Jack Dini

Biden, Browner, And The Green New Deal

Joe Biden's campaign is unveiling a 'Climate Engagement Advisory Council” aimed at mobilizing voters who prioritize climate change and environmental justice. November's election is a stark contrast between Biden, whose platform goes much further than Obama-era policies, and President Trump, who largely dismisses the problem, and is rolling back his predecessor's initiatives. ¹ Joe Biden has picked Carol Browner as a climate adviser. Browner was the Clinton EPA chief and Obama energy and environment czar.

Questioning The Green New Deal

How would the Green New Deal handle a COVID outbreak? The Green New Deal, proposed early in 2019 by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey, would transition the US economy entirely away from fossil fuels within ten years while simultaneously providing a federal jobs and health care guarantee. It would also, according to proponents advance 'social, economic, racial, regional, and gender-based justice and equality and cooperative public ownership.' All told, the proposal will cost up to $93 trillion in new government spending over ten years, according to a recent report by the conservative American Action Forum. ¹

Questions About Eating 'Clean' Food

Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that handling food or consuming food is associated with COVID-19, so healthy eating remains a key factor to major improvements in health and well-being. However, for some people, the focus on healthy eating can become obsessive and develop into an eating disorder known as orthorexia. ¹

Radiation, Covid-19, and Longer Life Spans

Human medical trials have begun on severely ill Covid-19 patients using low doses of radiation. Although a very small sample size, the results were quite extraordinary. Researchers at Emory University Hospital, led by Dr. Mohammad Khan, treated five Covid-19 patients with severe pneumonia who were requiring supplemental oxygen and whose health was visibly deteriorating. Their median age was 90 with a range from 64 to 94, four were female, four were African-American, and one was Caucasian. ¹

Bacteria And Dust Are World Travelers

Bacteria may travel thousands of miles through the air worldwide instead of hitching rides with people and animals. Researchers at Rutgers University and other colleagues suggest that there must be a planet-wide mechanism that ensures the exchange of bacteria between faraway places. ¹

Nitric oxide: A possible treatment for COVID-19?

Nitric oxide has played many starring biochemical roles. Now, multiple clinical trials across the US and Canada are testing whether inhaled NO can protect the lungs of people with COVID-19. Researchers think the gas's power to boost oxygen levels in the lungs may speed recovery for people infected with the virus and prevent them for requiring mechanical ventilation. Hints from lab studies also suggest that the gas may have virus-killing properties. ¹

Bacteria, Face Masks and Paper Money

Teeming masses of bacteria are in your mouth, on your skin, up your nose and on the surface of your eye, in your mouth, deep in your bowels, and well, just about everywhere.  These bacteria are possible sources of coronavirus. Along with sheltering in place, social distancing and frequent hand washing, donning a cloth facial covering that envelops the nose and mouth represents one of the few tools available for curbing the spread of the coronavirus. 

Wind Turbine Disposal Issues

No one seemed to consider what to do with the massive amount of wind turbine blades once they reached the end of their lifespan. Thus, the irony of the present day Green Energy Movement is the dumping of thousands of tons of non-recyclable supposedly renewable wind turbine blades in the country's landfills. ¹

Germany's Energy Program Not Meeting Goals

Germany's government has decided to phase out nuclear power and coal plants. The last German reactor is scheduled to be shut down by the end of 2022, the last coal fired plant by 2038. At the same time, the government has encouraged the purchase of climate friendly electric cars increasing the demand for electrical power. And despite efforts to save energy in the past decades, Germany's power consumption has grown by 10 percent since 1990. ¹

Environmental Crime Growing

Environmental crime is now becoming a serious problem worldwide in different forms, with some of them being among the most profitable criminal activities in the world.

Zinc and the Common Cold

The common cold is a top reason for missed work and school days. Most of us have two or three colds per year, each lasting at least a week. Vitamin C might not do anything to prevent or treat the common cold, but the other widely-used cold supplement, zinc, may actually by worth taking.

High Temperatures in Greenland and Antarctica Get Headlines, Cold Temperatures Are Ignored

In Climate Change, only hot temperatures qualify as Climate. Cold temperatures are just weather. When is the last time you saw 'coldest ever;' in a headline. (1)

• The coldest ever day in Greenland -65C came and went, and nobody noticed.
• The New York Times reported that the Antarctic Thwaites Glacier, recorded water temperatures at the base of the ice more than 2C (3.6F) above the normal freezing point. However, they failed to mention that this glacier is subject to volcanic activity. Unlike the above mentioned record low Greenland temperature, the poorly reported Antarctic glacier got a lot of press.

Glaciers Defy Alarmist Predictions

The world's glaciers have not been following along with the CO2 driven catastrophic melting narrative. Climatologists stunned, baffled: new scientific studies show glacier ice sheet melt rates, rapidly decelerating, reports Kenneth Richard. ¹

Organic Food Overhyped

“Grown totally organic, or some such hyperbole is a manifestation of ignorance, of linguistic slovenliness or of deliberate imprecision. How does one grow any plant without inorganic components: fertilizers, trace metal constituents and the like? Furthermore, let those who inevitably equate synthetic organic chemicals with toxicity remember some of the most powerful and lethal poisons are naturally occurring 'organic' substances,” notes Carl Djerassi, co-inventor of the pill and former professor at Stanford University. ¹

Antarctic Misleading News Corrected

Global warming enthusiasts were recently thrilled by some of the media reporting on Antarctica. They were told that:

• The Thwaites Glacier recorded temperatures above the freezing point
• Esperanza Peninsula recorded a high temperature of 65F

Solar Plant Failure Deja Vu

Government planning and subsidies will make America the world's green-energy superpower, create millions of jobs, and supercharge the economy—or so we're told. The reality is closer to Crescent Dunes a Nevada solar energy plant that went bust after receiving a $737 million federal loan guarantee. ¹

Chemophobia in Europe and Elsewhere

We are routinely warned by earnest websites, advertisements, and well-meaning popular articles about 'nasty' chemicals lurking in our homes and kitchens. Many tout the benefits of switching to a 'chemical-free lifestyle.' ¹ Along this line a recent study reveals that nearly 40% of Europeans want to 'live in a world where chemical substances don't exist.' Another 82% didn't know that table salt is table salt, whether it is extracted from the ocean or made synthetically. ²

Indoor Air Pollution

What's the most polluted atmosphere to which most of us are exposed? One clue—it's not the outdoor air that we've spent zillions of dollars to clean up. The answer? It's the air in our homes and offices. Enormous attention has been paid to outdoor pollution and it's impact on health, but people spend up to 90 percent of their time inside, making indoor air quality extremely important. 

Cell Phones and Driving

The prevalence of cellular phones, research, and publicized crashes has started many debates related to the role cell phones play in driver distractions. Daniel Simons, a researcher at the University of Illinois, Urbana, says, “I suppose we can tune out a radio. But driving a car while talking on a cell phone or texting is different. They can seem really effortless but they both use your mind's limited attention resources. You can't do it. Your brain can't do it.” As attentional load increases, attentional capacity gradually diminishes. One frustrated psychologist has argued that the case for multitasking is on a par with 'urban legend', that is, it's a story we like the sound of but is really nonsense. ¹

Sinking Cities That Can't Blame Seas

Several of the world's major cities are slowly sinking into the ocean, some at a staggering pace, and without any help from sea level rise. Here are a few of the cities most in danger of being overtaken by the sea.