Why Isn't Every Day World Water Day?

World Water Day was March 22.

If you're reading this, odds are you already know that a huge amount of your body is made up of water. The overwhelming majority of our planet is covered in water. Every beverage we drink has at least some amount of water in it.

But what happens if that water isn't clean?

People get sick, that's what.

Now, in countries like the US, UK, and other "in" places we've got stuff like cholera and typhoid taken care of, but this is not the case in countries that couldn't care less about Brangelina or Dancing With the Stars. Last fall, over in America's 51st state (Iraq), they suffered an outbreak of cholera that killed quite a few Iraqis, sadly.

So, clean drinking water is clearly a problem and it's something we can all help raise awareness about. How can you help more folks know about issues regarding clean drinking water? For starters, you can blog about it yourself. You can tell your friends and family about it. Or you could do something as simple as joining the World Water Day Facebook group. You can follow WorldH2O and Chlorine on Twitter. For each person who joins the Facebook group, follows WorldH2O and Chlorine, the American Chemistry Council will contribute five chlorine tablets designed to disinfect 100 liters of water to areas of the world that are struggling to find clean drinking water.

As of two days ago, people who have joined the FB group, and followed both WorldH2O and Chlorine on Twitter have helped donate enough chlorine tablets to clean over 180,000 liters of water--that's over 47,000 gallons of water.

In case you're curious, cholera causes diarrhea. Diarrhea can cause massive dehydration pretty quickly (sometimes within hours). Dehydration means your body is losing water. Remember your body is mostly made of water. Lose that and most of what keeps you alive is gone, and so are you.

EPA Proposal Calls Greenhouse Gases a Danger to the Public

The Environmental Protection Agency has sent a proposal to the White House that would label carbon dioxide a danger to public welfare — a key precursor to regulating greenhouse gas emissions as pollutants.

The long-awaited finding stems from a 2007 Supreme Court decision in which the agency was found to have the authority to regulate emissions that contribute to global warming. If finalized, the proposal would permit the agency to begin such regulation — which the Obama administration has signaled is a priority.

The proposal sends an unmistakable signal that the Obama administration is moving forward on this issues and it will certainly have a backstop ready if Congress doesn’t act.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day from Running Strong

Greetings!

On this day of celebration, Running Strong would like to remember an act of overwhelming kindness.

When the Irish people faced hardship and famine over 161 years ago, American Indians responded with generosity in their hearts. In 1847, the Choctaw Tribe of Oklahoma gathered money and whatever food they could spare to send to Ireland's hungry.

In 1995, the President of Ireland travelled to Oklahoma to recognize this connection between the Choctaw Nation and Ireland.

This spirit of generosity found throughout Indian Country is what motivates Billy Mills to help American Indian youth follow their dreams. And it's your generosity that makes those dreams come true!

Since we're all a little bit Irish today, please forward this email to your "Irish" friends to see if they know about the gift of the Choctaw Nation.

And remember to check out our website for weekly updates about Running Strong programs that count on your support throughout the year.

Have a safe and fun St. Paddy's Day.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Beer: It Does A Body Good

Crap. Now that I no longer drink this new research comes out: Forget milk. New research shows alcohol is good for your bones.

Scientists at Tufts University (do they have a football team?) found that moderate drinking seems to prevent loss of bone mineral density (BMD) associated with aging. Bone loss can lead to osteoporosis, which can lead to increased risk of fractures and injury.

Well, there you go. Moderate drinking. Cuts me out.

The researchers think silicon in beer might be the reason they found stronger bones in men who drink one to two beers or the equivalent in alcohol every day.

Beer has even more health benefits. It increases good cholesterol, helps you sleep better, and can even be used -- occasionally -- as a post-workout recovery drink because of its potassium, carbohydrates, B vitamins, and water content. Just read a Dean Karnasias book. He drinks beer after his marathon runs. Of course, he runs a marathon a day, so no beer gut.

But take it easy, guys. For beer to be good for you, you can’t overindulge. Drink moderately, which means no more than two drinks a day, otherwise alcohol will have the opposite effect on your health.

Go ahead and have that beer with dinner, but to prevent a belly and weight-gain-related health issues like diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease, keep the quantity down. And remember: One beer has around 120 calories, so you’ll have to work that off.

HUGE NEWS: EPA Proposes First National Reporting on Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Yesterday I wrote about how President Obama's budget proposal puts EPA back in the game. Today comes more exciting news: EPA today proposed the first comprehensive national system for reporting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases produced by major sources in the United States.

Make no mistake: THIS IS HUGE.

The new EPA is clearly moving at light speed to undo the many wrongs of the previous administration.

"Our efforts to confront climate change must be guided by the best possible information," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in a press release. Through this new reporting, we should have comprehensive and accurate data about the production of greenhouse gases. This is a critical step toward helping us better protect our health and environment.

In developing the reporting requirements, EPA considered the substantial amount of work already completed and underway in many states, regions and voluntary programs.

The new reporting requirements would apply to suppliers of fossil fuel and industrial chemicals, manufacturers of motor vehicles and engines, as well as large direct emitters of greenhouse gases with emissions equal to or greater than a threshold of 25,000 metric tons per year. This threshold is roughly equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from just over 4,500 passenger vehicles.

The direct emission sources covered under the reporting requirement would include energy intensive sectors such as cement production, iron and steel production, and electricity generation, among others.

The first annual report would be submitted to EPA in 2011 for the calendar year 2010, except for vehicle and engine manufacturers, which would begin reporting for model year 2011.

Back On Track

A clear shift is taking place under President Barack Obama toward tightening environmental regulations, representing a significant departure from the George Bush led White House. During the previous administration, actions of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) trended toward relaxing these rules.

After less than a month in charge, the Obama administration is distinguishing itself from the policies of Bush in many areas affecting public health and the environment. These range from pushing for a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program - under which the government sets a limit on the amount of a pollutant that can be emitted - to moving forward with regulating mercury emissions.

The Obama administration backed the first-ever global treaty to control mercury releases last month. Under the landmark decision, the governments of over 140 countries agreed to begin negotiations on an international mercury treaty to address world-wide emissions and discharges of the chemical. The plan includes sharply reducing the global supply of mercury, as well as lowering the amount of mercury contained in products like thermometers.

The Bush administration opposed international efforts to limit the use of mercury, which EPA itself identifies as a neurotoxin. But on 23 February, the US Supreme Court cleared the way for the current EPA to issue new regulations on mercury emissions and other pollutants from US coal-fired power plants. The country's highest court refused to consider a case appealing the decision by a lower federal court to overturn the previous EPA's Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR), which allowed exemptions to the federal Clean Air Act for coal power plants. The lower court had ruled last year that EPA, under Bush, had violated the Clean Air Act by evading mandatory cuts in mercury pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants.

Also in late February, a federal appeals court ruled that the Bush-era clean air standards were deficient, and sent them back to be revamped by the current EPA. During Bush's tenure, the agency had decided to keep annual airborn particulate standards at the same level despite a recommendation from its Clean Air Scientific Advisory Council to strengthen the standard for long-term exposure from 15 micrograms per cubic meter of air to 12 to 14 micrograms per cubic meter.

In its opinion, the court found that EPA "did not adequately explain" why an annual level of 15 micrograms per cubic meter is sufficient to protect the public health while also safeguarding against short-term exposures and morbidity affecting vulnerable subpopulations. The court held that 'in several respects," EPA's refusal to adopt stronger standards was "contrary to law and unsupported by adequately reasoned decision-making".

Beyond the courts, significant action is also taking place on Capitol Hill. An appropriations bill for fiscal year 2009 that passed the House of Representatives on 25 February includes a provision to reverse a Bush-era change that weakened the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) - a public EPA database containing information on toxic chemical releases and waste management activities reported annually. The language prevents EPA from spending money to continue implementing the new rule, which changed the requirements for how much information facilities needed to report on the pollution that they release.

Originally, if an entity emitted waste involving any of several hundred chemicals of concern that added up to 500 pounds or more, they had to report in detail on the quantities and locations of their toxic chemical releases. The TRI modification under Bush, which took effect in December 2006, boosted that threshold to 5000 pounds. It is currently being challenged by a lawsuit brought by thirteen states.

There is some expectation that a similar provision to undo these TRI changes will be included in the Senate's forthcoming version of the 2009 appropriations bill, and it may survive in the final bill sent to Obama. At the same time, the new head of EPA, Lisa Jackson, is being lobbied to restore the TRI programme to the original reporting standards.

Meanwhile, Obama has proposed a significant funding increase for EPA in fiscal year 2010. The agency would receive a 35 per cent boost under a blueprint budget proposal unveiled by the president on 26 February. The $2.7 billion bump would bring the agency's budget to $10.5 billion. That money would be on top of $7 billion that EPA received in the recently enacted economic stimulus package, to be spent in 2009 and 2010.

The White House's proposal for EPA includes a $19 million budget increase for a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and related activities that will provide data needed to implement a comprehensive climate change bill. It also would fund the agency's operating budget, which comprises its core regulatory, research, and enforcement activities, at $3.9 billion - the highest level ever.

With these proposed resources, and the president's strong environmental agenda, it should be overwhelmingly clear that EPA is back on the job.

Who Wrote This?

"Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."

This is the last paragraph in The Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin.

I think what he is trying to convey -- or at least the way I choose to read this -- is that there is pain and death and hurt all around us, and that is natural. But from that pain and death and hurt life springs abundantly and most magnificently, and it will always be so. And that, my friends, is a most comforting and wonderful thing.

Ain't life grand? Let the world spin madly on.

Chris

The 84th Problem

A troubled individual seeking truth and enlightenment climbs the mountain to seek answers from a very wise, old woman. When he arrives at her hut, the wizened old woman says, before our friend can even speak, "Ha! You have a problem my son."

Startled, the man asks how the woman knows he has a problem.

"Because," the woman replies, "you have eighty three problems."

"How do you know that?" the man asks, somewhat indignantly.

As she sips her tea through a sugar cube, the old woman replies, "The universe is very fair; everyone always has eighty three problems."

The man ponders this for a moment and then asks, "What am I to do with these problems?"

"Solve them!" the woman snaps.

"What will happen then?"

"Then you will receive more problems, because everyone will always have eighty three problems." She sips her tea and then adds "But you actually have an eighty fourth problem."

"Oh yeah, and what is that?" the man asks in exasperation.

The old woman says "Your eighty fourth problem is believing that you shouldn't have eighty three problems."