Connecticut Green Living

Pantagonia is one of the natural world’s most resplendent treasures, teeming with life on the one hand, mourning its wildlife and glacial losses on the other. Its massive size - 402,700 square miles, shared by Argentina on the east and Chile on the west coast - means it is hard to pin down. The tragic climate change-enduced ramifications on its glaciers in the west will break your heart; the Andean cat’s brilliant hunting techniques in the steppe region of the east stir other emotions, like fear and lust. The new BBC Earth film-cum-documentary explodes with Episode 5, “Pantagonia: The Ends of the Earth” August 21, following an episode on the Galapagos (see here for a list of all episodes). If you think you know anything about this part of the world, you are wrong. The photographers, camerawomen and men spent a year traipsing around impossible-to-reach fjords and desert steppes, searching for flamingo babes or tiny monkeys. They risked their lives and were constantly exhausted, but...

Like other coronaviruses, SARS CoV-2 evolves and threatens to become endemic. Even the “common cold” is debilitating at times but - at least pre-masking - most of us had learned to live with it. Renowned virologist Dr. William Hazeltine in his book “Variants! The Shape-Shifting Challenge of COVID-19” teaches that obstacles to freeing ourselves of Covid begin with the virus itself. The more opportunity it has to mutate, the wilier it can become. He published this at the beginning of this year before the Delta variant proved the veracity of that prognostication. Although the “living e-book” concept doesn't quite work in paperback form, it is important reading. And unless you are a virologist or immunologist you too may struggle with terms like “ deletion ” - but skip past what you do not understand. Hazeltine has a prestigious background as a professor at Harvard and in AIDS research, and knows whereof he speaks. In the back he includes several articles he wrote for Scientific Ameri...

North Carolina State University researchers say they have created insecticide-free, mosquito-resistant clothing using textile materials. In a press release issued last week, North Carolina said this was proven in experiments with live mosquitoes after developing materials from a computational model of their own design. Researchers modeled for the behavior of Aedes aegypti , the mosquito that carries viruses that cause human diseases like Dengue fever, yellow fever and Zeka, prompting the experiments detailed in the journal Insects . In encounters with the pesky insects, they prevented 100 percent of bites when a volunteer wore their special clothing - a base layer undergarment and a combat shirt initially designed for the military - in a cage with 200 live, disease-free mosquitoes. Researchers think their computational model could be used more widely to develop clothing to reduce transmission of disease. "The fabric is proven to work - that's the great thing we discovered,...

If you haven't gotten the memo, our ocean - and yes, it is one ocean - is being choked with plastic. As the inimitable Dr. Sylvia Earle, founder of Mission Blue - which provides marine-protected areas around the globe - reminds us, our very life here on Earth depends upon this ocean. The plastic, such as in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch Gyre, contributes to altering the ocean's chemistry by absorbing C02. This causes what is called acidification, and this inhibits the ability of marine life to consume necessary nutrients, while eating away at calcium carbonate in their shells. This is Plastic Free July, a movement to draw awareness to the danger of plastic - not only for we humans but for our animal friends and most importantly the planet and our future Earth. Businesses, non-profits and individuals seem to be stepping up this year in a way I cannot remember in previous years. It's not just the storied young who care, either. Earle is in her eighties, for example. Ther...

Earth Class Mail converts mail into digital files. That's the soundbite. But I wanted to delve a little deeper, to figure out if the notion of ridding the world of junk mail could come to fruition. After all, the San Antonio, TX-based outfit boasts that "thousands" of companies have tapped its services, with over 16 million piees of mail and $1.8 billion (with a B) in checks processed by them. Their vice-president of finance, Chisom Iwu, was kind enough to answer a few of my e-mailed questions. Following are Iwu's e-mailed answers to my questions: 1. You advertise that: Thousands of companies have trusted you with over 16 million pieces of mail and $1.8 billion in checks. Please explain how your business works. Earth Class Mail provides a way for people and businesses to access their mail without ever having to make a trip to a mailbox or touch an envelope. Customers select an address from more than 80 “virtual addresses” that Earth Class Mail provides. They submit ...

Five million plastic straws are thrown away in the U.S. every day, according to GoSili, a brand promoting reusable silicone drinkware in its "Ocean Collection". Moreover, they cite that 100 bilion disposable cups go into landfills annually; the average person consumes 1,769 particles of plastic every week just from drinking water (ugh!); and by 2050, there will be more plastic in the oceans than there are fish. This Earth Day, April 22, let’s make a commitment to helping the planet. And the plastic in the ocean is a smashing start. I have written before about reusable straws , which I wholeheartedly endorse. Straws are helpful for many of us who have dental issues and don't want juice or soda to stain our teeth. Sometimes they help older people with more sensitive digestive systems or young children drink their milk - so I am not anti-straw. This brand is sustainable and fun - I received artsy blue and seagreen “Arctic” and “Indian” Ocean 20-oz reusable cups. One perc...

In an hour-long call with the National Press Club today, Dr. Anothony Fauci covered seven tenets of the current pandemic and how we can work towards a healthier future: epidemiology, virology, transmission, diagnostics, clinical course, therapeutics and vaccines. Dr. Fauci has been director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984; he is a scientist and chief medical adviser to President Biden,and has served multiple previous Administrations including former President Trump’s. He also said because he is fully vaccinated he would not be afraid to fly now, but only if he had to. He does not recommend anyone fly strictly for pleasure now as we have plateaued at 60,000 cases a day, and with the numbers having inched up he greatly fears a fourth wave is imminent. In conversation with National Press Club President Lisa Matthews, Fauci reiterated that the Covid-19 pandemic is the worst epidemic since the 1918 flu, which he cited as claiming 50- to 100 mi...