LYME DISEASE

Deer ticks are active all year long.They are found in every state but Hawaii. However become most active at about 50 degrees (F), but even  35 degrees (F) can get them up and going.  According to records the temperature along the East Coast (Maine-Delaware) has increased 3.6 degrees (F) since 1902. Warmer winters bring on increased survival and reproductive rates. In many cases the ticks are transported to the East Coast by birds who are flying back after moving South for the Winter.  In the South the birds walk on the forest floor, and pick up deer ticks that live in the leaves.  The deer ticks don't have the disease per se, they get it from  warm blooded creatures  that they latch on to and drink blood. When the ticks arrive in the North, it is now warm enough for them to survive quite nicely. In colder times they would have had difficulty surviving in these numbers due to inability to manage the cold.  Why are they a problem in the Spring.  Deer ticks have 3 stages of life, Larva, Nymph, Adult.  The NYMPH(appears in Spring) is about the size of the head of a pin and is the first stage that they can transmit LYME DISEASE.  One issue is FINDING them on your body due to their tiny size. You could infected with LYME DISEASE and not know it...a NYMPH tick is tiny, the bite is not easy to find  like a dog bite! In the Fall they are usually Adults and just a bit easier to find. Lyme disease in the South. Good question! Yes ,it is warm and the ticks live there HOWEVER it can be very warm, and the heat and humidity dehydrates them so they are more likely to stay undercover in the leaves instead of venturing out for warm blooded animals to latch on to. Interesting because they are less active during July and August in the Northeast. Also the CDC has some questions about unreported cases.  SO by turning up the heat in the NORTH the environment  has created great living conditions for deer ticks and a big increase in the  disease they spread, LYME DISEASE. 

Who do we listen to? Celebrities, Political figures, Music Stars, Fashion Models, Commercials that tell us what we need?  Influencers, Sports figures? Social Media?   Mostly.     BUT how often do we listen to people who are trained in the field of SCIENCE?  Not enough it would seem. If we did, it is likely that we would not be in our current position of having to be cramming for the exam of managing the Climate Crisis that we are now living with.  We would have been more able to make gradual comfortable changes when in the 1950 s, SEVENTYTWO YEARS AGO scientists were beginning to try to tell the world the humans were having a negative effect on the planet.   Instead, we continued to live on the planet as if we were at Studio 54 partying the night away without a thought for tomorrow...until now...when the IRS has shown up at the door. PARTY OVER. 

The movie (available on Prime) Antarctica, Ice and Sky is highly suggested.    Scientists from across the globe worked together and made startlingly accurate predictions of what the future would hold if humans continued to put high levels of carbon into the environment.  And they were correct.   BUT DID HUMANS LISTEN to who they should have been listening to? Watch this movie and see.   Who do you listen to?  This documentary may change your mind. Spoiler Alert: Great things occur unexpectedly, (serendipity) the fact that the composition of the ancient climate on Earth is trapped as gases in ancient ice was realized when a scientist used a piece of an ancient ice sample to chill his whiskey, and noticed the air bubbles escaping, Eureka....air from thousands of years ago! Maybe, one of the most scientifically significant glasses of whiskey ever poured. 

Definition: Arbor: leafy shady area framed by tree or shrub branches, grassland, garden, orchard.

Some facts about this Holiday, how it come into being.  In the 19th Century Americans began to move West. They were surprised at the lack of forests and trees that they were accustomed to seeing in the Eastern areas of the country. Agriculture was difficult due to the barren nature of the ground. Some people began to bring plants with them to address this.  In 1854 J. Sterling. and Carloine Morton moved from Detroit to Nebraska. Sterling became the Editor of the first newspaper established in Nebraska. He used his position to encourage people to continue the practice of bring plants to the barren area. People responded in a positive fashion and began to bring numerous plants to the dry plains area.   Because of this Agriculture became possible.  The imported greenery brought the benefit of holding down the sandy soil, which made irrigation possible and made the land useable The trees provided the crops with  protection from the sun and wind.   In 1872 The State Board of Agriculture approved Morton's request to dedicate one day a year to planting trees across the state. This  date of the first Arbor Day was April 10. Prizes and awards were given for the areas that demonstrated the most sucess.  By 1920, 45 addition states adopted this Holiday, after seeing widespread benefits of afforestation. The date was moved to April 22, Sterling Morton's Birthday.   Today all 50 states and Puerto Rico celebrate Arbor Day. The date used currently is the last Friday in April.   In 1970 US President Nixon made Arbor Day a Nation wide  Holiday. President Nixon was also responsible for the Clean Air Act, Protection of Endangered Species and the formation of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)   Look for activities in your area that support  Sterling Morton's vision, and join the effort to protect our plants, natural resources, embrace sustainability in the face of the current Climate Crisis.  Arbor Day celebrates its 150 Birthday  in 2022.

What does Global Warming have to do with Potatoes?  Plenty. This year 21 million pounds of potatoes were sent by train from the state of Maine to the states of Washington and Idaho.  The significance of this is that prior to this past growing seasons Idaho was the #1 potato producer and Washington was #2. Maine, which was #1 during WWII  was now down to #9. However, weather conditions in Maine this past season were favorable to the point that storage was an issue.   A great  bit of luck for the U.S.     The weather in the #1 & 2 producing states was not so favorable.    The temperatures were higher than normal and the land was drier than normal.  Potatoes grow best at temperatures between 77 and 86  degrees F.  When the temperatures climb above the 86 degree  F mark, the plants wilt and die off.  Couple this with the ongoing drought in the Western U.S.  and the result is a potato crop disaster.  More potatoes were needed and should have been shipped however , when war broke out in Eastern Europe transportation decreased.   Potatoes need to be shipped in  refrigerated train cars to prevent spoilage. Scientists are in agreement that Global Warming was a significant contributing factor to the heat and drought that caused crop problems.    Now.......what if Maine does not have extra potatoes  again this season?   Heat and drought conditions in the Western U.S. continue to be a problem. Doesn't it seem logical that if potatoes are negatively effected by Climate changes that other crops will be negatively effected as well?   There once was a potato famine in Ireland that drove hundreds and hundreds of people to migrate to the U.S. and other countries in order to have food to eat.    Where will we go when the Climate Crisis causes crop shortages in the U.S.A.?  And as food shortages become more common,  do you think food will become more or less expensive?  

Have you made any style changes yet to help reduce your Carbon Footprint? Make some changes now to do your part.    We have all seen photos of famine stricken communities in other countries, imagine people in other countries looking at photos of famine stricken communities in the U.S. 

When you look around the grocery store, have you noticed that Plant Based products such as soy /nut milks, meat like products, butters and other "dairy "items, even nut milk-based ice cream treats?  In the not so distant past these items were sold only to a certain fringe group of people who had to do their best to locate "health" food stores. Now these once exotic items are becoming a normal part of the supermarket landscape, and some even have commercials on TV!.. This is a good thing. Why?  Did you know ...According to research, Meat and Dairy production (industrial) has become a significant contributor to the climate crisis.  Climate issues related to Industrial Farming, (in no particular order) include:  1. Land use for grazing/growing feed: Animals on an industrial farm generally graze naturally until the land is bare, then food must then be grown  for them to eat. In the U.S. 127.4 million acres are used to grow crops  such as grain for them , while 77.3 million acres are used to grow the same crops for human consumption. The problem is two fold. Barren land is an environmental wasteland, and Industrial farming of crops results in a host of environmental problems including but not limited to pollution from chemical use, depletion of soil nutrients, and deforestation (removal of trees/plants) 2. Water Use: According to research 1/3 of the water in the Western US is used for Industrial farming for both animals and the food to feed them. 3.Negative effect on aquatic ecosystems:  Run off from animal waste live and during processing, and the chemicals used to grow food for them frequently ends up in lakes, rivers and groundwater. The run off may be toxic or may upset the Natural order of an environment by promoting the over growth of aquatic plants and water top slime and killing some species while allowing an unnatural overgrowth of others. Chemicals may also cause aquatic life mutations. Groundwater is frequently where people who use wells for their water supply comes from. Many towns and cities have reservoirs that are filled with water that comes both groundwater, lakes and streams. 4.Greenhouse gas production: According to research, on a global scale 14.5% of anthropogenic (man made in origin) green house gasses are associated with industrial farming. The equipment needed to house, feed, transport and process food on the industrial farm level is enormous and contributes to the Climate Crisis by spewing greenhouse gasses into our atmosphere. 5.Air Pollution: Yes, this would include Greenhouse gas production, but also includes by products such as endotoxins,(toxins that are released when the cell containing them disintegrates) hydrogen sulfides, ammonia, and particular matter such as duct, soot , and ash. Industrial farms do not exist in a vacuum. Air pollution is not only cause at the farms but by the transportation of products to and from them. 6.Energy Consumption: Not something you may think about, but at an industrial farm, cows aren't milked by hand ,the fields aren't plowed with a horse and wooden plow, the food may be transported in from across the state or country and the animals aren't herded by a Shepard to market, and once there they must be processed which includes refrigeration (thus the expression Cold as a Meat Locker). The point is Industrial Meat Farming uses an significant chunk of energy to maintain today's consumption levels. 7.Animal Waste: It may seem like the topic for a joke, animals produce significant levels of Methane gas as part of the digestive process. This is a combustible gas. Some forward thinking researchers note that this could be used as a power source. Animal waste and by products can be found in water, on the land , and in food packaging. In recent years for example out breaks of E.coli based illnesses  have been the result of animal waste contamination. 8.Negative effects on Wildlife: Wide spread clearing of land  and the pollutions associated with Industrial Farming can destroy vast areas that were once home to a thriving Wildlife population. Natural habitats are destroyed when non native species of animals and plants are imported to an area in the process of creating an Industrial farm. This practice may leave the native  species of plants/animals homeless and facing extinction unless they are able to adapt to the new environment or are able to move to another area. Unfortunately, many types of plants and animals are delicate and location specific and unable to survive the change. 9.Antibiotic resistance :  These are the medications that are used to treat bacterial infections, In so many ways a modern medical miracle. Countless lives have been saved. However, they are relatively new to the medical arsenal and researchers now see that they have limits.  Industrial farming routinely uses antibiotics to prevent loss of "product" due to illness. The medication may be in the food or administered routinely. However, what is given to the animal is frequently passed on to some degree to the human who consumes it. In large amounts, likely not, but the problem that is being seen is that cumulative effect of long-term exposure to antibiotics has the possible effect of reducing the effectiveness of the medication when needed to treat an illness. In response to this the development of more powerful antibiotics has been necessary. Bacteria respond by becoming stronger and more resistant to the effects of these drugs. Research indicates that as many as 23.000 Americans die from antibiotic resistant bacterial illness yearly, while thousands more are effected but survive. A vicious cycle then occurs. Stronger drugs to kill off stronger bugs. But then what?  The time will come when the bacteria wins.