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Tuesday, May 3, 2016
This weekend at Mystic Aquarium
Mystery Solved: Why do some chemicals concentrate in the food chain and others don’t?
Traits
Identified for Why Certain Chemicals Reach Toxic Levels in Food Webs
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Researchers
have figured out what makes certain chemicals accumulate to toxic levels in
aquatic food webs. And, scientists have developed a screening technique to
determine which chemicals pose the greatest risk to the environment.
According
to the study led by the U.S. Geological Survey, two traits were identified that
indicate how chemicals can build up and reach toxic levels: how easily a
chemical is broken down or metabolized by an organism and the chemical’s
ability to dissolve in water.
These
traits account for how most chemicals concentrate, or biomagnify, in
ever-higher levels as one goes up the food chain from its base to its top
predators, such as fish, people, or polar bears.
Chemicals that have the
ability to biomagnify, such as DDT, can have adverse effects on human and
wildlife health and the environment.
Monday, May 2, 2016
Time to focus on November and beyond
By Robert Reich
Will Bernie Sanders’s supporters rally behind Hillary Clinton if
she gets the nomination? Likewise, if Donald Trump is denied the Republican
nomination, will his supporters back whoever gets the Republican nod?
If 2008 is any guide, the answer is unambiguously yes to both.
About 90 percent of people who backed Hillary Clinton in the
Democratic primaries that year ended up supporting Barack Obama in the general
election.
About the same percent of Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney backers
came around to supporting John McCain.
But 2008 may not be a good guide to the 2016 election, whose
most conspicuous feature is furious antipathy to the political establishment.
This Saturday, run for the stars!
7th Annual Frosty Drew 5K
Classic Run/Walk May 7
Frosty
Drew Nature Center & Observatory will kick off its season of outdoor activity
with the 7th annual Frosty Drew 5K Classic Run/Walk on Saturday, May 7, 2016,
rain or shine. Individuals and teams are welcome at this fun event for all ages.
The
scenic course winds through the natural treasures of Ninigret Park in Charlestown,
RI. This is a family-friendly event, with a Children’s Fun Run beginning at
11:00 am and the 5K race/walk starting at 11:15 am.
The
first 100 registrants will receive a T-Shirt. Registration fee is $25.00 per person
if pre-registered by May 6, 2016. Registration is $30.00 the day of the race,
beginning at 10:00 am. Children 10 and under are free. Apple pies will be offered
to the top finishers and certificates for teams with the best costume theme.
For the best stuff, get there early
URI to host 15th annual East Farm Spring Festival, May 14
The University of Rhode
Island’s 15th annual East Farm Spring Festival, featuring plant sales,
workshops and a wide variety of vendors, educational displays and exhibits,
will be held Saturday, May 14 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at URI’s East Farm.
The event, started in 2002 by a group of URI Master Gardeners who volunteered at the farm, annually draws thousands of visitors to the 79-acre research facility. It is sponsored by the URI Extension Outreach Center and the URI Master Gardener Program.
The event, started in 2002 by a group of URI Master Gardeners who volunteered at the farm, annually draws thousands of visitors to the 79-acre research facility. It is sponsored by the URI Extension Outreach Center and the URI Master Gardener Program.
Doggie of the week
Meet Ward
Animal
Rescue Rhode Island
Woof
- I'm Ward, the "teacher's pet"!
I've
got the whole package, with four legs and lots of love to give!
Go
ahead, teach me anything: sit, stay, balance your checkbook.. I can do it all!
I'm
a strong but sweet Black Labrador mix, and I'm naturally curious to see
whatever it is that you're doing.
I'm
also only 1 year old. Because of this I tend to jump with excitement when I
meet someone new so I still need some basic training to focus on my good puppy
manners.
We
aren't sure how I am with other pets yet, but I am willing to try if you are!
Must
have a great sense of humor and some time to spend with me.
I'm
on a mission to please you!
VA evaluating new research on Agent Orange
Vietnam Vets Push VA to Link Bladder Cancer to Agent Orangeby Mike Hixenbaugh, The Virginian-Pilot, and Charles Ornstein and Terry Parris Jr., for ProPublica
Alan Eller has spent more than a decade trying to convince the Department of Veterans Affairs that his bladder cancer was the result of exposure to Agent Orange almost 50 years ago in Vietnam.
The Army vet has filed three claims with the agency, most recently in 2014, since a doctor told him the cancer was likely tied to the toxic herbicide.
Each time, even as he found additional doctors to vouch for the link between his cancer and his service, the VA rejected Eller's claim, arguing there was no proof.
But a report last month by a prominent committee of scientists said there's now research suggesting otherwise. As a result, the VA is studying whether it should reverse its position and add the condition to the list of illnesses it presumes to be linked to Agent Orange, which the U.S. sprayed across Vietnam during the war.
Alan Eller has spent more than a decade trying to convince the Department of Veterans Affairs that his bladder cancer was the result of exposure to Agent Orange almost 50 years ago in Vietnam.The Army vet has filed three claims with the agency, most recently in 2014, since a doctor told him the cancer was likely tied to the toxic herbicide.
Each time, even as he found additional doctors to vouch for the link between his cancer and his service, the VA rejected Eller's claim, arguing there was no proof.
But a report last month by a prominent committee of scientists said there's now research suggesting otherwise. As a result, the VA is studying whether it should reverse its position and add the condition to the list of illnesses it presumes to be linked to Agent Orange, which the U.S. sprayed across Vietnam during the war.
Sunday, May 1, 2016
How do you stop corporate crime without seeking jail time?
Emission
Cheating and Lead Poisoning
Two
legal cases involving egregious harm to public health have moved forward in
recent days, though in very different ways.
In
one case an aggressive prosecutor, defying expectations, filed criminal charges
against three individuals and vowed that they “are only the beginning. There
will be more to come — that I can guarantee you.”
In
the other case, a large company reached a deal in which it will pay to modify
or buy back hundreds of thousands of defective products.
The
case in which the culprits are deservedly having the book thrown at them is the
Flint water crisis, while in the other the boom is not yet being lowered on
Volkswagen.
The first involves misconduct by public officials, the second is a case of brazen corporate crime.
The first involves misconduct by public officials, the second is a case of brazen corporate crime.
Invasion of Mothra
By TODD McLEISH/ecoRI News contributor
The winter moth
caterpillar can wreak havoc on trees. Introduced into the United States from
Europe via Canada, is most commonly observed in late fall, early winter as a
whitish adult moth and in spring as a tiny green caterpillar. (Audubon Society)
Those annoying white moths that seemed to be everywhere between
Thanksgiving and Christmas, and which sometimes formed thick fluttering clouds,
are preparing to unleash even greater devastation to the trees in southern New
England than they did last year.
Winter moth caterpillars defoliated about 27,000 acres of trees in
Rhode Island last spring, according to data from the Rhode Island Department of
Environmental Management (DEM), and one local expert says the insects will do
even greater damage this year.
Daniel Berrigan Dead at 94
Jesuit priest lived life of peace activism
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Daniel Berrigan being arrested for
civil disobedience
outside the U.S. Mission to the U.N. in 2006.
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Daniel Berrigan—Jesuit priest, peace activist, poet, author, and
inspiration to countless people—died on Saturday. He was 94 years old.
When America magazine asked a then-88-year-old Berrigan if he had
any regrets over the course of his long life, he replied, "I could have
done sooner the things I did, like Catonsville."
In
1968, Berrigan and eight other Catholic activists, including his brother
Philip, a group subsequently known as the Catonsville Nine, took hundreds of
draft files and burned them outside a Selective Service office with homemade
napalm.
Of
the action, Berrigan stated, "Our apologies, good friends, for the
fracture of good order, the burning of paper instead of children, the angering
of the orderlies in the front parlor of the charnel house. We could not, so
help us God, do otherwise."
According to a historian, it was "the single
most powerful anti-war act in American history." Rather than
beginning in 1970 his prison time for burning those draft files, Berrigan became "a
fugitive from injustice," spending four months—much to the frustration of
J. Edgar Hoover—evading FBI agents.
And
the Catonsville action was far from his only act of civil disobedience, as
decade after decade he continued to work for justice, leading to numerous
arrests and jail time.
Buy smart
Educating
Consumers about Buying Sustainably
Sustainability is a word tossed around much these days. But do consumers really care about buying sustainably? The answer is yes.
More and more consumers are interested in sustainability, as surveys show. A 2011 consumer survey by Nielsen found that 66 percent of socially-conscious consumers cited environmental sustainability as the most important issue from a list of 18 issues.
So, how do you increase awareness of buying sustainably among
consumers? The key is getting information to them.
Rhode Island drops PARCC
The Maryland State Board of Education voted to make PARCC the
state’s high school graduation test.
The passing score now will
be a 3 on a scale of 1-5, but it will rise to a 4 in four years.
Meanwhile the State Commissioner of Education on Rhode Island,
Ken Wagner, decided to drop PARCC as
a graduation requirement because he knew the failure rate would be staggering.
He said he didn’t want to penalize students for the system’s “failure to get
them to high standards.”
Nobody mentioned that PARCC’s passing score is absurdly high and
will never be reached by about half of all students.
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