Global Warming Takes Its Toll
Posted by Michelle Moquin on July 6th, 2011
Good morning!
Well…I knew chocolate was good for me personally. But I have to say that I am delighted that my almost daily bite of chocolate brings me more than just a smile to my face.
Unfortunately my post this morning doesn’t do the same.
Climate change affects our shores
Coastal erosion, wild fire, hazardous material accidents, high wind, hazardous surf and rip currents, transportation problems, disease, drought, earthquake, flood, landslide, lightning, tsunami and typhoon — these are all risks we have on Guam due to our geography and climate.
Climate changes have been elevating these risks, making events more severe and possibly more frequent. Many of you remember the storms of 2002: Typhoon Chataan, causing landslide, flooding and 55 deaths between Chuuk and Guam in July; followed by Supertyphoon Pongsona, igniting fire in the Apra Harbor tank yard in December. Just five years prior to these storms, the Pacific islands were hit by Typhoon Paka in December of 1997. The islands had varying damage due to fluctuations in the storm, including drought, wildfires, flooding, sea level variation and erosion.
Climate change
Globally, people have been contributing to the greenhouse effect through everyday activities such as: burning fossil fuels for electricity, gasoline and natural gas; agricultural practices; and clearing vegetation, especially for development. The natural greenhouse effect is a warming process of atmospheric gases, such as carbon dioxide, that allows us to survive on earth — if we had no greenhouse effect, the world would be too cold for human survival.
Humans have increased the amount of greenhouse gases released into the environment, intensifying the greenhouse effect relatively quickly. Within the past three centuries, the structure of the earth’s atmosphere has changed, which is causing global climate change.
The effects of greenhouse gasses are being studied extensively on and off island. There is evidence of global climate change such as glaciers retreating, plants blooming earlier or in a different season and the rising sea level.
According to the Climate Impact Group’s publication, “Preparing for Climate Change: a Guidebook for Local, State, and Regional Governments,” the sea level is projected to rise seven to 23 inches this century from melting snow and ice and the thermal expansion of ocean waters. The Climate Impact Group also emphasizes the increased risk of drought and stronger heat waves lasting longer and happening more often, along with more extreme precipitation and the disasters caused by excessive precipitation.
The climate change can significantly impact our water supply — droughts, flooding, contaminants — causing competition for safe water and difficult living conditions. Many plant and animal species will not be able to withstand the warming temperatures and may go extinct, reducing food sources.
Guam impact
According to the National Weather Service, during the first quarter of 2011, Guam had rainfall at 166 percent of the average, islandwide. From 2009 to 2010, equatorial Pacific water temperature was above normal, creating an El Niño effect.
Warmer water temperatures cause coral to lose their symbiotic algae, zooxanthellae, which are essential to the corals survival. Consequently, the coral is bleached and will eventually die if not rehabitated. Sustained bleaching events will significantly impact Guam’s fish populations.
These temperatures started to fall and led almost directly into significantly below normal temperature water, known as La Niña. These climate patterns are known as El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. ENSO events are created by the warming (El Niño) and cooling (La Niña) of the tropical Pacific waters along with air surface pressure change. Many regions of the world have been significantly affected by extreme weather due to ENSO. Predictions from the National Weather Service and UOG Water and Environmental Research Institute continue around 110 percent to 120 percent of average rainfall through March 2012.
People have observed and described changes in shorelines and water availability on Guam, as well as many other Pacific Islands. There was significant shoreline change during and shortly after World War II due to purposeful alterations made to the island.
According to a 2008 assessment conducted for Guam Coastal Management Program, images and studies show significant shoreline change on the northern and western-facing shorelines over the last 60 years of 150 to 250 feet. Many of the island’s beaches and parks have experienced coastal erosion and increased sea level due to human alterations, natural disasters and overall climate change.
More severe weather, especially during ENSO, will continue to threaten the island with numerous natural disasters endangering our people, economy and island sustainability. There will inevitably be climate change, but increased shoreline development, coastal management and increased population in limited space creates vulnerability for severe impact from weather-related events.
Superior coastal management practices and community consciousness can help protect and improve the sustainability of our island community.
Kim O’Connor is the communicator for the University of Guam’s Sea Grant Program.
**********
Christine: Since you are a newbie to my blog, I wanted to let you know that it is best to make a comment on the most current day regardless of what write you are referring to from a previous day, and/or person you are conversing with. This ensures that the person you are conversing with will see your comments. Most of my regular readers know to keep their comments contemporaneous by posting on the most current day. Hence I am not sure your comment to Ursla was seen by her.
There’s enough issue just seeing and posting on my blog, so regard this heads-up as just a gentle notice to you and any other newbies, so that you get the most pleasure and ease in your experience here. For more about posting comments please refer to the left-hand column under the heading “Blog Rules of Conduct”. Thank you.
AH: I just wanted to say hello. And that I had no idea “B the K”, was such a stud who died so young. As always…wishing you, Bita and Adam my best.
Hugs and Love to all.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
July 6th, 2011 at 9:32 am
Michelle, thank you for letting me know!
July 6th, 2011 at 10:30 am
Thanks for letting me know too Michelle.
July 6th, 2011 at 11:35 am
Thank you Michelle for putting in the link. I would probably never have gotten Christine’s answer. I thought like with Robby, I was destined not to know.
Chrisitne:
First thank you so much for answering me. I let Robby read your comment to me. He said that you were a wise human. I told him to post it to you to the blog. He said that he would think about it.
I told him that I see your point of view and that I understand if he cannot take me with him. I told him that I just wanted him to hold me the way he holds those women he has sex with.
He smiled and said he only has sex with them, he does not reveal who he is to them. He says that sex with him is addicting and that he prefers the sanity that I have without the aura of pleasure anticipation.
He said he likes that I never allowed the “magic” that he can do to be the chief reason for my friendship with him. I told him that I was way past being his friend. I told him that I loved him.
He smiled and said that one should not love Jesus. As I was looking up he took a wine goblet from my cabinet, walked over to the kitchen sink and turned on the faucet. When the wine tumbler was full of water, he handed it to me and it was the most delicious red wine.
He said it was a 1990 bottle of “Opus One,” a Napa Valley, California red wine bottled and produced Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe De Rothschild.
He smiled and said it was the favorite wine of his friend Robert’s friend Tavee. He said that Robert would always open a bottle when he talked about Tavee.
The wine was so smooth that it felt like liquid velvet sliding down my throat. I asked if he could produce a bottle so that I could post about it.
He said that Robert had bought up most of that year in the 90′s because he said that one day he would meet Tavee again and present her with a bottle. But he said as the years passed he stopped taking care of the bottles. They were now stored in a “slonaught,” a kind of space storage for Royalty.
He left and returned with a bottle. He said that Robert said it was okay to take a bottle.
I will not open it until I visit the USA. Robby said that Robert left a note that the taste would lose its thrill gradually after the year 2012, unless he stopped its aging.
I hope I will be able to make it before the end of 2012. I want to go to San Francisco, California. Robby says there aliens abound because the climate lends itself to adjustment at a moment’s notice without causing alarm among the inhabitants.
Have you ever been to San Francisco, California?
Ursla
July 6th, 2011 at 12:18 pm
Ursla, I’m very glad that you and Robby spoke and that he was able to explain to you his reasons. I live in the Bay Area, California, and work in San Francisco. I hope you do make it over here. It is beautiful! I also hope you enjoy the bottle of wine with someone special!
July 6th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Ursla, I’m very glad that you and Robby spoke and that he was able to explain to you his reasons. I live in the Bay Area, California, and work in San Francisco. I hope you do make it over here. It is beautiful! I also hope you enjoy the bottle of wine with someone special! When you post here, please remember this is a public blog…in case you “accidentally” disclose what you and Robby spoke about in confidence… Stay positive!
July 6th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Ursla, – sorry for reposting anonymously…my office server lost my connection.
I’m very glad that you and Robby spoke and that he was able to explain to you his reasons. I live in the Bay Area, California, and work in San Francisco. I hope you do make it over here. It is beautiful! I also hope you enjoy the bottle of wine with someone special! When you post here, please remember this is a public blog…in case you “accidentally” disclose what you and Robby spoke about in confidence… Stay positive!
July 6th, 2011 at 12:33 pm
Hello, to you too Michelle.
We are in 1881:
The American “WildWest” is inculcating a cult of admired criminals. The Late “Wild Bill” Hickok; the bandit Jesse James, and the recently deceased “Billy the Kid” are all objects of popular admiration.
While glamorous popular images of outlaws are as old as Robin Hood, England usually allows a decent interval before admitting brutal robbers to some Hall of Fame. Dick Turpin was not admired by his contemporaries.
It bodes ill for American society that it adulates villains while they actively engage in such despicable crimes.
July 6th, 2011 at 12:42 pm
Christine:
Thank you again for your advice. I forgot while I was writing to you that I was posting to a blog. It got so personal that I just forgot.
I hope Robby doesn’t get upset when I show him what I posted. I didn’t mean to mention Tavee or Robert’s name.
If I come to San Francisco in a year or so(I am saving up),may be we could meet. Or you could come to visit me here.
It would be so exciting to visit San Francisco when Tanaka is returning. I would invite Robby to come. Who knows may be he would consent to it.
Thanks again for the reminder.
Ursla
July 6th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
AH, although I love the western inserts because they are so much more authentic than the bullshit we have received from our on historical accounts, I can understand the British point of view that we americans love our bad guys.
Kent
PS – Please keep them coming. It is one of the major reasons I read this blog. You and Howie make checking in like opening my stocking at Christmas when I was a little boy.
I couldn’t wait for the nice surprise I was going to find.
July 6th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Your bad landing in Arizona cannot be repeated.
July 6th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
iola, you are very mistaken. We rode it in. We DID NOT create it. It is a natural occurrence in that area.
July 6th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Kent;
I like the stuff AH posts too. But it is also true that we as a society worship violence too much. Most of our adulation comes for our love of the violence used by these people to resolve their issues.
No doubt there is some vicarious living going on there.
John
July 6th, 2011 at 5:06 pm
Ursla, I’d love to meet you, either here in California or when I finally go back home to Europe next year. If you would like to email me, you can email me at cdunev@gmail.com.
July 6th, 2011 at 5:57 pm
While eliminating wheat from your diet is an excellent and necessary step for improving health, it may not be alone sufficient, especially in those with serious health challenges.
According to a series of articles on the website Green Med Info, there are other foods in the Western diet that have properties similar to wheat, because they contain “chitin binding lectins”, which are similar to wheat lectin (WGA).
Chitins are long polymers of n-acetyl-glucosamine, the primary binding target of wheat lectin. Wheat lectin and chitin-binding lectin are therefore functionally identical. Chitin-binding lectin containing foods include:
Potato
Tomato
Barley
Rye
Rice
Additionally, sprouted grains, which are typically considered to be healthful fare can also be problematic for a couple of different reasons.
Not only do sprouted whole wheat contain the highest amounts of wheat lectin, sprouted grains also contain benzoxazinoids (BAs)—a surprisingly toxic component!
Even a modest reduction in consumption of these types of carbohydrate-rich foods may promote loss of deep belly fat. This could help reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, stroke and coronary artery disease, as excess visceral fat (intra-abdominal fat) raises the risk of these diseases.
According to Eurekalert:
“… [S]ubjects who consumed [a] moderately carb-restricted diet had 11 percent less deep abdominal fat than those who ate the standard diet … [S]ubjects on both diets lost weight. However, the moderately carb-restricted diet promoted a 4 percent greater loss of total body fat”.
July 6th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
Michelle it takes too long to post to your blog.
July 7th, 2011 at 12:31 am
Hafa Adai
Thanks Michelle for featuring Guam again. The mainland can always use a reminder that Guam is part of the USA, “Where America’s Day Begins,” we like to point out.
I just want to say that I have noticed the increase in the amount and the severity of rain that Guam gets now. I don’t like it. I suppose we can always use the fresh water, But the constant dampness is a big bother. I really hope we start to treat our environment better. I am reading a lot about it lately to see if there is some input I can make.
July 7th, 2011 at 6:01 am
Winter, I agree with you about the rain. Some of my friends like not worrying about a water shortage. But I don’t see it that way.
I’m a beach girl and I think it is terrible that we have lost that much of our coast land and that we may lose our coral life because of the La Niña effect.
Hafa Adai
Lea
July 7th, 2011 at 6:27 am
Iola some of the new visitors will be following the winds shifting to the southernly direction. The resulting heavy rains in certain parts of this world will NOT be do to their activity.
Get a better understanding of this planet’s weather patterns.
Aliens arriving in the southwest portion of this country will be met by 8u9o and be escorted to the new landing zone in that area.
11ok65ru
July 7th, 2011 at 6:35 am
I didn’t know that Guam was a part of the US. Do they speak english as the primary language on Guam?
July 7th, 2011 at 6:40 am
LATEST (AND GREATEST) HEART DISEASE TEST
Picture this — you’re feeling healthy, then at a routine physical your doctor finds a substance in your blood that means you have a high likelihood of dying from heart disease many years down the road.
But there’s good news, too — your doctor will be able to warn you while the condition is still at a very early stage. Good nutrition, proper medication and vigilance may keep it from developing further. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
We’re not there yet… but we’re getting close! Researchers have developed a new blood test that detects subtle damage to the heart, thus serving as an early alert to the very beginning of heart disease.
This is quite important because the sad truth is that many people who die of heart disease do not have obvious risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes or high blood pressure.
HOW DO THE RESEARCHERS KNOW?
The test detects a blood protein called cardiac troponin T (cTnT), which heart muscle cells release in response to heart damage due to a lifestyle that strains the heart muscle — or due to genetic vulnerability.
In fact, this is the same protein that emergency physicians look for to determine whether or not a patient actually has had a heart attack.
But the test used for the studies is up to 10 times more sensitive than the old version. This means that it is usually able to detect cTnT long before a person is in any real danger.
Two major medical centers — The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the University of Maryland School of Medicine — conducted studies on the new test, both coauthored by James A. de Lemos, MD, of Southwestern.
Although the test is still in the research phase, he’s quite optimistic about it, noting that it’s a more useful measure than what’s currently available for early diagnosis of heart disease.
For example, one way a doctor can screen you for heart disease today is to check your level of C-reactive protein… but this only indicates general inflammation in the body, not heart damage in particular.
The studies: In Maryland, researchers measured the cTnT levels in the 20-year-old blood samples of more than 5,000 people ages 65 and over who, at the time their blood samples were taken, had no signs of heart disease.
Researchers also examined the participants’ medical records over the two decades since the blood had been drawn, looking for the onset of heart disease and/or death.
What they found was that participants with the highest blood levels of cTnT 20 years before were four times more likely to have developed heart failure — and also four times more likely to have died from cardiovascular causes — than those in the group with the lowest cTnT.
Meanwhile, the Southwestern study measured cTnT levels in blood obtained between 2000 and 2002 from 3,500 people, ages 30 to 65, and found that over the course of seven years, those with the highest levels were almost 15 times more likely to have died, though this test included deaths by all causes.
CAN YOU GET THIS TEST?
Unfortunately, it may be a few years before this test can be put to practical use because more research must be done on how to best evaluate its results.
Meanwhile, Dr. de Lemos recommends increasing exercise, specifically aerobic activity to strengthen your heart, and also making sure that blood pressure and other risk factors are under optimal control.
Start taking care of yourself right now as Dr. de Lemos advised, and it is likely that when the test does come out, your level will have already improved!
Source(s):
James A. de Lemos, MD, professor of internal medicine and cardiology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
July 7th, 2011 at 7:04 am
We are aware of the weather patterns of this planet and the surrounding solar area.
We are also aware that huge vessels are following weather patterns to save on Cloak energy. This can cause precipitous events to occur such as thunderstorms with much heavier downpours than would have normally occurred because of upper disturbances caused by their huge presence.
If your instruments reveal the potential for such a possibility remove your presence from the equation. Of course, to do this one has to be taking that situation into possibly. Our earlier alert was to suggest that.
Obviously some of our old as well as new visitors need to be alerted to the tremendous change in severity of weather that can be caused among the normal weather patterns of this planet by their actions.
Therefore this bears repeating. Creating upper disturbances because of the size and speed of your vessels can produce abnormal downpours(rain) more frequent and powerful lightning, and much stronger winds and dust storms.
iola
July 7th, 2011 at 7:15 am
Hafa Adai:
Let me extend a pleasant welcome to the new comer from Guam, Winter(like the choice of moniker). We do have occasional meets here. You are of course invited. The Michelle’s Club meets float around so keep an eye open if you are interested.
This is a notice to alert the islanders to the whooping cough rise on the island. For the past several months, the Department of Public Health has seen an increase of suspect pertussis cases, also known as whooping cough.
The respiratory tract infection is spread through the air by coughing or sneezing. A total of 118 suspect cases have been reported with 44 confirmed cases, most of which affected children less than 12 months of age.
Pertussis is vaccine preventable but can lead to serious complications, hospitalizations, and even death.
Public Health’s Immunization Program Supervisor Annette Aguon encourages parents to ensure their children are immunized on time.
She said, “We want to promote that parents, grandparents, older children, health care providers also properly ensure that you’re immunized.
We could be the ones spreading the illness without realizing it because we think it’s just a bad cough.
It’s not serious for us as adults because we have a better immune system but for younger children, especially the infants, they’re not able to protect themselves.
They’re too young or their immune system is still developing so it’s severe for them if they come down with pertussis.”
For more information call Public Health at 735-7143 or your health care provider.
====================
It’s past my bed time. Gotta work tomorrow.
Anna
July 7th, 2011 at 7:29 am
Iola, apologies, we stand sufficiently chastened.
11ok65ru