Category: Labor and Working

How to massage your lymphatic system and improve your health, according to LA’s ‘lymph queen’

How to massage your lymphatic system and improve your health, according to LA’s ‘lymph queen’

Sharon Walker                        
Lisa Levitt Gainsley has grown a large following for her lymphatic massage advice - Instagram @thelymphaticmessage
Lisa Levitt Gainsley has grown a large following for her lymphatic massage advice – Instagram @thelymphaticmessage

 

I don’t know about you but I think we could all do with a bit of self-care at the moment. Hence, I am giving my lymph system a spot of “immune-enhancing” TLC. Gently fluttering my fingers down my neck and lightly brushing behind my ears, before dipping down to my collar bone where the lymph nodes are tucked away.

Deployed at the first hint of swelling or tingling in your throat – a sure sign that your immune system is gearing up for a ruckus – this technique might just be the thing to nip that cold in the bud. And how good would that be?

It is just one of many nurturing self-care massage techniques, packed into a new book by Lisa Levitt Gainsley, the LA-based queen of lymph massage whose Hollywood clients including Selma Blair (Legally Blonde), Larry David (Seinfeld) and Frieda Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire).

You might have come across this technique before. It’s not unusual to find lymphatic drainage massage, for “heavy legs” or cellulite, at swanky European spas. It is often touted as a “non-surgical facelift” by beauty therapists promising glowing and newly-taut, de-puffed skin, but Levitt Gainsley takes lymphatic drainage to a whole new level, promising not just the usual beauty benefits but also enhanced immunity and relief from a long list of ailments including chronic fatigue, digestive issues, eczema, acne, headaches, menopausal symptoms and PMS.

This might sound like a tall order for a feather-light massage, especially one that you can do yourself, but Levitt Gainsley’s practice comes with glowing medical endorsements, with UCLA’s professor of medicine, Gottfried E Konecny, calling her method “one of the most impactful and easy tools in a person’s health arsenal”.

So what exactly is the lymph system and why is it so important?

“Lymph is literally the superhero of the immune system. It’s your first line of defence against illness, producing white blood cells,” explains Levitt Gainsley, speaking from her LA clinic. “It acts as a garbage collector, sweeping immune cells through the body, to weed out any out threats, like viruses, bacteria and toxins that can cause disease.”

The lymph system is often referred to as the “second” circulatory system of the body. “Just as you have two sets of pipes in your home – one that brings in fresh water and one that removes dirty water – your lymph system is the bonus set of ‘plumbing’ that filters and removes excess waste.”

Connected to every inch of our body, in a similar way to the circulatory system, the lymph system is an intricate network of organs, vessels and capillaries that transport fluids from the surrounding cells to the lymph nodes, which are spread throughout the body, clustered in the “hinges”, including the armpits, groin, elbows, knees and neck.

These nodes act as filtering stations, where the white blood cells (macrophages and lymphocytes) destroy pathogens, before returning the fluid to the bloodstream.

They also play a crucial role in balancing the fluids. This is why Levitt Gainsley treats so many post-operative cancer patients, to help manage lymphedema; when lymph nodes are removed or damaged during cancer surgery, this often leads to swelling.

Unlike the cardiovascular system, the lymph has no central pump and relies on the pulsing arteries nearby to propel it around the body, along with muscular contractions and breathing. This is why massage and breath work can be so helpful, says Levitt Gainsley, especially when the lymph becomes sluggish.

Research shows that this kind of therapy can increase the movement of fluid through the lymph system, reducing post-operative swelling in dental surgery. It’s also been shown to improve movement following knee surgery and can improve stiffness and depression for those living with fibromyalgia, offering better results than from a firmer connective tissue massage. Lymphatic massage can even help with wound healing.

As to whether lymph massage can improve immune function, or prevent disease, the research is not there yet.

Selma Blair, who was diagnosed with MS, in 2018, says it gave her new lease of life. “My sinuses started to drain. I felt hope again. I noticed the hum of life back with me.”

Levitt Gainsley’s learned how to touch someone who was fragile when she was 11-years-old, when her mother was first diagnosed with cancer.

“Looking back now, I see that I was developing sensitivity,” she writes. “I enjoyed being helpful and seeing how much better she felt as the result of my touch.”

Levitt Gainsley initially developed the self-massage sequences in the book for her patients, who thrived on their daily practice. “They had better digestion, fewer PMS symptoms, and fewer headaches. They slept better, got fewer colds and their stress levels improved. Their skin was lustrous,” she enthuses. She has even seen good results with long Covid.

“That’s when I knew needed to write a guide,” she says. “Not just for my clients, but for anyone, so that they could replicate my hands-on sessions at home. Whether you’re looking to balance your hormones, or level your moods or to improve your immune system, these techniques will help.”

The Book of Lymph by Lisa Levitt Gainsley is published in paperback, £9.99, ebook and audio by Yellow Kite

A daily lymph massage to try at home

To be practised daily, for three-to five minutes, this self-massage is designed to reduce tension in your neck and puffiness in your face and may also reduce the side effects of the Covid vaccine.

  1. Stimulate the lymph nodes at the base of your neck just above your collarbone. Press your fingertips down into the hollows above your collarbone. Make a J motion as you press lightly down and out toward your shoulders. Repeat ten times.
  2. Now perform the neck sequence. Place your hands so your little fingers rest in the groove behind your ear, your fingertips pointing diagonally toward your ears. Use your palms to massage the skin downward toward your neck. Repeat five times
  3. Make light brushstrokes from behind your ears all the way down your neck. Repeat five times. Make light brushstrokes along your face from your cheeks to your ears and from the top of your nose to your forehead and out to your ears. Repeat three times. Swallow once.
  4. Perform the “Spock” sequence: Separate your fingers between your middle and ring fingers so that they are pointing up round your ears, like Spock from Star Trek.
  5. Place your middle and index fingers behind your ears in the cartilage groove and your ring and little fingers in front of your ears. Gently massage back and downward in a C-stroke. Repeat ten times.
  6. Repeat Step 1. Massage the lymph nodes at the base of your neck again five times. Singers rest in the groove.

Next, massage the axillary lymph nodes in your armpit to help reduce side effects of the Covid vaccine, improve lymphatic circulation in your chest and alleviate arthritic pain in your hands

  1. Place your hand inside your armpit, your index finger resting gently in the groove of your armpit. Pulse upward into your armpit. Repeat 10 times.
  2. Move your hand down the side of your torso. This region contains breast tissue, which is essential to drain.
  3. With the palm of your hand, make C-strokes up the side of your torso into your armpit. Repeat 10 times.
  4. Lift your arm and place your hand into your armpit. Pump downwards over your armpit 10 times. Release your arm.
Abdominal self-massage for good digestion
  1. Lie down, on your back, in a comfortable position.
  2. Place your hands on your abdomen and take a long, deep breath, expanding your belly into your hands. Count to five as you inhale. As you exhale, count backward from five and let your stomach relax. Repeat three times.
  3. With the palms of your hands, massage clockwise all around your abdomen.
  4. Massage your colon in the direction of drainage – massage up your right side, then across your abdomen to your left side then massage down to your left hip, and finally from your navel downwards.
  5. Massage small circles around your belly button.
  6. Scoop the four corners of your abdomen towards your navel. Use your palm to scoop from the front of your right hip toward your navel (this is the beginning of your large/ascending colon). Next scoop under your right rib cage toward your navel. (This is where your liver and gallbladder are located). Next scoop under your left rib cage to your navel (your stomach and spleen are located here). Then scoop from your left hip bone toward your navel (your descending colon).
  7. Massage small clockwise circles around your navel again.
  8. Finish by massaging clockwise all around your abdomen again. End with five deep cleansing breaths.

Republicans treated Covid like a bioweapon. Then it turned against them

Republicans treated Covid like a bioweapon. Then it turned against them

Rebecca Solnit                           
<span>Photograph: Amy Harris/REX/Shutterstock</span>
Photograph: Amy Harris/REX/Shutterstock

 

Some of the most powerful conservatives in the United States have, since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, chosen to sow disinformation along with mockery and distrust of proven methods of combating the disease, from masks to vaccines to social distancing. Their actions have afflicted the nation as a whole with more disease and death and economic crisis than good leadership aligned with science might have, and, in spite of hundreds of thousands of well-documented deaths and a new surge, they continue. Their malice has become so normal that its real nature is rarely addressed. Call it biological warfare by propaganda.

Call Jared Kushner the spiritual heir of the army besieging the city of Caffa on the Black Sea in 1346, which, according to a contemporaneous account, catapulted plague-infected corpses over the city walls. This is sometimes said to be how the Black Death came to Europe, where it would kill tens of millions of people – a third of the European population – over the next 15 years. A Business Insider article from a year ago noted: “Kushner’s coronavirus team shied away from a national strategy, believing that the virus was hitting Democratic states hardest and that they could blame governors.” An administration more committed to saving lives than scoring points could have contained the pandemic rather than made the US the worst-hit nation in the world. Illnesses and casualties could have been far lower, and we could have been better protected against the Delta variant.

At the outset of the pandemic, as Seattle and New York City became hard hit, Republicans apparently imagined that the pandemic would strike Democratic states and cities first, and certainly in 2020 Black, Latinx and indigenous people were disproportionately affected. To put it clearly, Republicans enabled a campaign of mass death and disablement, thinking it would be primarily mean death and illness for those they regarded as opponents.

Nevertheless, Democratic governors, Native nations and people with moderate-to-leftwing views have done a better job of protecting against this scourge. The worst-hit areas in the country are now Republican-led states and regions. At one point recently, Florida under raging science denier Governor Ron DeSantis, with about 7.5% of the US population, accounted for 20% of all new Covid cases. The governors of Florida and Texas have banned mask mandates, making attempts to protect public health, including that of children, acts of defiance by cities and school districts. DeSantis’s supporters are peddling “Don’t Fauci My Florida” T-shirts and drink coolers with the text “How the hell am I going to drink a beer with a mask on?” On 27 July, as Delta infections proliferated, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted, “Make no mistake – The threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state.”

Call Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham the spiritual heirs of Lord Jeffery Amherst, the British military commander who in 1763 wrote to an underling, “Could it not be contrived to send the Small Pox among those disaffected tribes of Indians?” As the New York Times put it with characteristic mildness, “Mr Carlson, Ms Ingraham and guests on their programs have said on the air that the vaccines could be dangerous; that people are justified in refusing them; and that public authorities have overstepped in their attempts to deliver them.” Newsweek was more blunt, quoting Ingraham herself saying that the vaccine was an attempt to push an “experimental drug on Americans against their will – threatening them, threatening to deprive them of basic liberties, if they don’t comply.” The goal was to rile up the audience – and prevent them from getting vaccinated, while the evidence was clear that the vaccines prevent both disease in the vaccinated and the spread of disease. Vaccines are, incidentally, how smallpox was eliminated worldwide.

There is of course another angle to the conservative response to the pandemic. In far-right ideology, freedom – for white men especially – is an absolute goal. Even recognizing the systems in which we are all enmeshed might burden the free person with obligations to others and to the whole. Science itself is a series of descriptions of our enmeshedness: of how pesticides travel beyond the crops they’re sprayed on, of the way that fossil fuel emissions contribute to health problems and climate change, of how the spread of disease can be prevented by collective action. Rightwing ideology, after all, has emphasized the right to own and carry a gun over the right to be free of being menaced or murdered by guns, as thousands are in the US every year.

But just as the right to brandish guns is defended in the face of those gun deaths, so the right to contract and spread a sometimes lethal and often debilitating disease is defended as the antithesis of the responsibility not to do so. It’s safe to assume that the Republican leadership knows better, and that some of their followers do and some don’t. Some have chosen to engage in biological warfare; some are merely tools being used in that warfare. That is, some of them are unwitting corpses being catapulted over the walls, unconscious smallpox blankets; some of them are Amherst in spirit. A friend of a friend of mine, a masseuse, had a client who laughed at the end of their session and revealed that her vaccination card was fake: definitely an Amherst.

Covid-19 is far from the first time people have decided to profit from promoting the death of others: the fossil fuel industry plunging ahead while fully aware that climate catastrophe was the consequence of its product is the most extreme example. Manufacturers of guns and prescription opiates have done so as well. But it might be the first time that a new threat has been so dramatically increased not by direct profiteers but by those selling ideology and sowing division.

Measuring the impact of the pandemic by its death toll leaves out other impacts that matter: millions of schoolchildren isolated and undereducated, millions of parents exhausted by double duty, millions of small businesses shuttered, millions unemployed and impoverished, their dreams crushed, millions isolated and anxious, millions grieving the dead. Medical workers who were selflessly heroic the first time around are demoralized now that the hospitalized are so often people who could have been vaccinated, could have been careful, but chose not to. The poison runs through everything. Some of it was spread on purpose.

  • Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of Men Explain Things to Me and The Mother of All Questions. Her most recent book is Recollections of My Nonexistence

Opinion: Florida or Floriduh? As it battles COVID-19 surge, the Sunshine State proves itself as weirdly defiant as ever.

Opinion: Florida or Floriduh? As it battles COVID-19 surge, the Sunshine State proves itself as weirdly defiant as ever.

By Charles Passy                     August 9, 2021

While coronavirus case counts rise, Gov. Ron DeSantis proclaims Florida ‘a free state’

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. PHOTO BY JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES

I spent almost two decades living in Florida, and even I’m hard-pressed to pick the moment that stood out as my weirdest.

 

There was the time that feral hogs roamed through my suburban neighborhood, putting a group of schoolkids waiting for the morning bus in jeopardy.

Or the time an elderly driver nearly ran me off the road by accident, but still boldly asked for directions to his intended location when I stepped out of my car to inspect for possible damage.

And let’s not forget the ballot bedlam of the 2000 presidential election. I covered it as a journalist and found myself standing face to face with civil-rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was leading a protest. Naturally, my job was to ask him about the rumors that pop star and actress Cher might be in attendance. (Apparently, they were false.)

All of which goes a long way toward explaining that nothing surprises me when it comes to my former state, including its current COVID-19 situation.

‘We can either have a free society or we can have a biomedical security state and I can tell you, Florida, we’re a free state.’

Florida’s case count has been increasing dramatically in recent days, with the Washington Post recently calling the state “the epicenter of a summer coronavirus spike.”

As of Sunday, the average number of daily cases has risen 84% over the last 14 days to 19,250, according to the New York Times tracker. Deaths per day have risen 124% over the same period to 88, bringing the total number of COVID-related deaths in the state to 39,695.

Not that other states are in such great shape. In New York, where I was born and raised and where I returned more than a decade ago, daily cases have risen by 137% to 3,205 over the last 14 days, and coronavirus-related deaths have increased by 71% to 9, bringing the total number of deaths due to the pandemic to 53,331.

But while many states and cities are revisiting their pandemic restrictions, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a first-term Republican up for re-election in 2022 (as a precursor, many believe, to a 2024 run at the presidency), has defied any calls for mask mandates or shutdowns. “We can either have a free society or we can have a biomedical security state, and I can tell you, Florida, we’re a free state,” he said earlier this week.

That attitude is pure Floridian: defiant and independent. Say what you will, but the state marches, weirdly, to the beat of its own drum.

What the News Means for You and Your Money

Florida is very much a transient state. It ranks second in the nation, behind Nevada, in its percentage of nonnatives.

Experts will tell you there’s plenty reason for that. Begin with the fact that Florida is very much a transient state, with plenty of nonnative residents. Indeed, Florida ranks second in the nation, behind only Nevada, by percentage of nonnatives.

The newcomer population includes many seniors, who are drawn by the year-round sunshine and the fact that Florida doesn’t have a state income tax. (Even DeSantis once referred to Florida as “God’s waiting room.”)

The result is that many Florida residents don’t really have much of a connection to Florida. And, by extension, they arguably don’t worry about what anyone else in the state thinks. “They care more about their home states,” says Brian Crowley, a Florida-based political consultant (and a rare native Floridian).

The lack of community — in my own experience living there — was palpable, sometimes to the point of absurdity. I used to go to Miami Marlins games (back when the team was called the Florida Marlins) and would routinely find that most of the fans in the stands were rooting for the visiting club.

When I attended the 2003 World Series in Miami, which pitted the New York Yankees against my beloved Fish, as the Florida team is sometimes called, I risked being doused with beer by all the Yankee-loving “Floridians” in the stands every time I cheered for the Marlins.

Where Goofy lives: Florida is home to Disney World and other theme parks.  GARTH VAUGHAN/WDW VIA GETTY IMAGES

There are other factors behind Florida’s weirdness (and go-it-aloneness). Some point to the relentless heat as a key. “It does make people’s tempers snap faster,” says Craig Pittman, a Florida-based writer and author of the book, “Oh, Florida!: How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country.” Pittman says it explains why Floridians, when pushed to the limit, reach for the nearest plate of spaghetti.

There’s also Florida’s status as a tourist hot spot and the theme-park capital of the world. It’s a place where fun and make-believe are everyday reality. (I used to say that, while Florida didn’t have a state income tax, it did have an equivalent in a Disney DIS, -0.53% annual pass.)

The point being that if you’re obsessed with riding roller coasters, you may not obsess as much about wearing a mask to protect yourself against a deadly virus. “Tourism is about living for the day and doing what you want,” says Pittman.

All I know is that life became a lot saner when I left the state and came back to New York. It also became a lot more boring, though I’ll take boring during a global pandemic.

New Poll Shows Pennsylvania Voters Want a ‘Crackdown’ on Fracking

DeSmog

New Poll Shows Pennsylvania Voters Want a ‘Crackdown’ on Fracking

As the promised benefits of fracking fail to materialize and the environmental costs mount, Pennsylvania voters of all demographics favor more regulation.
By Nick Cunningham                     August 5, 2021

Pipeline construction alongside Pennsylvania state forest roads. Credit: Public Herald. (CC BY -NC 2.0).

Pennsylvania voters have become increasingly disillusioned with the fracking industry, with weak and declining support across all demographics, according to a new poll. By wide margins, voters in the Keystone State want “a serious crackdown on fracking operations.”

The poll, conducted by Data for Progress for the Ohio River Valley Institute (ORVI), an Appalachian-focused think tank, shows that large majorities of voters in Pennsylvania — including from large swathes of Republicans — are concerned about pollution from fracking, oppose subsidies to the industry, and support a range of new regulations.

The declining support for fracking is “an extension of trends that have been underway for some time,” Eric de Place, a research fellow at ORVI, told DeSmog. “Men, women, age groups, Republicans, Democrats, Independents … there is not a demographic that doesn’t support a crackdown on fracking,” he said.

In the poll of 647 voters, 61 percent of respondents agreed with a statement that said Pennsylvania “needs to do a better job of cracking down on fracking companies that do not comply with regulations,” compared to 30 percent that said the government “does not need to intervene and impose more bureaucratic regulations on fracking companies.” Of those favoring increased enforcement, 51 percent were Independents, and even 43 percent of Republicans agreed the state should be doing more.

On a long list of additional questions, large majorities favored more restrictions, more oversight, and less state support for the natural gas industry, which for years has enjoyed political backing at multiple levels despite signs of waning approval from Pennsylvania residents.

For example, by a 74 to 14 percent margin, respondents favored greater setback distances for fracking operations from homes, schools, hospitals, and other buildings. By a 79 to 9 percent margin, respondents favored mandatory disclosure of chemicals used in drilling, and the same margin supported a comprehensive health response from the state to address the effects of living near drilling sites.

Currently, Pennsylvania exempts fracking fluids from being classified as hazardous waste, a designation that would change how and where fracking waste is handled. Yet 69 percent of those polled support classifying fracking fluids in this way, compared to 21 percent that do not.

Wayne Township Landfill in McElhattan, PA. The landfill handled gas industry drill cuttings. Credit: Public Herald. (CC BY -NC 2.0). 

 

Questions about whether fracking has been an economic boon to the state were mixed, but only 30 percent supported tax breaks for drillers, while 59 percent opposed such support. At the same time, 86 percent agreed with a statement that fracking companies “should pay the full cost for the pollution they create.” Only 8 percent were opposed.

“There’s an overwhelming, shocking number of people who want the industry much more tightly regulated than it is now. That’s something that kind of everyone agrees on,” de Place said. “Whether you want [fracking] banned or you want it to continue … almost nobody wants it to continue as it is now.”

He said two things are likely going on. The benefits promised by the industry have been disappointing, and the negative impacts have become impossible to ignore. “People have heard and seen in their lives the horror stories. Kids getting a rare bone cancer possibly because of fracking waste nearby. A lot of stories about groundwater being contaminated. There’s people concerned about climate, of course. It goes on and on,” de Place said. “As the industry has had 10 years to operate, in some cases almost with free rein, there’s just more and more reasons to be concerned and more evidence piling up that the industry is really pretty dangerous.”

When asked about the poll, David Masur, executive director of advocacy group PennEnvironment said he was not surprised, given that the lofty promises from the industry that fracking would be an economic “gamechanger” have not played out.

“I think a lot of people said, ‘well, the economy feels no different than it did before except there’s air pollution and I see pictures of things exploding on TV,’” Masur said.

The poll results add to a growing body of evidence that in a state with a heavy drilling presence, the gas industry’s support is weakening. A 2014 Quinnipiac University poll, for instance, showed that 58 percent of respondents favored fracking.

Other polls also detail declining support for the industry over time. A Franklin & Marshall College poll from 2014 found that 40 percent of voters thought the economic benefits of fracking outweighed the environmental costs, while 37 percent believed the risks were too high. That same question was asked in 2020, and opinions had flipped, with respondents stating that the risks were too high by a 49 to 38 margin.

Injection well in Allegheny County, PA. Credit: Ted Auch, FracTracker. (CC BY -NC 2.0).

 

Perceptions match some of the substantive data of the industry’s impact. Separate research from ORVI from earlier this year found the fracking boom over the past decade has been an economic bust, with counties home to disproportionately high levels of drilling having showing comparatively weak job growth and declining populations relative to other parts of Appalachia and the country as a whole.

“Our recent research shows there is very little data to support the contention that the Appalachian natural gas boom has been or can be an engine for economic prosperity. In fact, in some cases, the industry may have the opposite effect. It follows, then, that this poll confirms what other polls have been finding: that public support for fracking in Pennsylvania is eroding precipitously,” said Joanne Kilgour, executive director of ORVI.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition, a gas industry trade group, did not respond to a request for comment.

The Political Myth of Fracking

The notion that fracking is popular in Pennsylvania has been a difficult myth to debunk, and it flies in the face of conventional media narratives, including from the 2020 Presidential election in which then-President Donald Trump tried to hammer candidate Joe Biden on the issue.

“To all the people of Pennsylvania, hear this warning,” President Trump said at a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, in October. “If Biden’s elected, he will wipe out your energy industry.”

“Only by voting for me,” Trump added, “can you save your fracking in Pennsylvania.”

At the time, national media outlets consistently reported that fracking was a political liability for Biden, adopting Trump’s framing of the issue that being an ally of the industry was good politics and favoring restrictions on drilling presented political risks.

Gas rig in Butler County, PA. Credit: WCN 24/7. (CC BY – NC 2.0)

 

But that has arguably been a misguided political trope for some time. Eric de Place pointed to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who has headed up a very public campaign opposing the industry.

In June 2020, Shapiro released a scorching grand jury report that capped off a two-year investigation into environmental crimes committed by gas drillers. The report also pointed blame at state environmental regulators for their cozy relationship with industry.

Shapiro “is about as close you can find to a one-person referendum on the politics of fracking in Pennsylvania,” de Place wrote in November 2020 shortly after the presidential election.

In 2020, Shapiro won reelection as Attorney General, garnering just barely more support across the state than Joe Biden did in the presidential election. But Shapiro did better than Biden by much larger margins in counties where fracking is concentrated. In fact, Shapiro outperformed Biden in nine out of the top ten fracking counties, according to ORVI. Given that Shapiro has cultivated a public reputation taking on the gas industry, his relatively strong performance in fracking counties undercuts the notion that regulating or opposing the industry is bad politics.

ORVI’s poll also shows that very large margins of voters favor Shapiro’s recommendations in his grand jury report. For example, by an 82 to 6 margin, respondents favor requiring safer transport of fracking waste, and a 63 to 19 percent margin favor allowing the Attorney General’s office to prosecute oil and gas companies.

Attorney General Shapiro, who is thought to be preparing a run for governor in 2022, must have come to the conclusion that it was “substantively valuable and politically valuable to call for these populist policies” against the fracking industry, betting that “there would be no blowback from the voters,” David Masur, told DeSmog.

“And it did play out that way,” Masur said.

“When fracking started, when I would go into the state capitol, I’d even have Democratic legislators going, ‘Oh my God, you can’t speak negatively about fracking. You’re going to be persona non grata in here,’” Masur told DeSmog. He said that is now changing.

But he added that increasing oversight or regulation of the industry was “an uphill battle” because of the role of money in politics. For example, Masur said that overwhelming majorities of the public favor classifying fracking fluids as hazardous waste, or favor mandatory disclosure of chemicals used in fracking, but even those extremely modest measures “can’t even get a hearing.”

“That’s a reflection of the power of money in politics, which allows a small group of special interests to have a chokehold on the decision-making,” Masur said. “Harrisburg and D.C. are so far behind the public partially because of the influence of money and access and power, [which] has them years behind where the polling shows the public is.”

Sheriff says 8 people missing as California’s Dixie Fire threatens thousands of homes

Sheriff says 8 people missing as California’s Dixie Fire threatens thousands of homes

Doyle Rice and Christine Fernando, USA TODAY      

 

At least eight people are missing and thousands anxiously waiting at evacuation centers as California’s Dixie Fire, now the nation’s largest wildfire, rips through Northern California communities and threatens to incinerate thousands of homes.

The Plumas County Sheriff’s Office is asking for help finding eight people who have been reported missing during the blaze, according to a late Friday statement. The office found 16 missing people Friday.

The Dixie Fire now spans 679 square miles and is just 21% contained. No injuries or deaths have been reported.

The fire is the third-largest wildfire in California history. But it is the largest single wildfire in the state’s history. The wildfires in 2020 and 2018 holding the top two positions were both complexes.

Fortunately, better weather conditions, including higher humidity and calmer winds, were expected to aid the fight against the blaze Saturday. Temperatures are expected to top 90 degrees, rather than the triple-digit highs earlier in the week.

Cal Fire said it expects full containment by Aug. 20, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

As hot, bone-dry, gusty weather hit California on Wednesday and Thursday, the fire raged through Greenville, a Gold Rush-era Sierra Nevada community of about 1,000, incinerating much of the downtown that included wooden buildings more than a century old.

Sheriff Todd Johns, who said he was a lifelong Greenville resident, said more than 100 homes were destroyed in the Greenville and Indian Falls areas.

 

“To the folks that have lost residences and businesses,” Johns said, “their life is now forever changed. And all I can tell you is I’m sorry.”

‘Catastrophically destroyed’: Dixie Fire wipes out California gold rush town of Greenville

Dan Kearns, a volunteer firefighter, said the winds came up strong Wednesday afternoon and blew the Dixie Fire into town under the type of deadly conditions that have in recent years caused widespread damage in California communities, including Paradise, Redding and Shasta County.

“I’m not going to say total (destruction) because not every structure is gone. But the town is catastrophically destroyed,” Kearns said.

No deaths or injuries were reported, but the fire threatens more than 10,000 homes.

Thousands of residents of the Northern California communities affected by the Dixie Fire have fled their homes. Some evacuated early and have spent weeks away from their homes. Others decided to stick it out and wait until the flames were at their doorstep.

Jennifer Gonzales knew it was time to go as she watched the flames creep up the building next to her.

Gonzales said she and her partner, who owned Greenville lodge, grabbed essential items and let their hotel burn behind them.

“We have the largest building in town and the best view so we could go up and see everything catching on fire,” Gonzales said. “There were embers and flames everywhere by the time we left.”

The blaze has also led to smoke and ash settling in surrounding areas, reducing air quality to unhealthy levels. By Friday morning, the air quality index remained at very unhealthy levels in the Reno-Sparks area as people with heart or lung issues, older adults, children and teens were advised to avoid outdoor physical activity and stay indoors as much as possible.

Tony Fuentes, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno, said he expect some improvement Saturday but said smoke should linger in the area over the weekend and into next week.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation, but Pacific Gas & Electric said in two separate reports to the California Public Utilities Commission that it may have been sparked when a tree fell on one of its power lines.

The questions around Dixie’s origin are only the latest in a string of disasters that has left the utility in bankruptcy and led to its criminal prosecution.

PG&E equipment was determined to be at fault for starting the 2018 Camp Fire, which destroyed most of the Butte County community of Paradise and killed 85 people.

Earlier this year, Shasta and Tehama counties agreed to a $12 million settlement with PG&E to recover costs associated with last year’s deadly Zogg Fire after the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection blamed the utility’s equipment for causing the fire.

A red sky and a road on fire: Man fleeing California wildfire saw no escape and prepared to die

Six of seven of the largest wildfires in California history have occurred during or since 2020, AccuWeather said. Compared to last year, California has experienced a 151% increase in the amount of acres burned. Fire season, which typically runs into October, is far from over.

 

Heat waves and drought tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight in America’s West. Scientists say climate change has made the region much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

Contributing: The Associated Press; David Benda and Matt Brannon, The Redding Record Searchlight; David Benda, Matt Brannon, Jessica Skropanic, Terell Wilkins and Richard Bednarski, The Reno Gazette-Journal

Lake Powell dips to historic low amid drought

Associated Press

Lake Powell dips to historic low amid drought

The lake is facing a new set of challenges having reached a record low of 3,553 feet last week

A white band of newly exposed rock is shown along the canyon walls at Lake Powell at Antelope Point Marina on Friday, July 30, 2021, near Page, Ariz. AP PHOTO/RICK BOWMER

 

It’s a stark reminder of how far the water level has fallen at the massive reservoir on the Utah-Arizona border. Just last year, it was more than 50 feet (15 meters) higher. Now, the level at the popular destination for houseboat vacations is at a historic low amid a climate change-fueled mega-drought engulfing the U.S. West.

At Lake Powell, tents are tucked along shorelines that haven’t seen water for years. Bright-colored jet skis fly across the water, passing kayakers, water skiers and fishermen under a blistering desert sun. Closed boat ramps have forced some houseboats off the lake, leaving tourists and businesses scrambling. One ramp is so far above the water, people have to carry kayaks and stand-up paddleboards down a steep cliff face to reach the surface.

Houseboat rental companies have had to cancel their bookings through August — one of their most popular months — after the National Park Service, which manages the lake, barred people from launching the vessels in mid-July.

At the popular main launch point on Wahweap Bay, the bottom of the concrete ramp has been extended with steel pipes so boats can still get on the lake, but that solution will only last another week or two, the park service said.

“It’s really sad that they’re allowing such a beautiful, beautiful place to fall apart,” said Bob Reed, who runs touring company Up Lake Adventures.

Lake Powell is the second-largest reservoir in the United States, right behind Nevada’s Lake Mead, which also stores water from the Colorado River. Both are shrinking faster than expected, a dire concern for a seven-state region that relies on the river to supply water to 40 million people and a $5 billion-a-year agricultural industry.

They are among several large bodies of water in the U.S. West that have hit record lows this summer, including the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Lake Oroville in California is expected to reach a historic low by late August, with the state’s more than 1,500 reservoirs 50% lower than they should be this time of year.

In 1983, Lake Powell’s water exceeded its maximum level of 3,700 feet and nearly overran Glen Canyon Dam. The lake is facing a new set of challenges having reached a record low of 3,553 feet last week.

Government officials had to begin releasing water from sources upstream last month to keep the lake’s level from dropping so low it would have threatened hydropower supplied by the dam.

It comes as less snowpack flows into the Colorado River and its tributaries, and hot temperatures parch soil and cause more river water to evaporate as it streams through the drought-plagued American West. Studies have linked the region’s more than 20-year megadrought to human-caused climate change.

Fluctuating water levels have long been a staple of Lake Powell, but National Park Service officials say the usual forecasts weren’t able to predict just how bad 2021 would be.

Finger-pointing has started as boaters, local officials and the park service debate what to do now.

“The park service has failed to plan,” area homeowner Bill Schneider said. “If it gets to the point where we’re so low that you can’t put boats in the water and you can’t come up with a solution to put boats in the water, why would you come to Lake Powell?”

The 53-year-old bought a retirement home in nearby Page, Arizona, after completing 25 years of military service in February. He wanted to return to Wahweap Bay where he spent most of his childhood and teen years fishing, waterskiing and working odd jobs around the lake. But after watching how the lake has been managed, Schneider says he’s starting to regret it.

Officials say they have solutions for families and boaters who sometimes plan years ahead to explore the glassy waters that extend into narrow red rock canyons and the tourism industry that depends on them.

Once the severity of the drought became clear, federal officials began looking for options to allow boat access at low water levels, said William Shott, superintendent of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, where Lake Powell is located. The park service discovered an old ramp on Wahweap Bay that will be built out to support houseboats and smaller motorboats.

Shott says he hopes the $3 million ramp can be completed by Labor Day weekend. The project is funded by the park service and lake concessionaire Aramark.

The agency and officials from the town of Page, which relies on lake tourism, plan to open another old asphalt ramp to provide access for smaller boats while the larger one is updated.

Tom Materna, who has been visiting Lake Powell for 20 years, launched his family’s 65-foot timeshare houseboat just hours before the main ramp closed but had to cut their vacation short as water levels dropped in mid-July.

“They said no more launching out of the Wahweap ramp, so we were glad we made it out,” the Los Angeles resident said. “Then the next day I think or two days later, they called us up and told us that all launch and retrieve houseboats had to be off the lake.”

Page Mayor Bill Diak said losing boat access to the lake could have devastating financial consequences for the city of 7,500.

He said local leaders were “slow” to address dropping water levels and limited boat access but that he’s been working closer with park officials and concessionaires on solutions.

“We could have been a little bit more proactive on planning … but we’re moving in the right direction now working together,” Diak said.

He stressed that the impact of climate change needs to be addressed, noting that the U.S. West could be facing far more pressing issues than lake access if the drought continues for another 20 years.

One silver lining, Shott says, is the park service can build boat ramps that are usable even during record drought years. Over $8 million in other low-water projects also are underway.

“Even if we did have a crystal ball and we saw that these lake levels were going to get this low, we couldn’t have prevented it anyways,” Shott said. “With that said, we’re taking advantage of the low water now.”

Troy Sherman, co-owner of a business renting environmentally friendly anchors to houseboats, said the marina housing Beach Bags Anchors shut down shortly after his company launched in spring 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. It relaunched this year but had to cancel 95% of its bookings in July when ramps closed to houseboats.

“Until there’s really access to a ramp again to put houseboats in, my business is kind of in a holding pattern,” Sherman said. “But we’ll totally persevere; it’s what you have to do.”

A Florida radio host who railed against Dr. Fauci and vaccines has died from COVID-19

A Florida radio host who railed against Dr. Fauci and vaccines has died from COVID-19

Yelena Dzhanova                        
coronavirus hospital texas
Dr. Joseph Varon (right) speaks to a patient in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas on December 29, 2020. Go Nakamura/Getty Images 

  • Longtime radio host Dick Farrel died from COVID-19 after railing against vaccines on Facebook.
  • “Why take a vax promoted by people who lied 2u all along about masks,” one of his posts read.
  • After contracting the virus, friends said Farrel texted them and urged them to get the vaccine.

A radio host from Florida who publicly bashed coronavirus vaccines has died from COVID-19.

Dick Farrel frequently advocated against the vaccine on his personal Facebook page.

“Why take a vax promoted by people who lied 2u all along about masks, where the virus came from and the death toll?” Farrel wrote on Facebook on July 3, with no additional context or clarification.

“Vaccine Bogus Bull Shid!, Two peeps I know, got vaxed, now have Corona, hospitalized critical,” he wrote on July 1. “Thank you Moderna, FOR NOTHING!”

His friend, Mike McCabe, said on Facebook that Farrel, 65, had been battling COVID-19 for three weeks before his death this week.

Farrel also railed against Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading coronavirus expert, calling him a “power tripping lying freak.”

The longtime radio host was an ardent support of former President Donald Trump, Facebook posts show.

After contracting the virus, friends said Farrel texted them and urged them to get the vaccine, according to WPTV, an NBC News affiliate.

“He is the reason I took the shot,” said Amy Leigh Hair, Farrel’s close friend. “He texted me and told me to ‘Get it!’ He told me this virus is no joke and he said, “I wish I had gotten it!”

After his death, friends and former colleagues began to pour in tributes.

Lee Strasser, former market general manager for CBS Radio West Palm Beach, said Farrel was “flamboyant, outrageous at times, and willing to take on any and all comers,” WPTV reported.

“Was he right all the time? No,” Strasser added. “But he was “RIGHT” all the time, especially if you asked him. Did he stay out of trouble? Not always. Was he great with clients? Yes. Was he a pleasure in the building? Absolutely. Was he loyal? Unquestionably! Was he skilled? Yessir! His passing is a big loss. He was a kind-hearted person with a load of passion, and his memory will stand the test of time. We have all lost a friend in Farrel.”

‘Where are we going to go?’ Residents flee as fires reach Athens suburbs

‘Where are we going to go?’ Residents flee as fires reach Athens suburbs

Lefteris Papadimas                            

 

Wildfires continue in Evia

 

ATHENS (Reuters) – Yorgos Papaioannou spent four hours using a garden hose to try to save his newly-built home from a blazing wildfire, until police patrolling his suburb north of Athens ordered him and his girlfriend to leave.

By then, the fire at the foothills of Mount Parnitha had ripped through acres of lush forest, prompting the evacuation of town after town in the area and forcing thousands of people to flee with the few belongings they could save.

“Our business, our home, all of our property is there. I hope they don’t burn,” Papaioannou, 26, said on Friday, sitting in a parking lot with his girlfriend as ash fell around them from the smoke-filled sky.

“We only spent one night in our new home and then we had to abandon it,” he said. His home was in the area of Polydendri.

The wildfires https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/blaze-sweeps-through-athens-suburbs-fifth-day-greece-wildfires-2021-08-07 that have ripped through the woodlands around Athens and encroached on the city’s northern suburbs have not caused the human casualties seen three years ago when more than 100 people were killed in Greece’s deadliest fires.

But the flames and apocalyptic spirals of black smoke – visible from the centre of the capital – have spread alarm among residents forced to flee.

“We are very sad, very sad,” said a resident of the suburb of Kapandriti as she hosed her garden. “It’s not just about us, there are thousands of people who lost their homes, their fortunes,” said the woman, who asked to be identified only as Maria.

Hundreds of fires have broken out across the country as Greece swelters in its worst heatwave for 30 years, from the western Peloponnese to the island of Evia east of Athens.

The fires near Athens have burned around the main highway linking the capital to northern Greece and by early on Friday had formed a wide front threatening residential areas of Thrakomadedones, Stamata and Agios Stefanos. The area is a prosperous and tranquil zone prized for its forests.

‘EVERYTHING BURNED’

“Fire, so much fire. Everything burned, houses, factories, everything,” said Wasim Khan, an employee of a pottery workshop destroyed by the blaze. “Everybody has left, so I will leave too. What are we going to do now, where are we going to go?”

Police have been going door to door, urging people to leave their homes before it is too late.

Authorities have opened shelters and hotels have made rooms available to accommodate people forced to flee.

Many people face uncertain days before they know whether they will have a home to return to.

“I was watching TV and I could see the fire burning on the mountain opposite. I could never imagine it would reach us,” Papaioannou said.

“We’ll probably sleep in the car tonight until we find a friend to host us.”

(Writing by Karolina Tagaris; Editing by Frances Kerry)

“Colonizing the Atmosphere”: How Rich, Western Nations Drive the Climate Crisis

In These Times – Climate

“Colonizing the Atmosphere”: How Rich, Western Nations Drive the Climate Crisis

New analysis finds the Global North is responsible for 92% of all excess global carbon dioxide emissions, while the Global South bears the brunt of the devastation.

Sarah Lazare              Previously From September 14,

 

San Miguel County Firefighters battle a brush fire along Japatul Road during the Valley Fire in Jamul, California on September 6, 2020.SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES.

 

The climate disaster fueling unprecedented fires across the western United States, threatening to swallow the Marshall Islands into the ocean, and unleashing perennial hunger crises on South Sudan is a global catastrophe. But the global responsibility is not born equally. An analysis published in the September issue of The Lancet: Planetary Health shines new light on the outsized role of the United States, European Union and the Global North in creating a climate crisis that, while felt everywhere, is disproportionately harming the Global South.

As of 2015, the United States bore responsibility for 40% of ​“excess global carbon dioxide emissions,” finds the analysis, authored by Jason Hickel, an economic anthropologist, author and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. The Group of Eight (the United States, the European Union, Russia, Japan and Canada) is responsible for 85% of such emissions. And the Global North (defined as the United States, Canada, Europe, Israel, Australia, New Zealand and Japan) is responsible for 92%.

In contrast, the Global South — which is by far bearing the brunt of climate droughts, floods, famines, storms, sea level rise and deaths — is responsible for just 8% of excess global carbon dioxide emissions.

While other researchers have calculated countries’ current annual emissions, as well as cumulative historic ones, Hickel tells In These Times ​“none of this tells us how much nations have contributed to emissions in excess of the safe level.” His methodology starts from ​“the position that the atmosphere is a common resource and that all people should have equal access to it within the safe planetary boundary (defined as 350 parts per million atmospheric concentration of CO2),” he says.

Hickel calculated the ​“national fair shares of a safe global carbon budget.” Then he subtracted these fair shares from the historical emissions of countries — ​“territorial emissions from 1850 to 1969, and consumption-based emissions from 1970 to 2015.” This calculation was then used to determine ​“the extent to which each country has overshot or undershot its fair share,” states the analysis.

“In other words,” says Hickel, ​“this method allows us to answer the question: ​‘Who got us into this mess?’”

The analysis is meant to not only measure national responsibility for global emissions, but to identify those countries that are colonizing the atmosphere. ​“The results show that the countries of the Global North have ​‘stolen’ a big chunk of the atmospheric fair-shares of poorer countries, and on top of that are responsible for the vast majority of excess emissions,” Hickel explains. ​“In other words,” he adds, ​“they have effectively colonized the global atmospheric commons for the sake of their own industrial growth, and for the sake of maintaining their own high levels of energy consumption.”

The study finds that, in contrast to Global North countries, ​“most countries in the Global South were within their boundary fair shares, including India and China.” This is despite the fact that China, with more than four times the population of the United States, is presently the top overall emitter of greenhouse gases, although the United States is the top emitter per capita. According to the analysis, ​“When it comes to climate change, however, what matters is stocks of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, not annual flows; so responsibility must be measured in terms of each country’s contribution to cumulative historical emissions.” Yet, the study notes, ​“given that China’s annual emissions are roughly 9 billion tons per year, it will soon overshoot its fair share.”

The fact that the United States and Global North bear disproportionate responsibility for driving the climate crisis does not let China off the hook for cutting emissions, says Hickel. ​“If China does not reduce emissions, and fast, then we are all doomed,” he underscores. And indeed, climate activists have argued that in order to curb the climate crisis, the United States and China must overcome their confrontational footing and cooperate to dramatically cut emissions.

However, Hickel makes the moral argument that ​“clearly the countries that have contributed the most to excess emissions must cut emissions fastest, with the United States and Europe leading the way. They have a responsibility to get to zero as soon as is physically possible — in a matter of years, not decades. This can be feasibly achieved, and we should all demand it.”

Other studies and analyses have pointed to the disproportionate responsibility of the Global North, and wealthy countries, for driving the climate crisis. A study released by Oxfam International in 2015 found that the poorest half of the world’s population — roughly 3.5 billion people — are to blame for just 10% of ​“total global emissions attributed to individual consumption,” yet they ​“live overwhelmingly in the countries most vulnerable to climate change.” In contrast, the richest 10% of people in the world are responsible for roughly 50% of global emissions.

A 2015 paper published in Scientific Reports identifies ​“free rider” and ​“forced rider” countries. It explains, “‘Free rid­er’ coun­tries con­tribute dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly to glob­al [green­house gas] emis­sions with only lim­it­ed vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty to the effects of the result­ing cli­mate change, while ​’forced rid­er’ coun­tries are most vul­ner­a­ble to cli­mate change but have con­tributed lit­tle to its genesis.”

Yet, even as acute effects of the climate crisis are being felt in the United States, the Republican Party continues to embrace climate denial, and the leadership of the Democratic Party shows reluctance to curb the fossil fuel production driving the crisis — and hostility to radical solutions like the Green New Deal. The United States has contributed only $1 billion to the UN’s Green Climate Fund, meant to help ​“developing countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and enhance their ability to respond to climate change” (former President Barack Obama pledged $3 billion, but President Trump later reneged on $2 billion of it).

Whatever horrific price U.S. residents in the direct path of harmful fires are forced to pay for politicians’ inaction, the costs to the Global South will be greater in scale. ​“We know that the Global South suffers more than 90% of the costs of climate breakdown, and 98% of the deaths associated with climate breakdown, due to fires, floods, droughts, famine, disease, displacement and so on,” says Hickel. ​“So, just like under colonialism, the North is benefitting at the expense of the South.”

Sarah Lazare is web editor and reporter for In These Times.

Red tides return to Florida, leaving beaches covered in dead fish

Red tides return to Florida, leaving beaches covered in dead fish

Garin Flowers, National Reporter and Producer             August 6, 2021
Thousands of dead fish
Thousands of dead fish in Boca Ciega Bay in Madeira Beach, Fla., on July 21. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images)

 

An unwelcome visitor is once again killing fish and causing issues for beachgoers along Florida’s Gulf Coast. A red tide bloom has been spotted in several areas near the shore in recent days. Local officials say they’ve already found more than 3.4 million pounds of red tide debris since mid-July.

The organism known as Karenia brevis has caused thousands of dead fish to wash up on shores and has displaced sharks into local canals as they flee the toxins.

Red tides, which have been linked to the release of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee and which thrive in warm water, also present a threat to human health, causing respiratory issues like eye, nose and throat irritation that have landed some residents in hospital emergency rooms this year.

“The ecosystems over the millennia have figured out how to digest the natural inputs of nutrient pollution. Humans come along and they add all of these extra inputs of nutrient pollution into our receiving water bodies,” said Cris Costello, organizing manager in Florida for the environmental organization the Sierra Club, who has studied red tides for 14 years. “It gets there through fertilizer, both urban and agricultural fertilizer, undertreated or inadequately treated wastewater, whether from septic tanks or wastewater treatment plants that aren’t as high level as they need to be.”

A protest march
A protest in Tampa Bay, Fla., on July 17 to raise awareness about the red tide outbreak. (John Pendygraft/Tampa Bay Times via Zuma Press Wire)

Most recently, 56 samples of bloom concentrations were detected in multiple counties, especially Pinellas (25 samples) and Sarasota (19), according to a weekly update from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission posted Wednesday.

“While K. brevis is a naturally-occurring organism, nutrient enrichment of our coastal waters can make blooms worse and longer-lived,” Pinellas County says on a webpage dedicated to red tide.

The Sierra Club believes pollution is a part of the problem and sent a letter to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis calling for action.

“Yet another summer of slime has unfolded in Florida and we all have been horrified by the devastation to our environment, coastal economy, and quality of life,” it reads.

On Aug. 2, as complaints from residents and business leaders grew louder, DeSantis appointed a task force to further research the causes of red tide outbreaks.

“My administration will continue to press forward to find solutions and empower our brightest minds to help protect our environment,” DeSantis said in a statement. “The issues of Red Tide are complex, but with the appointments of these leading scientists and researchers, we hope to make a difference.”

Thousands of dead fish
Thousands of dead fish in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images)

This year’s outbreak is the most serious since 2018, when then-Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency as the bloom wreaked havoc on tourism.

This year’s high concentrations of red tide have again turned the Gulf waters red, dark green or brown in certain areas. While Karenia brevis has been recorded in Florida since the 1800s, it has historically been more prevalent in the Gulf of Mexico’s warmer water. In recent years, however, as more overflow from Lake Okeechobee has been released into the Atlantic, blooms that can last anywhere from days to months have erupted there too.

“At this point, our water bodies are at the tipping point,” Costello said. “We have more problems here in Florida all year round than they do up north because our water is warmer. Climate change, climate disruption, has warmed our water. So the warmer the water is and the more nitrogen and phosphorus pollution there is, the more these algae, whether they are toxic or just a nuisance, they grow. It’s a population explosion.”

A sign warns about Red Tide
A sign at Indian Rocks Beach, Fla. (Arielle Bader/Tampa Bay Times via Zuma Press Wire)

 

The Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County is warning residents and visitors to the state to avoid swimming in areas where red tides have killed fish, to refrain from eating seafood in affected locations and to keep pets away from water, sea foam and dead fish where Karenia brevis has been detected.

The guidelines underscore the impact to a state whose greatest natural attraction is its miles of coastline.

“If outdoors, residents may choose to wear paper filter masks, especially if onshore winds are blowing,” the Department of Health said on its website.