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Sigmetnow

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Health Effects of Climate Change
« on: April 06, 2016, 02:13:06 AM »
Studies increasingly show adverse health effects resulting from climate change.  The latest report is the White House climate study.

Deaths, Floods and Pestilence Cited in White House Climate Study
Quote
Deadly heat waves, worsening air quality, and the increasing spread of illnesses like Lyme disease and West Nile Virus could kill tens of thousands of Americans and leave scores more battling chronic disease over the next century, the White House warned in a report released Monday.

All Americans are vulnerable to climate change affecting their health and the risks are varied and severe, administration officials said Monday. Air pollution and longer allergy seasons will exacerbate asthma and other respiratory illnesses. The chances of food and waterborne illnesses will increase. Droughts and floods will become more frequent. And extreme weather events -- and their disruption to public services and health infrastructure -- will be more likely and more severe.

“This isn’t just about glaciers and polar bears, it’s about the health of our families and kids,” EPA administrator Gina McCarthy said in a briefing with reporters.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-04-04/deaths-floods-and-pestilence-cited-in-white-house-climate-study


Climate change threat to public health worse than polio, White House warns
Obama administration report details the diversity of risks and claims global warming is a far more challenging danger than polio virus in some cases
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/04/climate-change-public-health-threat-white-house-report


Scroll down at this link for a synopsis and a link to the White House report itself.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/04/04/fact-sheet-what-climate-change-means-your-health-and-family
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2016, 01:58:15 AM »
Quote
@ClimateNexus:  GRAPHIC: How #climate change, #pollution and air quality affect your health via @PublicHealth @ClimateNexus
https://twitter.com/climatenexus/status/734512438431911936
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2016, 02:54:12 PM »
Health effects from the causes of climate change:

Scientists Just Discovered Exactly What Air Pollution Does To Your Arteries
Quote
Air pollution has been linked to heart disease for years, prompting concern as well as some skepticism, as the physiological steps showing a cause-and-effect have gone less understood. But now, a multi-year study has for the first time documented that air pollution thickens blood and hardens arteries, a condition that causes cardiovascular problems like heart attacks and strokes.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/24/3781243/how-air-pollution-causes-heart-disease/
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2016, 02:08:25 PM »
Climate change is bad for your kidneys
Thousands of people labouring in hot temperatures have been succumbing to a deadly kidney disease, and as the planet warms, the problem is likely to spread
Quote
A recent study found that hard work in the hot climate of the lowlands left workers dehydrated, putting such a heavy strain on their kidneys that it fatally damaged them. “When it’s extremely hot, the risk for kidney damage really begins to become evident,” said Richard Johnson of the University of Colorado, Denver.

Similar epidemics of kidney disease were also found in farm workers in other hot climates, in Sri Lanka, Egypt and Andhra Pradesh in India. And as global temperatures rise and heat waves become more intense, so the new type of kidney disease is increasing, according to the study published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/jun/20/claimate-change-bad-kidneys-weatherwatch
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #4 on: July 14, 2016, 11:40:48 PM »
The Climate Anxiety Doctor Is “In”
A Providence poet is taking to the park to counsel residents about their climate woes.
https://www.hakaimagazine.com/article-short/climate-anxiety-doctor
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2016, 07:02:12 PM »
Heat speak: challenges of the “silent killer”
Quote
Meteorological Twitter has been pretty quiet of late. In fact, the only real “hot-topic” cooking up is about heat—no surprise in the summer months. This subject is revisited every summer and it often has to do with criteria. What constitutes a heat advisory? How about an excessive heat warning? As the weather wise know, answers to those questions vary based on location. But there are some broader points to the heat narrative that inspire further discussion. Scientists always seem to want hard and fast rules—or certain thresholds. Does a certain ambient temperature need to be reached? Should it simply focus on heat index? How does time factor into the equation?
...
Josh: Is a heat advisory really needed? Maybe not for you or me… we know the drill… more water than usual, less outdoor exertion, lighter clothing. But there are outdoor workers in industries such as construction, landscaping and roofing. Owners and managers of these companies don’t slow down business just because the weather folks said it might be a good idea. The hard laborers in these forces may not readily receive weather message or even speak the language in which those messages are offered (see lightning fatalities). For those workers and others, the body can breakdown quickly in hot temperatures and the symptoms of heat related illness can appear suddenly. Annual and often repetitive advisories may serve as a reminder, a review of heat related illness every year, especially for those most susceptible. In addition to outdoor workers these messages must be reinforced to the elderly, the infirm, kids (their parents), pets and of course those without access to air conditioning.
https://thewxsocial.com/2016/07/22/heat-speak-challenges-of-the-silent-killer/
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #6 on: July 29, 2016, 02:24:25 AM »
Russian officials blame thawed reindeer carcass in anthrax outbreak
Quote
Thirteen people have been hospitalized amid an outbreak of anthrax in western Siberia, the governor's office of the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region reported Thursday. Experts with the Russian Ministry of Agriculture believe the cause of infection is the thawing of the frozen carcass of a reindeer that died 75 years ago.
...
The hospitalizations came after up to 1,200 reindeer died over the past month, which officials originally blamed on a heat wave in the region. Unusually high temperatures of up to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded over the past month might have weakened the reindeer.

Now, laboratory tests have confirmed that the reindeer died of anthrax, Gov. Dmitry Kobylkin's office reported.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/28/health/anthrax-thawed-reindeer-siberia/index.html
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Anne

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Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #8 on: August 09, 2016, 12:55:04 AM »
Olympic Athletes Challenged by New Opponent: Global Warming
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Climate change warnings poignantly made during the Olympic Games opening ceremony on Friday are likely to resonate with athletes as they struggle to train and compete in Brazil’s tropical heat.

Marathon runners, swimmers, volleyball players and even soccer referees will succumb to extreme temperatures and lose concentration during the games, in some cases risking their lives to heatstroke, according to a report released Monday by Observatorio do Clima, a Brazilian civil society group.

“Because of warming, sport will never be the same again,” and fewer records than in previous games are likely to fall as a result, the report said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-08/olympic-records-won-t-come-easy-in-rio-because-of-climate-change
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #9 on: August 10, 2016, 09:55:31 PM »
A Second Olympic pool has turned green
Quote
On Tuesday, when the diving pool at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre mysteriously changed colors, Olympic organizers and FINA -- swimming's international governing body -- offered competing explanations why.

On Wednesday, the water polo pool at the center also went green.

Swimming pools, in case anyone is unclear, are supposed to be a tranquil shade of azure.

So, what is going on?
There are now so many explanations.

A change in alkalinity:
Mario Andrada, the communication director for the Rio 2016 local organizing committee, says a sudden change in alkalinity is the culprit.

"We expect the color to be back to blue soon," Andrada said, adding there is "absolutely no risk to the athletes or anybody."

An algae bloom:
Nope, the green tone seen was due to a proliferation of algae, the organizing body said. The algae bloomed because of heat and lack of wind, it said.

Poor organization:
Nope, says, FINA, the blames lies with the organizers. FINA claims water tanks "ran out some of the chemicals used in the water treatment process." It made no mention of wind or heat.

It didn't take long for the Internet to offer up its own imaginative take on the green shade....
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/10/sport/rio-olympics-second-green-pool-trnd/index.html
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ritter

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #10 on: August 10, 2016, 11:03:44 PM »
Someone peed in the pool?  :o

Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #11 on: August 11, 2016, 07:55:52 PM »
SoCal hit with worst smog in years as hot, stagnant weather brings surge in hospital visits
Quote
Southern California is experiencing its worst smog in years this summer as heat and stagnant weather increase the number of bad air days and drive up ozone pollution to levels not seen since 2009.
...
Fine blamed the increase in smog on abnormally hot, stagnant weather, including some of the strongest, most persistent pollution-trapping inversion layers in years. It’s unlikely that increased emissions are to blame, he said, because of a wide variety of regulations that mandate increasingly cleaner cars, trucks and other vehicles.

Smoke from recent wildfires has also degraded air quality.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-summer-smog-20160805-snap-story.html
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budmantis

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #13 on: August 13, 2016, 08:49:50 AM »
Good post Mr. Visible, thanks for the information. By the way, I really like your handle.

MrVisible

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #14 on: September 03, 2016, 11:12:34 PM »
Two more outbreaks of anthrax hit northern Siberia due to thawing permafrost

Quote
Crucially, the study also established that the infection started in thawed, contaminated soil, rather than emanating directly from decades-old poisoned reindeer carcasses or even human remains in graveyards, as was earlier believed.

This, in turn, means that controlling new outbreaks in a warming climate  is virtually impossible, other than by mass vaccinations of people and animals.


Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #15 on: September 08, 2016, 06:23:52 PM »
Labor Day 2050: How Global Warming Threatens Labor Productivity
Also, higher CO2 levels directly harm human cognition
By Dr. Joe Romm
Quote
Global warming is projected to have a serious negative impact on outdoor labor productivity this century. That impact could well exceed the “combined cost of all other projected economic losses” from climate change, as one expert has explained. Yet it has “never been included in economic models of future warming”!

At the same time, higher carbon dioxide (CO2) levels threaten indoor productivity, as I reported last year. The Harvard School of Public Health has found that CO2 has a direct and negative impact on human cognition and decision-making at CO2 levels that most Americans are routinely exposed to today.

Ironically, strong climate action would be a huge boost to productivity. Here’s what we know. ...
https://thinkprogress.org/global-warming-labor-productivity-5743fdfc7468
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Shared Humanity

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #16 on: October 03, 2016, 03:22:55 PM »
With blooms of blue green algae on the rise due to AGW, the health effects could be devastating.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/algae-bloom-toxin-linked-to-alzheimers-and-other-neurodegenerative-diseases/

Rippleillusion

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #17 on: October 09, 2016, 11:58:24 PM »
First post! I wanted to weigh in on the health factors I've noticed the last couple of years.

In the summer of 2015, we were hit here in Southern BC by Smoke waves from surrounding fires. This past summer it's an algae bloom that has found its way into our seafood chain. We've had less rainfall events, meaning the air is smoggier here in the city. And most devastatingly of all, some people had to stop watering their lawns   ;D

Personally my biggest health effect(that I've noticed anyhow) has been emotional. If I don't distract myself significantly, its on my mind 24/7. I've had dreams about AGW. I drink and eat more. I'm less productive and driven. I know these are all choices and feeling sorry for oneself is not the answer, but these are very unique circumstances which I don't think anybody is emotionally prepared for.


oren

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #18 on: October 13, 2016, 08:19:46 AM »
First post!

Welcome to the forum! The first posting is the hardest.
I also find that the main health effect of climate change (and many other long term trends) is depression  :(

Bruce Steele

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #19 on: October 13, 2016, 03:02:23 PM »
Rippleillusion, It is depressing !  It is very hard to find someone to lend an ear but we are all here , so thanks for the honesty and keep on posting. I might add delusions of grandeur to the list of mental cracks that may actually be healthy at this point. So as you cut back on your personal carbon contribution , natural response in the face of all this , think about how you or a group you and your friends can get to zero fossil fuel carbon emissions . I have never meet anyone who didn't think zero was impossible but maybe to " dream as many as six impossible things before breakfast " is a sane response .

ritter

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #20 on: October 13, 2016, 05:43:19 PM »
Personally my biggest health effect(that I've noticed anyhow) has been emotional. If I don't distract myself significantly, its on my mind 24/7. I've had dreams about AGW. I drink and eat more. I'm less productive and driven. I know these are all choices and feeling sorry for oneself is not the answer, but these are very unique circumstances which I don't think anybody is emotionally prepared for.

Welcome to the other side. Some of my colleges engaged in climate change and adaptation work call it the "awakening" or "rock bottom". Put the food and drink down. Go outside and get some exercise and enjoy nature where you find it. I find being outside and walking/riding/running/whatever the best distraction and being in better shape has never hurt anybody. Then get up and do something about it. Anything. The more there are of us working on a solution or adaptations to climate change, the better our chance of avoiding or reducing the most horrific consequences. It may not be possible to change our course at this late stage of the game, but I'll be damned if I don't try.  ;)

ritter

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #21 on: October 28, 2016, 07:52:11 PM »
For those in the San Francisco Bay Areas, the health effects of climate change is a growing movement/concern. Here's a short conference if anyone is interested in attending.

Social Justice in Climate Change Adaptation: Beyond Sea Level Rise

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/social-justice-in-climate-change-adaptation-beyond-sea-level-rise-tickets-28697726673?ref=enivtefor001&invite=MTA5NzgxODEvbGluZGEuaGVsbGFuZEBjZHBoLmNhLmdvdi8w&utm_source=eb_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=inviteformalv2&ref=enivtefor001&utm_term=attend

Quote
What are the disproportionate impacts of climate change on households most at risk, including people of color, with low incomes, or with disabilities? How can community leaders and agency staff work together to systematize social justice in climate resilience?

Join grassroots leaders from the Resilient Communities Initiative (RCI), and key agency staff from the Office of Planning and Research (OPR), California Department of Public Health, and other agencies in the second joint policy workshop in a series that seeks to identify how communities most at-risk from climate change can move from input to leadership in resilience policies. The workshop will focus on systematizing and funding social justice in climate resilience planning.

Rippleillusion

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #22 on: November 05, 2016, 11:09:30 PM »
Thank you to all for your kind welcome and golden advice! Like many here I do believe that logically, despite our circumstances it is wise to try to live life as fully engaged as possible. Pursuing songwriting/music with vigour (user name is my band name) and in conjunction with my current feelings about the near term future (my opinion being unavoidable NTHE). Being lucky enough to live in Vancouver, I also enjoy hiking, although the extent to which going out in the wild is a distraction for me is quite miniscule. I'm quite observant on the changes happening out there.

However I find that my greatest escape is simply coming on here and reading the brilliant comments. Those smart (and courageous) enough to continue to study the arctic even as it must be gutting for them. By those with creative solutions. You all inspire me and quite often keep me entertained and therefore sane, and able minded enough to continue to educate, protest, change my lifestyle, etc, even though in my heart I believe our condition is very much fatal. So thank you for that!

One thing I am doing is I'm keeping vigilant to detect any physical health consequences that may happen in my west coast habitat. First thing I really noticed was the summer of 2015 contained significant waves of wildfire smoke that choked the oxygen out of the air. This past summer we had an algae bloom that broke records and turned the water a slimy green. Surely that affected the health of our remaining coastal ecosystem. So far people haven't collectively noticed in any significant way. It's truly bizarre.
[/quote]

Welcome to the other side. Some of my colleges engaged in climate change and adaptation work call it the "awakening" or "rock bottom". Put the food and drink down. Go outside and get some exercise and enjoy nature where you find it. I find being outside and walking/riding/running/whatever the best distraction and being in better shape has never hurt anybody. Then get up and do something about it. Anything. The more there are of us working on a solution or adaptations to climate change, the better our chance of avoiding or reducing the most horrific consequences. It may not be possible to change our course at this late stage of the game, but I'll be damned if I don't try.  ;)
[/quote]

Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #23 on: November 23, 2016, 07:01:55 PM »
Four people are dead in Australia after a thunderstorm triggered thousands of asthma attacks
Quote
A scary confluence of hazards killed at least four people and sent thousands of people to emergency rooms in Australia on Monday night.

A strong thunderstorm rolled through Melbourne, which, in itself, may not have been all that remarkable. But the air was hot and dry before this cold front, and grass pollen was lying in wait for the slightest bit of moisture.

The Bureau of Meteorology ended up posting severe storm warnings for the entire state of Victoria as it plowed across southern Australia.

“The noise was unbelievable, it was truly unbelievable,” Melbourne resident Marie Clement told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. “The chairs were shooting past the family room window, the garden chairs — it was very frightening indeed.”

Chairs and shingles were the least of this storm’s threats, though. After it passed, people couldn’t breathe. The rain and wind combined with the pollen created a deadly situation that even affected people who don’t typically have respiratory issues.

Between 6 and 11 that night, there were about 2,000 calls to triple-zero — Australia’s version of 911 — which is nearly seven times the average number, the ABC reports.

The scene at hospitals was chaos, the ABC reported:
Hospitals were swamped with emergency patients, while firefighters and police were called on to help paramedics respond to thousands of calls after the conditions caused breathing problems for Victorians.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/11/23/four-people-are-dead-in-australia-after-a-thunderstorm-caused-thousands-of-asthma-attacks/
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MrVisible

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #24 on: November 24, 2016, 01:16:42 AM »
I did a little digging into thunderstorm asthma, and found this paper:

Asthma admissions and thunderstorms: a study of pollen, fungal spores, rainfall, and ozone

Quote
The effect is more marked in warmer weather, and is not explained by increases in grass pollen, total pollen or fungal spore counts, nor by an interaction between these and rainfall. There was an independent, positive association between ozone concentrations and asthma admissions.

Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #25 on: April 18, 2017, 10:15:38 PM »
Quote
Researchers currently classify the new form of chronic kidney disease as “climate-sensitive”, which means that climate is one ingredient contributing to the epidemic. As temperatures continue to rise, many such climate-sensitive diseases will become climate-driven, and monitoring and bringing attention to them will become even more crucial.
Climate change is turning dehydration into a deadly disease
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/climate-change-is-turning-dehydration-into-a-deadly-disease-a7680856.html
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Archimid

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #26 on: April 23, 2017, 05:54:10 PM »
'It’s going to hit the poorest people': Zika outbreak feared on the Texas border

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/23/zika-outbreak-rio-grande-valley-texas-border-health

Quote
It is real enough, if not widespread: according to state health department statistics, 10 Zika cases have been documented in Texas this year and 320 in 2016 and 2015. About 250 women and children have shown evidence of infection reported to the federal Zika Pregnancy Registry.

Zika, and climate change driven mutations of both the mosquito and the virus scare the heck out of me.
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #27 on: May 09, 2017, 12:03:00 AM »
Article takes a fairly extreme tone... but I'm posting it because it looks at many different aspects of the problem.

There are diseases hidden in ice, and they are waking up
Long-dormant bacteria and viruses, trapped in ice and permafrost for centuries, are reviving as Earth's climate warms
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170504-there-are-diseases-hidden-in-ice-and-they-are-waking-up
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Shared Humanity

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #28 on: May 09, 2017, 02:53:02 PM »
Article takes a fairly extreme tone... but I'm posting it because it looks at many different aspects of the problem.

There are diseases hidden in ice, and they are waking up
Long-dormant bacteria and viruses, trapped in ice and permafrost for centuries, are reviving as Earth's climate warms
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170504-there-are-diseases-hidden-in-ice-and-they-are-waking-up

"The Earth Strikes Back!"

In my darkest moods, I imagine (wish for?) a global pandemic that wipes out about 2/3 of us.

Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #29 on: June 12, 2017, 07:02:25 PM »
Dust Bowl-ification of U.S. Southwest leads to 8-fold jump in Valley Fever cases
As the region dries out, infections from inhaling soil-dwelling fungus see stunning jump.
Quote
The infection rate of Valley Fever in the Southwest United States has gone up a stunning 800 percent from 2000 to 2011, as dust storms have more than doubled.

New research directly links the rise in Valley Fever to the rise in dust storms, which in turn is driven by climate change. Valley Fever, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls “a fungal lung infection that can be devastating,” is caused by inhaling soil-dwelling fungus. When the soil dries out and turns to dust, the wind can make the fungus airborne....
https://thinkprogress.org/valley-fever-soars-climate-change-8b236cf4e9c9
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #30 on: July 13, 2017, 03:39:45 PM »
Also referenced in the AGW > Science > 'climate porn' thread:
https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,2101.msg120645.html#msg120645

Climate Change Is Giving Us 'Pre-Traumatic Stress'
Quote
Scientists on the front lines are speaking out about how their climate data drives despair, but these emotions may also be the most potent force for change.

On January 6, "rebel meteorologist" Eric Holthaus sent a series of 15 tweets describing how he was coping with feelings of despair in the face of climate change. Although he may not have realized it at the time, his tweets were further evidence for a growing body of research that shows that climate change has become a mental health issue, afflicting an increasing number of people with something that one researcher has called "pre-traumatic stress disorder."

"I'm starting my 11th year working on climate change, including the last 4 in daily journalism. Today I went to see a counselor about it," Holthaus's tweets began. "There are days where I literally can't work. I'll read a story & shut down for the rest of the day. We don't deserve this planet. There are (many) days when I think it would be better off without us."


The tweets continue to describe Holthaus's feelings of despair about how human-induced climate change is wiping out species that have been on earth for millions of years, as well as his general lack of hope now that the CEO of Exxon Mobil is the US secretary of state. Yet about halfway through the tweetstorm, Holthaus changes tone, saying that he doesn't feel alone in his feelings of despair. Indeed, he knows that others feel the same way and that this gives him hope insofar as it indicates people care.
...
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/vvzzam/climate-change-is-giving-us-pre-traumatic-stress
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Archimid

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #31 on: July 16, 2017, 02:46:54 AM »
More U.S. counties are finding Zika-carrying mosquitoes

http://www.dailyherald.com/entlife/20170715/more-us-counties-are-finding-zika-carrying-mosquitoes

Quote
Two types of mosquitoes are the primary transmitters of Zika, dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya viruses. Based on updated data collected through 2016, research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 38 additional counties -- primarily in Texas but as far north as Illinois -- documented the presence of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, Zika's main vector. That's an increase of 21 percent compared to an earlier 2016 survey.
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Archimid

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #32 on: July 25, 2017, 06:33:14 PM »
Scientists Can See Zika Coming by Tracking the Climate

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-can-see-zika-coming-by-tracking-the-climate/

Quote
From the ashes of a devastating Zika virus outbreak last year, scientists are piecing together how it happened, and they’re using climate variables to get ahead of the next pandemic.
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #33 on: July 27, 2017, 08:41:47 PM »
Climate Change Is Killing Us Right Now
The most obvious effect of global warming is not a doomsday scenario. Extreme heat is happening today, and wreaking havoc on vulnerable bodies.
    By Emily Atkin. July 20, 2017
Quote
A young, fit U.S. soldier is marching in a Middle Eastern desert, under a blazing summer sun. He’s wearing insulated clothing and lugging more than 100 pounds of gear, and thus sweating profusely as his body attempts to regulate the heat. But it’s 108 degrees out and humid, too much for him bear. The brain is one of the first organs affected by heat, so his judgment becomes impaired; he does not recognize the severity of his situation. Just as his organs begin to fail, he passes out. His internal temperature is in excess of 106 degrees when he dies.

An elderly woman with cardiovascular disease is sitting alone in her Chicago apartment on the second day of a massive heatwave. She has an air conditioner, but she’s on a fixed income and can’t afford to turn it on again—or maybe it broke and she can’t afford to fix it. Either way, she attempts to sleep through the heat again, and her core temperature rises.  To cool off, her body’s response is to work the heart harder, pumping more blood to her skin. But the strain on her heart is too much; it triggers cardiac arrest, and she dies.

Such scenarios could surely happen today, if they haven’t already. But as the world warms due to climate change, they’ll become all too common in just a few decades—and that’s according to modest projections. ...
https://newrepublic.com/article/143899/climate-change-killing-us-right-now

Also posted in AGW > Science > "climate porn" thread.
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wili

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #34 on: October 31, 2017, 11:50:03 AM »
CC is [already] Bad for your Health

Quote
... “Climate change is happening, and it’s a health issue today for millions worldwide,” said Anthony Costello, a co-chairman of the commission that produced the report, called The Lancet Countdown.

...climate change is already affecting human health in serious ways, with harms “far worse than previously understood.” The report argues that the health professions have a responsibility “to communicate the threats and opportunities” of a phenomenon that is “central to human well-being.”

...human-caused global warming “threatens to undermine the past 50 years of gains in public health.” But the report also said that a comprehensive approach to slow the planet’s warming could be “the great health opportunity of the 21st century.”

...outdoor labor capacity in rural areas fell, on average, by 5.3 percent over the past 16 years because of heat stress and other conditions making work more difficult. That is a stunning loss of productivity, and directly attributable to global warming during a period when nine of the 10 of the hottest years on record were recorded.

Productivity fell 2 percent from 2015 to 2016 alone.

In 2015, the Lancet report says, an additional 175 million people over the age of 65 were exposed to heat waves, when compared with broad trends of the past 20 years.

... lower-income countries experience far greater economic loss as a proportion of their gross domestic product because of climate-related disasters when compared to higher-income countries.

...From 1990 to 2016, uninsured losses in low-income countries were equivalent to over 1.5 percent of their G.D.P.

...recent gains in combating the spread of these diseases [are] now being threatened by climate change.

The report shows that transmission of dengue fever by just two types of mosquito has increased 3 percent and 5.9 percent, since 1990, the result of a broad range of factors including climate change...

If the report contained just these findings, it would still be an alert to public health officials. But there are dozens of other examples that clearly show that climate change is no longer a distant, future threat.

It is here, now.

This is now a medical and public health fight, not just an environmental one.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/opinion/climate-change-health-heat.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
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Daniel B.

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #35 on: October 31, 2017, 03:07:45 PM »
CC is [already] Bad for your Health

Quote
... “Climate change is happening, and it’s a health issue today for millions worldwide,” said Anthony Costello, a co-chairman of the commission that produced the report, called The Lancet Countdown.

...climate change is already affecting human health in serious ways, with harms “far worse than previously understood.” The report argues that the health professions have a responsibility “to communicate the threats and opportunities” of a phenomenon that is “central to human well-being.”

...human-caused global warming “threatens to undermine the past 50 years of gains in public health.” But the report also said that a comprehensive approach to slow the planet’s warming could be “the great health opportunity of the 21st century.”

...outdoor labor capacity in rural areas fell, on average, by 5.3 percent over the past 16 years because of heat stress and other conditions making work more difficult. That is a stunning loss of productivity, and directly attributable to global warming during a period when nine of the 10 of the hottest years on record were recorded.

Productivity fell 2 percent from 2015 to 2016 alone.

In 2015, the Lancet report says, an additional 175 million people over the age of 65 were exposed to heat waves, when compared with broad trends of the past 20 years.

... lower-income countries experience far greater economic loss as a proportion of their gross domestic product because of climate-related disasters when compared to higher-income countries.

...From 1990 to 2016, uninsured losses in low-income countries were equivalent to over 1.5 percent of their G.D.P.

...recent gains in combating the spread of these diseases [are] now being threatened by climate change.

The report shows that transmission of dengue fever by just two types of mosquito has increased 3 percent and 5.9 percent, since 1990, the result of a broad range of factors including climate change...

If the report contained just these findings, it would still be an alert to public health officials. But there are dozens of other examples that clearly show that climate change is no longer a distant, future threat.

It is here, now.

This is now a medical and public health fight, not just an environmental one.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/opinion/climate-change-health-heat.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region

The bigger question is whether these negative impacts will outweigh the benefits in the future.  The point at which the negatives start to outweigh the positives is quite contentious, but some claim that this will not occur until the temperature rise reaches 3C.  Prof Richard Tol calculates that climate change in the past century improved human welfare by 1.4 per cent of global economic output, and will continue to rise.  The benefits include fewer winter death, which outnumber summer death by more than 2:1.  Warmer temperatures reduce overall energy usage, as heating uses more energy overall than cooling.  But the greatest benefit has come from increased agricultural output attributed to longer growing seasons (reduced frosts and freezes), increased rainfall, and higher atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. 


http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=23746

TerryM

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #36 on: October 31, 2017, 04:16:27 PM »
Richard Tol is credited as "an adviser to the climate denial organization Global Warming Policy Foundation" according to the desmog blog:


https://www.desmogblog.com/richard-tol


Prominent GW deniars are seldom given much air time at this here.


Did you possibly lose you way while trying to get back to Anthony's site?


Terry


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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #37 on: October 31, 2017, 05:03:40 PM »
Richard Tol is credited as "an adviser to the climate denial organization Global Warming Policy Foundation" according to the desmog blog:
https://www.desmogblog.com/richard-tol
Prominent GW deniars are seldom given much air time at this here.

Terry
See below for who Professor Tol is. I think desmog blog might have got it wrong, very wrong. Climate denier he is not. He is an economist
The phrase "knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing" springs to mind.
And he may be right in some ways if you start with the belief that unfettered economic growth is more important than the human suffering required to achieve it.. Up to very recently climate change has only scratched the surface of world economic growth. Only now are we seeing events that may have long-lasting fundamental impacts on individual societies. Even then an economist can legitimately claim that there are long-term economic benefits of major catastrophes. The Puerto Rico catastrophe may well be the event to accelerate renewable energy investment throughout the Caribbean. Some historians make a good case that the Black Death that took out one third of Europe's population made the space for the renaissance.

As Stalin said "one man's death is a tragedy, one million is just a statistic".

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/profiles/289812

Prof Richard Tol
Post:   Professor of Economics (Economics), University of Sussex, England.
Location:   JUBILEE BUILDING JUB-281
Email:   R.Tol@sussex.ac.uk
Personal homepage:   Tol_Richard

Telephone numbers
Internal:   7282
UK:   01273 877282
International:   +44 1273 877282

Research expertise:
Climate change, Climate economics, Economics, Energy, Energy economics, Environment, Environmental economics, Scientometrics, tourism
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Biography
Richard S.J. Tol is a Professor at the Department of Economics, University of Sussex and the Professor of the Economics of Climate Change, Institute for Environmental Studies and Department of Spatial Economics, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He is a member of the Academia Europaea.

Previously, he was a Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin, the Michael Otto Professor of Sustainability and Global Change at Hamburg University and an Adjunct Professor, Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. He has had visiting appointments at the Canadian Centre for Climate Research, University of Victoria, British Colombia, at the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, University College London, and at the Princeton Environmental Institute and the Department of Economics, Princeton University.

Richard received an M.Sc. in econometrics (1992) and a Ph.D. in economics (1997) from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He is ranked among the top 150 economists in the world, and has over 200 publications in learned journals (with 100+ co-authors), one book, three edited volumes, and many minor publications.

He specialises in the economics of energy, environment, and climate, and is interested in tourism and scientometrics.

Role
Professor of Economics
Community and Business
Richard is an editor for Energy Economics. He is advisor and referee of national and international policy and research. He is an author (contributing, lead, principal and convening) of Working Groups I, II and III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, shared winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007; an author and editor of the UNEP Handbook on Methods for Climate Change Impact Assessment and Adaptation Strategies; a GTAP Research Fellow. He is actively involved in the European Climate Forum, the European Forum on Integrated Environmental Assessment, and the Energy Modeling Forum.

« Last Edit: October 31, 2017, 05:09:47 PM by gerontocrat »
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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #38 on: October 31, 2017, 06:27:45 PM »

The bigger question is whether these negative impacts will outweigh the benefits in the future.  The point at which the negatives start to outweigh the positives is quite contentious, but some claim that this will not occur until the temperature rise reaches 3C.  Prof Richard Tol calculates that climate change in the past century improved human welfare by 1.4 per cent of global economic output, and will continue to rise.  The benefits include fewer winter death, which outnumber summer death by more than 2:1.  Warmer temperatures reduce overall energy usage, as heating uses more energy overall than cooling.  But the greatest benefit has come from increased agricultural output attributed to longer growing seasons (reduced frosts and freezes), increased rainfall, and higher atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. 


http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=23746

Excerpt taken from Article titled "Why Climate Change is Good for the World" penned by Matt Ridley and printed in The Spectator (U.K.), October 19, 2013.

The article ends with this statement....

"So we are doing real harm now to impede a change that will produce net benefits for 70 years."

It is becoming tedious to scroll past this crap.

Daniel B.

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #39 on: October 31, 2017, 06:35:24 PM »
Since Terry's article mentioned productivity as well as health effects, so reporting on the economic growth seemed appropriate.  Focusing on one aspect of the change, while ignoring the bigger picture seems rather narrow-minded or possibly, self-serving.  Sure, heat-related deaths have increased.  But at the same time, cold-related deaths have subsided.  That is similar to those railing against vaccines, because of the few negative results, while ignoring the decrease in mortality from the disease itself.  The popular meme these days seems to be to portray anyone who says anything good about the changing climate as being a denier.  I thought that type of groupthink ended after 1984 came and went.

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #40 on: October 31, 2017, 06:47:05 PM »
In fact Richard Tol is a very well known denier of the concensus and the impacts of global warming. Some of this is covered by an old article by Dana Nuccitelli:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2014/jun/05/contrarians-accidentally-confirm-global-warming-consensus

TerryM

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #41 on: October 31, 2017, 07:34:51 PM »
Since Terry's article mentioned productivity as well as health effects, so reporting on the economic growth seemed appropriate.  Focusing on one aspect of the change, while ignoring the bigger picture seems rather narrow-minded or possibly, self-serving.  Sure, heat-related deaths have increased.  But at the same time, cold-related deaths have subsided.  That is similar to those railing against vaccines, because of the few negative results, while ignoring the decrease in mortality from the disease itself.  The popular meme these days seems to be to portray anyone who says anything good about the changing climate as being a denier.  I thought that type of groupthink ended after 1984 came and went.


That's certainly a meme that I subscribe to.


BTW
Orwell was an optimist.


Terry

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #42 on: October 31, 2017, 08:05:00 PM »
Since Terry's article mentioned productivity as well as health effects, so reporting on the economic growth seemed appropriate.  Focusing on one aspect of the change, while ignoring the bigger picture seems rather narrow-minded or possibly, self-serving.  Sure, heat-related deaths have increased.  But at the same time, cold-related deaths have subsided.  That is similar to those railing against vaccines, because of the few negative results, while ignoring the decrease in mortality from the disease itself.  The popular meme these days seems to be to portray anyone who says anything good about the changing climate as being a denier.  I thought that type of groupthink ended after 1984 came and went.


That's certainly a meme that I subscribe to.


BTW
Orwell was an optimist.


Terry

I guess we just differ on that.  I will not deny anything just because it is good or bad, preferring to be realist.

TerryM

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #43 on: October 31, 2017, 10:11:41 PM »
Realists acknowledge that climate change is already a disaster.
You are not a realist but a denier who refuses to admit to being the same.
Your viewpoint is shared by <.03 climate scientists, and far fewer on this site.
Terry

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #44 on: October 31, 2017, 10:36:19 PM »
Realists acknowledge that climate change is already a disaster.
You are not a realist but a denier who refuses to admit to being the same.
Your viewpoint is shared by <.03 climate scientists, and far fewer on this site.
Terry

Exaggerating the statistics does not help your claim.  Most scientists share my views.  But science is not determined by opinion, but by research and data.  Currently, the research is incomplete, resulting in large uncertainties.  Hence the climate sensitivity range is 1 - 4.5.

If it is already a disaster, then why are we not witnessing any of the catastrophes today.  Rather, the pessimists all claim that they will occur sometime in the future - usually the year 2100.  The real pessimists claim that they will occur in the next 5-10 years, and must revise their timeframe every decade.  How many claims of an ice-free Arctic summer by a certain year have already passed without occurrence?  The pessimists claimed that we would be ice-free earlier this decade.  The realists say in about 50 years.  I still side with the realists.

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #45 on: October 31, 2017, 10:37:11 PM »
It's really not looking likely that there would be a net decrease in mortality from climate change. Warmer winters don't necessarily save all that many lives, hotter summers definitely take them, and that's before you factor in the economics to the complexity. https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-will-rising-temperatures-mean-more-lives-are-saved-than-lost

And when we factor in the economics, I note this individual is talking up the loss of permafrost. Permafrost loss may make some land potentially farmable for a single short growing season, but the benefit from that is likely to be far outweighed by the loss of infrastructure built on permafrost and the disruption to agriculture from climate changing everywhere else in the world.

Daniel B.

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #46 on: November 01, 2017, 12:06:03 AM »
It's really not looking likely that there would be a net decrease in mortality from climate change. Warmer winters don't necessarily save all that many lives, hotter summers definitely take them, and that's before you factor in the economics to the complexity. https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-will-rising-temperatures-mean-more-lives-are-saved-than-lost

And when we factor in the economics, I note this individual is talking up the loss of permafrost. Permafrost loss may make some land potentially farmable for a single short growing season, but the benefit from that is likely to be far outweighed by the loss of infrastructure built on permafrost and the disruption to agriculture from climate changing everywhere else in the world.

Interesting that you say that when your link referenced the decrease in winter mortality with rising temperatures.  Also, summertime temperatures are rising very little compared to wintertime, so a comparison of equal rises is not valid.  But the link is correct in that I should have said 20x more cold weather deaths.  That was just a typo. 

I could not find anything about permafrost being turned into farmland.  Most of the agricultural gains recently have come from current farms.

TerryM

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #47 on: November 01, 2017, 12:09:36 AM »
It's really not looking likely that there would be a net decrease in mortality from climate change. Warmer winters don't necessarily save all that many lives, hotter summers definitely take them, and that's before you factor in the economics to the complexity. https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-will-rising-temperatures-mean-more-lives-are-saved-than-lost

And when we factor in the economics, I note this individual is talking up the loss of permafrost. Permafrost loss may make some land potentially farmable for a single short growing season, but the benefit from that is likely to be far outweighed by the loss of infrastructure built on permafrost and the disruption to agriculture from climate changing everywhere else in the world.


I'm amazed by the cohesiveness of the two of you.
You won't mind if I answer as if replying to but one poster, I hope.


Since I didn't exaggerate my "statistic", and you replied with nonsense that has nothing to do with our previous exchange, I must assume you are a troll.


Look no further than Puerto Rico to witness just one of the disasters that deniers like yourself have caused by slowing acceptance of disastrous Global Warming we're already experiencing. If we had listened to Hansen's warnings all those decades ago, the Ocean might not be at today's temperatures, some of the Polar Ice would not have melted away, perhaps we'd have more glaciers expanding.


< 0.03 climate scientist agree with you, and many of them previously argued that smoking was a healthy pastime. Light up a Camel and inhale deeply, it may alleviate the loneliness.


Terry

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #48 on: November 01, 2017, 12:20:12 AM »
Terry...

Neither are worth the energy.

TerryM

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Re: Health Effects of Climate Change
« Reply #49 on: November 01, 2017, 01:34:07 AM »
Terry...

Neither are worth the energy.


Ramen!
Another regular alerted me to them and had wondered about the effect on casuals that might drop by. Something to amuse myself with when the brain is asleep, but the eyes won't stay shut.


Terry