It’s not even December and the US has already footed an unprecedented number of $1 billion bills for disasters nationwide
Laurelle Stelle – November 7, 2023
In the first 10 months of 2023, the U.S. has weathered droughts, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires — at least 24 of which were severe enough to cause over $1 billion apiece in damages. That’s a new record, Bloomberg reported, based on data through Oct. 10, with more than two months to go.
What’s happening?
According to Bloomberg, referencing a report from the National Centers for Environmental Information, the first nine months of 2023 saw $67.1 billion of disasters causing 373 deaths.
For years, billion-dollar disasters have been growing more common nationwide. The average between 2017 and 2021 was a devastating one every 18 days, compared to what Bloomberg says was the historical average since 1980 of 8.5 per year, or one every 43 days.
But in 2023, that pace is already at roughly one every 15 days — almost three times as fast as the historical average — assuming no other billion-dollar disasters are tallied through the end of December.
That’s also leaving out several disasters that have already happened, but whose costs haven’t been fully assessed yet. As Bloomberg points out, Hurricane Hillary, recent hail storms in Texas, and the flooding in New York each have the potential to top that $1 billion mark.
Why are there so many disasters happening?
The driving cause behind these disastrous events is the Earth’s rising temperature. As the average temperature of the planet rises due to heat-trapping air pollution, the weather gets less stable and more prone to extremes.
Dry areas often get drier and more prone to heat waves, fires, and droughts. Wet areas often get wetter, with increased flooding and storms. The strain on our infrastructure leads to dangerous complications like power outages, making the problem worse.
People across America are seeing the results. Even people not in the direct path of the destruction are feeling the pinch, as insurers raise their rates to offset the increase in claims. Some companies are completely pulling out of disaster-prone states like Florida and California.
What’s being done about these major disasters?
After every one of these incidents, state and federal agencies respond with disaster relief funds and services to help ease the burden. For example, in September, President Joe Biden authorized disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Idalia and those with contaminated drinking water due to saltwater intrusion in Louisiana.
Long-term, the best solution is to reduce air pollution to lower the temperature of the Earth. That means switching from gas to electric wherever possible; minimizing waste and the use of disposable plastic; and supporting policies and products that minimize pollution.
Nine foods to lower cholesterol – and some may surprise you
Boudicca Fox-Leonard – November 6, 2023
Foods to lower cholesterol
If you always swerve the cheese course out of concern for your cholesterol, then it might be time to change tactics.
The long-standing fear has been that saturated fats in cheese increase the level of LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol in our blood, which is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Now some experts believe cheese has been wrongly demonised and that it might actually be beneficial for health. Recent research suggests that the beneficial microbes and nutrients in cheese might inhibit the uptake of its unhealthier elements.
It’s not the only food that’s been re-evaluated after being long associated with raising bad cholesterol. Others include shellfish and eggs.
What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol is the waxy substance found in your blood that is important in the making of certain hormones and healthy cells.
“We can make about two thirds typically of what we need and the last third comes from our diet,” explains dietitian Dr Duane Mellor of the British Dietetic Association.
The difference between HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, sometimes called “good” cholesterol, and LDL (low-density lipoprotein) is that the former absorbs cholesterol in the blood and carries it back to the liver. The liver then flushes it from the body. High levels of HDL cholesterol can lower your risk for heart disease and stroke. LDL, on the other hand, takes cholesterol directly to your arteries.
Oily fish has long been praised for its health benefits – getty
Other fats can block your arteries, too
“In simple terms, LDL pushes cholesterol into the body and HDL is a way of getting it out of the body,” says Dr Mellor.
When measuring our risk of developing heart disease, the focus used to be on LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol levels and total cholesterol levels. But our blood also contains a type of fat called triglycerides (found in fat cells), which can also contribute to narrowed arteries.
“It’s now understood that as well as LDL, other types of “bad” fats are also important to consider when thinking about someone’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease,” says Bahee Van de Bor, a paediatric dietitian.
Carrying excess weight, eating a lot of fatty and sugary foods or drinking too much alcohol can all lead to high triglyceride levels. This is because triglycerides are made to store extra calories.
Not all saturated fat is bad for your heart
The new research concerning cheese shows that not every saturated fat behaves the same. Dr Mellor says: “It’s possible that because dairy products come from herbivores they have all sorts of odd-chain fatty acids which may actually be good, so we can’t say all saturated fat is bad,”
However, he adds: “What we can say is that too much of it and your calorie intake will be too high and that’s something to be mindful of.
A healthier approach is to think about eating small amounts. “The main things that are going to drive cholesterol up are eating too many calories, gaining weight and putting on fat, because that’s what your body will then make the cholesterol from.”
Reducing your meat intake will also make room for other foods on your plate, many of which have been shown to actually help lower your cholesterol level. As well as cheese, here are eight more to try…
They can be difficult to know how to cook well, but worth the effort from the perspective of both taste and health. Some animal studies suggest including aubergine may help lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. These effects are likely to be because of the fibre as well as the antioxidant content of aubergine, including nasunin, the major component of the pigment in eggplant. “The soluble fibre in them is good. It stops you recycling your own cholesterol that would normally be reabsorbed in the gut,” says Dr Mellor. Soluble fibre binds cholesterol particles to it in the small intestine, preventing them from entering your bloodstream and travelling to other parts of the body. Instead, cholesterol will exit the body through the faeces.
For the most health impact, avoid frying them: “Doing that means you’re getting a lot of energy that way which isn’t good from the weight side of things.” Instead roast them with a sensible amount of oil.
Last eaten most likely in an Indian restaurant, this pointy green vegetable, also known as lady’s fingers or bhindi, is cultivated worldwide and available increasingly in mainstream supermarkets. Researchers have found that a gel in okra called mucilage can help lower cholesterol by binding to it during digestion. This helps cholesterol leave the body through stools.
Okra’s polyphenols content has also been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease. One four-year study in 1,100 people showed that those who ate a diet rich in polyphenols had lower inflammatory markers associated with heart disease.
A healthy food that doesn’t hurt your wallet. Human studies have found that lentils may improve cholesterol levels in people with diabetes. Rich in fibre that can help stop the reabsorption of cholesterol into the bloodstream they also contain folate, iron and vitamin B1, which support your heart health.
Dr Mellor advises opting for red lentils. “They’re easy to use and you can part-substitute the mince in a dish like bolognese, helping you to reduce meat consumption while maintaining protein and iron intake. As well as the dietary benefits there are the financial ones too, because they are much cheaper.”
If you’re looking for a healthy snack, then it has to be nuts.
It’s not entirely clear why, but it’s thought that the “good” fats in nuts – both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats – lower bad cholesterol levels. They contain fibre as well as plant sterols, a substance that can help lower cholesterol. Nuts are also a source of L-arginine, which research suggests may lower blood pressure, improve cholesterol and improve overall blood vessel health.
“A lot of the research is sponsored by the almond growers of California, but it seems to be a class effect,” says Dr Mellor. “The only one that’s not going to be as good is a chestnut because that’s a starchy nut. It’s not a true nut.”
If you go for a hazelnut, walnuts, pecans and almonds, they’re all thought to have a similar effect, as do seeds like chia. “The key thing is not to have salted roast peanuts, because they’re not the healthiest. It’s best to have a fresh nut.”
A type of fibre called beta-glucan present in oats and barley has been found to lower blood cholesterol in studies, says Dr Stacey Lockyer, senior nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation.
When you eat beta-glucan, it forms a gel that binds to cholesterol-rich bile acids in the intestines. This helps limit the amount of cholesterol that is absorbed from the gut into your blood. Your liver then has to take more cholesterol out of your blood to make more bile, which lowers your blood cholesterol.
“The healthiest way to have them is as a simple porridge with a little bit of fresh or dried fruit,” says Dr Mellor. “The key thing is not to add lots of syrups and chocolate sprinkles and all sorts of things people do. Keep it as simple as possible.”
Tofu, made from condensed soy milk, may have been discovered during the Han dynasty (202 BC – AD 220) and became a popular choice for Buddhist monks who didn’t want to eat meat or fish. Modern researchers have studied soybeans to understand their effect on cholesterol, with scientists noting that soybeans with increased levels of the protein beta-conglycinin compared with the protein glycinin were better able to regulate cholesterol metabolism and inhibit fatty acid oxidation. It is thought that eating soybeans with higher levels of beta-conglycinin may help to maintain healthy liver and cardiovascular function.
“A harder one to sell to people,” says Dr Mellor, as tofu isn’t a traditional food in the UK. “You can scramble it like an egg that works quite well. Or you can toss it into a stir fry with a load of vegetables and serve it with noodles. It does taste better when fried, or you can put it into a curry sauce. The key thing is that you add it into a sauce early so it can take on the flavours of the sauce,” says Dr Mellor.
Of the reason tofu is a cholesterol buster, he says: “It seems to be the phytoestrogens, these plant-like mimicking hormones that tend to alter the way the cholesterol is absorbed.”
It’s a myth that tofu has a feminising effect, he adds: “Otherwise vast swathes of the world that eat plots of tofu, would have different characteristics. But it does tend to have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular risks.”
The omega-3 fats found in oily fish can help lower harmful blood triglycerides. “It seems to be beneficial in helping lower triglycerides and increasing the good cholesterol,” says Dr Mellor. Oily fish includes herring, mackerel, pilchards, sardines, salmon, trout and fresh tuna. “I’d probably go for something simple and not too salty like sardines in tomato sauce which you can have on a piece of toast as a quick and easy meal,” says Dr Mellor. “It’s an alternative to a bacon sandwich and healthier.”
When it comes to having healthy cholesterol levels the vitamins and fibre in vegetables are key. “It’s not quite as simple as antioxidants, but they contain a range of things like Vitamin C and E, which help keep the cholesterol in its healthy state,” says Dr Mellor.
The brassica family has been associated with healthy cholesterol because of its levels of soluble fibre. In particular, studies have shown a diet rich in high glucoraphanin broccoli reduces plasma LDL cholesterol. Other cholesterol-busting vegetables to consider include spinach, Brussels sprouts and collard greens.
“The science isn’t 100 per cent but it is thought that having a range of these different plants will nourish your gut microbiome that has a role in your body handling fats and lipids, not necessarily cholesterol but triglycerides.”
‘Sandwich generation’ is in a jam and struggling with caregiving costs, survey shows
Dylan Croll – November 4, 2023
Meeting basic living expenses is tough enough when you go it alone. But what about when you have someone else to look after?
According to New York Life’s new Wealth Watch Survey, nearly half of the “sandwich generation” – folks with children and elderly family members to look after – report being unable to meet basic living expenses, like food or medical care, in the last year due to caregiving costs.
Of those surveyed, 90% say they’ve made a “lifestyle change or financial decision” due to the cost of caregiving.
The study,which surveyed 1,003 sandwich generation adults between Aug. 31 and Sept. 10, showshow unprepared they are for the expenses of caregiving. It also reveals how they’re adapting.
“People should care because you can be individually financially healthy, have your bills under control, have adequate emergency savings,” said Suzanne Schmitt, head of financial wellness at New York Life. “But you’re one caregiving event away from having your own finances challenged.”
Is the so-called sandwich generation under financial siege? (Photo: Getty Creative) (BlessedSelections via Getty Images)
The study also reports a demographic shift in those who make up the Sandwich Generation. Millennials, 27-42 years old, are increasingly becoming caregivers. In 2023, the study reported, 66% of self-reported caregivers were millennials while 23% were Gen Xers. Meanwhile, in 2020, merely 39% of caregivers were millennials and 40% were Gen Xers, between the ages of 43 – 58.
Men are also playing a more active role in caregiving, according to the study. For instance, in 2023, 45% of self-reported caregivers were women while 55% were men. That’s in stark contrast to 2020, when 64% of self-reported caregivers were women and 36% were men.
“Males as a result likely of the pandemic are more willing to admit to providing care and are more apt to be pulled into the act of household caregiving for children and also older loved ones,” said Schmitt.
Though more men are becoming caregivers, women still bear a notable financial and emotional load from caregiving. The study found that 72% of men “said they would be able to afford providing the same level of care for their loved ones for at least another year before adjusting their financial plan” while only 54% of women said the same. And the report finds that 50% of women say that caregiving negatively impacts their mental health compared to 39% of men.
Women also continue to spend more hours per week caregiving than men, according to the study.
“Women historically have underreported caregiving, because it’s often just seen by many women as something they simply do,” Schmitt said. “Picking up prescriptions, managing medications, doing grocery shopping, doing cooking.”
Family caregivers are struggling to make ends meet. (Photo: Getty Creative) (Drazen Zigic via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, the sandwich generation as a whole is struggling to make ends meet as they care for children and the elderly. The study finds that 40% say they “made a financial decision they regret due to mental strain from caregiving.” More than 50% say they’ve “made a sacrifice” when it comes to financial security due to caregiving needs. Of those that have made a financial change due to caregiving responsibilities, 34% reported cutting back on expenses, 26% reported contributing less to their emergency savings, and 26% reported taking on more debt.
On the other hand, the sandwich generations’ financial struggles have also made them more far-sighted. For instance, over 3 in 4 agree that “the experience of caring for their aging relative led them to purchase or explore purchasing financial protection products,” according to the survey. New York Life also reports that 34% of study respondents plan to pay for future caregiving costs by paying more out of their own budget, 28% say they plan to do so by working overtime in their jobs, 27% say they will do so by spending the retirement savings of those they will be caring for.
The sandwich generation is also saving money for their children to take care of them. According to the study, 42% say they’ve put aside $43,136.67 on average.
“As a silver lining in all of this we believe that younger people are starting to have those thoughts and internal dialogue and conversations with spouses and partners earlier in life,” Schmitt said. “Where they simply have more time to save more runway to consider products and solutions, and ultimately be proactive in putting a plan in place before they find themselves in this care.”
US EPA needs to phase out food waste from landfills by 2040 -local officials
Leah Douglas – October 31, 2023
FILE PHOTO: Workers use heavy machinery to move trash and waste at the Frank R. Bowerman landfill in California
(Reuters) – A group of local U.S. government officials from 18 states on Tuesday urged the Environmental Protection Agency to phase out food waste disposal in landfills by 2040 to cut emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane.
Food waste causes 58% of the methane emissions that come from landfills, the EPA said in an Oct. 19 report that calculated those emissions for the first time. The U.S. is lagging on a goal to halve food waste by 2030, and the EPA has been criticized for under-investing in the issue.
“Without fast action on methane, local governments will increasingly face the impacts of warming temperatures, sea level rise, and extreme weather events,” the officials, including the mayors of Seattle and Minneapolis, said in a joint letter to the agency.
They also asked the agency to update landfill standards to better detect and mitigate methane leaks.
More than one third of food produced in the U.S. is wasted, and methane emissions from landfilled food waste are growing, totaling more than 55 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 2020, according to the EPA.
Landfills are responsible for about 14% of U.S. methane emissions, according to the EPA. Methane is 28 times stronger than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas over a 100-year period.
Some cities and municipalities have voluntary household composting programs for food waste. Residents of New York City, which was not among the cities that signed the letter to EPA, will soon be required to separate food scraps from the rest of their household trash.
The EPA provides resources on its website for household food waste management and has a program for businesses to commit to cutting their food waste, though the agency does not verify their progress.
Food waste will be a priority at this year’s United Nations climate conference, to be held at the end of November in the United Arab Emirates.
(Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Americans are still putting way too much food into landfills. Local officials seek EPA’s help
Melina Walling – October 31, 2023
Shredded organic materials are piled up before being taken to a anaerobic digester at a GreenWaste Zanker Resource Recovery Facility in San Jose, Calif., Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. For the first time since the 1990s, the EPA updated its ranking of preferred strategies for waste reduction, ranging from preventing wasted food altogether (by not producing or buying it in the first place) to composting or anaerobic digestion, a process by which food waste can be turned into energy in the form of biogas. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)A truck loaded with organic material exits a GreenWaste Zanker Resource Recovery Facility with the generators that will convert biogas into electricity at rear in San Jose, Calif., Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. For the first time since the 1990s, the EPA updated its ranking of preferred strategies for waste reduction, ranging from preventing wasted food altogether (by not producing or buying it in the first place) to composting or anaerobic digestion, a process by which food waste can be turned into energy in the form of biogas. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)Generators that will convert biogas into electricity sit at a GreenWaste Zanker Resource Recovery Facility in San Jose, Calif., Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. For the first time since the 1990s, the EPA updated its ranking of preferred strategies for waste reduction, ranging from preventing wasted food altogether (by not producing or buying it in the first place) to composting or anaerobic digestion, a process by which food waste can be turned into energy in the form of biogas. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
CHICAGO (AP) — More than one-third of the food produced in the U.S. is never eaten. Much of it ends up in landfills, where it generates tons of methane that hastens climate change. That’s why more than 50 local officials signed onto a letter Tuesday calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to help municipal governments cut food waste in their communities.
The letter came on the heels of two recent reports from the EPA on the scope of America’s food waste problem and the damage that results from it. The local officials pressed the agency to expand grant funding and technical help for landfill alternatives. They also urged the agency to update landfill standards to require better prevention, detection and reduction of methane emissions, something scientists already have the technology to do but which can be challenging to implement since food waste breaks down and starts generating methane quickly.
Tackling food waste is a daunting challenge that the U.S. has taken on before. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the EPA set a goal of cutting food waste in half by 2030, but the country has made little progress, said Claudia Fabiano, who works on food waste management for the EPA.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” Fabiano said.
Researchers say the EPA reports provide sorely needed information. One report found that 58% of methane emissions from landfills come from food waste, a major issue because methane is responsible for about a quarter of global warming and has significantly more warming potential than carbon dioxide.
With the extent of the problem clearly defined, some elected leaders and researchers alike hope to take action. But they say it will take not just investment of resources but also a major mindset shift from the public. Farmers may need to change some practices, manufacturers will need to rethink how they package and market goods, and individuals need to find ways to keep food from going to waste.
So for the first time since the 1990s, the EPA updated its ranking of preferred strategies for waste reduction, ranging from preventing wasted food altogether (by not producing or buying it in the first place) to composting or anaerobic digestion, a process by which food waste can be turned into biogas inside a reactor. Prevention remains the top strategy, but the new ranking includes more nuances comparing the options so communities can decide how to prioritize their investments.
But reducing waste requires a big psychological change and lifestyle shift from individuals no matter what. Researchers say households are responsible for at least 40% of food waste in the U.S.
It’s a more urgent problem than ever, said Weslynne Ashton, a professor of environmental management and sustainability at the Illinois Institute of Technology who was not involved with the EPA reports. Americans have been conditioned to expect abundance at grocery stores and on their plates, and it’s expensive to pull all that food out of the waste stream.
“I think it is possible to get zero organic waste into landfills,” Ashton said. “But it means that we need an infrastructure to enable that in different locations within cities and more rural regions. It means we need incentives both for households as well as for commercial institutions.”
With the problem clearly defined and quantified, it remains to be seen whether communities and states will get extra help or guidance from the federal level — and how much change they can make either way. The EPA has recently channeled some money from the Inflation Reduction Act toward supporting recycling, which did include some funding for organics waste, but those are relatively new programs.
Some local governments have been working on this issue for a while. California began requiring every jurisdiction to provide organic waste collection services starting in 2022. But others don’t have as much of a head start. Chicago, for instance, just launched a city-wide composting pilot program two weeks ago that set up free food waste drop-off points around the city. But prospective users have to transport their food scraps themselves.
Ning Ai, an associate professor of urban planning and policy at the University of Illinois Chicago, said the report could be bolstered by more specific information about how different communities can adopt localized solutions, since preventing food waste might look different in rural and urban areas or in different parts of the country. But she was also impressed that the report highlighted tradeoffs of environmental impacts between air, water and land, something she said is not often as aggressively documented.
“These two reports, as well as some of the older ones, that definitely shows up as a boost to the national momentum to waste reduction,” said Ai, who was not involved with the EPA’s research.
Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
SC wastes more food than any other state, new study shows. Here’s why and how much
Sarah Claire McDonald – November 1, 2023
With the coming months bringing seasonal food fads and festive holidays, food waste has the potential to be much more prominent around this time of year.
After Cherry Digital, a communications agency, surveyed 3,200 Americans to find out how much was thrown away this past year, it was discovered that U.S. households waste about $907 worth of food annually.
Food waste comes in to Re-Soil, near Elgin, and is composted over a 15 day period.
As for South Carolina, the reported estimation was much higher than the nation’s.
Residents in households around the Palmetto State were reported to waste over $1,300 worth of food each year, according to survey data from the study.
After the findings were broken down state-by-state, the survey found that South Carolinians were the most wasteful overall, getting rid of $1,304.68 worth of food each year.
The least-wasteful state in the U.S. is West Virginia, the study states. This state’s residents reportedly only throw away $404.90 worth of their annual groceries.
Although this could in part be due to wasted leftovers, there could be another issue afoot.
The survey shows that only one-quarter of people know what the “use-by date” actually means for peak product quality.
According to the findings, the survey displayed that 30.4% of individuals believed that this date means the last date the product was edible, 22% thought that it meant that it was the last date the food product could be displayed and sold in a store and 21% believed that it meant the date that the product would be at its best flavor and quality, which is the meaning behind a “best-by date.”
According to the United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA FSIS), examples of commonly used phrases and their meaning include:
A “Best if Used By/Before” date indicates when a product will be of its best flavor or quality. It is not a purchase or safety date.
A “Sell-By” date tells the store how long to display the product for sale for inventory management. It is not a safety date.
A “Use-By” date is the last date recommended for the use of the product while at peak quality. It is not a safety date except for when used on infant formula as described below.
A “Freeze-By” date indicates when a product should be frozen to maintain peak quality. It is not a purchase or safety date.
The survey also discovered that, for food wasted, 51.1% of people believe that best before dates on fruits and vegetables should be ignored as “it’s easy to tell if something has gone bad,” as detailed by its findings. The study also discovered that the foods Americans would most likely throw away are dairy products at 46.6%, 22.3% for meat, fish at 19.2%, bread at 5.1% and vegetables at 8.5%.
Discarded rotten fruit left for waste after a market.
For those who don’t want their uneaten or unused food to go to waste, your local community may have several food drives, food banks and community help centers that will take all kinds of donations, especially around the holidays.
Although there could be several others, Feeding America’s website lets its users search for nearby affiliated food banks to donate. This website can be found online at https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-food-bank.
More than 50 officials call on the EPA to help local governments cut food waste in their communities
Joy Saha – November 1,2023
Person Throwing Pizza In Garbage Getty Images/Andrey Popov
On Tuesday, more than 50 local officials penned a letter urging the Environmental Protection Agency to phase out food waste disposal in landfills by 2040 to cut emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane, Reuters reported.The letter came in the wake of two reports from the EPA that spotlights America’s food waste crisis and its detrimental environmental consequences. More than one-third of the food produced in the U.S. is never consumed. Much of that waste ends up in landfills, where it generates astounding amounts of toxic methane.
Food waste causes 58% of the methane emissions that come from landfills, the EPA said in an Oct. 19 report that calculated those emissions for the first time. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the EPA set a goal in 2015 to cut food waste in half by 2030. But very little progress has been made and the EPA has been criticized for “under-investing in the issue,” Reuters said.
“Without fast action on methane, local governments will increasingly face the impacts of warming temperatures, sea level rise, and extreme weather events,” the officials said in their joint letter to the agency. They also called on the EPA to update landfill standards to “require better prevention, detection and reduction of methane emissions,” per ABC News. Landfills are responsible for about 14% of U.S. methane emissions, the EPA also found. Reuters added that compared to carbon dioxide, another powerful greenhouse gas, methane is 28 times stronger over a 100-year period.
New tool reveals swaths of American coastline are expected to be underwater by 2050: ‘Time is slipping away’
Brittany Davies – October 31, 2023
If you ask Climate Central — which has a coastal risk screening tool that shows an area’s risk for rising sea levels and flooding over the coming decades — Texas’s coastline is in trouble.
The new map-based tool compiles research into viewable projections for water levels, land elevation, and other factors in localized areas across the U.S. to assess their potential risk.
The predictive technology indicates that, under some scenarios, many of Texas’s coastal areas, such as much of Galveston Island, Beaumont, and the barrier islands, will be underwater during floods by 2050.
What’s happening?
Coastal areas face threats from rising sea levels caused by melting ice caps and warming oceans, as well as flooding from storms intensified by changing temperatures. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates more than 128 million people live in coastal communities, many of which will be severely impacted by the effects of higher tides and dangerous storms.
CNN reports that coastal flooding could cost the global economy $14.2 trillion in damages, not including loss of life and well-being, by the end of the century. The loss of land due to sea level rise is also detrimental to the entire ecosystem, disrupting important wetlands and freshwater supplies.
Why is this concerning?
The coastal risk screening tool provides startling insight into how many areas will likely be affected by rising tides and floods, especially if nothing is done to mitigate Earth’s rapidly rising temperatures. As 2050 quickly approaches, time is slipping away to prepare and protect communities and ecosystems from the rising waters.
Planning, approving, and implementing new infrastructure and other major projects to keep communities safe can take years to complete. Because the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly, cities need to start planning now before they find themselves in too deep.
What’s being done to reduce the risk?
Many of the most vulnerable regions are densely populated and people are already dealing with personal and economic damages from intensified flooding. While some may be able to move or make changes to their homes and communities to prepare for rising waters, not everyone has the means or desire to make these changes.
Several actions may be taken by individuals, organizations, municipalities, and the government to reduce the impacts of coastal flooding. The first step is understanding where the vulnerabilities are, indicates Peter Girard of Climate Central. Protecting existing wetlands and utilizing nature-based solutions such as living shorelines or sand dunes can lessen the impacts of flooding, storm surges, and erosion.
Community developers are encouraged to consider those most vulnerable when implementing coastal resiliency strategies such as shifting populations or building flood walls. Individuals living in flood zones should learn about the risks and obtain insurance protection if available.
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My centenarian dad lived to be 101. Here are his lifestyle tips I’m following to live a long life, too.
Louisa Rogers – October 29, 2023
My centenarian father lived a very healthy life but recently died at 101.
His practices mirrored Blue Zone principles: eating in moderation, exercising, and reducing stress.
I hope to live as long as him, so I’ve incorporated these habits into my life to be healthy.
For as long as I knew him, my father, who died a year ago at 101, lived a very healthy, active life. He ran every morning until he was 70, kept his stress level to a minimum, and enjoyed close bonds with family and friends — three of the principles described by Dan Buettner in his book “The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest.”
The author with her father.Courtesy of Louisa Rogers
Because I also hope to live to become a centenarian, I’m following his example. I’ve incorporated many of the practices I saw him live out — and a few others — into my life.
Eat and drink in moderation
“Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper,” Daddy used to intone. He always ate his smallest meal in the early evening. At mealtimes, he followed another rule of Blue Zoners: Stop eating when you’re 80% full.
While I have a history of overeating, I’ve learned to eat healthily and moderately most of the time — I eat a 90% plant-based diet with occasional fish, and I indulge in junk food sparingly. I do tend to have my main meal in the evening, but it’s typically a simple one-pot dish.
As for alcohol, many centenarians do enjoy a glass of wine, but they don’t overdo it. My father, however, was a heavy drinker until the last five years of his life, when, after serious catheter surgery, his doctor ordered him to stop drinking. I have two glasses of wine at night, and I think of it as my guilty pleasure.
Exercise frequently
My father was a hiker, backpacker, and runner, starting in his college years. At 70, he switched from running outdoors to using an exercise bicycle and a treadmill.
I began running during college with my dad and slowly expanded into loving exercise of all kinds; I call myself an “adult-onset fitness lover.” Being physically active, especially outdoors, gives me great pleasure, whether I’m walking long-distance routes in different parts of the world (my husband, Barry, and I walked the 540-mile Camino de Santiago), riding my bike, or paddleboarding.
I also find ways to incorporate physical activity into my daily routine, like many centenarians, who often don’t exercise in the modern sense but incorporate movement into their daily lives. And unlike my dad, who lived in the suburbs, I live in walkable communities — I split my time between Mexico and California — so I rarely drive, and it’s easy to get a lot of walking in each day.
Reduce stress
While my father had a great deal of loss in his life — he outlived not only my mother and two later wives but also two of his five children — he was very resilient. He kept marrying, which was not always easy for me, but now I realize it helped him avoid loneliness, which a surgeon general advisory says is about as deadly as smoking.
As for me, a few years ago I told a friend, “I don’t do Christmas stress.” Gradually, that attitude has expanded into the rest of my life. It’s not always that simple, of course. Naturally, I sometimes experience stressful events, but I’ve learned to mitigate it through walking or other exercise, talking to a friend, journaling, and meditating.
Have a sense of purpose
Centenarians know why they want to get up in the morning. I never asked my dad what his purpose was, but he was very engaged in life. After 9/11, for example, he joined an interfaith group made up of Christians, Jews, and Muslims, and later went to the Middle East on a peace delegation. When he was 80, he volunteered to build houses in Honduras.
I love connecting with people, learning, and being creative. I write, cook, and paint. During the parts of the year when we’re living in Mexico, I also speak Spanish and spend a lot of time volunteering.
Maintain strong connections with family and friends
My dad lived in Pennsylvania. Though none of his children lived in the same state, we visited often and were in frequent contact by phone.
For 30 years, he met with a group of friends every month, and they all shared about their lives and reflected on current issues or a book they’d read.
I don’t live near my family members, either, but I’m in regular touch with them. And while I have friends in both communities where we live, I also regularly “prospect” for new ones because I’ve seen that close connections can unexpectedly end through moves, irreconcilable differences, or death.
Nurture a sense of spirituality
Unlike most centenarians, my dad did not have a strong faith. I’m not a traditional believer, either, but I act as though I am. Call it the placebo effect. I write notes to God and ask for help when I’m struggling, and somehow, it works.
There are no guarantees, of course. Plenty of fit people die young. Still, there’s no harm in improving my chances, especially since I enjoy these activities anyway and they add to my quality of life. What have I got to lose?
Shopper left furious after purchase on dad’s recent grocery store trip: ‘Totally wipes out the benefit’
Kendall Burke – October 29, 2023
A Redditor who found a baffling instance of excessive plastic took to the r/anticonsumption subreddit to voice their frustrations.
The poster said their dad bought the offending cucumber — which was covered in not one, but two layers of single-use plastic — during a recent grocery run, seemingly at U.K. chain Morrison’s, given the branding The Greengrocer’s on Market Street.
“All this plastic for HALF A F******* CUCUMBER,” the frustrated Redditor wrote.
Photo Credit: u/DyeTheSheep / Reddit
The image reveals that the package actually contains just half a cucumber, which could be the reason for wrapping it in so much plastic, as cut vegetables and fruit spoil faster than uncut ones. However, that raises the question, why would anyone sell just half a cucumber.
Commenters agreed with the original poster’s sentiment.
One shared, “The other day I saw organic cilantro on a plastic tray, wrapped with plastic. Totally wipes out the benefit of organic.”
Another joked, “Nice I need a plastic bag to transport it too please.”
While plastic wrap can reduce how quickly food spoils, a main cause of consumer-level food waste, it can take anywhere between 20 and 500 years (or more by some estimates) to break down in our landfills and oceans.
Innovative solutions to this issue are being perfected every day. Multiple companies have debuted versions of plastic-free “plastic” wrap, with one particularly cool option that sprays on like a Spiderman web. There are also myriad groups at work on an international and local level to clean up our existing ocean plastic problem.
