Health, Microbes, and More
Today is the summer solstice. It's the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. Enjoy!
The summer solstice occurs when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt towards the sun. It's the day with the longest period of daylight and shortest night of the year.
After today, the length of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere will start shortening until the winter solstice in December.
Meteorologists are predicting that we (in the US and Canada) will be experiencing more hazardous air quality days in the coming months and years due to wildfire smoke. An excellent resource for monitoring the air quality where you live is AirNow.gov. It has both current air quality and forecasts.
The NY Times currently has interactive air quality maps, which are tracking the wildfires from Canada.
Smoke is air pollution, whether it's from wildfires, cigarettes, or vehicles. It's not just our lungs and internal organs that suffer from smoke with particles smaller than 2.5 microns. (For comparison: A human hair is at least about 20 microns in diameter.) The particles travel from the lungs through our bloodstream to the organs. But our skin also suffers. It causes flares of inflammatory skin diseases such as eczema, atopic dermatitis, and psoriasis, and increases wrinkles and age spots.
Air pollution is dangerous to everyone!
Some health effects of air pollution: Harm to the lung and airways, damage to most organ systems of the body, lung cancer, COPD deaths, heart disease deaths, stroke deaths, bladder cancer, childhood leukemia, poorer lung development in children, lung impairment in adults, reduced cognitive function, increased risk of dementia, diabetes, effects on immune system, allergic rhinitis, structural changes in the brain, inflammation, and with high levels of smaller than 2.5 μm particles can have delayed psychomotor development and lower child intelligence. And the list goes on!
Do go and check out AirNow.gov and all the links on the site, including an interactive fire and smoke map. Stay indoors (as much as possible) with the windows shut on "unhealthy, very unhealthy, or hazardous" air quality days. Consider wearing masks outdoors and using an air purifier indoors on those days.
For years I've been concerned about spray foam insulation that is blown into attics and walls. Yes, it is promoted on popular home renovation shows. But what is not discussed is that the chemicals in the foam would be outgassing for years and the occupants of the home would be breathing it in.
Finally, I'm starting to see concerns raised by others - not just harmful health effects from the chemicals, including flame retardants, but also harms to the house itself. It turns out the industry is hiding the harms.... (why doesn't that surprise me?)
Excerpts from an article by Alden Wicker from VTDigger (an independent Vermont news website that publishes watchdog reports): 'I wanted to cry': Devastating risks of spray foam insulation hidden from Vermont homeowners
Londonderry contractor Abe Crossman was keeping busy with small projects at his family’s home in June 2020 during the newly arrived coronavirus pandemic. He was working outside when he noticed that the paint was peeling off the trim at the peak of the gable end of his roof.
With 25 years of building experience, he knew that peeling paint indicated the presence of moisture. But the location was odd — that trim underneath the overhang should stay dry. So he grabbed a ladder and a pry bar to take a closer look.
His stomach dropped as he sank the pry bar into the soft wood sheathing underneath the trim and peeled away the vinyl siding down to four feet below the roof line. What had been wood disintegrated into dust in front of his eyes, he later recalled, leaving behind nothing but spray polyurethane foam insulation. ...continue reading "Serious Problems With Spray Foam Insulation Used In Homes"
Are you ready for the world getting hotter over the next 5 years? And along the way setting record highs?
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) predicts that the next 5 years are likely to have temperatures soaring to record highs. The causes are climate change (from heat-trapping greenhouse gasses) plus a naturally occurring El Nino (which is expected to start this summer).
Thus WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas warns us:
“A warming El Niño is expected to develop in the coming months and this will combine with human-induced climate change to push global temperatures into uncharted territory,” he said. “This will have far-reaching repercussions for health, food security, water management and the environment. We need to be prepared.”
Why isn't everyone in the US government (including Senate and House of Representatives) taking serious steps about climate change? Our climate is changing!
From the World Meteorological Organization: Global temperatures set to reach new records in next five years
Global temperatures are likely to surge to record levels in the next five years, fuelled by heat-trapping greenhouse gases and a naturally occurring El Niño event, according to a new update issued by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). ...continue reading "Record High Temperatures Predicted For Next Five Years"
Our DNA is everywhere. A recent study reports that everywhere we've been, we leave traces of DNA - even in the air, soil, and water. And this DNA (called environmental DNA or eDNA) is easy to sample.
This could be a privacy issue someday. Since it's so easy to collect a person's DNA in the air, soil, or water, does this mean we give consent to having someone or a company analyze and trace it to us? Will ethical guidelines be implemented about how this information can be used? Who will enforce them?
This issue is not an exaggeration. Researcher D.J. Duffy said: "We've been consistently surprised throughout this project at how much human DNA we find and the quality of that DNA," Duffy said. "In most cases the quality is almost equivalent to if you took a sample from a person."
From Science Daily: Human DNA is everywhere. That's a boon for science -- and an ethical quagmire
On the beach. In the ocean. Traveling along riverways. In muggy Florida and chilly Ireland. Even floating through the air.
We cough, spit, shed and flush our DNA into all of these places and countless more. Signs of human life can be found nearly everywhere, short of isolated islands and remote mountaintops, according to a new University of Florida study. ...continue reading "We Leave DNA Everywhere We Go"
It's almost time for deer babies (fawns) to be born. Once again I'm seeing adult female deer just resting and hanging out in the yard.
Where will the newborn deer hide this year?
Seven northeastern states in the US had a record warm month in January 2023. Europe had its warmest January. In fact, it looks like all of Earth had a warm January - it was Earth's seventh warmest January since record-keeping began in 1880.
Just keep in mind - whenever records are set, it moves the baseline for all further records higher. Temperatures are inching up! Climate change!
Excerpts from Dr. Jeff Masters (meteorologist, co-founder of Weather Underground) article in Yale Climate Connections: January 2023: Earth’s seventh-warmest January on record
January 2023 was Earth’s seventh-warmest January since global record-keeping began in 1880. It was 0.87 degree Celsius (1.57°F) above the 20th-century average, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, NCEI, reported Feb. 14. ...continue reading "Seven States and Europe Had Record Warm January"
A weirdly warm winter in the New York metro area.
January was record-setting warm, and February so far is more of the same.
Best wishes for a fabulous 2023!
Winter solstice today. Shortest daylight period, longest night.
From here on daylight will start increasing!