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Land use and climate change could increase flood frequency, Canada experts say.
Residents of B.C.'s Okanagan Valley spent much of this week preparing for unprecedented levels of flooding — but it's far from the last time they'll have to do so.
Residents of B.C.'s Okanagan Valley spent much of this week preparing for unprecedented levels of flooding — but it's far from the last time they'll have to do so.
As global temperatures continue to rise, studies have shown an increase in extreme weather and predict that trend will continue.
And as development continues to occur in and around floodplains, experts say the result is that communities are increasingly at risk of flooding.
Much of the Kelowna's downtown is built on a floodplain, Todd Cashin, the city's manager of suburban and rural planning told CBC News on Thursday.
Hans Schreier, professor emeritus in the department of land and water systems at the University of British Columbia, says future development needs to take more prevalent extreme weather into account.
"We need to really rethink our land use policies and we need to change the way we develop the floodplains, because these extreme events will obviously be the norm," Schreier said.
Various climate change effects will lead to more frequent, more prolonged extreme rainfall events, studies suggest. (Kamloops SAR/Facebook)
Warmer air means more moisture
An increasing body of scientific evidence shows that human-driven climate change is leading to more frequent severe weather events — including snowfall.
Warmer air can hold more moisture, Schreier said, which leads to more precipitation. But that's not the whole story.
In a 2012 paper, Kevin Trenberth — a climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado — found that, as average temperatures rise, we should expect to see record levels of precipitation more often.
As well, a 2017 study lead by Michael Mann of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University found that human activity is altering the behaviour of the jet stream — a sort of atmospheric conveyor belt that moves heat and moisture around the northern hemisphere — in a way that is causing storm systems to stall more often.
These stalled systems result in longer bouts of extreme weather, both wet and dry.
All of this is to say that prolonged, record-breaking storm systems — like those that have caused flooding across the country this week — are only going to become more common.
Experts say increased development in floodplains means reduced absorptive capacity — and more people in harm's way when flooding inevitably occurs. (Christer Waara/CBC)
City on a floodplain
But more precipitation is only part of the picture. Schreier said a propensity to develop floodplains and areas adjacent to floodplains not only put more people in harm's way, but also reduces the natural capacity of the land to store water without flooding.
"When we pave everything and compact all the soils, the water can no longer infiltrate, which means it's going to run off the surface," Schreier said.
The effect is compounded, Schreier said, by forest fires — which, though a natural part of the forest life cycle, are also becoming more common.
"Once you have fires, you have hydrophobicity, which is [when] the soil becomes water-repellant, and then you have more surface runoff."
Hans Schreier says the effects of climate change are already upon us. (Tina Lovgreen/CBC)
Later is now
These are all things scientists have known for some time, but they don't seem to have become common knowledge yet.
Schreier has an idea as to why that might be.
"I think we have made a big mistake [as scientists] by telling everybody that [climate change means] it's going to get two to three degrees warmer on average," he said. "What we should have told people is, it's going to get more extreme."
Schreier says preparations need to be made now, because climate change is already here.
"People think of climate change as [something that's] going to happen down the road, but this is clearly evidence that it's happening now," he said.
"We need to really wake up and prepare ourselves."
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The strange case of the liana vine and its role in global warming.
Liana and other vines are proliferating in the rainforests of Central and South America, and their spread is impeding the ability of trees to sequester carbon dioxide.
Liana and other vines are proliferating in the rainforests of Central and South America, and their spread is impeding the ability of trees to sequester carbon dioxide. Now, researchers are trying to determine the impact of this phenomenon on climate change.
By Daniel Grossman • April 13, 2017
On a hot, buggy morning in January, Stefan Schnitzer, a Marquette University biologist, spritzed insect repellant on his forearms, tucked khakis into knee-high rubber boots, and hiked three miles from his lab at The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute to a study plot in the Panamanian jungle. Ticks and, on occasion, dengue fever-carrying mosquitos infest Schnitzer’s parcel, on Barro Colorado Island in Panama’s Lake Gatun. The site also harbors bullet ants that inflict one of the world’s most painful stings, and a host of palm-size golden orb spiders. Schnitzer picked up a PVC pipe the length of a walking stick for swatting spider webs strung across his route.
Schnitzer strode nimbly up a steep slope, where workers had carved steps into the hillside and laid cement pavers to ease access to the forest. The path leveled, the stepping-stones petered out, and the track narrowed. A howler monkey in the distance barked a warning to would-be intruders.
Reaching his study site after two hours of hiking, Schnitzer, one of the world’s leading experts on the ecology of rainforest vines, paused and studied a tangle of knotted liana vines six feet high and twice as wide, composed mostly of loops of the species Coccoloba excelsa. These are the most abundant lianas on the island, and they promiscuously sprout shoots that root in the soil, sending up a profusion of new stems. Dozens of dancing blaze-orange streamers flagged the thicket’s coils.
This was all part of Schnitzer’s research into a little-understood but important phenomenon that could impact the pace of climate change: In the jungles of Central and South America, vines are becoming more common, and as they proliferate, they are impeding the ability of tropical forests to soak up carbon dioxide and sequester it as wood.
For reasons that are not entirely clear, the abundance of liana vines has doubled in recent decades.
For reasons that are not entirely clear, the abundance of liana vines has doubled in recent decades, according to research by Schnitzer and an earlier study. As a result, these rapidly expanding woody vines are increasingly shading and choking rainforest trees, reducing the amount of carbon they sequester from the atmosphere. In his jungle study plot, Schnitzer is endeavoring to understand why vines proliferate faster than the trees that abut them, and how much carbon liana vines store compared to trees. Trees and other plants absorb about 25 percent of the CO2 that humans release from tailpipes and smokestacks.
The Smithsonian has managed the Barro Colorado forest, halfway across the Isthmus of Panama, since the 1920s. The tropical jungle there is among the most intensively studied rainforests on earth. In 1980, two ecology pioneers, Stephen Hubbell and Robin Foster, laid out what was then the world’s most ambitious tropical forest plot for intensive, long-term research. It contains roughly 125 acres and includes about 250,000 trees, each marked with a numbered aluminum tag. Several thousand are too broad for a pair of adults holding hands to reach around and touch. With a team of helpers, Hubbell and Foster have measured the diameter of each tree. They re-census the site every five years, adding “recruits” — trees that have grown big enough to be included in their study — and removing trees that have fallen.
Tropical vines, such as bauhinia (above), are increasingly outcompeting trees, reducing the amount of carbon rainforests sequester from the atmosphere.
Tropical vines, such as bauhinia (above), are increasingly outcompeting trees, reducing the amount of carbon rainforests sequester from the atmosphere. Beth King/Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
For years, Hubble and Robbins did not bother surveying lianas. “Lianas are such a small part of what you see when you look around,” says Schnitzer, noting that they contain less than 5 percent of a tropical forest’s standing carbon.
But ecologists have begun to wonder if lianas might play an outsized role in the forest. Schnitzer is particularly interested in how vines colonize gaps in the canopy left by tree falls. In 2007, he and Hubbell, by then his mentor, began a liana census of the Barro Colorado plot. It became, and remains, the largest survey of lianas in a single tract. It took 14 people working full-time for 12 months to tag, measure, and record 65,000 vines. A botanist identified each specimen, encompassing 162 species.
Foresters have traditionally calculated the number of planks they can obtain from trees using allometry, the science of how an object’s dimensions, such as linear size and cubic volume, relate to each other. Biologists adopted the same technique for calculating the carbon stored in trees and lianas. The process is straightforward for trees. Researchers plug a single measurement — by convention, the trunk diameter at roughly four feet above the ground — into a simple formula worked out through years of research.
But quantifying the volume of carbon stored in liana vines is more challenging. In his study plot, Schnitzer approached a tree-sized growth with waxy leaves that would pass as a tree for all but trained experts. It fact it was a sapling-like vine, Connarus panamensis. “It grows like a tree until it’s quite tall,” before grabbing branches and trunks for support as a normal vine does, Schnitzer says. He notes that unlike trees, which tend to grow straight up into the canopy, lianas follow a more erratic and looping path around the understory. Such factors, along with the relative paucity of studies of liana measurements, have compounded the difficulty of vine research and carbon storage. Nevertheless, Schnitzer has developed protocols — now widely adopted — for measuring lianas.
In 2015, Schnitzer published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealing new evidence that vines could reduce the tropical forest’s ability to absorb CO2 and slow global warming. Wielding machetes, he and a crew of five had completely removed every liana from eight forest tracts on a spit of land near Barro Colorado. It took a week. They tallied up how much carbon was contained in wood and leaves in the vine-free jungle and in a corresponding set of normal, viney areas.
Forests cleared of vines had absorbed 75 percent more carbon than control areas where vines grew freely.
Schnitzer had predicted that, freed from shading and strangling vines, trees would grow more vigorously. Because trees support their crowns with sturdy, carbon-rich trunks that lianas don’t need, Schnitzer hypothesized that the vine-free jungle might contain far more carbon than the control forest. After three years, a re-census confirmed that. The pruned tracts had absorbed 75 percent more carbon per year than the control areas where lianas and other vines were allowed to grow freely. “It was stunning,” says Schnitzer.
In a response to Schnitzer’s paper reporting these findings, Hans Verbeeck, a biologist at Ghent University in Belgium, wrote in a subsequent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that that “liana proliferation has a potential high impact on the future carbon cycle of tropical forests.” He called for climate researchers to include the changing prevalence of lianas in future climate models, a task he has begun himself.
Despite solid evidence that vines have become more common, Schnitzer says he’s unsure if vine proliferation will continue to increase in the world’s tropical forests. A forecast would require an explanation — so far lacking — for what’s behind the increase in vines that he and others have observed. Schnitzer suspects that one culprit might be increased treefall frequency and mortality due to such changes as enhanced storm intensity. Some scientists believe that the increased CO2 in the atmosphere might favor lianas over trees. But at least one study, by David Marvin, an ecologist at The Nature Conservancy and a former student of Schnitzer’s, suggests otherwise. Marvin raised tree and liana seedlings together in chambers with air containing twice the normal concentration of CO2. Lianas grew faster than controls — but so did trees. There was virtually no difference. However, the experiment tested only a small number of species and lasted less than a year. A longer test, with a larger group of varieties, might have turned out differently.
Schnitzer’s 125-acre plot contains so many lianas that, after the re-census is completed, he should be able to determine which particular species are most responsible for the observed increase in liana biomass. Then, he plans to investigate what characteristics give these vines their advantage. But even with his experiments, he says, making such determinations is difficult. In tropical forests, the huge diversity of species and the boundless variation in how they interact can frustrate even the most robust scientific experiments.
What if his study comes up empty-handed?
“We’ll have the most rigorous non-finding in ecological history,” he replies.
VIEW A VIDEO REPORT ON THE LIANA RESEARCH:
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Genetically modified mosquitoes have wide support in Florida.
Most people in Florida — the first US state to experience local spread of the Zika virus — favor the use of genetically modified mosquitoes to combat spread of the virus, a new poll suggests.
Genetically modified mosquitoes have wide support in Florida
BY HELEN BRANSWELL, STAT August 27, 2016 at 10:15 AM EDT
An aedes aegypti mosquitoes that carries the Zika virus is seen at a laboratory of the National Center for the Control of Tropical Diseases (CENCET) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Photo by Stringer /Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Most people in Florida — the first US state to experience local spread of the Zika virus — favor the use of genetically modified mosquitoes to combat spread of the virus, a new poll suggests.
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In fact, use of this technique to try to halt Zika’s spread has more support in Florida than in other states, the poll conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found.
Earlier this month the Food and Drug Administration gave its blessing to proposed field trials of GM mosquitoes in Florida. But final approval rests with the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District. It plans to hold a nonbinding referendum of residents in November to help it decide whether to proceed with the field trial.
The latest data, released Friday, suggests 60 percent of Floridians support the use of specially adapted male mosquitoes, which sire offspring that die young, to fight Zika — 40 percent “strongly” favoring it and another 20 percent “somewhat” favoring it. Only 19 percent strongly oppose the idea.
Elsewhere in the US, about half of people support this approach.
The Annenberg Public Policy Center, part of the University of Pennsylvania, conducts a weekly poll — the Annenberg Science Knowledge survey — to gauge public knowledge on a range of issues. Since it began in February, the survey has tracked public understanding of the Zika virus outbreak.
Florida has reported 42 cases of Zika infection among people who were infected in the state; at least two people from out of state have been infected there as well. Two areas — the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami and a section of Miami Beach — have been determined to have ongoing transmission of Zika.
The poll also found Floridians and people in other parts of the US generally approve of “special spraying from the air” to eliminate mosquitoes that carry Zika — even though mosquito experts have suggested this approach won’t work for Aedes aegypti, the mosquitoes that spread the virus.
Aedes aegypti often live inside homes, putting them out of reach of chemicals released in aerial spraying.
The poll found Floridians were twice as likely than people elsewhere to have taken steps recently to protect themselves from contracting Zika. Still, only 40 percent of people from Florida reported taking steps like removing standing water from outside their homes, wearing long-sleeved clothing, or using insect repellant.
The phone survey was conducted between Aug. 18 and Aug. 22. A total of 1,472 adults were surveyed, with an over-sampling of 509 respondents from Florida.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.5 percentage points for the responses from Floridians, and plus or minus 3.7 percentage points for non-Florida respondents.
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In Florida, pregnant women cover up and stay inside amid Zika fears .
Amanda Paradiz is 16 weeks pregnant, and she has a mission: to get through her entire pregnancy without a single mosquito bite.
MIAMI — Amanda Paradiz is 16 weeks pregnant, and she has a mission: to get through her entire pregnancy without a single mosquito bite.
It hasn’t been easy. Ever since health officials in July announced four cases of Zika transmission by local mosquitoes detected in a Miami-area neighborhood, Mrs. Paradiz and her husband, Alex, have largely secluded themselves in their Broward County home. They canceled a vacation, and stopped taking evening strolls around the lake and swimming in the neighborhood pool. To walk the dog, Mrs. Paradiz, 35, throws on long pants and a hoodie, even though it’s 90 degrees outside. She’s debating quitting her job as a sales rep, to avoid coming into contact with a mosquito that might carry the Zika virus, which can lead to devastating birth defects, including an abnormally small head, called microcephaly.
“All it takes is one mosquito bite to change the entire course of our lives,†Mrs. Paradiz said.
In the past three weeks, the number of confirmed Zika infections in the greater Miami area has increased to 36, including 25 linked to the one-square-mile neighborhood of Wynwood considered the Zika zone, as well as isolated cases outside Miami-Dade County in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Since Thursday, the number has included a small cluster in Miami Beach, suggesting that there is at least one other location where mosquitoes may be transmitting the virus locally. Federal health officials now are advising pregnant women to avoid traveling to the Miami-Dade County area.
Public health officials have emphasized they do not expect the virus to spread here as it has in other countries because many homes have screened windows and air-conditioning, which keeps mosquitoes at bay. But pregnant women still are worried.
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Some expectant mothers are choosing confinement indoors to avoid mosquitoes. Women who wouldn’t dream of drinking coffee while pregnant now are coating exposed limbs in bug spray, a tactic recommended by health officials. Some women even are considering temporary moves, leaving their homes, families and doctors to stay with relatives or friends far away from a Zika zone until they give birth.
“Patients are very anxious, and they bring up the subject of Zika with me before I even get a chance,†said Dr. Elizabeth Etkin-Kramer, an obstetrician-gynecologist who is a past president of the Dade County Medical Association. “Before, this was an ocean away. Now it’s in their backyard.â€
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Amanda Paradiz is 16 weeks pregnant and anxious about Zika. She and her husband, Alex, are wondering if Amanda should quit her job because it involves long hours outside. Credit Joshua Prezant for The New York Times
While the Zika epidemic has been sweeping across Latin and South America and the Caribbean since last year, in the United States it is still relatively new. So far, some 2,260 infections have been confirmed, including 529 pregnant women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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But those cases involved people who are believed to have been infected while traveling, as well as 22 who contracted it by having sex with an infected person. Now that the virus has been transmitted through local mosquitoes, pregnant women say they feel vulnerable and frightened, and wonder how they can keep mosquitoes at bay during an entire pregnancy while living in a state that is swarming with the insects.
At a regional meeting of obstetricians and gynecologists in Orlando last week, Zika was the main topic of conversation, said Dr. Karen Harris, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Gainesville who heads the Florida arm of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
“It’s hard on the patients, but it’s also hard on the staff, because we don’t have anything to offer but prevention,†she said. “We can’t answer their questions. If you get Zika a month before you’re due, does that affect the baby? We don’t know. There’s total uncertainty.â€
The black-and-white Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries the Zika virus, doesn’t normally fly more than about 500 feet in its lifetime. Health officials assume that Miami-area mosquitoes picked up the infection from someone who had just returned from Latin America or the Caribbean with the virus in his or her blood.
The latest guidelines direct obstetricians to assess every pregnant patient for exposure to Zika at each prenatal visit, and counsel them to use condoms and insect repellent to lower their risk for exposure.
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Tyriesha Williams, 24, of Dania, Fla., is seen by her obstetrician, Dr. Aaron Elkin, as her daughter Ambrie, 4, watches. Ms. Williams is five months pregnant and is so concerned about the Zika virus that she is usually covered with long sleeves and pants even in the summer heat. Credit Joshua Prezant for The New York Times
Dr. Aaron Elkin, a Broward County obstetrician-gynecologist who treats a diverse group of patients from Miami and surrounding areas, keeps a basket of free condoms on the counter in the reception area, along with containers of Off bug spray. Dr. Elkin, a past president of the Broward County Medical Association, spent every visit last week discussing Zika precautions, assuring women that bug spray would not harm the fetus, taking blood and urine samples for tests and doing ultrasounds.
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“Every pregnant woman who comes in for prenatal care wants Zika testing,†Dr. Elkin said. “You can’t say no to them. They’re very frightened. I’m doing 15 tests a day.â€
One patient, Idit Zalouf, a 37-year-old who lives in Sunny Isles Beach just north of Miami Beach, is five months pregnant. She showed Dr. Elkin a bracelet she bought that she thinks will protect her from mosquitoes. Dr. Elkin advised her to use insect repellent with DEET.
“Do you think it would be good for me to go to New York for a while?†she asked him. “If a pregnant woman gets the Zika, what does she do?â€
Dr. Elkin tried reassuring her that preventing mosquito bites and other forms of Zika transmission should be her focus, and that it would be difficult to manage her care from afar.
Later Ms. Zalouf said she may move anyway. “I think it’s better to be away from here,†said Ms. Zalouf. “I’m stressed about it. It’s very frightening. “
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Dr. Aaron Elkin checks fetal size on the sonogram of Samantha Flax, 33, of Boca Raton, Fla. Ms. Flax and her sister, Brittany Schuman, 28, who is also pregnant, are both concerned about Zika virus. Credit Joshua Prezant for The New York Times
Another patient, Unique Robinson, a 22-year-old licensed practical nurse who is not working now and lives in Broward County, said she is terrified. She rarely ventures outside her home, except to go to the mall or the movies.
“I’ve looked it up and seen the babies, how they come out. I don’t think I could handle that,†she said, her voice breaking. She often goes online to look up information. “The internet makes it worse.â€
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Some patients are worried about Zika, but find it difficult to take precautions. Malorie Fitzgerald, a 29-year-old part-time secretary who is 33 weeks pregnant with her third child, has separated from the father and has been living in a homeless shelter in an area of Miami adjacent to Wynwood. While most patients came to the office wearing long pants and long sleeves, Mrs. Fitzgerald, who caught a bus, was wearing an ankle-length dress with a halter top.
At the shelter she shares a room with 25 people, and they are lax about leaving doors open. She hangs blankets around her bunk bed to keep flies and mosquitoes out, to no avail. “I get bit a couple of times a day,†she said. “It’s a little less since the doctor gave me a can of Off. But the mosquitoes and flies are horrible there.â€
Dr. Elkin runs an ultrasound, and reassures Ms. Fitzgerald that the measurements are normal. It’s not a perfect guarantee, however. Infections can occur at later stages of pregnancy, and the scan won’t pick up more subtle abnormalities caused by Zika that are not visible, like stiff joints and eye damage.
“That is the head of the baby, see? It’s completely normal,†Dr. Elkin said. Ms. Fitzgerald smiled with relief. But he repeated his advice about prevention. “Wear long clothes and use the Off!â€
But even the most vigilant efforts to prevent mosquito bites are not always successful. Lori Tabachnikoff, 36, who is 24 weeks pregnant with her first child and lives in South Miami, said she was fortunate because her employer, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, located just outside Wynwood, has allowed her to work from home to minimize her time outdoors.
Even so, mosquitoes sneak in. She recently let a plumber into her home and was soon bitten by a mosquito that must have slipped in at the same time. She has been bitten five times so far this summer, and she and her husband recently went to the health department at 4 a.m. to get in line to be tested. There were already four couples ahead of them. They are waiting for the results.
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Summer travel and the Zika virus.
Health officials have warned pregnant women to avoid travel to the more than 45 countries and territories in which the Zika virus is circulating. Infection during pregnancy can lead to birth defects in infants, particularly brain damage and abnormally small heads, called microcephaly.
Summer Travel and the Zika Virus
By CATHERINE SAINT LOUISJULY 22, 2016
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An informational sign about Zika greets travelers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in June. Credit Erik S. Lesser/European Pressphoto Agency
Health officials have warned pregnant women to avoid travel to the more than 45 countries and territories in which the Zika virus is circulating. Infection during pregnancy can lead to birth defects in infants, particularly brain damage and abnormally small heads, called microcephaly.
But with the Olympics nearing and summer tourism in full swing, what about other travelers? What are the risks of visiting a Zika-affected country for a woman who has no plans to get pregnant — or her partner, or her child? Here are some answers to commonly asked questions.
Where is the Zika virus spreading?
Most of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains a list of affected countries. But the tally has been criticized for tarring many nations too broadly: Not every region in every country has seen Zika infections.
In particular, the yellow-fever mosquitoes that carry the virus don’t survive at elevations higher than 6,500 feet. So if your plan is to visit Mexico City or go mountain-climbing in Argentina, the odds of being bitten there are close to nil.
Sadly, there’s no easy way to judge the risk of infection region by region. And even if you’re headed to a high-altitude destination in Latin America or the Caribbean, the C.D.C. has warned, you may be at risk of mosquito bites if you fly in or out of an airport below 6,500 feet in elevation.
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The travel situation will become more complicated if locally transmitted cases are discovered in the continental United States. As of Friday afternoon, two possible cases are under investigation in Florida.
All travelers can reduce the likelihood of getting mosquito bites by using insect repellents with DEET, picaridin or IR3535, and by booking accommodations with air-conditioning. (Those heading to Brazil might want to check out the military-grade repellent available there.) Wear long-sleeved shirts and pants as often as possible.
What do women need to consider?
Just to reiterate: Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant soon should stay away from any country in which the Zika virus is circulating. Don’t even think about it.
Zika infection is usually mild, and most people don’t realize they had it. Roughly 20 percent of infected adults have symptoms such as rash, fever, joint pain or red eyes for up to a week — a nuisance on vacation, but not worse than other hazards.
Women in their childbearing years who are not pregnant and do not plan to become pregnant — and consistently use birth control, ensuring that they will not conceive — can safely visit countries in which the Zika virus is circulating. The same is true for women past their childbearing years.
What about men?
Zika virus can remain in semen for months, even in men who had very mild infections. This month, French scientists reported they had detected the virus in the semen of a 27-year-old man 93 days after he first reported symptoms.
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People gather along Ipanema Beach in July. The Zika virus is circulating in Brazil. Credit Mario Tama/Getty Images
To avoid infecting a sexual partner, a man who experienced symptoms of infection during a trip to a country in which Zika is circulating, or after returning, must use condoms during oral, anal or vaginal sex for six months.
If he did not experience symptoms, he should use condoms for at least eight weeks. If his partner is a pregnant woman, the couple must use condoms for the duration of the pregnancy or abstain from sex altogether.
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The Zika virus can be passed between men during anal sex, so advice regarding condom use applies to gay and bisexual men, too.
Some men who must travel and who want to become fathers in the near term — including a few Olympic participants — have taken to freezing their sperm before departing for Zika-affected countries.
What if a man isn’t planning become a father in the next year?
About half the pregnancies in the United States are unintended. If there’s even a remote chance a man’s partner may become pregnant, he should follow the rules above.
Can women give Zika virus to their sexual partners?
Yes. Earlier this month, New York City reported the first documented case of sexual transmission of Zika from a woman to a man. But there are no official recommendations yet for female travelers who might pass on an infection.
No cases of sexual transmission between women have been reported. But whenever a female partner is pregnant or could become pregnant, the C.D.C advises condoms or other barrier methods be used.
Do travelers have to worry about other consequences of Zika infection?
One concern, though very uncommon, is a form of temporary paralysis called Guillain-Barré syndrome. It can leave patients unable to move and dependent on life support.
The rate among those infected with the Zika virus is about 1 in 4,000, research has shown.
Other vacation misfortunes are far more likely, and in itself, the possibility of Guillain-Barré is not a reason to avoid travel.
Do children have anything to fear if they catch Zika virus?
Most school-age children and teenagers who get Zika virus have no symptoms or only mild ones, much like adults. But there are exceptions.
Earlier this year, Colombian doctors reported that a teenager died from complications of sickle cell disease after getting a Zika infection and blood transfusions. It’s not clear why. Still, deaths from Zika infection appear to be rare at any age.
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Is there a treatment or vaccine for Zika virus?
No. That’s why the C.D.C. wants pregnant Americans to avoid unnecessary travel to Zika-affected places and for everyone else to take precautions. More than 1,400 travel-associated cases have been reported in the continental United States as of July 20.
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Columbia creates an environmentally friendly rain shell with the Outdry Extreme Eco.
It isn’t just PFC-free and made from recycled materials, it’s also one of the best hard shells yet.
Every waterproof/breathable hard shell rain jacket made today uses perfluorinated compounds in the construction of its membrane. And because the durable water repellant (DWR) coatings that cause water to bead up and run off them, as well as those of most soft shell jackets, also incorporate PFCs, most of the outerwear we outdoors people rely on to go do fun stuff in nature is really terrible for nature. With Outdry Extreme Eco, Columbia is changing that. It’s the first WP/B shell ever made totally without PFCs, and it’s made from 100 percent recycled materials.
What Is It?
First, let’s rewind a bit and explain what a WP/B shell is. The first thing you have to understand is that to keep you dry, a rain jacket has to do two jobs: 1) keep water out, and 2) move moisture out. That’s because, in addition to the water falling from the sky, your body is exhausting H2O in the form of vapor as you sweat. That’s why we don’t all wear those heavy rubber slickers you see on old timey fishermen—they don’t breathe.
We don’t have to wear rubber rain slickers anymore because, in 1969, a man named Robert W. Gore was experimenting with Teflon in his lab when he discovered that he could stretch it out to create a microporous fabric that was about 70 percent air. Those pores were small enough to keep drops of water out, while allowing water vapor to escape. And we’ve all been wearing Gore-Tex membranes, or one of its similar rivals since.
Traditionally, those membranes have been too thin and weak to be worn alone. So they’re sandwiched between an outer face fabric that protects them from abrasion, and a lighter, inner liner that provides next-to-skin comfort. That three-layer construction is ubiquitous in the industry today, but is also the cause of much consumer frustration. You see, all layers need to remain breathable in order for the whole thing to work, but the outer face can easily lose its ability to shed water, which causes it to wet out, stop breathing, and that’s when you get soaking wet because your sweat can’t escape. These faces are treated with DWRs to prevent this, but the “durable” part of that acronym is a bit of a misnomer; they routinely wear out, and require refreshing and reapplication when they do. And each time you reapply your DWR, you’re releasing more PFCs into the environment.
Now that we’ve explained how rain jackets work, and how they often don’t. We should probably move onto those pesky PFCs. Not only are they a greenhouse gas, but they stick around in the environment forever, causing tumors, and neonatal deaths, and are toxic to the immune systems, livers, and endocrine systems of both animals and humans. In short, they’re worth getting rid of.
Last year, Columbia tackled the problem of WP/B face fabrics wetting out with a new type of membrane it dubbed “OutDry Extreme.” Rather than a thin, ePTFE porous membrane of the kind every rain jacket has used since Gore-Tex was invented, OutDry Extreme instead uses a thicker, stronger, abrasion-resistant membrane that feels rubbery to the touch, and which is covered in millions of tiny perforations that provide the breathability. With those, the idea is fundamentally the same as Gore-Tex—they’re too small for rain drops to enter, and big enough for water vapor to be expelled—but here the membrane is the outer face of the jacket, so rain is always totally stopped on OutDry Extreme’s outer face. It just bead ups and runs off. Laminated to the inside is just a light, wicking liner that helps the jacket slide effortlessly over skin and clothes.
And that brings us to OutDry Extreme Eco. Here, that fancy perforated polyester outer layer is made from 100 percent recycled plastic bottles, and most other components of the jacket—labels, toggles, zipper pulls, threads, and eyelets—are also 100 percent recycled. All that takes place without the use of any PFCs, and additionally, by doing away with dyes, Columbia is also able to save 13 gallons of water in the construction of each jacket.
Who’s It For?
Columbia is gambling that the kind of people who like doing stuff outdoors, often in wet weather, are also the kind of people are care about stuff like global warming, animal conservation, and not getting sick from pervasive man-made toxins in our environment. I’d say that’s a pretty good bet.
The OutDry Extreme Eco is also just a really good rain jacket. This is a high-performance hard shell that’s light, packable, which breathes well, and also one that’s cut for athletic figures. It should be a good match for most outdoor activities, including snow sports, paddling, hiking, and anything else that exposes you to the weather while you try and have fun.
Design
The first thing you’re going to notice about this jacket is the color. There aren’t many white hard shells out there. Especially not ones with slick, shiny exteriors. So you’re going to stand out in this jacket, but in a good way. OutDry Extreme Eco looks as futuristic as its construction and technology.
The dotted lines are the seam tape, here applied externally, as is logical for a membrane located on the outside. Logos are also laminated to the jacket’s exterior, a big plus over the cheesy 3D plastic logos of regular OutDry Extreme.
A basic, ergonomic hood can be tightened with draw cords, and includes a reinforced “bill,” but isn’t helmet compatible. No flap protects your chin and neck from a fully zipped zipper; it can catch you, but didn’t cause skin abrasion in our testing. There’s only two pockets—the diagonal slashes across the jacket’s torso. They feature generous zippers, storm flaps, and are mesh lined. There’s a drawcord around the jacket’s hem. There are no pit zips. Wrist cinches are very lightweight velcro. Altogether, this thing is very minimalist.
Using It
This is my first experience with OutDry Extreme, and you can now consider me a believer.
I used the jacket while camping at Coyote Flat, at about 10,200 feet of elevation in the Sierra Nevada. There, we experienced freezing rain, sleet, snow, and high winds. I wore the jacket while hiking, chopping wood, preparing food, and just hanging out in camp.
The most surprising thing about it isn’t that it keeps you dry, it’s that the slick, rubbery material doesn’t make as much noise as you expect it will. No more, really, than a regular hard shell. Neither does it feel stiff, or awkward to wear in any way.
What you will immediately notice in a camp environment, however, is how easy it is to keep clean. Dirt and mud just slide right off the thing, without leaving a mark, and even splashes of hot tomato sauce can just be wiped off totally using only your hand. After a three-day weekend, the jacket is wearing some very, very minor smudges, likely caused by carrying around firewood and then being stowed with dirty clothes in a bag, but they wipe right off even weeks later with nothing but a wet cloth. You can wash the jacket in warm water, but it’ll be a rare event that you’ll need to.
OutDry Extreme Eco breathes very well, but during high output activities like chopping wood, it doesn’t feel quite up there with the best of the waterproof/breathable membranes—Polartec NeoShell. Pit zips, or some other form of ventilation would be very welcome.
The upside of that somewhat limited breathability is that, unlike NeoShell, the Eco utterly stops wind, as well as rain. Zip it on over a thin merino base layer and you’re immediately warmer.
Likes
Columbia ran with the environmentally friendly thing as far as possible. Not only is it PFC-free, made with reduced water, and built from recycled materials, but they’ll recycle the jacket for you at the end of its life, too.
Does what it says on the tin: stops water on the outside.
No noisier than other hard shells.
Just wipe it clean.
Excellent fit for athletic bodies.
Packs small and light.
Surprisingly affordable at just $199 for men’s and women’s styles.
Dislikes
Not quite as breathable as Polartec NeoShell
Limited feature set cries out for pit zips, a phone pocket, and a helmet-compatible hood.
Not on-sale until 2017.
With the membrane on the outside, OutDry Extreme Eco stops precipitation on its surface. It also wipes clean, and shrugs off abrasion. Photo: Columbia
Should You Buy It?
Some people are still going to be better served by Polartec NeoShell. If you regularly participate in high-output activities in wet weather, that membrane does still breathe better, and it’s available in more feature-rich designs like the Westcomb Apoc. But it remains subject to wetout as the DWR breaks down, and its production process is environmentally harmful. OutDry Extreme Eco suffers from neither failing.
This isn’t just an eco-friendly alternative. It’s a better hard shell that just so happens to also be the most sustainable. If you plan to buy a rain jacket in 2017, buy this one.
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Maryland: Renewable energy bill vetoed; pesticide curb and oyster study become law.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan vetoed a bill Friday that would have required the state’s electricity suppliers to get more power from renewable sources, but allowed two other environmental bills to become law without his signature.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan vetoed a bill Friday that would have required the state’s electricity suppliers to get more power from renewable sources, but allowed two other environmental bills — one restricting pesticide use and another requiring a study of oyster harvests — to become law without his signature.
The “Clean Energy Jobs” bill, which passed the General Assembly by a wide margin, would have committed the state to get 25 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, up from the current goal of 20 percent by 2022.
Hogan, a Republican who ran for office on a pledge to lower taxes, said the energy bill was effectively a tax increase on electricity ratepayers, saying they would have to pay more for costlier power generated by wind, solar and other renewable sources.
“The goal … is laudable, but increasing taxes to achieve this goal is the wrong approach,” he said in a letter to the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate.
Hogan’s veto could be overridden next year, as the renewable energy bill passed both chambers by more than the requisite three-fifths majority.
Requiring more of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources could cost ratepayers $49 million to $196 million more overall by 2020, the governor estimated. He said under Maryland’s existing renewable energy law, ratepayers have already paid more than $104 million toward achieving the state’s current goal of 20 percent renewable energy by 2020.
The state’s “renewable portfolio standard” law has been amended repeatedly since its original enactment in 2004. Based on 2014 data, Maryland’s electricity suppliers have been close to meeting their compliance requirements by buying, renewable energy credits for sources such as hydroelectric, paper manufacturing waste, municipal solid waste and wind resources, in addition to solar.
While saying he appreciated the economic benefit of the state’s growing solar industry, Hogan said he did not believe the state should add to ratepayers’ burden to support it.
Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, issued a statement sharply criticizing Hogan, saying his veto has hurt Maryland’s economy as well as its environment. Tidwell predicted “immediate job losses in the solar industry” and delayed improvements to air quality, unless and until the legislature passes the measure over the governor’s veto.
Activists had hoped that Hogan would bend his avowed opposition to anything smacking of a tax or fee, noting that he had backed and promptly signed into law a measure increasing the state’s commitment to reduce climate-altering greenhouse gases.
In that light, Tidwell said, “It's deeply hypocritical for the governor to say he supports reducing greenhouse gas pollution and now to veto the top policy solution.”
Hogan allowed 40 other bills to become law without his signature, including one that would bar consumer access to pesticides implicated in honeybee die-offs and another requiring a study to determine sustainable harvest levels for Chesapeake Bay oysters.
Under the Pollinator Protection Act, the state is imposing sales and use restrictions on a class of bug-killing chemicals called neonicotinoids, which some studies have implicated in die-offs of honeybees and other pollinators. Starting Jan. 1., 2018, products containing those chemicals may only be sold to and used by state-certified pesticide applicators.
Farmers, farm workers and veterinarians would be exempt from the ban. Nor would it apply to flea and tick repellants for pets, lice and bedbug treatments or to indoor insecticides such as ant bait.
Neonicotinoids are among the most widely used pesticides in the world, and are considered effective at protecting crops. Farm groups, nursery operators and state agriculture officials had opposed the bill, arguing that the restriction was unwarranted and that the regulation of pesticides should be left to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Bees and other pollinators have been in steep decline, with experts saying they’re under siege from a variety of factors, including mites, disease, lack of adequate nutrition and habitat loss. But a number of studies — though disputed by the chemicals’ manufacturers — have also implicated neonicotinoids. And Maryland beekeepers have reported significant losses of honeybee colonies in recent years.
Ruth Berlin, executive director of the Maryland Pesticide Education Network, called it “a historic moment,” as the state becomes the first in the nation to restrict consumers’ use of neonicotinoids.
“This act is necessary for our future food supply,” Berlin said. “We hope this motivates other states — and the federal government — to reduce the use of toxic neonic pesticides.”
A Hogan spokesman issued a statement expressing sympathy for beekeepers’ losses without saying why the governor wouldn’t sign the bill. Douglass Mayer, Hogan’s deputy communications director, noted that the governor supported another bill that passed this year that tasks state agencies with increasing pollinator habitat in planning state construction projects.
The other controversial environmental bill set to become law without Hogan’s signature requires the state Department of Natural Resources to determine a sustainable level of harvest for wild oysters in Maryland’s portion of the Bay. Hogan’s spokesman did not respond to queries about the bill or why the governor didn’t sign it.
As originally introduced, the measure would have tasked the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science with conducting an oyster stock assessment and determining if the shellfish were being overharvested.
The DNR is already required by state law to make those assessments, but has never done one for oysters. Such an assessment would enable state fisheries managers to adjust the harvest based on scientifically based estimates of the number of bivalves in the water. The DNR does make annual surveys of juvenile oyster settlement on reefs and of mortality, but regulators now set harvest season lengths, daily catch limits and gear restrictions without an actual estimate of how many oysters are in state waters.
Watermen flocked to Annapolis to oppose the bill, contending that it was an attempt by recreational anglers and environmentalists to impose further restrictions on their oyster harvests. They questioned the need for a study, and complained that the university would not be objective. In the General Assembly’s final days, a deal was reached in which the DNR would do the study in consultation with UMCES. Watermen remained opposed to the bill, though.
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