We begin with the measles, with stories offering some context, first from the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Debate over measles vaccinations results in unlikely political alliances, sparks controversy among GOP presidential hopefuls
The question over whether parents should be mandated to get their children vaccinated against measles has created strange alliances, putting some liberal parents on the same side as Republican conservatives.
American skepticism toward vaccinations dates back at least to the Revolutionary War, when George Washington was initially reluctant to inoculate his troops against smallpox, The Associated Press reported.
“There is a long history to the fight against vaccination, and it does seem to break down along liberal versus conservative lines,” Kent Schwirian, a sociology professor at The Ohio State University, told The Associated Press. He surveyed people during a 2009 swine flu scare, asking whether they would get vaccinated, and found that conservatives who distrusted government were less likely to support inoculation.
The Arizona Republic covers reverberations in a small town:
Hurt over measles lingers in small town
Kearny is such a small and close-knit community that everyone quickly learned how the highly contagious disease invaded its boundaries. An unvaccinated mother and three children carried it back from a Disneyland visit in mid-December. Three others in Arizona came to be infected, including another Kearny resident, and about 1,000 more in Pinal, Maricopa and Gila counties were exposed.
Residents used Facebook to vent their anger over the possibility that their health — especially that of young children in town — was put in jeopardy. Some demanded a “blast” notification identifying the family so residents could take precautions. Others defended the family’s right to privacy, because “they’ve been through enough.”
Word spread that the family didn’t choose to be vaccinated because of their religion. For some residents, it was a valid reason. But others argued that there is no reason to not vaccinate against one of the most contagious diseases known.
And the New Yorker offers some historical context:
Not Immune
Twenty-five years ago, when a doctor named Robert Ross was the deputy health commissioner of Philadelphia, a measles epidemic swept the country. Until this year’s outbreak, which started at Disneyland and has so far sickened more than a hundred people, the 1989-91 epidemic was the most alarming that the United States had seen since 1963, when the measles vaccine was introduced. Nationwide, there were more than fifty-five thousand cases and eleven thousand hospitalizations; a hundred and twenty-three people died. Most of those infected were unimmunized babies and toddlers, predominantly poor and minority kids living in cities. Ross thought that the blame for the outbreak could be placed partly on poverty and partly on crack cocaine, which was “making a lot of families forget how to raise children.”
One cluster of kids was getting sick, though, not because their parents lacked the wherewithal to have them immunized but because the parents, members of the Faith Tabernacle congregation, did not believe in immunization. When children in the congregation started dying—ultimately, five did—Ross and his colleagues began going door to door, telling parents that kids whose lives were in danger could be hospitalized by court order. In one house, Ross found an ashen-faced girl of eight or nine who could barely breathe. He got her to the hospital and, when he saw her the next day in the I.C.U., had no doubt that taking her from her home had saved her life. The memory of those who weren’t saved still troubles Ross: “These were kids who had no business being lowered into the ground. And I’ve never gotten over it.”
On to another illness with Outbreak News Today:
Idaho mumps outbreak expands to Washington State
An outbreak of mumps that began in September 2014 among students at the Moscow campus of the University of Idaho continues to spread outside the Moscow area. Idaho has 21 reported confirmed and probable cases, including six in the Boise area, as of Friday, Feb. 6. Two cases in Washington also are associated with this outbreak.
The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is the best way to prevent mumps and measles. Public health officials urge students and people who come in close contact with them to check their vaccination records to make certain they are current for MMR vaccine. Examples of close contact include face-to-face contact or living in the same home. Mumps also spreads easily from sharing saliva through kissing, shared eating utensils or water bottles.
University of Idaho students and those in close contact with them who have not previously had mumps or who have no record of any doses of MMR vaccine should receive two doses at least 28 days apart. Those who received only one dose should receive a second dose. Student health services, primary care providers, local public health offices, and local pharmacies may offer the vaccine. The MMR vaccine will also protect against measles, which is increasing in the western U.S. because of a large outbreak linked to an amusement park in California.
From Medical Daily, more context:
Health News Might Not Matter In The Vaccine Debate; It’s The Comments That Convince People
[A] new study from Washington State University offers some interesting insight. For two separate experiments, researchers made-up pro- and anti-vaccine PSAs sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (pro-vaccine) and the National Vaccine Information Council (anti-vaccine). Afterwards, study participants read comments from fake online users.
When asked if participants would vaccinate themselves and their family members, researchers found they were equally persuaded by PSAs and online comments. Study author Ioannis Kareklas was blown away participant’s would equally trust both sources of information, especially given the type of users known to dwell in the comment section. Yes, trolls; we mean you.
In the second experiment, researchers’ made-up information about the people who were commenting on the PSAs (compared to not giving them any background in the first experiment.) Now, these commenters were English literature students, lobbyists specializing in health care, and doctors specializing in infectious diseases and vaccinology. The results showed the “doctor” comments impacted participants more than the PSAs.
“We found that when both the sponsor of the PSA and the relevant expertise of the online commenters were identified, the impact of these comments on participants’ attitudes and behavioral intentions was greater than the impact of the PSA and its associated credibility,” the researchers wrote. They concluded online media strategies should focus on credible exchanges of information in order to truly improve user welfare.
On to Climate, first with Reuters:
France says climate talks crucial for world security
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius launched a round of global climate talks in Geneva on Sunday and warned that world security, as well as the environment, depended on their success.
The week-long meeting is the first in a series that is meant to culminate in a globally binding agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Paris in December, with a target of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times.
Countries, companies and other organisations are expected to announce commitments to cut emissions in the run up to the Paris meeting. The cumulative commitments, backed by a financing mechanism and a binding global agreement that is being shaped at the series of meetings, must be enough to hit the 2 degree goal.
From EcoWatch, a national divestment:
First Country in the World Dumps Fossil Fuels As Divestment Movement Heats Up
Back in 2012, Bill McKibben with fellow activists including Naomi Klein, Winona LaDuke, Josh Fox and Reverend Lennox Yearwood began a nationwide tour to promote fossil fuel divestment—that is, selling off your shares in fossil fuel companies–in an effort to combat climate change.
The United Methodist Church has now joined the more than 60 religious organizations taking a stand. The church’s pension fund will screen coal from its investments. “Our denomination is on the front lines of climate change mitigation and recovery efforts worldwide,” said Reverend Jenny Phillips, coordinator of Fossil Free UMC. “It doesn’t make sense for our pensions and ministries to depend on the flourishing of the companies that are wreaking this havoc.” And now, Fossil Free is urging Pope Francis to divest, as well.
February brought even more excitement for the global divestment campaign. Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global reported yesterday that a total of 114 companies had been dumped because of their risk to the climate, according to The Guardian. While the wealth fund moved billions of dollars in assets out of shares in fossil fuel companies, it still has billions invested in other fossil fuel companies.
Still, as the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, its move to divest has a large impact.
From the Toronto Globe and Mail, knock, knock:
Anti-oil sands activists in the U.S. are getting visits from the FBI
Unexpected visitors have been dropping in on anti-oil activists in the United States — knocking on doors, calling, texting, contacting family members.
The visitors are federal agents.
Opponents of Canadian oil say they’ve been contacted by FBI investigators in several states following their involvement in protests that delayed northbound shipments of equipment to Canada’s oilsands.
A lawyer working with the protesters says he’s personally aware of a dozen people having been contacted in the northwestern U.S. and says the actual number is probably higher.
After the jump, a Peruvian town calls a strike over a fracking project, British climate activists told to pay for their own policing, climate changes augur for more Deep South tornadoes, climate change endangers a unique Costa Rican forest, getting the lead out — permanently, the Church of England mulls a gorilla-saving divestment, Pakistanis move for bustard protection, on to Fukushimapocalypse Now!, first with vigilante radiation monitoring, negotiations begin over radioactive soil deliveries, and a reactor restart moves forward. . .
Calling a strike, via Fox News Latino:
Indefinite strike organized in Peruvian city to protest gas exploration
Residents of Pichanaki, a city in central Peru, plan to stage an indefinite strike this week to protest government disinformation about gas exploration by Argentina’s Pluspetrol in Lot 108, Congressman Federico Pariona said Sunday.
Pichanaki residents want a dialogue with the government on the gas exploration project, Pariona, who is chairman of the congressional committee on Andean and Amazonian peoples, said.
Pariona, who is a member of the political party organized by allies of imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori, represents Junin region, where Pichanaki is located.
From the Guardian, British climate activists told to pay for their own policing:
Climate change marchers told to hire private security firm
Campaign Against Climate Change says Britons now have to ‘pay to protest’ after police refuse to close roads along route
The right to stage demonstrations in Britain could be threatened following a demand that climate change protesters planning a march next month hire a private firm to oversee it – a role previously carried out by the police.
The Campaign Against Climate Change (CACC) says it is effectively being made to “pay to protest”, after learning that its demonstration in London, which could attract up to 20,000 people, will carry a bill of thousands of pounds.
Following negotiations with the Metropolitan police, the Greater London Authority and Westminster city council, the organisers of the Time to Act march – which is supported by the People’s Assembly Against Austerity, the Stop the War Coalition, Global Justice Now, Avaaz and Friends of the Earth – have been told the police will no longer facilitate the temporary closure of roads along the agreed route.
From Live Science, climate changes augur for more Deep South tornadoes:
Global Warming May Spawn More Southeast US Tornadoes
The same loopy weather patterns directing California’s ongoing drought and last year’s deep freeze across the East Coast may also change how often tornadoes strike the southeastern United States, a new modeling study finds.
Researchers examined how global warming will affect severe weather during the heart of tornado season — March, April and May. They found that while the yearly tornado total will climb by 2080, the number of tornadoes will also vary wildly from year to year. That’s because sometimes, the weather will get stuck in a pattern that favors tornadoes, and sometimes, conditions will stymie stormy weather, according to the report, published Jan. 15 in the journal Climatic Change.
“We see this trend in a lot of extreme weather,” said lead study author Victor Gensini, a severe storms climatologist at the College of DuPage in Illinois. “Changes in the jet stream are causing the jet to break down and get stuck in these blocking patterns,” Gensini said. “It just so happens it could be in a favorable pattern for tornadoes or a really bad pattern [for tornadoes].”
From Al Jazeera America, climate change endangers a unique Costa Rican forest:
Withering clouds: Climate change damaging biodiverse Costa Rica forest
Higher air temperatures mean rising clouds, altering the ecosystem by pushing flora and fauna toward higher ground
The cloud forests of Monteverde are known around the world for their biodiversity. But locals and scientists are warning the delicate ecosystem is increasingly without the clouds.
Increasing temperatures have caused the clouds in the mountain forests around Monteverde to rise, and scientists believe the warming climate is leading to the redistribution of species in the highlands, renowned for the striking biodiversity that draws in hundreds of thousands of tourists each year.
That is bad news. Monteverde’s cloudless cloud forests are a symptom of a regional change in climate with ecological and economic implications, since farming patterns change and the tourism industry could be hit. Data collected since the 1970s by bat biologist Richard LaVal show that the average minimum temperature of Monteverde increased nearly 3 degrees Celsius from 1990 to 2000 — which can expand the range of tropical lowland species 400 vertical meters into the cooler highlands. While the average temperature has decreased in recent years, the data continue to indicate a long-term trend of increasing temperatures, researchers say.
Getting the lead out — permanently, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Outdoors notebook: Congress revives Sportsmen’s Act
Despite Washington gridlock, some senate Republicans and Democrats have agreed for three years on at least one thing.
Last week a wide-ranging coalition introduced the Sportsmen’s Act of 2015, sort of an expanded reprise of similar bills introduced — and defeated — in each of the past three congresses. The bill is designed to improve conditions for hunting, fishing, target shooting and other outdoor recreation.
Written with bipartisan support, the current Sportsmen’s Act would permanently strip the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating lead shot and other ammunition under the Toxic Substances Control Act, and add lead sinkers and other fishing gear to the existing exemption.
The Church of England mulls a gorilla-saving divestment, via the Observer:
Church of England may sell £3m stake in mining firm over fears for gorilla haven
Move follows film backed by Leonardo DiCaprio and pleas by environmentalists to protect Congo’s Virunga park
The Church of England is considering withdrawing its investment in a controversial British mining firm whose operations in a war-torn region of Africa have alarmed both human rights groups and environmentalists.
The church – led by archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, a former oil executive – has said that it may sell its near £3m stake in Soco International unless it receives a number of reassurances from the company, whose decision to carry out a seismic survey in Virunga national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo features in an acclaimed documentary backed by Leonardo DiCaprio.
Soco, which is valued at almost £1bn on the London Stock Exchange, is adamant that it does not operate in the mountainous Mikeno sector of the park, which is home to around half of the world’s 950 mountain gorillas. In a statement on its website, it explains “that it will never seek to have operations in the mountain gorilla habitat, the Virunga volcanoes or the Virunga equatorial rainforest, and this remains the company’s position”.
From the New York Times, opting for bustards over, bast– er. . .:
For Saudis and Pakistan, a Bird of Contention
For decades, royal Arab hunting expeditions have traveled to the far reaches of Pakistan in pursuit of the houbara bustard — a waddling, migratory bird whose meat, they believe, contains aphrodisiac powers.
Little expense is spared for the elaborate winter hunts. Cargo planes fly tents and luxury jeeps into custom-built desert airstrips, followed by private jets carrying the kings and princes of Persian Gulf countries along with their precious charges: expensive hunting falcons that are used to kill the white-plumed houbara.
This year’s hunt, however, has run into difficulty.
It started in November, when the High Court in Baluchistan, the vast and tumultuous Pakistani province that is a favored hunting ground, canceled all foreign hunting permits in response to complaints from conservationists.
Those experts say the houbara’s habitat, and perhaps the long-term survival of the species, which is already considered threatened, has been endangered by the ferocious pace of hunting.
On to Fukushimapocalypse Now!, first with vigilante radiation monitoring from the Asahi Shimbun:
Skeptical Fukushima residents monitoring radiation levels in their communities
On a recent day in late January, a minicar departed from the Iitate village office in Fukushima Prefecture with stickers attached that said, “We are driving slowly because we are measuring radiation levels.”
The vehicle, operated by Fukushima Saisei no Kai (Resurrection of Fukushima), a local residents’ nonprofit organization, is equipped with GPS and radiation measurement equipment, allowing it to record locations and airborne radiation levels.
“Although the level has decreased considerably from immediately after the Fukushima nuclear accident, it is still high,” said Mitsukazu Sugiura, 65, the driver of the vehicle, on Jan. 28.
Distrust of the central government, a need to know to make future plans and a desire to maintain ties with neighbors have led to groups of residents around Fukushima Prefecture taking the initiative to monitor radiation levels on their own.
Negotiations begin over radioactive soil deliveries, via Jiji Press:
Fukushima to Start Talks with 2 Towns on Tainted Soil Delivery
Fukushima Governor Masao Uchibori said Sunday that he will launch talks with the towns of Okuma and Futaba toward the start of delivery of radioactive soil to a planned interim storage site in the two municipalities in the northeastern Japan prefecture.
Uchibori showed the plan in talks with reporters after meeting with Japan’s Environment Minister Yoshio Mochizuki and Reconstruction Minister Wataru Takeshita at the Fukushima prefectural government office the same day.
At the meeting, the two ministers explained measures to ensure the safety of interim storage facilities to be constructed at the site and conveyed anew the central government’s plan to start to bring in tainted soil by March 11, the fourth anniversary of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan areas and crippled Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s <9501> Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
More from NHK WORLD:
Environment minister meets Fukushima Governor
Japan’s Environment Minister Yoshio Mochiduki has asked the governor of Fukushima Prefecture for permission to begin transporting radioactive waste to a projected intermediate storage site by March 11th.
On Tuesday, the government started building facilities in Futaba and Okuma towns to store the radioactive waste stemming from the nuclear accident in 2011.
The prefecture and the 2 towns have set 5 conditions for allowing the waste to be transported. These include creating a law that stipulates the waste will be finally disposed of outside the prefecture. They also want new financial support to help revive the local economy.
And a reactor restart moves forward, via JapanToday:
Gov’t aims to restart Kyushu nuclear reactors in June
Japan’s government is aiming to restart a nuclear reactor by around June following a lengthy and politically-sensitive approval process in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, sources familiar with the plans said.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has been pushing to bring some of the country’s reactors back online after all 48 closed following meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March 2011, arguing they are key to economic growth.
A reboot in what was once the third-biggest user of nuclear power would boost its utilities, which have been hit by huge losses as they switch to fossil fuels and upgrade nuclear plants, with two turning to the government for bailouts.
