Heat waves and global warming

Earth’s global average surface temperature in 2021 tied 2018 as the sixth warmest year on record, and the past eight years are the warmest, according to an independent analysis done by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USA. Continuing the planet’s long-term warming trend, Global temperatures in 2021 were 0.85 degrees Celsius above the average for NASA’s baseline period, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. NASA uses the period from 1951-1980 as a baseline to see how global temperature changes over time. “Collectively, the past eight years are the warmest years since modern recordkeeping began in 1880. This annual temperature data makes up the global temperature record — which tells scientists the planet is warming," a NASA release said. According to NASA’s temperature record, Earth in 2021 was about 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer than the late 19th century average, the start of the industrial … [Read more...] about Global Temperatures in 2021 Sixth Highest, 8 of Top 10 Hottest Years in Last Decade, Says NASA

Panic among parents, underlying health conditions or incidental coronavirus infection – these are the top reasons behind the admission of children in hospitals due to Covid-19, paediatricians across India told News18.com. While the doctors haven’t seen any increase in the hospitalisation among children in the ongoing third wave caused by heavily mutated variant Omicron, they are expecting a few cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) – a rare but possible side effect of Covid – by mid-February or March. More than half a dozen medical child health experts News18.com spoke to confirmed that children – in all the three waves – have only reported “mild Covid-19” disease and recover “within one week”. “This time, Covid doesn’t appear to be causative but is rather incidental in children getting admitted to Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU),” said Dr Maninder Singh Dhaliwal, associate director, paediatrics, Medanta. It means that children are not admitted in … [Read more...] about Children are Doing Fine in the Omicron-led Covid Third Wave, Say Experts, and Here are the Reasons Why

Globally, we see stakeholder segments at odds with strategy, and sometimes a strategy is completely missing or often confused with tactical and operational elements. This reluctance is seen in mature democracies as well as democracies with disorders. The primary reason is a lack of alignment on a common minimum shared containment and/ or mitigation programme. In the absence of a concerted strategy, the stakeholders are bound to go into cognitive dissonance. The latter is counterproductive since it is the root cause of non-compliance, ignorance, and poor adoption. Ideally, strategies should be across the nations, irrespective of local, state or national objectives. These strategies should be based on scientific rationale independent of political or other influences, they must be transparent and equally applicable across stakeholders. Especially with a virus-like COVID, it is imperative to remain ahead of the wave and not trail it, as the latter has implications on lives, livelihood … [Read more...] about Revoke Privileges of Anti-Vaxxers, Identify Target Group Before Next Wave Hits Them – The Covid Strategy We Need

More than three in five (62%) over-65s are worried about heating their home, according to Age UK The proportion of those who said in January that they are concerned about the cost of heating their home has increased from 43% who expressed such fears when a survey was carried out in December. Nearly half (45%) of over-65s are worried about having to reduce energy use due to financial concerns, up from 30% in December. Age UK said a 78-year-old woman told the charity: “I simply cannot cope with even higher bills.” Recommended Most and least affordable places in Britain for first-time home buyers revealed State pension underpayments are ‘shameful shambles’ – spending watchdog High street banks ‘losing vice-like grip on UK’s current accounts’ Another woman, aged 74, said: “If my energy bills increase as much as predicted, despite the help already given, I will not be able to heat my house, eat, feed my little dog, my only … [Read more...] about More than three in five over-65s worried about heating their home, says Age UK

As the process of filing nominations for the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh election comes to a close, the battle for western Uttar Pradesh has begun. Riding on the perceived Jat-Muslim unity after the farmers’ agitation and the Bahujan Samaj Party’sindifference, the Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance is hoping to seize control of the region where the Bharatiya Janata Party won a whopping 53 out of the 58 seats in 2017.On average, Jats and Muslims constitute between 30% to 50% of the electorate in these seats.The SP hasleft 33 seats for the RLD in the first round, out of which on five seats, SP candidates are contesting on the hand pump symbol. While the alliance has picked 10 Jat candidates, the BJP has opted for 12. Eleven Muslim candidates are also in the fray under the SP-RLD alliance. Also Read The Mulayam clan | The patriarch, the successor and the party parivar However, after the ticket distribution, the fissures among Jats and Muslims that … [Read more...] about West U.P. is warming up for a tight contest this winter

Hundreds of companies and organizations have been hit by an attack on Microsoft 's computer systems. The computer giant announced in a blog post on Monday the latest online assault targeted "resellers and other technology service providers" of its cloud service. Microsoft has publicly identified the perpetrator as Nobelium, the hacking group behind the SolarWinds cyberattack, because "the latest activity shares the hallmarks of the actor's compromise-one-to-compromise-many approach." The blog post states: "The Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) has detected nation-state activity associated with the threat actor tracked as Nobelium, attempting to gain access to downstream customers of multiple cloud service providers (CSP), managed service providers (MSP), and other IT services organizations ... that have been granted administrative or privileged access by other organizations. "The targeted activity has been observed against organizations based in the United States and … [Read more...] about Wave of cyberattacks hitting American companies, Microsoft warns

While the debate around reopening of schools rages in India, the country recorded more than three lakh new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, a rise of 12.2 per cent over Tuesday, and 491 people succumbed to the infection in 24 hours, taking the pandemic’s toll to 487,693. The country is yet to witness a peak in the third wave, which has seen the Omicron variant of coronavirus re-infecting even those who are fully vaccinated. In such a scenario, experts are of the opinion that reopening schools would pose a risk of leaving children vulnerable to contracting the infection. India has not yet started vaccinating children below the age of 15 and some between 15 and 17 have received only their first dose. Vaccination for the 15-17 age group was opened earlier this month. Reopening schools would mean all those below 15 years, who are unvaccinated, face the threat of getting infected. Global experts have said that the new variant of the coronavirus can have long term effects, including some … [Read more...] about Coronavirus Can Have Long-Term Effects On Unvaccinated Kids, Warns Global Expert

California has led the nation in setting ambitious climate change goals and policies. But the state’s progress is threatened by a nasty fight between rival camps in the energy industry that both consider themselves proponents of renewable energy. The dispute is about who will get to build the green energy economy — utilities or smaller companies that install solar panels and batteries at homes — and reap billions of dollars in profits from those investments. At stake is whether the state can reach its goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2045 . For years, the rooftop solar business was ascendant in California, growing as much as 62 percent a year. That angered utilities and their labor unions, which long controlled the production, sale and distribution of electricity, and they lobbied state leaders to rein in the rooftop solar business — an effort that is on the cusp of success. The infighting couldn’t come at a worse time, some energy experts said. President Biden’s main … [Read more...] about A Fight Over Rooftop Solar Threatens California’s Climate Goals

Cases of kidney stones can be contained if we are able to reduce the pace of global warming. A rise in global temperature and consequent climate change patterns will increase the number of people dealing with kidney stones, according to researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in the United States. The research, published in Scientific Reports, says that along with unhealthy dietary and lifestyle habits, heat and dehydration also exacerbate the medical condition. According to the study, the number of cases will increase between 2.2 percent and 3.9 percent in the near future if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate. This will lead to a huge rise in health costs either way. Gregory Tasian, senior author of the study and an attending paediatric urologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said, “With climate change, we don’t often talk about the impact on human health, particularly when it comes to children, but a warming planet will have … [Read more...] about Climate Change Will Lead to Rise in People Suffering From Kidney Stones: Study

WASHINGTON — President Obama announced on Friday that he had rejected the request from a Canadian company to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline, ending a seven-year review that had become a symbol of the debate over his climate policies. Mr. Obama’s denial of the proposed 1,179-mile pipeline, which would have carried 800,000 barrels a day of carbon-heavy petroleum from the Canadian oil sands to the Gulf Coast, comes as he seeks to build an ambitious legacy on climate change. “America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change,” Mr. Obama said in remarks from the White House. “And, frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership.” The move was made ahead of a major United Nations summit meeting on climate change to be held in Paris in December, when Mr. Obama hopes to help broker a historic agreement committing the world’s nations to enacting new policies to counter global warming. While the rejection of the … [Read more...] about Citing Climate Change, Obama Rejects Construction of Keystone XL Oil Pipeline