Day: September 27, 2017

According to U.S. government statistics, nearly 40 percent of all pregnancies around the world are unwanted or unplanned. And yet the means to prevent every unwanted pregnancy in the world exists, and has existed for more than 50 years. VOA’s Kevin Enochs looks at the history of birth control on World Contraception day.
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The United States and Mexico have agreed to renew and expand a far-reaching conservation agreement that governs how they manage the overused Colorado River, which supplies water to millions of people and farms in both nations.

The agreement to be signed Wednesday calls for the U.S. to invest $31.5 million in conservation improvements in Mexico’s water infrastructure to reduce losses to leaks and other problems, according to officials of U.S. water districts who have seen summaries of the agreement.

The water that the improvements save would be shared by users in both nations and by environmental restoration projects

The deal also calls on Mexico to develop specific plans for reducing consumption if the river runs too low to supply everyone’s needs, said Bill Hasencamp of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which supplies water to about 19 million people in and around Los Angeles.

Major river consumers in the U.S. would be required to agree on their own shortage plan before Mexico produces one, he said.

The deal will extend a previous agreement that both countries would share the burden of water supply cutbacks if the river runs low, Hasencamp said.

The International Boundary and Water Commission, which has members from both countries and oversees U.S.-Mexico treaties on borders and rivers, declined to release a copy of the agreement before Wednesday’s signing ceremony in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Officials with the Mexican foreign ministry said in an email Tuesday they had no immediate comment, but U.S. officials who have been briefed on the details said the deal will help both sides.

“It’s good news for both nations, for water users in the U.S. and Mexico,” said Chuck Collum of the Central Arizona Project, another Colorado River user that will help fund the infrastructure improvements in Mexico.

The agreement provides more certainty in how the two countries will deal with the risk of a shortage and recognizes the danger the river faces, he said.

“It’s an acknowledgement that the U.S. and Mexico both share risk due to a hotter and drier future,” Collum said.

The Colorado River is in the midst of a prolonged regional drought, and some climate scientists have said global warming is already reducing the amount of water it carries.

A study published in February by researchers from the University of Arizona and Colorado State University said climate change could cut the river’s flow by one-third by the end of the century.

The river begins in the mountains of Colorado and winds 1,400 miles (2,250 kilometers) to Mexico, although heavy use means it usually dries up before it reaches its delta on the Gulf of California where Mexico’s Sonora and Baja California states meet.

Along the way, it supplies water to about 40 million people and 6,300 square miles (16,300 square kilometers) of farmland in the United States alone. Equivalent figures for Mexico weren’t immediately available.

The deal being signed Wednesday, known as Minute 323, is an amendment to a 1944 U.S.-Mexico treaty that lays out how the two nations share the river. The treaty promises Mexico 1.5 million acre-feet (1.9 billion cubic meters) of water annually.

The U.S. uses the rest. The average annual flow in the river is about 16.4 million acre-feet (20 billion cubic meters), according the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the river in the United States.

One acre-foot (1,200 cubic meters) is enough to supply a typical U.S. family for a year.

The new agreement, which will be in force for nine years, does not include a repeat of the historic 2014 “pulse” that sent about 105,000 acre-feet (130 million cubic meters) of water surging into river’s delta in Mexico, the U.S. water officials said.

That was an environmental experiment that brought water and life to the dried-out delta for the first time in years.

But the agreement does include up to 210,000 acre-feet (260 million cubic meters) for environmental restoration projects, according to a briefing from Southern California’s Imperial Irrigation District, one of the funders of the Mexican infrastructure projects.

Details of those projects were not immediately available.
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Miami is a city that lives on air conditioning. When it fails, people can die.

After Hurricane Irma knocked down power lines and disconnected the cooling system at a nursing home north of Miami this month, 11 residents perished when temperatures inside soared.

Florida Governor Rick Scott blamed management at the facility for allowing patients to endure sweltering conditions as the heat index — a measure of combined heat and humidity — passed 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

But public outrage has also targeted the local utility company for not restoring electricity fast enough, and the city for not ordering and assisting with an evacuation.

In this often sweltering southern city, widespread use of air conditioning makes it easy to overlook the growing risks of extreme heat. But the risks are there — and they can be just one power failure away.

Around the world, a surge in extreme weather events, including storms, floods and droughts, has focused attention on the risks associated with global warming.

But one of the biggest threats — and a particularly serious one for already hot countries and cities — is worsening heat waves, which remain an under-estimated risk, experts say.

In the United States, Florida is predicted to experience the greatest increase in the deadly combination of heat and humidity over the next decades.

The number of extreme heat days, when the heat index is above 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40.6 degrees Celsius), is expected to jump to 126 a year by 2030 and 151 by 2050 in Miami, according to a study by Climate Central, a U.S. nonprofit science and media organization.

In 2000, Miami saw 24 such extreme heat days, the study noted.

Miami’s sweating residents — particularly those who spend a lot of time outside — say they’re noticing the difference already.

“I’ve been here all my life and working in construction, and I can tell you: It’s getting hotter every year,” said Rai Finalet, as he moved barriers along Little Havana’s Flagler Street, which is being repaved.

On a summer day in early September, there was not even a hint of fall in the air. Instead it was 93 degrees, with a heat index of 107 degrees.

Finalet’s long-sleeve shirt, which he needed to protect his skin from the scorching sun, had been soaked since he started his shift at 8 a.m., he said.

Taking frequent breaks and drinking “gallons” of water is his secret to surviving an outdoor job, even as most Miami residents try to avoid stepping out of air-conditioned spaces.

Tourists wilt

With only a thin canopy of trees and a location far from Miami’s breezy shores, densely populated Little Havana often registers the city’s hottest temperatures.

In the summer, which effectively lasts from April through October, the average temperature is often above 86 degrees and very few locals venture out on the streets around midday.

But Nolvia Hernandez, parasol in hand, had rushed out to pick up her son from school.

“I avoid going out during the hottest times of the day, and when I do, I take my umbrella,” she said. Asked why she was wearing a long-sleeve shirt, she said the air conditioning is kept very cold at her workplace.

Tourists regularly brave the heat to experience iconic Little Havana, where hundreds of thousands of Cuban immigrants settled over the decades, opening quaint cigar shops, lively restaurants and salsa clubs.

At the Ball and Chain, a traditional bar with a live salsa band playing most days and evenings, a powerful misting system along the facade offers visitors an inviting respite from the heat.

Next door, the Azucar ice cream shop, with its powerful air conditioning, is another spot where tourists can take a break from suffocating temperatures outside.

Veronica Agudo, Lucia Beth Marcoleta and Tatiana Harder walk in and breathe a big sigh of relief as the cold air sweeps over them. The friends from Chile sit on a bench and slouch against the wall, sweat trickling down their faces.

“This humidity is killing us,” said Marcoleta. “We want to walk around and see all the sights, but it’s just so hot.” “It’s better to stay on Miami Beach, in the water, for our entire vacation,” Agudo joked.

One outdoors spot in the heart of Little Havana where temperatures are cooler is Maximo Gomez park, also known as Domino Park. It’s a small green oasis with lush trees where residents play dominoes and chess on tables under gazebos fitted with ceiling fans.

Leo Diaz, one of the players, lives in a building with a new central air system, but prefers to spend time outdoors. He worries about Miami’s future as climate change boosts temperatures.

“This city is building more, paving more areas, and we can all feel that the climate is changing. Soon we won’t even be able to stand being here. I hope I don’t see that in my lifetime,” said the former radio announcer who arrived in Miami from Cuba almost 30 years ago.

‘Immune’ to heat

Already heat is the top weather-related killer in the United States — but it is a silent one, with heat-linked illnesses often diagnosed as other disorders, said Laurence Kalkstein, a climatology professor at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine.

In places like Florida, there is low awareness of heat risks because people expect days to be hot, and the state is relatively well-equipped to deal with high temperatures, he said.

“Heat-related mortality isn’t very common here, so most people believe they are immune to it,” he noted. “But we have a growing vulnerable population — of aging people who don’t sweat as efficiently, and others like the homeless, obese people, or those on certain medications.”

In steamy Florida, high humidity makes it harder for sweat to evaporate, preventing the body from cooling off. That’s what can cause heat exhaustion and potentially deadly heat stroke — and what may have contributed to the deaths at the nursing home.

Climate change has already given Florida a lot to worry about, with many officials so far more focused on dealing with rising sea level and worsening flooding than heat threats.

But cities in Florida also have created “resilience” offices to try to adapt to and plan for coming changes, including worsening monster storms — and rising heat.

“Heat is an issue for low-income communities and more vulnerable individuals, [such as] the elderly population,” Jane Gilbert, the chief resilience officer for the city of Miami, said in an interview before Hurricane Irma.

“We want to understand better if there are places where people can’t afford to have air conditioning, and to have an efficient plan for the more vulnerable groups to evacuate to shelters in case of power outages,” she said.

Miami is also working to increase the number of trees in neighborhoods such as Little Havana, and to guarantee that key facilities, such as hospitals, gas stations and supermarkets, have alternative power sources when electricity fails, she said.

After Irma, more than 12 million people lost power. Many had already evacuated to other areas, fearing the aftermath of being stuck at home for days without air conditioning or working refrigerators.

Air conditioning boom

The invention of air conditioning has in many ways made modern Florida possible, fueling a population boom after World War II, according to a history book by the University of South Florida.

The state’s famed tourism industry, its top revenue generator, for instance, only took off after most hotels invested hefty sums in efficient cooling systems by the 1960s.

Now nearly everyone relies on air conditioning — and plenty of it.

Silvana Giuffrida, an architect in Miami, has three units in her townhouse-style condo in the luxury Brickell neighborhood, one on each floor.

She keeps her home’s remote-controlled shades down as much as possible to reduce the heat that floods into her sun-bathed home facing spectacular Biscayne Bay.

“I try to keep the temperature around 78 degrees, which is also the best level for energy efficiency,” she said.

Drinking a lot of water, wearing light-colored clothes and avoiding going outside in peak temperature hours are also part of her routine to beat the heat, she said.

For the most vulnerable, however, state authorities have decided to step up protections after the nursing home tragedy exposed the dangers of extreme heat.

Governor Scott issued an emergency order requiring nursing homes to have generators that can keep air conditioners running for up to four days.

Kalkstein, of the University of Miami, said the deaths highlight the risk that heat poses for Miami — and for many more cities.

“What we all need to realize is that these excessive heat events will happen more and more often, all over the world, and we all need to be more aware of the potential health impacts,” he said.
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