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HHS launches Heat and Health Index to identify communities hit hardest by extreme heat
This is a very interesting new tool. According to Nextgov/FCW, The Department of Health and Human Services, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has launched a new tool called the “heat and health index” to identify communities hit hardest by extreme heat. The assessments are done by top code and include historic temperature data on heat-related emergencies within the last 3 years. The tool is built off of and extends the CDC’s Heat and Health Tracker and shows up on the CDC tool’s left hand navigation. The tool includes technical documentation and bulk data download. Check it out!
As the American public gears up for a summer that meteorologists are predicting will be among the hottest on record, federal officials have rolled out a new interactive portal to provide granular data on extreme heat risks across the country.
The heat and health index tool, launched by the Department of Health and Human Services on Friday, processes data on communities’ health and environmental characteristics to determine heat-related health risks by zip code.
The portal is hosted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which estimates that approximately 1,220 people in the U.S. die as a result of extreme heat each year.
HHS said in a press release that the tool will help officials identify communities “most likely to experience negative health outcomes from heat, ensure that outreach and medical aid reach the people who need it most and help decision-makers prioritize community resilience investments.”
NSF creates new Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science (CBIKS) connecting Indigenous wisdom with Western science
According to this new article in Nature, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has just launched the Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science (CBIKS) based at UMass Amherst with $30 million in funding over five years. The center joins more than a dozen active NSF Science and Technology Centers across the United States that focus on core research areas.The goal is to “cultivate Indigenous knowledge of the environment, and weave it together with Western scientific methods.” It will focus on projects around medicine, weather, climate, and biology. Of particular interest to librarians, the center has “developed its own protocols for managing intellectual property, to ensure that Indigenous communities have a say in how and when information is used by outside entities.”
“As Indigenous people, we have science, but we carry that science in stories,” says archaeologist and center co-director Sonya Atalay who is of Anishinaabe-Ojibwe heritage. “We need to think about how to do science in a different way and work differently with Indigenous communities.”
As well as advancing Indigenous science, CBIKS will attempt to set itself apart in how knowledge and information are managed, disseminated and ultimately returned to Indigenous communities.
Atalay says that her nightmare scenario is a well-established one in which, for example, scientists tap into local plant knowledge and publish and ultimately appropriate it for profit through drug companies. The centre has already developed its own protocols for managing intellectual property, to ensure that Indigenous communities have a say in how and when information is used by outside entities, she says.
Beautiful video on the history of fire lookouts – and fire! – highlights lots of US govt publications and records
Ever since I read Jack Kerouac’s Dharma Bums so many moons ago, I’ve been fascinated with fire lookouts. So I was delighted to run across this beautiful video by Aidin Robbins “Life as the Last Fire Lookout.” He does a great job explaining the history of fire lookouts through his interview with Russ Dalton, one of the last fire watchers, and explains how these structures have largely disappeared into the mists of history and why the remaining ones need to be preserved. But one of the best things I got from Robbins’ video was a long bibliography of US Forest Service documents and archival records from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) that he helpfully listed in the description of this youtube video — and at least 2 of which are UNREPORTED documents that I’ve just submitted!
Longtime Climate Science Denier Hired At NOAA
Here’s another example of the Trump administration naming people to political posts in federal agencies in order to damage and destroy public trust in those agencies. This time it’s the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which, among other responsibilities, runs the National Weather Service and produces all sorts of information and data on climate to “help people understand and prepare for climate variability and change.” The administration just named David Legates, a University of Delaware professor of climatology and long-time climate change denier affiliated with the conservative astroturf Heartland Institute, as deputy assistant secretary of commerce for observation and prediction. It’s going to take many years for executive agencies across the federal government to come back from the damage created by this administration.
David Legates, a University of Delaware professor of climatology who has spent much of his career questioning basic tenets of climate science, has been hired for a top position at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Legates confirmed to NPR that he was recently hired as NOAA’s deputy assistant secretary of commerce for observation and prediction. The position suggests that he reports directly to Neil Jacobs, the acting head of the agency that is in charge of the federal government’s sprawling weather and climate prediction work.
Neither Legates nor NOAA representatives responded to questions about Legates’ specific responsibilities or why he was hired. The White House also declined to comment.
Legates has a long history of using his position as an academic scientist to publicly cast doubt on climate science. His appointment to NOAA comes as Americans face profound threats stoked by climate change, from the vast, deadly wildfires in the West to an unusually active hurricane season in the South and East.
Global temperatures have already risen nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19th century as a result of greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. Warming is happening the fastest at the Earth’s poles, where sea ice is melting, permafrost is thawing and ocean temperatures are heating up, with devastating effects on animals and humans alike.
Are Frequent Flier Miles Killing the Planet?
Are Frequent Flier Miles Killing the Planet? By Seth Kugel. March 5, 2020
“In October, a two-line recommendation buried on Page 35 of a report commissioned by the United Kingdom’s Committee on Climate Change garnered disproportionate attention in the world of frequent fliers.” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/travel/loyalty-programs-climate-change.html
The report, “Behaviour change, public engagement and Net Zero” (Imperial College London), is available at the Committee on Climate Change’s website.
https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/behaviour-change-public-engagement-and-net-zero-imperial-college-london/
“The Committee on Climate Change (the CCC) is an independent, statutory body established under the Climate Change Act 2008. Our purpose is to advise the UK Government and Devolved Administrations on emissions targets and report to Parliament on progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for climate change.” http://www.theccc.org.uk
One can find all of their publications (reports and letters) at https://www.theccc.org.uk/publications/
co-published on govdoc-l and freegovinfo.info.
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