April 2017 - Page 4 of 25 - Schwartzreport

Thursday, April 27th, 2017

An Apolitical Profession Wakes Up: Trauma Surgeons Speak out About Gun Violence

Amanda Marcotte, - Alternet/Salon

Stephan: I haven't done a story on the the gun death trend in a while, although that doesn't mean that 92 people aren't still dying by gun fire every day. This has become such a crisis in medicine that normally apolitical trauma surgeons as a group crying out in alarm. Will anyone hear them? No one in the Trump administration I suspect. Nor anyone within the NRA community either. Thirty three thousand Americans a year dying by gunfire seems to be o.k. with the majority.

There are a lot of voices in the national discourse about gun violence — victims, politicians, activists, lobbyists, gun owners, pundits, law enforcement — but rarely does the public hear from the very people who deal directly with the fallout from gun violence on a daily basis: Trauma surgeons. These are the professionals who see the reality behind the cold statistics of injuries and death from firearms. For various reasons, their views and experiences are rarely heard.

There’s a small but growing movement in the world of trauma surgery to change that. The increased attention to the topic of gun control in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting, and the way the Black Lives Matter movement has drawn attention to the intersection of race and violence, have contributed to an atmosphere where trauma surgeons, some of whom see gunshot victims on a daily basis, feel compelled to speak up.

Last week, the American Surgical Association held its annual meeting in Philadelphia, and Dr. Shelby Resnick, a trauma surgeon in that city, presented a paper she co-wrote with a group […]

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Study: Man-Made Extreme Weather Has Hit All Over the World

SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer - U.S. New & World Report

Stephan: One of the three big migrations that I have been predicting results from extreme weather events, like tornadoes, doughts, or tsunamis. Here is the latest research on the linkage of human activity, cultural choices, and climate change. The solution to destructive climate change is culture change.

July 20, 2016 file photo, an Iraqi man cools off the summer heat by using an open air shower in Baghdad, Iraq. Most people on Earth have already felt extreme and record heat, drought or downpours goosed by man-made global warming, a new study finds.
Credit: AP/Karim Kadim

WASHINGTON — Most people on Earth have already felt extreme and record heat, drought or downpours goosed by man-made global warming, new research finds.

In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists analyzed weather stations worldwide and calculated that in 85 percent of the cases, the record for hottest day of the year had the fingerprints of climate change. (emphasis added) Heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas made those records more likely or more intense.

“The world is not quite at the point where every hot temperature record has a human fingerprint, but it’s getting close to that,” said lead author and Stanford University climate scientist Noah Diffenbaugh.

Climate change’s influence was spotted 57 percent of the time […]

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Europe is Waging War on Insecticides and GMO Crops

Emily Monaco, - Organic Authority

Stephan: Almost every day now I see stories of the cultural choices being made by the U.S. compared to the choices being made by other nations. Here is an example of what I mean.

Credit: iStock/proxyminder

It might be time to finally fulfill that dream of moving to the Italian countryside as Europe is slowly but surely working on banning pesticides and GMOs — for good.

The Case Against Neonicotinoids

At the end of March, draft regulations from the European Commission banning the world’s most widely used class of insecticides, known as neonicotinoids, were made public by the Guardian. The British newspaper reported that if the proposals are approved by a majority of EU member states, a May vote could ban neonicotinoids from all fields across Europe within the year.

The presence of neonicotinoids in the EU was already on thin ice, given their detrimental effect on pollinator populations. The EU had already imposed a temporary ban on the use of three key neonicotinoids in 2013, but these new regulations would take things a step further.

“The proposed regulations are very strict: a full ban, except for greenhouses that are supposed to be closed systems,” explains Martin Dermine, at Pesticide Action […]

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Only Advocacy Can Change Attitudes About Climate Change. Extreme Weather Won’t

Jeremy Deaton, - Cleantechnica/Nexus Media

Stephan: I was very glad to see this research because it sheds fact based light on what works in terms of awakening people to climate change and its linkage to human cultural choices.

Liberals and conservatives see extreme weather very differently.

Gallup has great news for anyone who’s worried about climate change: You’re not alone. A recent poll finds that a record number of Americans are worried about global warming. The survey was conducted at the close of a historically warm February, and researchers say the recent spate of unusual weather may have made people sit up and take notice.

It’s a compelling explanation, but the reality is far more nuanced. Over the last year, social scientists have produced a slew of new studies that gauge how Americans respond to extreme weather. They found that a stray heat wave or über-powerful storm can drive interest in climate change, but the effects vary — and they don’t last.

What’s clear is that scientists and advocates can’t wait for the weather to change attitudes about the carbon crisis. They have to do the hard work of educating the public themselves.

Does severe weather make people more interested in climate change?

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