Now scientists say climate change is making us BLIND
The usual shaky logic beolow. Places with warm clmates differ in many ways from places with cool climates. There is no way of knowing if the warmth is the critical influence. The heavier pathogen load in warm climates is an obvious possibility
Climate change may be speeding up the rate of blindness, a study suggests. Canadian researchers compared rates of vision problems among 1.7million people across all 50 states in the US. They found those who lived in warmer regions were up to nearly 50 percent more likely to suffer serious vision impairment compared to those in cooler places.
Exposure to stronger ultraviolet light damages the cornea, lens and retina and also risks irritation and infection.
The experts said the findings were 'very worrying' in the context of global warming, which has seen global average temperatures rise by two fahrenheit (1.1 Celsius) since the late 1800s.
Study co-author Esme Fuller-Thomson, a gerontologist at the University of Toronto, said: 'With climate change, we are expecting a rise in global temperatures. It will be important to monitor if the prevalence of vision impairment among older adults increases in the future.'
Dr Thomson, who is also the director of the University of Toronto's Institute of Life Course Aging, added: 'This link between vision impairment and average county temperature is very worrying, if future research determines that the association is causal.'
The study, published in the journal Ophthalmic Epidemiology, looked at people aged 65 years and up between 2012 and 2017.
For the survey, participants answered the question: 'Is this person blind or does he/she have serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses?'
Those who answered 'yes' were considered to have severe vision impairment.
In the paper, conditions patients were likely to have had included cataracts, where the eye's lens becomes cloudy and is one of the leading causes of blindness in the US, glaucoma, when the optic nerve is damaged, and conjunctivitis, or inflammation of the eye lining due to irritation or infection.
Compared to people living in states with an average temperature below 50F like New York and Maine, those in states with temperatures above 60F — Florida, Texas and Georgia — faced the highest risk.
Those who lived in areas with an average annual temperature of 55 to 59.99F — such as Virginia, Kentucky and California — were 24 percent more likely to have vision problems.
People in states with an average temperature of 50 to 54.99F were 14 percent more likely to struggle.
Scientists warned that the study was observational, meaning it could not prove that warmer temperatures were leading to vision problems. They said further research was needed.
But in the paper, the University of Toronto-led team suggested several hypotheses for how warmer weather was raising the risk of vision problems.
One theory suggested that the increased exposure to ultraviolet light from sunlight was leading to more damage to the lens and other sections of the eye, raising the risk of conditions like cataracts.
Higher temperatures could also raise the risk of vision problems by increasing the chance of catching an infectious disease, they said, such as fungal keratitis — when a fungus infects a part of the eye.
Warmer weather also leads to more pollutants in the air, which scientists warn can change the structure of parts of the eye.
In their conclusion, the scientists said: 'If the association is found to be causal, the predicted rise in global temperatures could impact the number of older Americans affected by severe vision impairment and the associated health and economic burden.'
More than 24million Americans are affected by cataracts every year, one of the most common conditions of the eye and the leading cause of blindness in the US.
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Massive phosphate deposit discovery could meet global battery and solar panel demand ‘for next 100 years’
Phosphate is also a major source of fertilizer and Greenies have been going on for decades about an imminent shortage of it. I remember George Carrard moaning about it very superciliously back in the '70s. There have been many discoveries of phosphate since. He is now worried about global warming, predictably
A huge phosphate rock deposit discovered in Norway contains enough minerals to meet the global demand for batteries and solar panels for the next 100 years, according to the mining company that controls it.
Norge Mining said up to 70 billion tonnes of the non-renewable resource may have been uncovered in south-western Norway, alongside deposits of other strategic minerals like titanium and vanadium.
Phosphate rock contains high concentrates of phosphorus, which is a key component for building green technologies but currently faces significant supply issues.
Phosphorus was first discovered in 1669 by German scientist Hennig Brandt, who was searching for the philosopher’s stone. While it proved ineffective in turning ordinary metals into gold, it has become an essential component in lithium-iron phosphate batteries in electric cars, as well as for solar panels and computer chips.
Russia previously controlled the world’s largest ultra-pure phosphate rock deposits, with the European Union warning that these “critical raw materials” have a high supply risk.
The EU is currently almost entirely dependent on imports of phosphate rock from the rest of the world, according to a report from The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, with China, Iraq and Syria also home to large deposits.
The report, which was published before the discovery of the massive Norwegian deposit, warned that the EU should be “concerned about phosphate rock shortages”.
An article in the scientific journal Nature last year warned of imminent supply disruptions of phosphorus, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent economic sanctions as a potential cause of market volatility.
The global economy consumes an estimated 50 million tonnes of phosphorus each year, with scientists warning earlier this year that the planet could face a “phosphogeddon” if supply trends continue.
“The buyers’ market is becoming increasingly crowded by limited trade – due to political instability in several source countries, as well as international sanctions imposed on others,” Norge Mining noted in a June blog post. “This is forcing importers to fear an impending crisis.”
Norway’s minister of trade and industry, Jan Christian Vestre, said last month that the government was considering fast-tracking a giant mine in Helleland once analysis is completed on 47 miles of drill cores. If approval is given, the first major mine could begin operation by 2028.
The politician said Norway’s “obligation” was to develop “the world’s most sustainable mineral industry” following the discovery of the minerals.
The mining plans already have the support of the European Raw Materials Alliance, according to local reports, while local consultations continue.
A spokesperson for the European Commission described the discovery as “great news” for meeting the objectives of the Commission’s raw material objectives, with Norge Mining telling Euractiv that the projected 4,500-metre-deep ore body would theoretically be capable of meeting global demand for the next century.
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Report paves way for EU to renew use of Roundup herbicide
The European Food Safety Authority said on Thursday it had not found "any critical areas of concern" preventing the controversial and widely used herbicide glyphosate from being reauthorised for use in the EU.
Environmental groups lashed out at the announcement, saying there was scientific evidence that glyphosate may cause cancer, poison aquatic life and can be fatal to key pollinators like bees.
The European Union agency's long-awaited assessment report noted there were gaps in the data in some areas, and that it had "identified a high long-term risk to mammals in 12 out of 23 proposed uses of glyphosate".
But the EFSA said it only considered a concern "critical" when it affected all proposed uses of the substance, which would prevent it from being renewed.
The study, which was submitted to the European Commission and member states, will serve as a basis for the EU's upcoming decision on whether to renew the use of glyphosate in the bloc for another five years.
The current authorisation runs out on December 15.
The full report, which is expected to be released by the end of the month, is based on some 24,000 studies, as well as responses from 90 experts from member states, the EFSA said.
The agency said that because of a lack of data it had not finalised its risk assessment of glyphosate's impact on aquatic plants.
It also did not give advice on the risks of food consumption, "due to incomplete data about the amount of glyphosate residues in rotational crops such as carrots, lettuce and wheat".
But it added that this was not expected to lead to toxicological safety levels being exceeded, "so no critical concern was identified".
Environmental campaign group Greenpeace reacted with dismay to the news.
"For years the evidence of glyphosate's toxicity for people and the environment has been stacking up but the European Food Safety Authority has once again decided to sweep it under the carpet," said Greenpeace EU pesticides campaigner Eva Corral.
Another campaign group, Corporate Europe Observatory, said the EFSA's advice "is a slap in the face".
"How could EFSA give glyphosate a thumbs-up based on primarily shoddy, corporate-led scientific studies?" the group said.
Glyphosate is the main ingredient in the widely used Roundup weedkiller from US agrochemical firm Monsanto, which was bought by German chemicals giant Bayer in 2018.
Bayer has since faced a wave of lawsuits in the United States over claims that glyphosate causes cancer. The firm denies such claims, but has paid out billions of dollars to settle legal disputes.
The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer said in 2015 that glyphosate was "probably carcinogenic".
France's medical research institute INSERM said in 2021 that glyphosate has a "moderate presumed link" with the cancer non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Despite that, the European Chemicals Agency said last year the available evidence did not justify classifying the substance as a carcinogen.
Bayer welcomed the EFSA's conclusions, saying they laid the foundation for glyphosate's approval to be renewed in the EU.
The EFSA had originally planned to release its study in the second half of 2022, but said it delayed publication due to an "unprecedented" number of comments on the issue.
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The BBC is falling short on its climate protest coverage
According to a YouGov poll this week 64 per cent have an unfavourable view of Just Stop Oil (only 17 per cent have a positive view and the rest aren’t sure). Unfortunately, however, none of these people appear to feature in the contacts books of BBC producers.
The Today programme this morning attempted to have a discussion on the tactics of Just Stop Oil on disrupting sports events such as Wimbledon and Ashes test matches. The whole exercise was somewhat hampered by the fact that the two guests which the BBC saw fit to invite, Chris Packham and Lord Deben, could hardly bring themselves to say a negative word about the pressure group. Rather they both wanted to say that if we didn’t want to see such protests it was down to the government to do more to cease oil production.
On climate change at least the BBC is falling a long, long way short
That anyone might disagree with the immediate cessation of exploration for new oil supplies in the North Sea, for example, didn’t seem to enter into Today’s concept of the spectrum of public opinion. Such a view is treated as if it is beyond the pale, like kicking away the crutches of old ladies.
Nor does the Today programme seem at all keen to represent the view – somewhat common among the general population – that Just Stop Oil are a bunch of privileged, middle class people who feel a sense of entitlement to have their views adopted by society at large, and who will resort to unscientific hysteria about an ‘unliveable Earth’ in order to advance their demands.
Lord Deben was allowed to repeat, entirely unchallenged, the spurious claim made by his Climate Change Committee that achieving Net Zero will cost a mere 1 per cent of gross national product. The Treasury, by contrast, refuses to come up with an estimate, saying that it is impossible to do so, given that many of the technologies required to achieve it have yet to be invented or commercialised.
The BBC is making a habit of soft treatment of Just Stop Oil and other climate groups. In April I wrote here of how an episode of Newsnight had employed a similar lopsided sense of balance, holding a discussion on Just Stop Oil’s tactics between an activist from Just Stop Oil and, er, an activist from Extinction Rebellion. Our national broadcaster simply isn’t serving the public with balanced coverage of climate change, rather it is campaigning on the issue.
That wouldn’t bother me were the BBC an independent organisation funded by people who watch and listen to it. Yet it is a public service broadcaster funded by a hypothecated tax on TV sets. It could soon be even worse.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, former chairman Richard Sharp says he would favour a levy that was levied on all households, regardless of whether they own a TV, or perhaps on broadband connections. And he is supposed to be a Conservative. Keir Starmer may well be taking note.
If we are going to have a public service broadcaster then it is absolutely imperative that it demonstrates balanced coverage. On climate change at least the BBC is falling a long, long way short.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/07/the-bbc-is-falling-short-on-its-climate-protest-coverage
***************************************My other blogs. Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM )
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Jim Hansen and his twin
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