It’s a Small
World
By Hank
Silverberg
No apologies
to the Walt Disney Company. Our world IS getting smaller, in more ways than you think. And the biggest challenge to our
survival as a human race may come not from China, Russia, Iran or nuclear weapons, but from
things we can’t see or mistakes the whole world made decades ago.
This week I
am highlighting just a few small things.
If you are one of my readers who likes my continued attack on Donald Trump,
sorry. Only one of these items can be indirectly blamed on him.
A news story
about the polar icecaps caught my attention. It seems that Antarctica and
Greenland have lost enough ice in the last 16 years to fill Lake Michigan. The
source, NASA, is as reputable as you can get. The agency put the details out in an official news
release. The big ice melt has raised sea
levels around the world by half an inch. Now that’s not going to invade your
beach front property just yet, but it is a warning of what could be coming.
A paper published in the journal Science says that between 2003 and 2019, the ice melt is responsible for about a third of the rise in sea
level for that decade and a half. NASA has documented the sea level increase
with its Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite 2, which was launched in 2018. It built on information collected by its predecessor ICESat1.
The data is
apparently consistent with previous climate change studies. Of course, the worry is that if
this type of meltdown continues, smaller islands could be swallowed by the sea and flooding could be
worse in coastal cities in the not too distant future.
If that isn't enough to raise an alarm, here's more. We are being invaded from Asia. No it’s not China or North Korea at the present. Instead, it’s Asian Hornets.
 |
| (The Asian Hornet, Courtesy of the National History museum, London) |
The nasty
insects kill about 50 people a year in Japan with their needle-like bites. But
what really stands out are their attacks on native species like the honey bee or the humble
bumble bee, which we need to pollinate crops. Those plants are vital to the world’s
food supply and without the native bees some key food sources could disappear.
Bee pollination is needed in crops that
include lemons, limes, grapefruit, broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, oranges, grapes, tomatoes and even staple crops like potatoes, to list just a few.
So far, the Asian Hornets have shown up in Washington State and western Canada. Entomologists say we have a few years to eradicate the “murder hornets” before they do significant harm to the food chain.
So far, the Asian Hornets have shown up in Washington State and western Canada. Entomologists say we have a few years to eradicate the “murder hornets” before they do significant harm to the food chain.
And then,
there is this. In the middle of the current pandemic the Centers for Disease
Control has released some preliminary data indicating there’s been an upward
trend in food borne illness. The incidents of food contamination by Salmonella,
E-Coli and Listeria, among other bacteria, had
gone down between 2016 and 2018. Now there’s evidence indicating there was an
upswing again in 2019.
Much of the
increase was in meat and poultry products. The CDC recommended intervention last
year as the contamination of chicken rose 13%. The incidents of food borne illness is even worse with pork. It jumped 153% last year.
The figures
came out just after the USDA, under the Trump administration, suspended food testing and safety inspections. The CDC
recommendations specifically target Salmonella, which is the most common
contaminant.
These
bacteria have made people very sick on occasion. In the past, there have been
scattered deaths. The Consumer Federation of America says the figures may be a bit under
reported, The CDC acknowledges many people are not complaining of the bacteria related symptoms
because of the Covid-19 pandemic. If baffles me why the USDA suspended the meat and poultry inspections with these kinds of statistics, though it's the Trump administration where there seems to be no common sense on anything.
So, while we concentrate on social distancing to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, be on the lookout for scary looking hornets, wash the surface you prepared poultry on, and make sure all meat is well cooked. You should also hammer your congressman to get those meat and poultry inspections re-started.
After all this gloom and doom, as promised I will end my blog with some entertainment. This week it's Yo Yo Ma! Just click on the link.
(If you
are looking for some more entertainment during social distancing, my novel “The
Campaign” is for sale online at Amazon . It's not fake news, it's fiction!
Or
at Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-campaign-hank-silverberg/1126429796?ean=9781647532185
"The Campaign" is available in hardcover, softcover and E-book. You can get a signed copy at a reduced price by emailing me
directly at HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions)
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