Swine flu- this is horrendous.

Jesus.

"Fears of getting a killer bug are sweeping across the Mexican capital as reports erupted about an epidemic of swine influenza that is said to have killed dozens in recent weeks. The government ordered all schools and universities in Mexico City shut and advised people to pull their children out of nurseries and avoid busy places such as restaurants, bars and cinemas. Pharmacies rapidly sold out of hygienic masks and vitamin supplements. Many clinics stuck signs on their doors advising they had run out of influenza vaccines.
...News of the flu had been lingering for several days but surged to national attention late Thursday after a televised announcement from Federal Health Minister José Angel Córdova. "With the information obtained this afternoon, we have before us the threat of a new type of influenza," Cordova said, announcing the first total school closures over the urban area of 20 million since the 1985 earthquake. Mexican authorities said there had been 20 deaths confirmed from the virus in recent weeks, mostly healthy adult men and women, who were in groups not normally considered vulnerable. Then panic increased to fever pitch on Friday when the World Health Organization upstaged the Mexican government by saying that 60 deaths may have been caused by the virus."
LINK

Hurricane Dolly!

Could plant 15 inches of rain in parts of Texas- levee safety in question.
"Dolly strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday afternoon and was making its way to coastal areas of northeast Mexico and South Texas, where officials worried it would bring so much rain that flooding could break through the levees holding back the Rio Grande.
Officials urged residents to move away from the levees because if Dolly continues to follow the same path as 1967's Hurricane Beulah, "the levees are not going to hold that much water," said Cameron County Emergency Management Coordinator Johnny Cavazos. " LINK

Ah, Hurricane season.

Well, it looks like TS Christobal is going to drench Nova Scotia, but more eyes are on TS Dolly, who might be getting a promotion overnight, and who is headed to celerate in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Tropical Storm Dolly drenched a sparsely populated section of the Yucatan Peninsula on Monday and then plunged into the Gulf of Mexico, where it is expected to grow into a hurricane and move toward the Texas-Mexico border." LINK

In advance of the storm, "Shell Oil Co began flying workers from platforms in the western Gulf of Mexico on Sunday ahead of Tropical Storm Dolly, but said no production was shut, according to a statement issued by the company on Monday.
Fellow energy giant Exxon Mobil said it was making preparations for heavy weather across its Gulf and South Texas operations.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Dolly, which is forecast to become a hurricane by Tuesday night, would likely miss major offshore production areas but could affect the three Corpus Christi, Texas, refineries with power outages and flooding if it makes landfall as forecast on the Texas coast sometime on Wednesday." LINK

So long and thanks for all the fish, take 2. Different dolphins, headed out.

And it's not in China.

The tiny vaquita, the smallest known porpoise, which is found only in the waters of Mexico's Sea of Cortez, is now on the edge of extinction. Go humans- we're #1!

"A drop in vaquita numbers to as few as 150 from around 600 at the start of the decade could see the famously shy animal go the same way as the Chinese river dolphin, which was declared all but extinct in 2006.

The drop in numbers suggests they are getting tangled in fishing nets at a faster rate than they can reproduce.

Female vaquitas only produce young once every two years and the genetic pool is now too small for effective breeding.

Meanwhile mesh gillnets used to catch sea bass, mackerel, shrimp and sharks also trap and drown air-breathing vaquitas, whose name is Spanish for "little cow."

The government is trying to persuade some fishermen to ditch their nets and start conservation-based tourism businesses, like boat trips to see marine life.
But one person in four in the area lives off fishing..." LINK

Biofuels and ethics...

Pretty intense article about increases in the cost of food, the ethics of biofuel, and the real life day to day impact of the food crisis. Great read.

"And, as a result of the vast tracts of farmland now being given over to corn for ethanol production, the price has risen sharply. Hence the tortilla riots in Mexico, last summer, over the price rise in the corn flour that makes the pancakes. Some claim that there is now a war between the 850 million chronically hungry of the world and the 800 million motorists - all fighting for the same food crop. It's a pretty unbalanced battle: the maize to fill a tank for a 'Chelsea tractor' would feed a family of four for three months. In October the United Nations' spokesman on famine, Jean Ziegler, called the biofuel boom 'a crime against humanity'. And as the Economist magazine recently noted: 'The 30 million tonnes of extra corn going to ethanol this year amounts to half the fall in the world's overall grain stocks.'

Last week, after a mass protest at the price of soya beans in Indonesia (which rose because of the shortage of corn and other crops to supply the biofuel industry), Ashok Gulati, director at the International Food Policy Research Institute said: 'It's finally a trade-off between filling stomachs and filling diesel tanks in cars and trucks.'"

LINK

And the food riots have begun!

FANTASTIC article about rising costs of food and the impact that is being felt worldwide as food prices have risen 37% over the past year.

"In some poor countries, desperation is taking hold. Just in the last week, protests have erupted in Pakistan over wheat shortages, and in Indonesia over soybean shortages. Egypt has banned rice exports to keep food at home, and China has put price controls on cooking oil, grain, meat, milk and eggs.

According to the F.A.O., food riots have erupted in recent months in Guinea, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen."

LINK

So tragic, and so ignored.

Why isn't this on every station all the time?

Oh, right, because the world stops at the border. I always forget that.

"VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico - Hungry and dehydrated victims of one of the worst floods in Mexico’s history scrambled for government packages of food and medicine, while at least 20,000 people remained trapped Monday on the rooftops of homes swallowed by water.
Residents were running dangerously short of food and water after nearly a week of floods left 80 percent of the Gulf Coast state of Tabasco underwater and destroyed or damaged the homes of about half a million people. Gov. Andres Granier ordered central streets in the state capital of Villahermosa closed to all but rescue workers to prevent looting." LINK

Water management in the west - yeah, this isn't goiong to be good.

At left, a fishing pier at Lake Mead.

"Some $2.5 billion in water projects are planned or under way in four states, the biggest expansion in the West’s quest for water in decades. Among them is a proposed 280-mile pipeline that would direct water to Las Vegas from northern Nevada. A proposed reservoir just north of the California-Mexico border would correct an inefficient water delivery system that allows excess water to pass to Mexico.

In Yuma, Ariz., federal officials have restarted an idled desalination plant, long seen as a white elephant from a bygone era, partly in the hope of purifying salty underground water for neighboring towns.

The scramble for water is driven by the realities of population growth, political pressure and the hard truth that the Colorado River, a 1,400-mile-long silver thread of snowmelt and a lifeline for more than 20 million people in seven states, is providing much less water than it had.

Preparing for worst-case outcomes, the seven states that draw water from the Colorado River — Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico in the upper basin and California, Arizona and Nevada in the lower basin — and the United States Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the river, are considering plans that lay out what to do if the river cannot meet the demand for water, a prospect that some experts predict will occur in about five years.

“What you are hearing about global warming, explosive growth — combine with a real push to set aside extra water for environmental purpose — means you got a perfect situation for a major tug-of-war contest,” said Sid Wilson, the general manager of the Central Arizona Project, which brings Colorado River water to the Phoenix area." LINK

tortilla crisis draws 75,000 protesters

"Some 75,000 unionists, farmers and leftists marched to protest price increases in basic foodstuffs like tortillas, a direct challenge to the new president's market-oriented economic policies blamed by some for widening the gulf between rich and poor. "

Ethics of Ethanol. Ethanol = less fossil fuels > good. Ethanol = ramen for the poor > bad.

Wow. These are some interesting numbers- and scary too. It may be an urban legend, but the story of the student who ate ramen for a year and died isn't that improbable- there is nothing good for you in ramen.

"The tortilla-making process, Gálvez said, releases antioxidants and niacin, which allows them to be absorbed by the body, and the membranes on each corn kernel provide important dietary fiber. As a result of eating tortillas, Mexican children have a very low incidence of rickets, a bone disease caused by calcium deficiency that is common in developing countries.

Gálvez said she believes the price increase is already steering Mexicans toward less nutritious foods. The typical Mexican family of four consumes about one kilo -- 2.2 pounds -- of tortillas each day. In some areas of Mexico, the price per kilo has risen from 63 cents a year ago to between $1.36 and $1.81 earlier this month.

With a minimum wage of $4.60 a day, Mexican families with one wage earner have been faced in recent months with the choice of having to spend as much as a third of their income on tortillas -- or eating less or switching to cheaper alternatives.

Many poor Mexicans, Gálvez said, have been substituting cheap instant noodles, which often sell for as little as 27 cents a cup and are loaded with less nutritious starch and sodium. "LINK

Ethanol- yay! Rising corn prices leading to people unable to afford food? Not good. Tricky.

"Growing U.S. demand for corn-based ethanol has led the grain to its highest prices in 10 years and pushed up costs south of the border for tortillas, the thin, flat corn patties that accompany almost every Mexican meal.
“If this goes on, there will be shortages,” said Mexico City tortilla vendor Margarita Pineda, by a price chart with a new “10 peso” tag stuck on it. “Those with less money won't eat.” " LINK