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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/24/2012 4:56:49 PM
	Being Poor in the US Shortens Life Expentancy By 5 Years by Kristina Chew June 23, 2012 A recent survey revealed that the US ranks poorly among industrialized nations as far as health care and economic opportunities for women. Another new study makes another strike against the US: For all that the US spends on health care, wide disparities exist for Americans. Life expectancy for poorer US citizens is five years less than that for affluent citizens, say researchers from Rice University and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Social scientists looked at historical data from 1930 through 2000 from the Human Mortality Database, to identify trends in mortality and predict life expectancy to the year 2055. In 1930, average life expectancy was 59.85 years; by 2000, it was 77.1 years. But, says Justin Denney, an assistant professor of sociology at Rice University who was the lead author for the study, most of the gains in life expectancy were made in the 1930s, 1950s and 1960s. Life expectancy has “flattened out” since that time. Another trend that Denney notes is that, in those times when life expectancy has increased, the disparities between more and less advantaged groups have also grown. That is, “the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, inequality grows and life expectancy is dramatically impacted.” One reason behind this is that people who are more financially stable are better able to treat “many of the chronic conditions that have led to smaller gains in life expectancy,” whether by having more time in their lives to exercise, to live in healthier environments with less pollution, to obtain and prepare healthier foods and to pay for therapies (such as psychotherapy) that might help their overall health in ways seen and unseen. Plus, those with lower incomes may well live in places where there are “food deserts“; where it is harder to maintain a diet with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and low in fats and sugars. The life expectancy study, which is to be published in Social Science Quarterly, shows “the ugly side of inequality,” as Denney puts it. It also underscores the fact that, despite the “disproportionate” amount of funds the US spends on health care, life expectancy in the US is going “down the ladder of international rankings of length of life.” Long-term health and prosperity are not necessarily coordinated. Denney’s study underscores the link between economic status and health though other studies show that just the advantages of a higher income do not always mean better outcomes for your health. An article in the medical journal The Lancet found that young people aged 10 – 24 years in the US have the highest mortality rate among 27 high-income countries around the world, with American youth #1 in smoking marijuana and among the top binge drinkers in the world, and one-third of American children categorized as obese. With all of our resources and know-how, we ought to be doing something of a better job taking care of ourselves — you’d think. Related Care2 Coverage Gap in Black-White Life Expectancy At All-Time Low, But… Canada Best Country To Be a Woman, India the Worst 10 Ways Walmart Fails at Sustainability Read more: Photo by Franco Folini Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/being-poor-in-the-us-shortens-life-expectancy-by-5-years.html#ixzz1yjLOCTJD
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/24/2012 5:02:13 PM
	Species Gravely Endangered by Global Trade of Commodities like Palm Oil by Rainforest Action Network June 23, 2012 12:00 pm Written by Ashley Schaeffer A new study led by the University of Sydney appeared in the Journal Nature recently, warning that nearly a third of animal species under threat in developing nations are linked to global trade of manufactured goods and commodities such as palm oil. As the researchers put it: “Human activities are causing the globe’s sixth major extinction event.” As reported in Reuters, this is the first time that the important role of international trade and foreign consumption as a driver of threats to species has been comprehensively quantified. In what has already been a devastating year for Sumatran tigers, orangutans and elephants, this study doesn’t bode well for these three species already on the IUCN’s list of critically endangered species, largely due to the encroachment of palm oil and pulp & paper plantations into their habitat: Here we show that a significant number of species are threatened as a result of international trade along complex routes, and that, in particular, consumers in developed countries cause threats to species through their demand of commodities that are ultimately produced in developing countries. We linked 25,000 Animalia species threat records from the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List to more than 15,000 commodities produced in 187 countries and evaluated more than 5 billion supply chains in terms of their biodiversity impacts. Excluding invasive species, we found that 30% of global species threats are due to international trade. Take, for example, the dire situation with Sumatran elephants. In January of this year, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) — the world’s leading authority on conservation status of species — upgraded the status of Sumatran elephants from endangered to critically endangered. This came in response to the risk assessment after tracking the loss of 69% of the animal’s habitat over the past 25 years. With their forest homes burned, felled or converted to palm oil and pulp & paper plantations, the wild population has fallen to no more than 2,800. To add insult to injury, earlier this month at least four elephants were poisoned and killed at a palm oil plantation in the Aceh Province of Sumatra, Indonesia. And a week later, more devastating news: half of the Congo’s forest elephants were killed in the last 5 years. The links between biodiversity loss and the increased trafficking of commodities like palm oil through complex supply chains are more clear than ever. As a North American consumer, I am more aware than ever that my choices at the grocery store have a huge impact on the ground in the countries where commodities such as palm oil, found in half of all manufactured goods, come from. If you want to know why, check out this palm oil infographic. According to the study, the United States, the European Union and Japan are the main destinations for commodities associated with species threats, while Indonesia and Malaysia are among the biggest exporters. It’s therefore no coincidence that nearly 90% of the world’s palm oil comes from Indonesia and Malaysia, where so many incredible species teeter on the brink of extinction. To combat biodiversity loss, big commodity traders like Cargill must adopt critical supply chain safeguards immediately. This post was originally published by Rainforest Action Network. Related Stories: Orangutan Caught in Snare Has Surgery Scientists or Lobbyists: Who Do You Trust to Act For The Rainforest? Obama’s Biggest Climate Decision Of The Year May Be…Palm Oil Read more: consumerism, consumption, endangered species, orangutans, palm oil, rainforest action network, tigers Photo: kT LindSAy/flickr Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/species-gravely-endangered-by-global-trade-of-commodities-like-palm-oil.html#ixzz1yjMefuc1
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/24/2012 11:49:12 PM
	More tragic consequences of current extreme weather: PETA Says Duluth Zoo Negligent In Death of 13 Animals by Kristina Chew June 23, 2012 Extreme weather events are taking their toll on animals in zoos, sometimes with tragic results. Earlier this week, after Typhoon Guchol felled a 120-year-old pine tree near the enclosure for 30 Japanese squirrels in Tokyo’s Inokashira Park Zoo, about a dozen have still remained at large. Zookeepers have been setting traps and arming themselves with nets to capture the missing squirrels and are advising people not to chase or otherwise tease the animals. Rain led to flooding that caused the deaths of at least 13 animals in the Lake Superior Zoo on Wednesday. Three birds (a turkey vulture, a raven and a snowy owl) as well as six sheep, four goats and a donkey named Ashley are believed to have died after a creek overflowed; the zoo grounds also suffered extensive damage. The raven’s body has not been found and it is thought that it may have flown away, as Sam Maida, CEO of the Lake Superior Zoological Society that oversees the zoo, told the StarTribune. Kingsbury Creek runs through the middle of the zoo and its waters had started rising on Tuesday but zoo staff noted “nothing major,” says Susan Wolniakowski, the zoo’s director of guest services. She also said that security guards were keeping watch at the zoo until late at night. But after they left, the creek became blocked and “everything went haywire,” as Wolniakowski told the Star Tribune. The waters rose so high that they filled the seal exhibit and one seal, Feisty, swam right out. A polar bear, Berlin, ended up at the top of her exhibit; zoo staff sedated her with a stun gun before moving her to a safe area. Feisty ended up on Duluth’s Grand Avenue, where a resident, Donald Melton, found her at 3am in the morning. She and another seal, and Berlin, are all being moved to St. Paul’s Como Park Zoo as a precautionary measure. Other animals, including brown bears and lions, are being quarantined at the Lake Superior Zoo’s animal care building. Zoo officials said they have emergency measures in place and that these are regularly practiced. But PETA is charging that the Lake Superior Zoo was negligent in allowing 13 or 14 animals to die, says the Star Tribune, and is demanding that Duluth City Attorney Gunnar Johnson charge the zoo with animal cruelty: “It’s difficult to imagine the terror that these animals experienced, having no way to escape as the water engulfed them,” said Daphna Nachminovitch, PETA vice president of cruelty investigations. PETA said the zoo violated the Minnesota cruelty to animals statute, which defines “cruelty” as “every act, omission or neglect which causes or permits unnecessary or unjustifiable pain, suffering or death.” Kristin Simon, senior cruelty caseworker for PETA, points out that the Lake Superior Zoo had experienced a similar incident in 2010 and that flash flood warnings had been issued in the area. Johnson has made a preliminary review of the matter and said on Thursday that, so far, he does not think the charges are warranted. Noting that “a water structure (culvert) didn’t work and it failed and that failure caused a series of events that led to the loss of these animals,” Johnson said that what happened was an “act of God.” Related Care2 Coverage Escapee Penguin Back in Aquarium After 82 Days in Tokyo Bay 4 Celebrity Animals Who Will Be Missed (slideshow) Happy Feet’s Tracker Goes Silent Read more: animal cruelty, duluth, extreme weather, flooding, lake superior zoo, peta, polar bear, seal, zoo Photo of a polar bear at the Duluth Zoo by Loimere Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/peta-duluth-zoo-negligent-deaths-13-animals.html#ixzz1yl0mE7QT
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel

1162

61587

Lima

RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?

6/25/2012 12:00:16 AM

Rising sea level puts US Atlantic coast at risk: report

AFP – 6 hrs ago

Troubled waters for America's East Coast

The rapidly rising sea level along a 600-mile "hotspot" is threatening several major cities.Nightmare scenario

The sea level on a stretch of the US Atlantic coast that features the cities of New York, Norfolk and Boston is rising up to four times faster than the global average, a report said Sunday.

This increases the flood risk for one of the world's most densely-populated coastal areas and threatens wetland habitats, said a study reported in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Since about 1990, the sea level along the 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) "hotspot" zone has risen by two to 3.7 millimetres (0.08 to 0.15 inches) per year.

The global rise over the same period was between 0.6 and one millimetre per year, said the study by the US Geological Survey(USGS).

If global temperatures continue to rise, the sea level on this portion of the coast by 2100 could rise up to 30 centimetres over and above the one-metre global surge projected by scientists, it added.

The localised acceleration is thought to be caused by a disruption of Atlantic current circulation.

"As fresh water from the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet enters the ocean, it disrupts this circulation, causing the currents to slow down," USGS research oceanographer and study co-author Kara Doran explained.

"When the Gulf Stream current weakens, sea levels rise along the coast and the greatest amount of rise happens north of where the Gulf Stream leaves the coast (near Cape Hatteras)."

The hotspot stretches from Cape Hatteras, Northern Carolina to north of Boston, Massachusetts and also includes other big cities like Philadelphia and Baltimore.

"Extreme water levels that happen during winter or tropical storms, perhaps once or twice a year, may happen more frequently as sea level rise is added to storm surge," Doran told AFP.

"Scientists predict that this will lead to increased beach erosion and more frequent coastal flooding."

Another study has shown a one-metre sea level rise to increase New York's severe flooding risk from one incident every century to one every three years.

The USGS report was based on actual tide level measurements, said Doran. Other studies have shown a similar hotspot using climate models.

In a 2007 assessment report, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change saidglobal warming would cause the sea level to rise by up to 59 centimetres by century's end.

Even this relatively modest projection would render several island nations unlivable and wreak havoc in low-lying deltas home to hundreds of millions.

But reports since then have said that melting Arctic ice plays a greater role in sea level rise than previously suspected, and most climate change scientists now project the ocean will rise roughly a metre by century's end.

Climate warming causes sea levels to rise by melting land-ice and through the thermal expansion of water.

In a separate study in Nature Climate Change, European scientists said a 1.5-degree-Celsius rise in global temperatures would see sea levels peak at about 1.5 metres above 2000 levels.

But warming of two degrees would result in sea levels reaching 2.7 metres -- nearly double.

The UN is targeting a 2 C (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) limit on warming from pre-industrial levels for manageable climate change.

"Due to the long time it takes for the world's ice and water masses to react to global warming, our emissions today determine sea levels for centuries to come," said lead author Michiel Schaeffer of Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/25/2012 10:30:50 AM
	Coming Soon: A World without Penguins by Cathryn Wellner June 24, 2012 The threat of extinction hangs over penguins. Care2 bloggers have written about the precipitous drop among the Adélie and African penguins. While the film “March of the Penguins” was popular, a lot of attention focused on the 13 species of penguins (out of 18) that are threatened or endangered. In the last week researchers have raised the specter of global warming as the culprit responsible for the precipitous decline of two species of Antarctic penguins: the Emperor and the Chinstrap. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) biologist Stephanie Jenouvrier has been studying the Emperor penguin and reports the Dion Islets colony dropped from 150 breeding pairs in 1948 to none in 2009. She and her colleagues warn that if global temperatures continue to rise, the Terre Adélie penguins may also disappear. The species relies on sea ice for breeding and raising their chicks. Disappearing ice increases the already high mortality among Emperor chicks. It also robs them of their food source, in a chain of losses that starts with plankton that grows beneath the ice and moves through the krill, squid and fish that feed on the plankton. Jenouvrier says: “Our best projections show roughly 500 to 600 breeding pairs remaining by the year 2100. Today, the population size is around 3000 breeding pairs.” Next page: Chinstraps Disappearing; Humans to Blame >> More >> Read more: animal welfare, climate change, environment & wildlife, extinction, global warming, penguin, penguins Photo credits: Thinkstock Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/coming-soon-a-world-without-penguins.html#ixzz1yncQjDvy
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Rising sea level puts US Atlantic coast at risk: report

Troubled waters for America's East Coast

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