Is there *any* disaster which climate change can’t make worse?
About three days ago I tweeted this:
Waiting for the inevitable opportunistic BS story that #EbolaOutbreak is a result of climate change.
— Watts Up With That (@wattsupwiththat) August 4, 2014
Eric Worrall writes:
The Washington Post has in my opinion stooped to a new low, by trying to tie the ongoing Ebola misery in Africa to the issue of Climate Change. According to the Post;
“A 2002 study published in the journal of Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing found that sudden shifts from dry to wet conditions were associated with Ebola outbreaks from 1994 to 1996 in tropical Africa.
As the globe warms, precipitation extremes are projected to increase. Periods of drought are expected to become more frequent in some areas while heavy rain events, when the occur, are forecast to become more intense. Presumably, those areas which see precipitation variability increases – with abrupt shifts from extremely dry to extremely wet periods – would be most vulnerable to Ebola outbreaks.” (h/t Breitbart)
Ebola is a horrible disease which is ravaging the poorest people of Africa. The new outbreak, which has demonstrated a frightening ability to spread to new victims, and to infect and kill health workers, may yet become the new global plague we all fear – with every new victim, Ebola improves its ability to strike at our vulnerabilities. We are all at risk.
To try to tie this continent wide tragedy to the promotion of global warming alarm, to exploit a catastrophe which is afflicting the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world, and to play on people’s deepest fears, to advance an unrelated political position, is in my opinion a new and disgusting low point in the current standards of what passes for mainstream journalism.
Michael 2, I would just love to be among those who just write YMMV as well, except the rest of us are now facing potentially a life terminating outcome based on the lack of concerns of others.
If there were reasonable (based on the nature of THIS threat) quarantine measures in place, I would be there in a New-York-Minute. Unfortunately, we have ZERO such effective quarantine measures in place right now. The intelligent alternative would be to ban air-travel to countries with active uncontrolled Ebola outbreaks.
Let me give you the reality of this situation. Read this article:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ebola-terror-gatwick-passenger-collapses-3977051
Note the woman collapsed on the jetway while debarking, died hours later, and that ALL 128 passengers plus crew were blithely released to potentially spread whatever disease into what ever/where ever their final destination. Quarantining the plane later is the same as the proverbial barn door. Just by the by, the 1st reports I read said the woman was vomiting on the plane during the flight and subsequent articles said she had no symptoms but she managed to die hours later that same day without symptoms. Yeah, right. As far as I am concerned, this was a wake-up call.
Passenger jets continue to fly into & out of countries with active outbreaks and none are quarantined for the apparently requisite 21+ days. Hawaii quarantines dogs for 60 or 90 days for much less reason. It’s absurd. We used to routinely quarantine immigrants who displayed symptoms of then common diseases like TB but now apparently we release them into the general population with Obama’s best wishes.
So YMMV indeed.
BioBob says: “Michael 2, I would just love to be among those who just write YMMV as well, except the rest of us…”
My comment is more intended to challenge your authority to speak for “us”. The only way you can speak for “us” is if they are all “you” (or you clearly establish which “us” you speak of and make it clear that you are simply guessing at their fate, in which case, their mileage may vary).
This is the grand key of the left wing. When all is distilled, a left-winger thinks, feels, speaks in terms of “group” of which naturally he is smarter and spokesperson for it. Even when pretending to be something else, this habit gives you away.
There’s a lot to be said for “group” and that’s why it exists. However it seems that spokespersons for each group seem to think of themselves as dominant and exclusive — the phrase “the church” is assumed by a great many people to be so obvious as to not need explaining which one of thousands you mean.
I would expect from a ‘legal’ perspective that the definition of ‘climate’ covers too many grey area’s. P.T. Barnum must be laughing his a$$ off. This has gone beyond the ridiculous.
BioBob, you do keep spewing about your level of concern. Apart from enclosing yourself in a Clorox-saturated bunker, what exactly have you done to prepare yourself for the biological armageddon you anticipate? Will you be embarrassed when the current, ghastly epidemic fades from view? Talk to us in another month.
Meanwhile, I see what you mean about exponential: you think the disease will continue upward at the same angle your toes curve with delight every time you deliver a zinger.
But I doubt that it will. Ebola seems no different from other deadly diseases in terms of the numbers of new cases per day, and the places where it initially spreads. Whooping cough, diphtheria, flu, even measles and chicken pox have had their hayday, and every one of them takes off with big numbers in communities where people have poor sanitationi, dense poplulations, poor education, low income, weak civic infrastructures, and primitive healthcare facilities. Mortalities tend to rise fitfully, plateau, then fall off, and in many cases they drop off before vaccines are ever introduced. Populations become decimated, immunities develop, and people learn what to do to avoid getting exposed.
Again, stop spewing and namecalling. Tell us your recommendations for what us innocent lambs should do. Otherwise you’re nothing but a namecalling jerk with nothing to offer but insults.
But, BioBob, the Gatwick passenger didn’t have Ebola!
http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2014/08/04/48883/test+for+ebola+carried+out+on+passenger+who+died+at+gatwick.html
If you really must panic, start with seasonal influenza, which WILL kill thousands in the UK and tens of thousands in the US every year. Or malaria, AIDS and TB, which will EACH kill hundreds of thousand of people in Africa. Or even the next meningitis outbreak, which typically kills tens of thousands of Africans,
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/05/ebola-worrying-disease.
I’ve done a lot of work for Monoclonal antibody therapeutics developers over the years, so I find the misinformation on the zMapp drug, (especially on Twitter, sigh) particularly frustrating:
Scaling up a transgenic-tobacco derived MAb therapeutic will not be fast–for one thing the tobacco plants have to grow up, which takes weeks to months. So, even if Mapp Biopharmaceutical was able to bypass the regulatory development process (they haven’t started human safety testing yet!), they can’t produce “gallons of this stuff” anytime soon. I expect the current Ebola outbreak will have burnt out before they get their IND to proceed with Phase 1. And, fond as I am of private enterprise, in addition to the Canadians, BARDA, NIH and other US gov’t money did support research on the antibodies. http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/guinea/qa-experimental-treatments.html Notice, however that the transgenic tobacco part is downplayed!
ellenmmartin says: August 7, 2014 at 5:28 pm
But, BioBob, the Gatwick passenger didn’t have Ebola!
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Yep, lucky that – BTW, funny, does it say what she DID have ? The point was not that she had or did not have Ebola, and I did not even mention that, did I. My point was that we STILL did NOT follow proper quarantine protocol required for containment of a pathogen like Ebola as late as last Saturday. You find that acceptable, do you ?
About all the other diseases….YES…they are all also already global in extent, at least to the ability of the pathogen (we are not doing too well on that quarantine thingee are we ?). None even approach the current 55% mortality rate of Ebola and the last thing we need is ANOTHER global disease, especially one as nasty as Ebola. I have to admit that the resistant strains of TB and Gonorrhea are troubling but neither is as infective in scope as Ebola.
No panic yet, I will let you know the moment I rate this crisis worth panic. Given all the unconcern and poo-poohing, I expect it could actually happen. Very Sad.
Everybody keeps saying Ebola will burn out but the numbers of infections keeps rising exponentially and we are perhaps over SIX months into this outbreak. Given all the misinformation you encounter vis monoclonal antibodies (which is perhaps to be expected given how few have any education in genetics & microbiology), what makes you think the Ebola misinformation deserves a pass ?
Steve C, that quite was apparently not from Mark Twain:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/12/10/fake_twain_quotes_and_other_hazards_of_twitter_116376-3.html
Bill Parsons says: August 7, 2014 at 4:58 pm
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I think you are finally getting it. I want people to understand the importance of learning about Ebola for their own sakes. I want them to stop minimizing, ignoring, spreading misinformation and take appropriate measures given the current nature of this disease outbreak. Certainly thinking we should all ignore it or minimize its dangers like Fumento is counterproductive. We do not know what the future holds but we certainly control our destiny in this regard. Thousands more or even millions could die or we could expend some effort and gain control over this outbreak while it is still possible. Right now, it is totally out of control.
Understanding is the 1st step. Prodding those in power to take appropriate quarantine measures should be next. That will apparently not happen unless people demand it and perhaps not even then. So, there you go … call someone and demand it, or spread the word so that it happens by grassroots demand. Actually controlling the outbreak itself will likely take months, at least, IF the effort is made, but a quarantine could be almost instantaneous and could contain the outbreak to west Africa, at least at this moment.
Even I know this is something we should NOT ignore and that the current situation is untenable. No more Fumento’s.
FYI, Latest info:
http://news.yahoo.com/ebolas-spread-us-inevitable-says-cdc-chief-205903838.html
Today’s Ebola hearings Aug 7, 2014 2:00pm to 5:00pm
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-hearing-combating-ebola-threat
From the CDC link with inflammatory headline you cited:
“But we are confident that there will not be a large Ebola outbreak in the US.”
Bob,
I don’t “get” anything but a headache listening to you harp.
If you had something to offer to either the crisis in Africa or to this discussion, I would be eager to hear it. Your suggestions are earnest disiderata, wistful and without substance. You get a “D” for your final effort, but with this note: Don’t worry. Your alarm will play itself out. And you’ll be o.k.
Fumento places the outbreak in its proper and necessary perspective against a backdrop of the irrational alarm of people like yourself. I liked his article because it reminds us to think of other, more important public health issues that afflict Africa. Remember Africa? That’s where this is happening. I couldn’t say it any better than Fumento:
And finally, there’s this:
And that is where you come in. I know. You’ll have more to say. Have at it. I’m done.
LOL – you want to have a good read, check out the 1000+ comments on the Yahoo article I linked. Health care professionals who are insisting that they will abandon their posts if Ebola hits their hospital just especially give you that heart warming experience. I am sure you could learn something useful.
When US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden says “Ebola’s spread to the United States is “inevitable” due to the nature of global airline travel, but any outbreak is not likely to be large…” I feel little comfort for those who will be affected. I live in the back of beyond, so it probably won’t be me…happy days.
Hopefully you will not be one of the “little people” in the ‘not very large’ US outbreak he is so cavalier about. Feel free to stick your head in the ground, you are certain to hit bleach or something sure to save your ass. Or perhaps you just have ‘faith’. Good luck with that.
Alan the Brit says:
August 7, 2014 at 6:59 am
“a new and disgusting low point in the current standards of what passes for mainstream journalism.”
Have they ever had any? My opinion of the press is that they are always at a low & disgusting point! Perhaps it’s just me!
I think it was only a matter of time before somebody somewhere linked some illness to AGW! Trouble is, the number of malaria cases doesn’t seem to be making headlines, perhaps because they’re not rising significantly or at all!
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err recent american claims for such are?
the west Nile virus, chikungoonyah/gunya think I saw ref to rocky mountain spotted fever as well, and I am sure Ive read more ..they sorta blur together after so many wild claims get made.
in aus weve had a couple of chickungunyah cases come down from N guinea and the clims of mozzie borne with climate change are common media fodder here too,
My idea of posting the link to the Fumento article simply was to present a different viewpoint to the idea that Ebola would become the feared global plague. (And to promote some vigorous discussion. Mission accomplished. 🙂 ) I have no expertise in the field, but I have read a few of Fumento’s articles over the years and I generally find value in his viewpoints. People are welcome to call me an “idiot” for linking to the article, and that’s OK as I have a thick hide. But keep in mind such ad hominem attacks make for flimsy arguments. And if you disagree with what Fumento says, it is more useful to direct your comments to him instead of me.
Myself, I heard of the Ebola scourge potentially wiping out a big percentage of humanity some 20 years ago, placing it in the same category as SARS, AIDS, bird flu, etc. Is it hype or reality? Color me skeptical – I want to hear the facts. BUT, I agree with Fumento when he says there are already too many deaths from Ebola.
Appears to be spreading rapidly.
WHO : “Nigeria, of which he was “deeply concerned” due to the population density in Lagos for instance, has admitted 139 patients are now being monitored for Ebola (up from 8 mere days ago). This, along with “the outbreak moving faster than we can control it,” drive the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare West Africa’s Ebola epidemic, an “extraordinary event” and now constitutes an international health risk.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-08/who-declare-health-emergency-admits-stretched-limit-out-control-ebola-outbreak-niger
If it spreads to other countries, either accidentally or deliberately, then the world could be radically different in six months time.
BioBob says: “the rest of us are now facing potentially a life terminating outcome”
How many of you are in there?
anticlimactic says: “the world could be radically different in six months time.”
In fact, it could be radically different tomorrow. Remember that you asked for radically differerent in 2008 when it was called “hope and change” and now it’s just “Forward!” In either case there’s no mention of the goal.
But climate change causes all bad things, right? A partial list: acne, flatulence, layoffs, earthquakes, low sex drive, diarrhea, incontinence, constipation, violent crime…etc.
There is a new Intendo super-computer game called Climateology: Best Guess. It is going to sell big this Christmas.
Just more FYI links today and the news is NOT good. The number of cases in Lagos, Nigeria more than doubled (since the last info I had) to 13 and I sure hope they can get that under control FAST.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/08/08/four-new-ebola-cases-in-nigeria-all-related-to-american-to-who-brought-virus-there/
WHO finally got off their butts:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/08/who-declares-international-health-emergency-for-ebola/
But it looks like the US won’t require effective quarantine measures unless considerable pressure is brought to bear. CDC boss (powers that be) is apparently more than willing to sacrifice a few “small outbreaks” (=dead little people) so that airlines won’t lose some money. Lovely.
You what-me-worry and minimizer types should just shut it. It is CERTAIN that way too many people are going to die a horrible death in the next few weeks and this all possibly could have been prevented if various health organizations had gotten off the pot months ago. They left the solution to exactly TWO (2) NGOs (Doctors-Without-Borders) & Samaritan’s Purse with minimal support. We are well past the no-worries and that “this will immediately burn out” stage.
BioBob says:
August 8, 2014 at 11:48 am
“You what-me-worry and minimizer types should just shut it.”
Given the exponential growth of the outbreak this is guaranteed to happen pretty soon. Depends on what body count makes them flip. One doubling per month ATM.
Climate Disruption Causes Hemorrhoids… and Irritable Bowel Syndrome!
Details to follow. Video at 11.
Consider that far more people are being killed in Iraq by ISIS fanatics and nearly as many are dying trying to cross the desert southern border into the USA. Then put a natural pathogen into contextual contrast to truly Anthropogenic Global Disruption.
Now add Putin’s sanctions on imports from Australia, Europe, Canada and America. But he left their alcohol imports OK. It’s because it is colder there now than it should be. These people need to pull in their heads from where the sun doesn’t shine. Like the bubonic plague and pneumonic plague, this is a very very nasty disease. They’ve had ebola before, and actually they burned the bodies, as even dead, the disease can still be contracted. Of course I hope it isn’t part of a chemical bio-attack. I don’t think so, as it is contracted through bodily fluids.
Liberia and Sierra Leone are also affeceted, in fact almost the whole west African side is affected at one level or other. I understand the first case of Ebola was reported in Liberia a few months ago. I also understand from friends in affected countries, Sierra Leone in particular, that there are lots of people migrating out to other countries. Ebola has, almost, spread as far east as Ethiopia.
Michael 2 says: August 8, 2014 at 8:46 am
How many of you are in there?
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total number of living humans on Earth ( As of 2013) estimated at 7.181 billion
yeah, I know you were trying to make some sort of joke
here is a another one I read: Obama has introduced “Ebolacare”
unless you like dark humor, neither is especially funny.
Ronald Bailey says that one reason for the rapidity of ebola’s spread in Sierra Leone is that quarantined patients go shopping and accept visitors and won’t go to hospitals, and that enforcement of quarantines is ineffective. He also argues that medicine is coming up with breakthroughs that will reduce the severity of future epidemics:
http://reason.com/archives/2014/08/08/ebola-dress-rehearsal-or-show-closer
Brits panic without Bill Parsons permission:
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Border staff threaten to strike over risk of deadly Ebola entering the UK. TERRIFIED UK border staff are threatening to strike over fears they could catch the deadly Ebola virus.
Border Force staff at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports are furious no measures have been put in place to preserve their health.
An insider told the Daily Star Sunday: “There is panic. It takes one person to come into this country with Ebola and all hell will break loose.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/393606/EXCLUSIVE-Border-staff-strike-threat-over-Ebola
A little bit of knowledge is dangerous. It was like the first AIDS victims, no one wanted to touch them even. But AIDS does not spread so fast. I wonder if people who get a bloody nose and bleed will panic?