Oh, What a World...

Human kind is something else. I can't help but wonder, How is it that we can come up with the most amazing technological advances and yet we continue to struggle so much to keep the earth a healthy place?

So far, this year hasn't been exactly a happy one in terms of world affairs. First we got Haiti's Earthquake in January, then Chile's earthquake, then we got the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Irak, not to mention the crisis between Israel and Palestine...to top it off, one of the worst enviromental catastrophes is taking place in the Gulf of Mexico with BP's oil spill. We can't seem to get a handle on the emission of air pollutants that are slowly but surely changing our world's climate forever.

How is it that we can't seem to get that we're not only killing each other in wars, but killing the planet we inhabit as well. Unscrupulous greed, individualism and sheer excess of wealth and power, are a few things that come to mind when I think about what's happening in Louisiana's coast. When it comes to wealthy people and powerful corporations, such as BP, there always seems to be little to no accountability towards such groups. The rampant deregulation from the government have enabled these small group of greedy men to perform such a devastating disaster.

When I see how so few can screw up things so big I feel really discouraged and loose hope in us. Then I try to think of ways I, a mere peasant, can make a difference. I guess there's not a lot I can do but there are definitively some things...little daily things that can help the big picture look less grim. The more of us do these, the bigger impact we can have.

For the Big Picture we can:

- Be inclusive, progressive, embrace and celebrate cultural diversity.
- Drive less, walk more and use public transportation.
- Reduce, reuse and recycle.
- Compost and plant a garden, even a little one.
- Buy local and in-season vegetable and foods.
- Buy organic beef, chicken, pork and dairy products.
- Do our homework when shopping for stuff. Read all the labels and read about the businesses we're buying from.
- Demand our government to hold all corporations accountable (no matter how big they are).
- Educate ourselves and spread the word as to how we can all help (even if it's just a little).
- Vote, not only thinking in our own individual interests, but in the interest of our community/country/earth as a whole.
- Hold ourselves accountable and realize that we all are responsible for a better world. It is in our hands.


Did I miss something? More Ideas? Please share!





To help with the Gulf Oil Spill...

• To report oiled wildlife, please call 1-866-557-1401.
• To discuss oil related damage, please call 1-800-440-0858.
• To report oiled shoreline or to request volunteer information, please call 1-866-448-5816. This is the BP Community Support Team Hotline, which is being used as a hub by nonprofit organizations to coordinate volunteer inquiries. Leave a message with your contact information and your questions about how to help or information on oiled shoreline.
• National Wildlife Federation is working with the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program and the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana to coordinate volunteer efforts in southern Louisiana. You can register to volunteer with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana here. They are looking specifically for people with HAZWOPER training, or experience operating boats, handling wildlife, or photographing or monitoring oil movement. The National Wildlife Federation is also encouraging anyone looking to lend a hand to visit its website. It offers a variety of ways to help from volunteering to online advocacy, and is asking people to contact their senators to demand legislation for cleaner and safer energy choices. NWF is also accepting donations via mobile device. Text "WILDLIFE" to 20222 to donate $10 to help wildlife affected by the spill.
• International Bird Rescue and Research Center has sent a team of specialists to the region to help with any oiled wildlife. The center's site has a comprehensive Spill Response FAQ for those who want to help clean and treat oiled birds. They ask anyone who has spotted oiled wildlife to call the Wildlife Reporting Hotline at 866-557-1401. It is important to note that oiled birds should NOT be captured, but reported using the hotline.
• National Audubon Society is recruiting volunteers to be trained to respond to the oil spill. The group is also encouraging the public to contact the Interior Department and ask it to halt the expansion of offshore oil drilling in the eastern United States. Register to volunteer here.
• OilSpillVolunteers.com is also coordinating volunteer efforts in the Gulf Coast region. Register here.
• Mobile Bay National Estuary Program is asking interested volunteers to contact Alabama 211 at 1-866-421-1266.
• Mobile Baykeeper is asking interested volunteers to contact them at 251-433-4229 or e-mail info@mobilebaykeeper.org and provide a name, address, phone number, e-mail, and available resources such as boats. They don't need volunteers at the moment, but they are collecting names and will be in touch when they have a better assessment of the needs.
• The Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board is connecting BP with fishermen willing to help with the cleanup effort. If you have a boat and are able to help, contact 281-366-5511 or HorizonSupport@OEGLLC.com.
• Save Our Seabirds is a Florida bird rescue group that is looking for volunteers and donations as its response team prepares to help wildlife affected by the spill. Donate through the Save Our Seabirds site or register to volunteer.
• The Greater New Orleans Foundation has set up the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund to help with cleanup and environmental protection efforts. To learn more about the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund, please call Josephine Everly at (504)598-4663 or josephine@gnof.org
• Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, the largest wild bird hospital in the U.S., has 300 trained staff members on call to help with the response. They are also organizing volunteers and supply donations. They are in need of linens, kennels, towels, sheets, Dawn detergent, paper towels, bottled water and gatoraid. Items can be dropped off at the sanctuary at 18328 Gulf Blvd., Indian Shores, Florida. For a complete list and more information, please see www.seabirdsanctuary.com or call 727-391-6211 for more information. To volunteer, please email jessicag@seabirdsanctuary.com or call 727-392-4291.
• Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research has been asked to oversee the wildlife rehabilitation response along the gulf coast and is working closely with many collaborating organizations. They are calling for donations to help.
• Louisiana Bucket Brigade has produced an Oil Spill Crisis Map that lets Gulf Coast residents report endangered wildlife, oil on shores, health impacts, and other problems from the oil spill. They are calling on citizen journalists to report any information by submitting it through the site, texting (504) 27 27 OIL, sending an email to bpspillmap@gmail.com, or through Twitterusing the hashtag #BPspillmap.
• Deepwater Horizon Response Unified Command is soliciting the public's help in monitoring the 1.2 million feet of boom that have been deployed throughout the Gulf. To report an incident, call 1-866-448-5816. In addition, the group is soliciting the public's ideas for stopping the flow of oil, containing or recovering it, or cleaning it up. Click here to submit your suggestion or call 281-366-5511.
• Oxfam America is working to help vulnerable communities affected by the spill. A tax-deductible donation can be made here.
• Sierra Club is gathering volunteers to help with the cleanup efforts on the Gulf Coast. Sign up online to volunteer and Sierra Club will place you with an opportunity.

Until contacted by any of these organizations, would-be volunteers should steer clear of affected areas so as not to interfere with current cleanup efforts. Again, if you find oiled wildlife, don't try to rescue the animals yourself; report them to the Wildlife Reporting Hotline at 866-557-1401.

Did we miss a way to help? Please let us know in the comments below.

Editor's Note: This post was updated May 25, 2010.

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Full Coverage: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

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Quick Study: Ocean Pollution

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Source http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/04/30/the-gulf-coast-oil-leak-how-to-help

Climate Change

Got this quote from a "Letter to the Editor" of the New York Times and I agree 100% with it. What do you think?

"The basic science of global warming is really relatively simple. As the oceans and the air above them become warmer because of increased carbon dioxide, more water evaporates into the atmosphere. As we know, what goes up must come down — hence the increased snowfall in Washington (which probably deserves it) and Pittsburgh (which most certainly does not).

It would be nice if the increased precipitation fell in arid areas, but there are reasons of nature why these are arid in the first place, and global warming will only worsen, not alleviate, that situation.

The heavy snowfalls most certainly do not confirm the absence of global warming. The only thing they confirm is the ignorance of the politicians who make that claim."

Zvi J. Doron
Pittsburgh, Feb. 17, 2010

The writer, a retired nuclear engineer, is co-author of a book (in German) about energy and climate, published in Switzerland in 2008. Here's a link to the article.

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What We Can Do At Home:

According to the EPA, making a few small changes in your home and yard can lead to big reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and save money. Explore our list of nine simple steps you can take around the house and yard to reduce greenhouse gas emissions:

1. Change 5 lights
   Change a light, and you help change the world. Replace the conventional bulbs in your 5 most frequently used light fixtures with bulbs that have the ENERGY STAR and you will help the environment while saving money on energy bills. If every household in the U.S. took this one simple action we would prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from nearly 10 million cars.
2. Look for ENERGY STAR qualified products
   When buying new products, such as appliances for your home, get the features and performance you want AND help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Look for ENERGY STAR qualified products in more than 50 product categories, including lighting, home electronics, heating and cooling equipment and appliances.
3. Heat and cool smartly
   Simple steps like cleaning air filters regularly and having your heating and cooling equipment tuned annually by a licensed contractor can save energy and increase comfort at home, and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas emissions. When it's time to replace your old equipment, choose a high efficiency model, and make sure it is properly sized and installed.

4. Seal and insulate your home
   Sealing air leaks and adding more insulation to your home is a great do-it-yourself project . The biggest leaks are usually found in the attic and basement. If you are planning to replace windows, choose ENERGY STAR qualified windows for better performance. Forced air ducts that run through unconditioned spaces are often big energy wasters. Seal and insulate any ducts in attics and crawlspaces to improve the efficiency of your home. Not sure where to begin? A home energy auditor can also help you find air leaks, areas with poor insulation, and evaluate the over-all energy efficiency of your home. By taking these steps, you can eliminate drafts, keep your home more comfortable year round, save energy that would otherwise be wasted, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

5. Use green power
   Green power is environmentally friendly electricity that is generated from renewable energy sources such as wind and the sun. There are two ways to use green power: you can buy green power or you can modify your house to generate your own green power. Buying green power is easy, it offers a number of environmental and economic benefits over conventional electricity, including lower greenhouse gas emissions, and it helps increase clean energy supply. If you are interested, there are a number of steps you can take to create a greener home , including installing solar panels and researching incentives for renewable energy in your state .
6. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
   If there is a recycling program in your community, recycle your newspapers, beverage containers, paper and other goods. Use products in containers that can be recycled and items that can be repaired or reused. In addition, support recycling markets by buying products made from recycled materials. Reducing, reusing, and recycling in your home helps conserve energy and reduces pollution and greenhouse gases from resource extraction, manufacturing, and disposal.
7. Be green in your yard
   Use a push mower, which, unlike a gas or electric mower, consumes no fossil fuels and emits no greenhouse gases. If you do use a power mower, make sure it is a mulching mower to reduce grass clippings. Composting your food and yard waste reduces the amount of garbage that you send to landfills and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. See EPA’s GreenScapes program for tips on how to improve your lawn or garden while also benefiting the environment. Smart Landscaping can save energy, save you money and reduce your household’s greenhouse gas emissions.
8. Use water efficiently
   Saving water around the home is simple. Municipal water systems require a lot of energy to purify and distribute water to households, and saving water, especially hot water, can lower greenhouse gas emissions. Look for products with EPA's WaterSense label; these products save water and perform as well or better than their less efficient counterparts. There are also simple actions you can take to save water: Be smart when irrigating your lawn or landscape; only water when needed and do it during the coolest part of the day, early morning is best. Turn the water off while shaving or brushing teeth. Do not use your toilet as a waste basket - water is wasted with each flush. And did you know a leaky toilet can waste 200 gallons of water per day? Repair all toilet and faucet leaks right away. See EPA's WaterSense site for more water saving tips.
9. Spread the Word
   Tell family and friends that energy efficiency is good for their homes and good for the environment because it lowers greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Tell 5 people and together we can help our homes help us all.

HeLa: the little cells that could

Book Review: "The Inmortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

After listening to this interview on NPR, I just had to order it. What an amazing book! I just finished it and it is such compelling work. I highly recommend it! I just couldn't put it down.

One striking thing about it, is that even though is non-fiction, it is written in such a way that is absolutely fascinating and entertaining. Skloot is a superb writer and, in my humble opinion, she takes creative non-fiction writing to a new level. Her journalistic approach and her novelesque writing style makes it so easy for one as a reader to get lost in the story. There are so many compelling scientific and social issues that this book brings up that I don't even know where to where to begin.

As a Venezuelan living in the USA, this book has given me an opportunity to look at another way of how the ripples of slavery continue to have an effect in the Health Care System of this country. It has also lead me to reflect on my own culture and how social, racial and economic status continues to define whether a person has access to quality care or not. I was particularly shocked to learn how only until recently health providers haven't had any restrictions as to what they could do to patients. There just weren't any laws to protect them. The concept of Informed Consent was created much after a lot of invasive medical studies and experiments where performed in patients. Most of these terrible cases where of course, practiced on the African American community.

I am still processing a lot of the information that I learned from the book, but one question that keeps popping in my mind is: How far is it too far? I'm all for science moving forward and finding cures for deadly diseases but, At what expense? and most importantly, At who's expense?It is clear to me that in a lot of these cases, the physicians had no sense of respect and treated their patients and families like disposable rag dolls...

Oh! muy importante! Here's a link to the Henrietta Lack's Foundation. Please consider making a donation. If you're not convinced, here's an explanation of what the proceeds are for. I got this from the author's website:

"The Henrietta Lacks Foundation, [is] a non-profit organization founded by Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cancer cells, taken without her knowledge, became one of the most important tools in medicine, with disastrous consequences for her family. Today, her family can’t afford the health care advances their mother’s cells helped make possible. The Henrietta Lacks Foundation will, among other things, provide financial assistance in the form of scholarships to the descendants of Henrietta Lacks; it will also work to provide the Lacks family aid in covering the cost of health insurance, giving those who have benefited from HeLa cells — including scientists, universities, corporations, and the general public — a way to show thanks to Henrietta and her family. The foundation also hopes to offer assistance to other African Americans in need who are pursuing education in science and medicine."

That's it for now, I will continue to post about this topic as I continue to read the book...

Hasta luego,

Anita