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How to prepare for and survive a flood

This article is taken from a previous, longer article about the health impacts of flooding.  Here we focus mostly on flood preparation and recovery. A recent study titled Increasing Vulnerability to Health Effects before, during and after Floods, observed the following  in people who had experienced a major flood… Males had a higher risk of dying due to risk taking behaviors Females had a higher risk for anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress Young children, the elderly, and those with a chronic disease (e.g. heart disease, lung disease, etc) had a higher chance of getting sick or sicker Poor people have bad outcomes… Read More »How to prepare for and survive a flood

surviving winter storms

Who Survives Extreme Winter Storms?

Winter kills.  Extreme cold weather affects the elderly and very young children who can’t keep themselves warm, the homeless living on the street, and the poor who have to choose between food or heat.  Also, people who get trapped in their cars, or end up in an auto accident due to slippery roads, are also paying the price of extreme winter weather. The homeless are especially at risk.  When I was in medical school during my vascular surgery rotation at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital, one night we amputated both feet of a homeless veteran due to massive frostbite and gangrene.  This happened in a big… Read More »Who Survives Extreme Winter Storms?

Trump and Climate Change – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Since Trump was made President by the Electoral College there has been no shortage of prognostication over what his presidency will mean for the U.S. efforts to fight climate change.  Think Progress asks “Will Trump go down in history as the man who pulled the plug on a livable climate?”  While Vox definitively states that “Trump’s election marks the end of any serious hope of limiting climate change to 2 degrees.”  The doom and gloom may be overblown, although there are definitely many ways a Trump administration could hurt the world’s efforts to combat climate change.  This post will walk through the good,… Read More »Trump and Climate Change – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

What’s Hot in Climate Change – Oct. 2016

Time for another What’s Hot in Climate Change, a summary of the most interesting and/or important climate change stories from the previous month or so.  For those paying attention, horrific news with respect to the climate seems to be coming at an ever increasing pace. There’s also plenty of encouraging news.  The adoption of alternative energy seems to steadily exceed all expectations.  The race is on between the worst effects of climate change, and those measures we take to stop it from happening.  Our fate quite literally hangs in the balance.   Corrected sea level rise estimates or… it’s worse than you know… Read More »What’s Hot in Climate Change – Oct. 2016

What’s Hot in Climate Change – August 2016

Welcome back to What’s Hot in Climate Change, a sample of a few of the stories that stood out from the past few weeks in climate change news. We hope your summer has been a good one so far. It’s been pretty damn hot here in Houston, hot as ever, but even so 2016 is already on track to blow away global records for the hottest year ever recorded. Which brings us to out top stories — a story of fire and ice. Extreme Heat in the Middle East Two places in the Middle East hit 129 degrees fahrenheit (53 centigrade) on July 15th.… Read More »What’s Hot in Climate Change – August 2016