Of Interest – Of Use ? (Pt 1)

Bacteria thrive as the Atlantic warms, The Washington Post, 8.10.16

Environmental journalist Chris Mooney reports: “Tiny marine organisms capable of causing deadly infections in both fish and people are becoming more prevalent in the North Atlantic coastal regions as climate change warms oceans, according to a new study.”

“Indeed, human infections caused by these vibrio bacteria are increasing at an ‘unprecedented rate’ along the U.S. Atlantic coast and the coast of Northern Europe, noted the study” published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences magazine.

“Vibrio are very simple organisms that can wreak severe, even fatal damage when people eat raw or undercooked seafood or swim with cuts or wounds in coastal waters. Some species cause cholera.”

Twelve or so things I do not understand, The Baltimore Sun, 9.4.16

Sun columnist Dan Rodricks is an investigative journalist who also writes opinion pieces. He used to have a local radio show which I liked to listen to during the lunch hour. (I miss it, Dan.)

Rodricks quotes MD Gov. Hogan: “‘I won’t be governor when the [new] bridge [spanning the Chesapeake Bay] is complete, but at least I’m the one who got it started.'”

Reaction? “But I do not understand why such a progressive state–assuming it stays progressive–would want another bridge over the bay. If anything, we should be headed in the opposite direction. Faced with increasing population, we should be working robustly against further sprawl. We should be building a society of fewer cars, not more, and more people living closer to where they work.

“We should be planning for other modes of mass transportation: light rail, autonomous cars and buses…even a hovercraft between Port Covington [Baltimore Inner Harbor] and Rock Hall [an Eastern Shore MD waterfront town].” Port Covington is a just-approved $5.5B waterside development project, to include the new world HQ for Under Armour.

Launching a Netflix series, the ‘Science Guy’ embarks on a mission to save the world, The Washington Post, 9.6.16

I’m reading Bill Nye’s Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World.

Next spring, Nye’s program “Bill Nye Saves the World” will premier on Netflix.

The blurb mentions Nye’s 2 books published in ’15, and his habit of “engaging with those who deny evolution and climate change in public debates.”

“‘Sure, sure, it’s all about me,’ he [jokes]. ‘But it’s true that ‘The Science Guy’ is still huge–bigger than ever, I guess–because these millennials are all grown up and we have a whole new generation of kids watching the show in school. This, of course, was my goal, to change the world and so on, but to see it actually happen is a bit spooky’.”

The Netflix production will maintain Nye’s “unfiltered style” when conducting interviews and performing educational experiments. His topics will range from climate change to GMOs.

Related to these notes…

Our recent climate policies, especially captured in the Paris Agreement last December at the Paris Climate Conference (COP21), will be up for “re-election” or potentially being “cancelled” this November.

“Obama’s talking about all of this with the global warming and…a lot of it’s a hoax.” Donald Trump said this. Do we want him to re-ignite the coal industry, for one? Undo lands newly declared as national parks or sanctuaries?

What do you see comin’? Vote for what you think our future should breathe like for ours and future generations! ♦♣