Adults between the ages of 34 and 56 are at a greater risk of dying from poisonings than from motor vehicle accidents, according to a new report from the CDC. The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, released on Friday, states that poisoning death rates were higher than motor vehicle traffic death rates among adults aged 34 to 56 years between 2005 and 2006. Poisoning deaths include those resulting from drug overdose or other misuse of drugs and those associated with solid or liquid biologic substances, gases or vapors, or other substances. According to the CDC, 92 percent of poisoning deaths involved drugs. The report reflects a trend evident in places including New Jersey, said Bruce Ruck, Pharm. D., director of drug information for the New Jersey Poison Information & Education System (NJPIES) at the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School. ‘New Jersey has experienced a steady increase in unintentional poisoning deaths, Ruck said. said. ‘Prescription drug abuse is increasing among all ages, from children through adults. The New Jersey Poison Information & Education System urges people to: – Take only medications that are prescribed for you. Never take or share other people’s medications. – Never take more […]
Establishing a key link between the solar cycle and global climate, new research led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) shows that maximum solar activity and its aftermath have impacts on Earth that resemble La Nina and El Nino events in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The research may pave the way toward better predictions of temperature and precipitation patterns at certain times during the Sun’s cycle, which lasts approximately 11 years. The total energy reaching Earth from the Sun varies by only 0.1 percent across the solar cycle. Scientists have sought for decades to link these ups and downs to natural weather and climate variations and distinguish their subtle effects from the larger pattern of human-caused global warming. Building on previous work, NCAR researchers used computer models of global climate and more than a century of ocean temperature data to answer longstanding questions about the connection between solar activity and global climate. Changes in greenhouse gases were also included in the model, but the main focus of the study is to examine the role of solar variability in climate change. The research, published this month in the Journal of Climate, was funded by the National […]
The nation’s largest green-power program has seen enrollment fall far short of expectations as its wind power prices have soared. Austin Energy, which offers homeowners and businesses the chance to power their homes with renewable energy (mainly wind) through its GreenChoice program, has signed up only 1 percent of its hoped-for customers for its latest wind power offering, according to The Austin American Statesman. Buying wind power now costs substantially more than conventional power (which has recently fallen in price as natural gas prices have plunged), and Austin Energy may be forced to spread the cost among all of its customers, according to the paper. Since early 2008, the utility’s wind power prices have almost doubled for customers who want to lock in the price for 10 years, and Austin Energy plans to add a large and costly solar array as well. Ed Clark, a spokesman for Austin Energy, told Green Inc. that the main problem was Texas’s congested transmission lines. Turbines have been erected at a frantic pace on the windy mesas of West Texas, but transmission lines to carry the power to Austin and other cities have not kept pace. This results in higher […]
An authoritative new study sets out a grim vision of shortages and violence – but amid all the gloom, there is some hope too An effort on the scale of the Apollo mission that sent men to the Moon is needed if humanity is to have a fighting chance of surviving the ravages of climate change. The stakes are high, as, without sustainable growth, ‘billions of people will be condemned to poverty and much of civilisation will collapse’. This is the stark warning from the biggest single report to look at the future of the planet – obtained by The Independent on Sunday ahead of its official publication next month. Backed by a diverse range of leading organisations such as Unesco, the World Bank, the US army and the Rockefeller Foundation, the 2009 State of the Future report runs to 6,700 pages and draws on contributions from 2,700 experts around the globe. Its findings are described by Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the UN, as providing ‘invaluable insights into the future for the United Nations, its member states, and civil society’. The impact of the global recession is a key theme, with researchers warning that global clean energy, […]
President Obama sent two of his Cabinet secretaries to China this week to deal with the question of global warming. Both of them are of Chinese descent. That sent a ripple of interest through China’s officialdom. The cabinet secretaries’ mission was to make a case that China and the United States - the world’s largest emitters of carbon - must cooperate for any deal to be struck at the United Nations climate change talks in Copenhagen this December. One of the first stops came Wednesday, when Energy Secretary Steven Chu spoke at Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University. He warned that if China’s carbon emissions continue to grow at current rates, the results would be staggering. ‘The amount of carbon that China will have emitted in the next 30 years would be equal to all the carbon that the United States has emitted in the life of its country,’ Chu said. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke was also on the trip. In Beijing, one of their stops was Future House USA, a model residence that uses solar panels and geothermal heat pumps to generate its own electricity. Chu used the house as a backdrop for outlining goals for […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
