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Google to the H1N1 rescue

Some 41 million swine flu vaccines have been shipped, but that may not mean it's been easy for you to find one. We've talked to plenty of people who have hit the phones or driven many miles to find the shot. 

On the same day the company announced it would offer free WiFi in 47 airports over the holiday season (though not at several major airports like JFK, LGA or SFO), Google announced a tool that helps shot seekers find the vaccine in their area: www.google.com/flushot. They partnered with the Department of Health and Human Services and the American Lung Association to build the tool.

Type in your zip code and Google Maps pulls up a list of places nearby where the shot is still available or was at one point. The latter are marked with "temporarily out of stock." In the search we did, the list also provided phone numbers and times the vaccines were administered. Still phone work, but a little less.

Full list of airports with free Wi-Fi.

It's not easy being green

It was a green week, from a major announcement by a major company to convert its transportation fleet to run on alternative fuels, to the naming of a green "handyman"—Van Jones—in Washington. And while being green is en vogue, it’s not easy, as Kermit the Frog sang so well. And the recession is driving it home: Green isn’t easy because it isn’t cheap.

Of course billions of dollars of the stimulus package are aimed at green-related efforts—tax credits for using wind and solar, building a smarter grid, and Jones is expected to help shepherd in new green jobs. On Wednesday AT&T showed how costly it can be to be a green leader, committing $575 million over 10 years to convert its maintenance fleet to green-friendly vehicles. Their pledge is a boon to Ford, from which AT&T will order 8,000 trucks that run on natural gas.

Natural gas?

Apparently the United States has plenty of natural gas reserves, meaning it doesn't have to be imported. It's less expensive and burns cleaner than oil. Natural gas is largely methane, and is found in gas and oil wells predominantly in a slice of the United States that stretches from Wyoming down to Texas, and also in Alaska. (See map of reserves.) About a quarter of U.S. power is generated by natural gas already but only a fraction is used to fuel cars. Honda's natural gas car is called GX and sells for about $25,000.

Some cities are already using natural gas to power buses (i.e., San Francisco and Oakland, California). Problem is, it's expensive to convert vehicles to run on natural gas and you need a place to fill up. We have over 100 here in California and there might be 1,000 across the country. (See locator map of natural gas filling stations in the United States.) 

 

The Pickens Plan     

The AT&T announcement was good news for T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oil tycoon who has turned his focus to pushing the U.S. toward natural gas and wind power, often simply called The Plan . He founded BP Capital and is on the board of Clean Energy Fuels, where you might fill a car with natural gas some day.  He's spent tens of millions of dollars touting his plan. You'll probably being hearing more about the Pickens Plan in the near future.

 

The big picture

The main criticism against natural gas is that it just shifts our reliance from one fuel to another—a fuel that may be abundant but is limited in supply. Sun and wind on the other hand come with infinite, free supply. And while shifting to a non-carbon based economy will take a lot of policy and permitting and money, there are of course some everyday efforts individuals can make that don't cost a ton, i.e., buying carbon offsets and converting to CFL lights. So, tell us what you’re doing. We've started a list of some ideas we're hearing about—maybe you can add to it as a resource for the rest of us.

A real tuna surprise

It's chuck full of protein, inexpensive, lasts forever and easy on the hips. We're talking canned tuna of course, and while you may be familiar with warnings to eat it in moderation, now the fresh kind is also under scrutiny.

Why? In a nutshell, mercury.

What's happening? Why now?
Just when you thought the fresh kind was okay, a report by the New York Times calls it into question. In a top-read story this week, "High Mercury Levels Are Found in Tuna Sushi," the NYT says lab tests run on fresh tuna sold at 20 different sushi outlets in Manhattan showed high levels of the neurotoxin mercury.

Specifically, the report says eating just six pieces of sushi from most of the places contained about the same amount of mercury that the Environmental Protection Agency considers suitable for a 154-pound adult to eat in a week.

The report says much of the fish tested was bluefin tuna.

Separately, the conservation group Oceana issued its own report on Wednesday, saying mercury levels in fish they tested nationwide exceeded levels the FDA considers safe to sell.

What does mercury do and how does it get in the fish?
Mercury is tied to a number of health issues, including vision impairment, memory loss and cardiovascular problems. But the biggest concern is for pregnant women, women planning to become pregnant, and children because mercury, as the EPA's site puts it, "can adversely affect a baby's growing brain and nervous system."

Methylmercury enters the environment through pollution from coal-powered plants. The older and bigger the fish, the more mercury it accumulates. Hence one reason why the bluefin tuna may be high in mercury—it can be huge, stretching 12 feet long, weighing over 1,000 pounds, and living 30 years. Watch how mercury gets into fish.

How much fish should you eat?
There are of course many health benefits to eating fish. However, the FDA and EPA agree high-risk groups (women and children) should limit their weekly fish intake to 12 ounces. This includes canned tuna, and the EPA suggests eating no more than 6 ounces of the albacore kind. The advisory says to not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish (whatever that is!) at all.

The big picture
It's a bad time to be a bluefin tuna. Recent reports say the fish is being depleted as sushi appetites explode worldwide. Last September Europe banned fishing for bluefin through the end of the year. And while fishing groups deny mercury's threat, other groups are pushing for stricter consumption guidelines. Eating fish, however, is just part of the issue; emission laws are another big piece. So for now it seems, enjoy that tuna—just not too much of it!

Love that tuna? Try the tuna calculator.

Ordering out? Download the Seafood Watch pocket guide.

Obesity rates level off

Before I sat down to write, I had to go for a run. It was a quick run, but I had to move my body after reading about the obesity levels in the United States. Ironically, the news is more encouraging than you might think.

In fact, for the first time in 25 years, obesity levels in U.S. adults didn't grow, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control. And while headlines this week touted this news positively, a whopping 72 million adults (age 20 to 74 years) are obese, or over a third.

Major takeaways from the report:

• Slightly more women than men are obese: 35% vs. 33%
• However, obesity rates in women may have hit a plateau (unchanged since 1999)
• The majority of obese people are between 40 and 59 years old
• Over half of all black and Mexican American women (age 40-59) are obese
  (See the full report.)

Globally, obesity is a growing problem
The World Health Organization estimates 1.6 billion adults around the world are overweight, in addition to 20 million children under the age of five. Even in developing nations like China, both hunger and obesity are problems.

What's the difference between overweight and obese?
If someone is overweight, their Body Mass Index (BMI) is between 25 and 30. If it’s over 30, the person is obese. BMI is a calculation based on weight and height. Calculate your own BMI.

The big picture
The news seems better for women, where obesity rates have held steady since 1999. Researchers see this as a trend and say they may be leveling off. Men's levels, however, have held steady for just a few years, and researchers want more data before calling it a trend.

All said, the holding pattern is clearly a step in the right direction given the health complications caused by obesity. But consider this: Between 1976 and 1980, 15% of U.S. adults were obese—less than half of the 34 percent today. And though the CDC is targeting 15% again by 2010, it looks to be a long road ahead.

Oh, how I wish it would rain

Fire, fire, fire. It was pretty much impossible to turn on a television or pick up a newspaper this week without seeing images of the huge wildfires that lit up Southern California like a tinderbox.

And while the scope of this fire was bad—forcing a million people from their homes and scorching 500,000 acres—it’s just one example of a severe drought plaguing the country. And the real story seems to be the possible role of global warming and the need for water, water, water.

Droughts are normal
Droughts are simply part of the natural climate cycle. And dry, hot SoCal is always highly susceptible to these fires, which happen with regularity. That said, the nation seems a bit more parched than usual.

South dries out and Great Lakes shrink
In fact as the fires burn on the West Coast, a severe drought is plaguing the Southeast.

Take Georgia—not a place you usually confuse with the Sahara—but it’s currently being crippled by a drought so nasty, experts say it comes around only once a century. Officials have asked that part of the region be declared a disaster area, something the U.S. government hasn’t done for a drought since 1977. Nearby neighbors in North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama are also looking to the skies for rain.

Meanwhile, up north, the Great Lakes could also use a drink. The water levels in all five lakes are below normal, and could stay that way until spring. And out West, experts are worried about the shrinking mountain snow pack.
>> Check out these federal maps, which show huge areas of the nation currently suffering from drought conditions ranging from a little dry to downright thirsty., which show huge areas of the nation currently suffering from drought conditions ranging from a little dry to downright thirsty.

The big picture
The vast majority of scientists now believe in global warming and that the average temperature of the earth is slowly rising. And many say human activity is partly to blame. Oddly enough, experts also tend to believe global warming is actually going to make the world wetter—it’s just going to shift who gets wet. In short, more moisture at the poles, less toward the center.

What it means
If this holds true—if water gets scarcer and the country gets drier—images like those out of SoCal may become all too common. Already, there is evidence that wildfires in the West have been getting worse in the past two decades, consuming many times more land than they did in previous years.

Men are happier

Did you get the memo? Men are happier than women today, mainly because they seem to have chucked out the long to-do list. But before we break down the details of this new research, we want to recap two of the week’s big headlines: Ahmadinejad and Myanmar.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to the United States this week yielded two major takeaways
First, according to him, Iran has no gays. This notion of course sparked plenty of commentary and laughter; Second, he says he’s done discussing Iran’s nuclear program, which is forging ahead, and rejects UN sanctions regarding the program.

Myanmar is Burma and vice-versa
You might be a little confused by the press, which alternates between Burma and Myanmar when referring to the massive protests in this little country nestled alongside Thailand. In fact the military dictatorship government there (also called a junta) renamed Burma as Myanmar in 1989. 

The United States and the United Kingdom don’t recognize the government, which oppresses its people, so they continue to call the country Burma. The protests against the government are calling for democracy, with Buddhist monks helping to lead the charge. The BBC does a fantastic job of breaking down what's going on.

After that, hopefully you’re not too unhappy to read more about unhappiness
Here's the deal: Researchers say women are increasingly unhappier than men, though they believe their status has improved. A New York Times story this week says Princeton economist Alan Krueger finds men are working less and relaxing more. He should know—he wrote this eye-opening story three years ago: “A growing number of men are not working, so what are they doing?”

The happiness curve decreased as more women entered the workforce
One report shows that in the 1970s, women were slightly happier than men. Now that more women are in the workforce, they are less happy, including stay-at-home moms. The researchers suggest that “increased opportunity to succeed in many dimensions may have led to an increased likelihood of believing that one’s life is not measuring up.”
Read the report > The "Discussion" section touches on their conclusions, which starts on page 19.

The big picture
It’s not new news that women are still trying to do it all and please everyone. And it’s not new news to many of us that not being able to do it all causes stress and unhappiness. But the research does remind us of the need for employers, the government and mates to pitch in, and the need to delegate the to-do list!

Would you say more opportunity is leading to more unhappiness for women? Tell us why or why not!

So small, so yellow … so powerful

We pop them, we grill them, we butter them. We mix them in salsa, in salads, soups. We drink syrupy substances derived from them in colas, even dry them for decorative purposes, and yes, fuel our cars with bi-products of them. We’re talking kernels, that is—CORN.

 

Once just that old staple crop many gave little thought to, the one we thank the Native Americans for introducing to the Pilgrims, corn is now HOT.

It’s so hot that in the last year, prices for the commodity (measured in bushels) have jumped almost 50 percent, which apparently caused the price of tortillas in Mexico to spike 400% earlier this year. Even popcorn makers are feeling the heat.

What’s behind the hotness?

In a nutshell, ETHANOL—an environmentally friendlier fuel made from corn (or sugar or even grass) that many see as a fuel of the future. Even President Bush called for more focus on ethanol and other renewable energy sources in his State of the Union speech back in January.

The majority of ethanol made in the United States is made from corn. Already there are over 100 ethanol plants in the U.S., and 70 new ones are expected to come online this year. With ethanol producers looking for corn to make their product in addition to everyone who wants and uses corn, demand is soaring, supply is tight, and prices are skyrocketing.

The increased demand in turn is spurring a demand for land to grow more corn, pushing farmland prices to record highs.

The Big Picture

Corn will again be front and center this fall as Congress seeks to pass a new, five-year farm bill. Just how much the government subsidizes corn growers and four other main crops that have been subsidized in the U.S. since the Great Depression (rice, soybeans, wheat and rice) will be a hot point in the debate. Some believe the subsidies should be reduced, particularly for corn and soybeans, which constitute a large portion of highly processed foods, one culprit of obesity, and also for environmental reasons. Stay tuned.

Mama's got a brand new bag

Why go plastic when you can go HOT?

I’m not kidding. In just 29 minutes, canvas shopping bags designed by uber high-end bag designer Anya Hindmarch and emblazoned with “I’m Not a Plastic Bag” sold out at the Columbus Circle Whole Foods store in New York on Wednesday.

At just $15 a pop, the bags drew fashion enthusiasts accustomed to spending $1,000 and more for her bags, and the eco-friendly. And, well, that’s the point.

Hindmarch designed the bags to send an environmental message—that the world is using too many non-biodegradable plastic bags—by some estimates hundreds of billions or even trillions a year.

Those little guys add up

• Plastic bags hit American check-out stands in 1977 and now account for about 90% of all grocery bags.
• The EPA estimates it takes about 1,000 years for a bag to disintegrate, and are a detriment to nature and wildlife.
• It takes 430,000 gallons of oil produce 100 million non-degradable plastic bags.
• The EPA says about 5 percent are recycled each year in the U.S.

Who’s doing what about it…
Just as plastic turns 100 years old, plastic bags are increasingly under scrutiny. In March, San Francisco—where 180 million plastic bags are distributed each year—banned the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags in large supermarket and other major chain stores, becoming the first major city in America to do so.

Boston looks about ready to follow suit, and Ikea is charging customers 5 cents per bag to cut back on usage. Outside the U.S., Ireland has cut the use of plastic bags by 90% thanks to a special tax and they’re banned in some third-world countries, like Bangladesh and Bhutan. There’s a push to thwart use in London and in Africa, too.

The big picture
Plastic bags of course aren’t the only offender. Paper bags take up more space in landfills and it takes trees to make them. Bottom line, it’s good for all of us to remember that we’re just one among the 6.6 billion folks out there, and that stowing a reusable bag or two in the trunk can make a small but meaningful difference.

Oh, and you can still get an Anya Hindmarch bag, just be ready to pay up… the going rate is about $200 on eBay.

The final frontier is already crowded

Just as concern over the future of the planet is heating up, so is concern for the growing amount of junk in space. In both cases, experts blame humans.

Last week scientists issued an important report calling global warming “unequivocal,” or without doubt, warning of rising seas and climbing temperatures. This week space experts worried that there’s too much floating debris in space.

What debris?
For years there has been concern that junk—about 10,000 visible pieces of scrap like old satellites, metal nuts and bolts, even a Hasselblad camera lost by astronaut Michael Collins while on the Gemini 10 mission in 1966—would eventually crash into other junk, creating a domino effect of more debris. And that’s scary because individual pieces, visible ones measure four inches or more, can wield damage enough, some traveling over 17,000 miles per hour.

Concern hit a new high this week as space experts confirmed that a Chinese missile launched in January that intentionally blew an old weather satellite to smithereens yielded about 900 new pieces of floating debris.

The big fear is that debris, which isn’t yet removable, could interfere with functioning spacecraft or satellites in orbit, as well as the International Space Station. There are about 800 satellites in space, half of which belong to the United States. Almost 70 percent are used for communications purposes.

The big picture
China is not the only country to flex its military muscle by target practicing with objects in space. The United States and the former Soviet Union have as well. But it does raise eyebrows in the international community over China’s growing military force. And Congress has asked for funds to better protect satellites, damage to which could impact “our economy and security.” Oddly enough, China has been proactive in protecting space from debris and will host an international meeting addressing the issue in April.