Probably like you, I’ve been thinking a lot recently about risk. How much risk am I able to tolerate and accept? Of course it’s a big daily calculation with Covid-19 but also with travel and so many other things in life. Prior to Covid I travelled and worked a lot in Africa and SE Asia. But Latin America is where I started and fell in love with Spanish. Before every trip I’d think of what I needed to take, which included vaccinations and a kit with malaria prophylaxis, an antibiotic, bandages, etc. and in the old days a shortwave radio :-), my ticket, passport and money. I would then take off, nothing holding me back, just pick up and go. My calculation of risk was done and accepted; what a change from now. Today, there’s another deadly global disease to consider, but it too can be controlled, especially once everyone gets vaccinated. It’s so unreal to hear of ICUs packed with unvaxed patients and all the procedure cancelations. Apparently In Ontario between 8-10,000 surgeries are being cancelled weekly. When will it end and when will we get to the point where the risk is acceptable? Like in the past, it will be both a collective and individual calculation.
Health always has a collective and individual contribution. We rely on so many societal benefits to keep us healthy in addition to our own personal actions. Today, we welcome to the Planetary Health Weekly (#3 of 2022) a new regular blog contributor, Dr. Stephen Bezruchka, from the University of Washington in Seattle. He first caught my attention some years ago when he coined the term ‘health Olympics.’ How much are we prepared to do to be healthy? What contributes to how fast we run that race? In his first blog today Stephen will introduce himself and some of this to you. And then stay tuned for each third edition of each month to keep up with his thoughts, ideas and wisdom.
And do keep reading on in today’s issue for:
CLIMATE CRISIS UPDATES:
How the refrigerator became an agent of climate catastrophe,
Last year’s overall climate was shaped by warming-driven heat extremes around the globe,
Activists target public relations groups for greenwashing fossil fuels, and
Concerns linger over a secretive Texas company that owns the largest share of the Trans-Alaska pipeline,
CORONAVIRUS UPDATES:
How citizens should respond to Omicron,
Is Omicron really “milder”? We’re getting Covid-19 severity all wrong,
UK Covid deaths pass 150,000 amid Omicron surge,
Europe has recorded more than 100 million Covid-19 cases since the start of pandemic,
Desperate no-vaxxers (in Italy) paying Covid-19 people $150 for dinner and Covid,
Sweden’s prime minister Magdalena Andersson tests positive for Covid,
Quebec to impose tax on those who refuse Covid-19 vaccinations,
East Asian Covid-19 Paradox: Lessons from China, Japan and Taiwan Free Webinar | January 24th, 2022 at 12pm MST Register Now
Getting started as a birder,
Jeffrey Sach’s speech at the UN Food Systems pre-summit,
BEZRUCHKA’S BLOG,
Exxon calls for carbon price, pursues capture storage hubs across Asia,
Ryerson University campus transportation recognized as most sustainable in global ranking,
Goodyear show how to make tires with less petroleum & emissions, Research could help extend EV battery life by 30% and slow degradation, and Electric vans from Stellantis, GM, Ford: cleaner, quieter last-mile deliver take connectedness,
My bile rises as I’m asked to move my dying cancer patient out of ICU to make room for an unvaccinated man with Covid,
Why business must take urgent action to protect biodiversity,
Indigenous perspectives on climate action: community solutions (and video),
Quote on health inequities faced by Afro-descendant people in Latin America by the PAHO director,
Why that wild weather map you saw on social media is probably bogus,
Scientific Reports editor’s choice of readings on climate change,
Can progressives be convinced that genetics matters? What can you do about climate change?
New book: “White Thinking: Behind the Mask of Racial Identity” by Lilian Thuram,
Here’s why the remote learning tools that helped students thrive during the pandemic are here to stay, and finally
ENDSHOTS of Roadside Art in Ice, Rock and Snow amid latest stats and charts of Covid-19 in Canada and around the world.
Do keep reading. Best, david
David Zakus, Editor and Publisher
AFTER THE GIANT STORM!!!
Toronto Street, Swansea Neighbourhood: January 17, 2022
The end of ice harvesting on Bantam Lake, in 1929, corresponded with a rise in artificial ice production and the growing popularity of the household refrigerator. Credit:Bantam Historical Society
Ice harvesting on Bantam Lake ended in 1929. The proximate cause was a fire that destroyed the icehouse, but the business was doomed anyway, by the rise of artificial ice production and the growing popularity of a new consumer product: the household refrigerator. Kelvinators, General Electric Monitor Tops, and other early residential models were crude and expensive, but they and their successors eventually displaced icehouses, horse-drawn scorers and overworked sawyers. The evolution of cooling technology can be viewed as a parable of our unfolding climate catastrophe, partly because the technology has directly contributed to the crisis, but mainly because its history suggests a counterintuitive explanation for why combatting global warming has proved to be so hard, and why some of our putative solutions are actually making our problems worse. Read more at The New Yorker
Globally, nationally and locally, it continues to be mind-boggling. Covid-19, probably mostly Omicron, is still going wild. Cases have spiked to the greatest increases ever. The situation is getting worse, with still too many unvaccinated. As we start 2022 the end seems no where in sight.
Over the last week there were about 21 million new cases (up ~10%) and 53,000 deaths (up ~10%). About 189 million people received a vaccine, up ~150%, while distribution still remains grossly distorted though it's improving a wee bit. In Canada deaths are up 73%, hospitalizations up 27% and ICU beds up 16%. See many more stats and charts in ENDSHOTS amid roadside rock, ice and snow art.
"It is the plague in seemingly all sincerity." Bob Woodward
Omicron is spreading rapidly, and hospitalization rates have ominously begun to climb. As a result, deathly sick patients have begun to monopolize hospital beds in the U.K. and New York. That means big trouble ahead for Canadian health-care systems already wearied by the pandemic.
But many Canadian public health officials along with dangerously incompetent premiers such as Alberta’s Jason Kenney and Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe have once again ignored the obvious. There is always a three-week lag between the beginning of the wave and its impact on hospitals and ICU units.
The math is simple. The more people the virus is allowed to infect, the larger the percentage of the population will end up in hospital.
So as the chaos multiplies and our leaders retreat into insignificance, here’s a brief guide to what ordinary citizens and communities can do to avoid getting sick, infecting others, or becoming another patient in an overcrowded hospital staffed by doctors and nurses exhausted by failed policies that pretended “we can live with the virus.” Read more at The Tyee
More than 150,000 people have died in the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the virus has "taken a terrible toll on our country," and offered his condolences to people who have lost friends and relatives. The UK is one of the most affected countries in Europe, second only to Russia, which has a reported death toll of almost 315,000. Globally, the UK is the seventh country to pass this grim milestone, following the United States, Brazil, India, Russia, Mexico and Peru.
East Asian Covid-19 Paradox: Lessons from China, Japan and Taiwan Free Webinar | January 24th, 2022 at 12pm MST/2pm EST
The China Institute (CIAU), Prince Takamado Japan Centre, and Taiwan Studies Program at the University of Alberta invite you to attend a virtual book launch for The East Asian Covid-19 Paradox written by CIUA Senior Fellow and University of British Columbia Political Scientist, Yves Tiberghien. At this event Professor Tiberghien examines the factors that have contributed to the relative success of East Asian states in fighting Covid-19, despite their proximity to the original frontline of the pandemic and the absence of strong regional institutions.
Register Now
American goldfinches have six different vocalizations, including a “po-ta-to-chip” call. Credit: Brian E. Kushner, Shutterstock
I’ll admit that I’m not much of a birder (writes Rachel Buchholz, an editor at National Geographic). My mother, on the other hand, is an avid avian watcher. Trips have been planned around bird-watching events. Heck, houses have been bought based on her ability to observe as many birds as possible from the living room windows.
So when I was planning our first family vacation in two years (thanks, COVID!), I decided on a rental home with a wraparound porch overlooking West Virginia’s New River Gorge National Park. Winter was fast approaching, but plenty of birds were still hanging around (or perhaps passing through). Over morning coffee or evening aperitifs on the deck, we’d watch northern cardinals, Carolina wrens, titmouses and blue jays. And even though I still can't tell the difference between airborne hawks and turkey vultures, the bird-watching we did during this adventure provided some much-needed family bonding.
Winter is actually a great time to bond over birds with your kids. As this article explains, plenty of feathered fliers stay put during chilly months; others could be migrating to your region for their tropical getaway. Children might see fatter or fluffier birds that have adapted for cold temps, and bare branches means the aviators are likely easier to spot.
If kids aren’t too keen on simply sitting and watching, try these activities to engage their “bird brains”:
Watch Jeffrey Sachs' speech at the UN food systems pre-summit here
BEZRUCHKA’S BLOG
My journey from UofT to Stanford to John Hopkins, living in Nepal and 30 years in public health
Credit: University of Washington
This week we welcome Dr. Stephen Bezruchka, from the University of Washington in Seattle with his first monthly blog, which will be presented in the third edition of each month. We know you will enjoy reading it and learning from this highly experienced public health physician. Read his blog at PHW Blogs
Exxon Mobil Corp is pursuing carbon capture storage (CCS) hubs across Asia and has started talks with some countries with potential storage options for carbon dioxide, the company's head of low carbon solutions said on Monday.
One of Exxon's key projects is to build CCS hubs in Southeast Asia, similar to one being proposed in Houston, Texas, ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions President Joe Blommaert told Reuters.
CCS traps emissions and buries CO2 underground but is not yet at the commercialization stage. CCS advocates, including oil majors and the International Energy Agency, see the technology as being essential to help meet net zero emissions and key to unlocking large-scale economic hydrogen production, although critics say CCS will extend the life of dirty fossil fuels.
Melbourne-based Global CCS Institute said in October that global plans to build CCS projects surged 50% over the last nine months. For CCS to take off, a transparent carbon price and cross-border pricing adjustment systems will be necessary to enable CO2 to be captured in one country and stored elsewhere. Read more at US News
Downtown Toronto at Ryerson University. Credit: Article
The transportation modes used by the Ryerson campus community topped a global ranking list that highlights the most sustainable colleges and universities. The 2021 Sustainable Campus Index, conferred the top rank after looking at data about the quality and quantity of the campus fleet, how students and employees commute to campus and existing programs promoting sustainable transportation. (See ranking for how other Canadian universities performed on various other indicators.)
Published by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, (AASHE), the annual report recognizes top-performing colleges and universities in 17 sustainability impact areas, as measured by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS).
“Our campus fleet, which refers to the vehicles owned by the university, is not very large and that contributed to the (Ryerson) high rating. We have seven vehicles, out of which three are 100 percent electric vehicles,” said Stephanie MacPhee, sustainability manager at the sustainability office in Facilities Management and Development.
The campus grounds team mostly uses electric utility trucks and battery-operated grounds equipment instead of gasoline-operated ones to reduce the use of fossil fuels. “Our location in downtown Toronto also contributed to our top ranking. We’re right on the subway line and community members have access to many forms of public transit, including biking and walking,” MacPhee said.
The rating highlighted a 2017 survey of students and employees facilitated by TransForm Labin collaboration with StudentMoveTO, that found 96% of students and 90% of employees use more sustainable commuting options to come to campus.
A more recent survey completed by the sustainability office in 2021 found that more than 90% of students, staff and faculty who responded to the survey use public transit, walk or carpool to campus. Read more at RyersonU
A Toyota Prius powers up at an electric vehicle charging station in a Washington, D.C., in March 2021. Credit: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Goodyear has unveiled a tire made from 70% sustainable materials. It's a step toward the company's goal of making a tire from 100% sustainable materials by 2030. While this tire isn't ready for production (Goodyear calls it a "demonstration tire"), it does show some of the materials Goodyear is investigating to cut petroleum use, as well as emissions from the production process.
The tire includes 13 sustainable materials—including soybean oil, rice husk ash silica, bio-based polymers, fabrics made from recycled plastic bottles, and renewable resins—across nine tire components, according to a Goodyear press release. Read more at Green Car Report
Much is being said about the courage and sacrifice of health professionals to keep the healthcare system running but almost all of us would rather be on the frontline than anywhere else. When we enter the profession, we consecrate ourselves to serving humanity – there could not be a better time to do this. From the students rolling up their sleeves to the specialists redirected to treat Covid patients, not to mention all the nurses, paramedics and service staff sustaining a threatened workforce, this is an extraordinary and privileged time to be on the frontline.
But truth be told, we will spare the kitchen orchestra and the free drinks in exchange for a genuine reckoning with the difficulties we are facing. Often, medicine needs to fix up its own troubles. But this time, there is something every individual has the power to do.
There is strong evidence of the efficacy of vaccines in protecting against severe illness and death. Even with the more infectious Omicron variant, the fully vaccinated are less unwell and have a greater chance of leaving hospital for home.
The collective request from a concerned and tired workforce to the public is: get vaccinated, get your booster and keep up sensible precautions. No one wants to be in the invidious position of deciding whether to save you or the next patient. (Yes, rationing happens everywhere but it doesn’t have to be as egregious.) Read more at the Guardian
COP26 may have been the major global environmental conference of 2021, but it wasn’t the only COP in town.
Taking place in October and with considerably less media fanfare was the biodiversity COP15, the first in a two-part UN summit in which governments world-wide convened in an attempt to reach a consensus on addressing the global deterioration in biodiversity.
Biodiversity, the variety of living organisms in all their forms, underpins human life, from the air we breathe to the food and water we eat and drink. And biodiversity across the world is in a state of rapid decline: in 2020 the WWF reported an average decrease in vertebrate species of 68% between 1968 and 2016.
The crisis in biodiversity is in many ways a business crisis. More than half the world’s GDP depends on high-functioning biodiversity, according to a report by Swiss Re published last year. Yet business activities – especially resource extraction and cultivation – are major contributors to biodiversity loss.
Four sectors are thought to drive more than 90% of human-made biodiversity loss: food, where deforestation, plastic waste and overfishing are major issues; fashion; infrastructure; and energy, which contributes directly to pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Business is also at risk from biodiversity loss, in the form of higher costs for raw materials, supply chain challenges and unique risks for industries such as tourism, which rely on people wanting to visit beautiful landscapes and clean beaches.
Environmentalists warn that biodiversity loss poses as great a threat to humanity as climate change, so why does it remain comparatively under the radar – and how can businesses engage with it?
“With biodiversity loss the connection between what we do today, how it affects biodiversity and how costly biodiversity loss is to society is not clear to consumers, businesses and investors. The fact that the benefits of biodiversity are often hidden from us hinders decision-making,” says Professor Ben Groom, Dragon Capital Chair in Biodiversity Economics at the University of Exeter Business School. “In a sense, this was the problem with climate change 30 years ago too.”
Professor Groom, a leading environmental economist, says that while most typical companies lack expertise on biodiversity, several initiatives allow businesses to engage with biodiversity and even disclose both their nature related risks and their own ‘biodiversity footprint’. Read more at Financial Times
Join RAVEN for their second of a four-part webinar series in which Indigenous climate action leaders in British Columbia share their thoughts and experience, hosted in partnership with the West Coast Climate Action Network (westcoastclimateaction.ca). We will be meeting with guest speakers Pansy Wright-Simms, a member of the Luutkudziiwus, a traditional “wilp,” or house group, of the Gitxsan Nation. And Leona Humchitt, Councillor, and Climate Action Coordinator, Heiltsuk Nation.
P.S. RAVEN’s next webinar is January 26th at 4 pm Pacific Time, 7 pm EST with Stop Ecocide Canada, on a hot topic indeed - environmental racism. Get the details, and register, here.
P.P.S. Here is a wealth of resources on the Heiltsuk and Gitxsan climate initiatives, as well as heat pumps and rebates:
Under the lead of Gitxsan Energy Inc., an Indigenous-owned business of the Gitxsan Nation, the funding will support the adoption of forest-based biomass heating for the Upper Skeena Recreational Centre. Under the project, forest-based biomass will replace propane as the heating fuel, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 255 tonnes a year in the recreation complex. The project will also create two full-time biomass harvesting jobs and 12 temporary construction jobs in the local Gitxsan community. https://www.canada.ca/en/natural-resources-canada/news/2018/10/canada-invests-in-bioheat-conversion-technology-for-indigenous-peoples.html
PAHO Dominican-born Director, Dr Carissa Etienne. Credit: PAHO
“Let us be frank: health inequities faced by Afro-descendant people occur in a context of discrimination and institutional racism, often exacerbated by gender inequalities,”
PAHO Dominican-born Director, Dr. Carissa Etienne
“They are manifested from the first years of life, and accumulated health risks increase with age, producing significant differences in the levels of mortality and life expectancy.
“As a result, different factors related to discrimination and stigmatization, along with gender inequalities and social and economic disadvantages, account for the poor health outcomes of Afro-descendant people.
“As we have noted before,” Dr Etienne continued, “the profound inequities in health faced by these communities have been further exposed and exacerbated by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic in both its direct and indirect effects.”
PAHO said that, in Latin America, 134 million people identify themselves as Afro-descendants. The report finds that, in many countries, disadvantages are stark. For example, it finds that:
In Ecuador, the maternal mortality rate for Afro-descendant women triples the overall maternal mortality rate.
In Colombia, the rate for Afro-descendant women is 1.8 times higher, and in Brazil, it is 36% higher.
In Uruguay, the proportion of Afro-descendants with limited access to drinking water (42%) is almost double that of non-Afro-descendants (24%).
In urban areas in Nicaragua, it says 81% of Afro-descendants have limited access to water, compared to 35% of non-Afro-descendants.
Why That Wild Weather Map You Saw On Social Media Is Probably Bogus
Credit: Weather Network
Beware of that outrageous weather map you saw on social media. The internet is awash with a goldmine of weather data that allows anyone anywhere to keep tabs on every aspect of our atmosphere. With all that information and all those colourful maps flying around, how do you know what to believe and what to avoid? The best rule is to trust what meteorologists are saying about a storm, and to take everything else with a grain of salt. Here’s why.
Climate change refers to a statistically defined change in the average and/or variability of the climate system; this includes the atmosphere, the water cycle, the land surface, ice and the living components of Earth. The definition does not usually require the causes of change to be attributed, for example to human activity, but there are exceptions. Read on for Scientific Reports editor's picks of recent open access readings on: Meteorological Effects; Environmental Effects; Monitoring & Modelling; and Natural Protection Strategies.
Can Progressives Be Convinced That Genetics Matters?
Kathryn Page Harden. Credit: Article
Behavioural geneticist Kathryn Page Harden is waging a two-front campaign: on her left are those who assume that genes are irrelevant, on her right those who insist that they're everything.
Even if we addressed every single other issue on this list today, the impact of human-caused global warming will remain for decades, if not centuries. The magnitude of the issue is, quite simply, too difficult for many of us to comprehend. So, many of us think, if we can’t truly fix this issue, what’s the point of even trying? After all, it’s our very inaction that has caused or worsened many of these issues.
But humans are capable of change, as shown by the reduction in fuel combustion emissions seen in many countries since the early 2000s, including the United States, and by evolving public attitudes toward climate change and our role in it.
According to one U.S. poll, more than 60% say the government isn’t doing enough to combat global warming. In addition to urging action by political leaders and those running for office, what else can average people do?
Fly sparingly, carpool and take public transit.
Keep your current car as long as possible; if you must buy a new one, consider a hybrid.
Recycle as much as you can, and buy recycled items.
If possible, compost organic waste instead of putting it in the trash.
Don’t use plastic water bottles.
Buy fresh foods with little packaging.
Cut meat intake (even one to two fewer servings per week adds up).
Turn off lights and unplug devices when not in use.
Shop and eat local; walk there if you can.
Keep reusable grocery bags on hand, and if you can’t avoid plastic bags, be sure to recycle them.
"White Thinking: Behind the Mask of Racial Identity" by Lilian Thuram
Credit: Book Cover
What does it mean to be white? Beyond just a skin colour, is it also a way of thinking? If so, how did it come about, and why?
In this book, drawing on history, personal experience and activist literature, the former footballer and World Champion Lilian Thuram looks at the origins and workings of white thinking, how it divides us and how it has become ubiquitous and accepted without challenge. He demonstrates how centuries of white bias and denial justified slavery and colonialism, and have reinforced norms and structures of oppression, limiting the roles and horizons of both non-whites and whites alike.
Crucially, while White Thinking is a critique of ingrained structural inequities, it calls for an inclusive approach to solving the problem, and aims to raise awareness and imagine a new world in which all of humanity is given equal weight.
Here’s Why The Remote Learning Tools That Helped Students Thrive During The Pandemic Are Here To Stay
Credit: Supplied
Joseph Filiplic flipped the way he teaches during the pandemic, and he’s not flipping back.
When COVID-19 hit and classes went online in 2020, the Edmonton social studies teacher realized the scope of the challenge he was facing. “When everybody was remote learning, people were also working from home. I noticed that a lot of my students were taking on additional roles at home. They were becoming babysitters for younger siblings and more,” he says of his J.J. Bowlen Catholic Junior High pupils. “I needed to make sure I was reaching my students, who were now being pulled in different directions, doing something that was completely new to them.”
The answer? What he calls a flipped lesson style, using mostly Microsoft education tools – such as video-conferencing platform Teams, note-taking app OneNote and video-discussion software Flipgrid. “I would record all my lessons and put them onto YouTube, then I would add them into Teams and OneNote,” says Filiplic. From there, the course materials and assignments were accessible on almost any device.
Publisher and Editor: Dr. David Zakus Production: Julia Chalmers & Aisha Saleem Social Media: Mahdia Abidi, Shalini Kainth and Ishneer Mankoo Website, Index and Advisory: Eunice Anteh, Gaël Chetaille, Evans Oppong, Jonathan Zakus, Dr. Aimée-Angélique Bouka & Elisabeth Huang Blogs: Dr. Jay Kravitz and Aisha Saleem