so obvious is ketchup, pretzels, and green tea…. oh yes, you bottled green tea drinkers. You think it’s healthy? READ LABELS!!!

HFCS is made by converting corn kernels into corn starch, and then through the additional of enzymes and a chromatography step it is converted from glucose into a highly concentrated fructose. Yum. Oh, and if you are a consumer that tries to avoid genetically modified food… you might want to stay away from HFCS… cause two of the three enzymes the manufacturers use are GMO. (This brings up a much larger discussion of GMO food, which 80% of the corn industry is made from GMO seeds by Mansanto. But that deserves its own discussion, later.)

There are numerous health issues affiliated with HFCS. First off, HFCS is blamed by most people in the health professional to be the major cause of obesity. One theory being that your liver, not knowing what to do with this engineered product, turns the fructose into fat. Another issue is that it doesn’t switch the trigger in your body that tells you that you are full. So, you can drink a liter bottle of soda, which is the caloric equivalent of a Thanksgiving dinner, not feel full and so you continue to consume even more food. Research has also found a direct link between fructose and higher levels of diabetes and high cholesterol. I think, however, the most shocking information is that, last year, HFCS surpassed alcohol as the leading cause of cirrhosis of the liver. SURPASSED.

Look…. you would no sooner put strychnine in your body because of the effects and resulting death… it just happens quicker. However, the general population has no problem guzzling it down as soda or bread or ketchup or fruit juice, creating the same effect… death… it just takes longer.

Why did HFCS become the commodity it is? It has a long history starting with a Farm Bill, subsidizing corn, in the 80’s which also coincided with self imposed limitations of importing sugar. Essentially we have created a system in which the cost of importing sugar is artificially high, and the price of corn is artificially low. In addition, we have an abundance of corn. I’m sure some person who is a part of the “powers that be” realized that, because of the overabundance, we were subsidizing a product that we inevitably threw away. Why don’t we do something with it? Let’s make a fake sweetener out of it, put it EVERYTHING, and make some money back.

Of course, the farmers see none of the reward. It costs $3.20 to make a bushel of corn. This includes seed cost, equipment, labor, etc. The farmer makes back $2.20 on that same bushel. This creates another issue affecting the environment. Because of the high cost, low reward, it is only beneficial to the farmer to have huge plots of land. This results in having to buy huge pieces of equipment that burn fossil fuel. In addition, as any good farmer knows, soil needs turn over. It doesn’t do well with one crop, over and over and over again. The corn industry is creating large areas of land that are dead zones. The soil cannot grow food. Without the plants, there are no insects, without the insects there are no birds and so on and so on and so on. Currently, it is estimated that each American has access to 1.2 acres of cultivated food per year. Most scientists estimate that in 5 years…. really let this sink in…. 5 YEARS… each American will only have access to 0.6 cultivated acres. Half of what we have now, in 5 years!! (I bet most of you reading this have plans for five years that you think are reasonable expectations. Do you want to rethink your plan?) The reason behind the 50% decrease in food… more farms converting to industrialized crops like corn, soybean, and canola combined with an ever increasing population.

You think that’s bad…..

Here’s an ironic twist. As discussed, it is making us sick. But because YOUR tax dollars are subsidizing the corn industry, we don’t have the tax dollars to supplement the health care which is needed because we are consuming so much HFCS and getting fat and sick.

Links:
The Future of Food
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
The End of Food by Paul Roberts
Mansanto Watch