"Rachel Carson is responsible for the death of millions of defenseless Africans"

One of my childhood memories is watching my sister make her daily supplement shakes. She had to drink up to 62 ounces of this think liquid every day. My sister was allergic to almost everything; eggs, beef, milk, strawberry, yeast and the list can go on and on to fill a piece paper front and back. She eventually grew out of majority of her allergies but still has to take some supplements for vitamins and minerals that she is missing due to her restricted diet.

Why am I making this correlation to Rachel Carson and her unfortunate successful fight to end the use of DDT in the fight against disease carrying mosquitoes? It is because what she forgot to do was to supplement the removal of DDT with another safe and effective pesticide. Her book, which is full of beautifully written metaphors and rhetoric grounded in possibilities and not fact, helped to push for the end of the use of DDT. Yes mosquitoes could have developed immunity to DDT similar to the roach and chlordane; but, it had not been proven yet. She forced the removal of the main source of protection from an entire group of people, without concern on how they would survive the next step with no protection. She was more concerned about nature instead of human life and not concerned enough about the effects it would have on a community of people. Her narrow view of life caused the lives of millions in Africa.

Some African countries, like South Africa continued to use DDT until the late 1990s, and then once they stopped using DDT they experienced devastating outbreaks from Malaria. Some South American countries are still using DDT to help control Malaria outbreaks with no known harmful effects on human life. Even with no actual proof of the ambiguous information in the Silent Spring, many countries are no longer using DDT and over 1 million people are dying from Malaria each year.

Where is the daily supplement to help extend life?

Mercury in the Environment & Human Health Risks Associated with Consumption

Global Cycle of Mercury

Link to Brochure

The Global Cycle of Mercury is very important to your health and wellness. Mercury is a chemical element that can not be created or destroyed; therefore it is important to understand how it effects our environment. Mercury cycles in the environment as a result of natural and human activities.

Natural Cycle
Mercury in the atmosphere is elemental mercury vapor, that can circulate in the atmosphere for up to a year, and therefore can be widely dispersed and transported thousands of miles from likely sources of emission. Most of the mercury in water, soil, sediments, or plants and animals is in the form of inorganic mercury salts and organic forms of mercury.

Inorganic forms of mercury can bound to airborne particles or in a gaseous form. In this form, mercury can be redeposit from the atmosphere by precipitation or dry deposited. Precipitation is the primary mechanism for mercury transport from atmosphere to land and water.

Once the mercury is deposited back to land or water, it is emitted back into the atmosphere as gas or particles to continue the cycle. Like other chemical agents, as mercury continues through its global cycle, it undergoes a series of complex chemical and physical changes.

Human Cycle
The human cycle of mercury is also called the anthropogenic cycle. Generally mercury collects in the water and moves up the marine life food chain ending with humans. The larger wildlife species feed on the fish, which in turn feed on smaller “forge” fish, which feed on plankton, which feed on algae and detritus. Thus, mercury is transferred through each level.

Conversion of Mercury into Methylmercury & Bioaccumulation into Food Chains
Methylation of mercury is a key step to understand how it can enter the food chain. Inorganic mercury transforms into methylated mercury in water in the sediment and the water column. Mercury builds to harmful levels in an organism when the rate of in put exceeds the rate of out put.. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 100% of the mercury in fish tissue is methylated.

Humans consume mercury when we eat the contaminated fish.

Regulations to Protect Human Consumption

The Federal Drug Administration mandates that fish sold for human consumption can not exceed 1 ppm of mercury. This level was set based on the possible health implications of consumption at higher rates. According to the EPA on average, mercury levels in freshwater fish can exceed the U.S. FDA levels; but, sea water fish, the mercury levels are close to ten times lower than the FDA required levels.

Health Effects
Mercury is a known human toxicant. The clinical effects of after exposure to high levels of mercury are neuro-disorders like “Mad Hatters Disease”. Neurological changes in exposure to mercury has been proven in many studies. The neurotoxin effects include subtle declines in motor skills and sensory ability, tremors, inability to walk, convulsions and death at extremely high levels of exposure.

Mercury Levels in the US
Mercury levels are higher in areas that are closer to industrial and combustion (anthropogenic) sources. Thirty-six states have warnings against the consumption of specific types of freshwater fish and ten states have statewide advisories posted at every body of freshwater.

Sources:

Mercury Technology Services. Global Mercury Cycle. Retrieved from: http://www.hgtech.com/Information/Global_Hg_Cycle.html

U.S. EPA. Mercury Study Report to Congress: Executive Summary (Dec 1997). Retrieved from: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/caaa/t3/reports/volume1.pdf

Onchocerca Volvulus and River Blindness

River Blindness

Onchocerciasis or River Blindness, is caused by a parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus. While the disease is causes River Blindness, it is not transmitted by water; but by a black fly that lives and breeds near fast flowing water. The infection transmitted by the fly bite can result in blindness or a skin disease.

River blindess is most common in tropic areas with majority cases in Africa.

Pictures of River Blindness

The organism that causes River Blindness

Blindness

Skin Rash

River Blindness Life Cycle

Infecting 18 million people world wide, River Blindness begins when an infected black fly feeds from a human and the parasite is transferred. The parasite then begins to migrate in the skin tissue until it becomes an adult worm. Female worms cluster together, while male worms migrate between clusters to mate. Female worms then produce up to 1000 microfilariae a day that reinfect black flies when they bite and feed off an infected human. The disease is treated by the drug Ivermectin, which is given in the form of a pill. Suramin, which is administered intravenously is given in areas were there is resistance to ivermectin.

Source

http://www.cartercenter.org/health/river_blindness/index.html

Predominant Parasites and Infectious Diseases

North America

Predominant Parasite Trichomoniasis

Predominant Infectious Disease HIV/AIDS

South America

Predominant Parasite River Blindness

Predominant Infectious Disease HIV/AIDS

Europe

Predominant Parasite Fasciolo heptica

Predominant Infectious Disease HIV/AIDS

Australia

Predominant Parasite Fasciola hepatica

Predominant Infectious Disease HIV/AIDS

Asia

Predominant Parasite Hook Worms

Predominant Infectious Disease Dengue Fever

Africa

Predominant Parasite River Blindness

Predominant Infectious Disease HIV/AIDS

Antarctica

Predominant Parasite Copepoda Sp

Predominant Infectious Disease Parapox Virus

There is no such thing as Global Warming

When dealing with the science of any field, to form an educated opinion you fully research the topic. Your research may or may not include literature review; it may just be tuning into the local news and listening to pre-planned, scientifically based rhetoric. This is how Global Warming became a front page news story for the past few years. If you base your opinion on actual scientific reports, what do you believe if it is proven that the research has been manipulated and possibly not factual?

In order to have legit scientific research, it has to prove your hypothesis and another person should be able do the same research the same way and get the same result. If the data is manipulated to benefit your research, then your research is not valid. This is what happened at the University of East Anglia. Researchers withheld important information that would deny the claims that the world’s temperatures were actually rising, when in fact they were dropping. There were several emails that leaked proving that there was some type of research tampering or withholding of data.

One specific email from Kevin Trenberth, PhD. at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research to Michael Mann on October 12, 2009 stated: The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can't...our observing system is inadequate.

If the system or instrument that you use to monitor and observe the rising and dropping of temperature is inadequate, how are you accurately proving that Global Warming is actually taking place?

Source:

The Telegraph. November 23, 2009. University of East Anglia Emails: The Most Contentious Quotes. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/globalwarming/6636563/University-of-East-Anglia-emails-the-most-contentious-quotes.html

Where in the World...

The water is everywhere in the world. It covers 70 percent of the earth and can be found underground. The largest ocean is the Pacific Ocean, covering an area of about 60 million square miles.

Ninety-seven point five percent of all the water on Earth is salt water. That leaves only 2.5% of the water as fresh water (The Water Resources of Earth, 2006) Seventy percent of the fresh water is frozen; therefore it is not accessible (The Water Resources of Earth, 2006). There is less than one percent of water that is actually suitable for drinking (www.lenntech.com).

Unfortunately, with less than one percent of the water actually suitable for drinking, some of that water is also contaminated with trash, debris, and a lot of disease causing agents. Impoverished areas like developing countries and rural areas, are often the areas that are most affected by the consumption of contaminated water.

In order to determine the best place for good and accessible soils for agriculture, silvicultre, and farming you must know what you want to grow and or raise. Land near wetland is often good soil for items that need to moist soil and there is other agriculture that needs dryer dirt. Please click here for map of the best soil in the world.

Traditional industries or labor industries can still be found throughout the world within all communities and cultures. Even as each culture has adapted, the need for traditional, labor intensive industries is still evident. It seems as though the more advanced the world becomes with technology, the desire for smaller hand developed items from traditional/labor industries grows. The type of work a traditional industry varies by culture and community. Here is a link to a web page showcasing Georgia’s Traditional Industries.

The high-tech industry is not as worldwide as traditional industries because these industries require a lot of money; but there are some developing countries that have large high-tech industries because of the benefit of inexpensive labor to create the high tech gadgets. The most populated high tech areas are Asia and India.

The 10 Most Populated Cities in the World

The 10 Most Populated Cities in the United States of America

Tribal Group with little or no contact with “Modern Society”

The country with the greatest diversity is Tanzania, with 23 groups, while Papua New Guinea, has zero; according to this study.

According to the US Census Bureau there are 6, 922, 402, 047 people in the world and 311, 475, 374 of those people live in the US. For a list of the top populated countries in the world, click here.

Additional Sources:

Human Appropriation of the World's Fresh Water Supply; http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/freshwater_supply/freshwater.html

Water Treatment Solutions: Lenntech. Water Quantity FAQ http://www.lenntech.com/water-quantity-faq.htm

Natural Disasters

Every Saturday morning my friends and I meet at Chastain Park to walk the intimidating 2.6 mile loop – twice – in an effort to stay in shape. During this 5.2 mile walk, we obviously discuss a lot of things. Work, hair fashion, and no matter how old a woman gets, when she is with her friends they will talk about boys; but, the one constant conversation is one about change. We see 2011 – one being the first number, and there are two – as a year of change. There is a lot of change occurring in our personal lives; but, there is definitely tons of change going on in our environment.

I am not sure if it has anything to do with global warming (another topic that interest me) or if it is just time for the earth to shake; but the recent earth quakes, tornadoes, and floods are pointing towards some serious change. I would like to know more in depth about the effects of floods on the global environment.

Currently in the USA, the mighty Mississippi is flooding farm land and small towns as it flows to the Gulf of Mexico. While some of these floods are manmade in efforts to save farm land and larger cities; this flood will have a major affect on the environment, locally and globally. I would like to learn more about the effects floods have on the ecosystem, farming, and even the psychological effects of disasters on survivors.