On-Hudson.com

The Return Of The Cat In The Hat On PBS Will Introduce Kids To Science

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2010/09/05/2010-09-05_great_seuss_the_cat_is_at_pbs.html

'The Cat in the Hat' is back! With a new animated show on PBS that is . . .

 DAVID HINCKLEY

pbskids.org

Dr. Seuss' whimsical feline is back in 'The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That,' a new animated series for kids on PBS.

Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat has spent so much time in America's life that it comes as a mild surprise to realize he has never had an animated children's TV series.

Until now.

"The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That" launches Monday on PBS (Ch. 13, 9 a.m.), as part of the PBS Kids series, and if it took a long time, Theodor Geisel's widow, Audrey, and his last editor, Kate Klimo, say they believe they've gotten it right.

Unlike, say, the Mike Myers "Cat in the Hat" movie, which Klimo diplomatically says "epitomizes the challenges in bringing a great book to the screen."

The new animated Cat has a slightly different mission from what he had when Geisel started writing Dr. Seuss books in 1957.

Geisel's original goal was to make reading fun. This Cat aims to do the same with science.

"Toward the end of his life," says Klimo, who is now the publisher of Random HouseChildren's books, and developed this series for PBS, "Ted wanted to deploy the Cat to turn kids on to science. His great fear was that American kids were falling behind the rest of the world."

The Cat's solution, happily, is not to lecture on the human genome or the breakdown of hydrochloric acid. Instead, he takes children out into the world, sometimes on a magical flying vehicle found nowhere in the Boeing catalogue, and explains how seemingly simple things really happen.

In the "Show Me the Honey" episode, the Cat explains how bees make honey and organize the social order of the hive.

"The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That" began as a series of books, the popularity of which helped propel the TV series.

"We wanted to instill in kids a love of science without boring them senseless," says Klimo.

She says Geisel, who died in 1991, loved animation - "He was first and foremost a cartoonist" - and it's not clear why he never tackled an animated series himself.

She thinks he would be happy with this one, which required assembling multiple pieces.

That includes Martin Short, who does the Cat's voice "and gets him perfectly," says Klimo.

Animator Tony Collingwood previously had worked on an animated TV special of Seuss' "Daisy Head Maisy."

Perhaps the hardest part, says Klimo, was honing writers.

"Like any great icon of children's literature," she says, "Dr. Seuss is both a good example and gives rise to terrible imitators. A lot of people mimic his rhyming style without understanding it's a kind of freewheeling thing.

"So we culled artists and did a lot of rhyme-doctoring. We cracked the whip a lot."

Klimo admits the Cat can be "anarchical" and likens him at times to "Fred Astaire on nitrous oxide."

But at the end of the day, she says, he delivers the goods - and now PBS is delivering the Cat.

dhinckley@nydailynews.com

Solar Airplane Completes Milestone Mission

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/07/08/2010-07-08_experimental_solarpowered_plane_lands_in_switzerland_to_complete_historic_24hour.html

Experimental solar-powered plane lands in Switzerland to complete historic 24-hour test flight

 ASSOCIATED PRESS

Balibouse/Pool

The landing of a solar-powered plane was the culmination of a seven-year, Swiss-led project.

Coffrini/Pool

The Solar Impulse recharged its batteries using 12,000 solar cells and nothing but the rays of the sun.

Coffrini/Pool

Pilot Andre Borschberg gives a thumb up prior to takeoff.

PAYERNE, Switzerland - An experimental solar-powered plane landed safely Thursday after completing its first 24-hour test flight, proving that the aircraft can collect enough energy from the sun during the day to stay aloft all night.

Pilot Andre Borschberg eased the Solar Impulse onto the runway at Payerne airfield about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southwest of the Swiss capital Bern at exactly 9 a.m. (0700 GMT; 3 a.m. EDT) Thursday.

Helpers rushed to stabilize the pioneering plane as it touched down, ensuring that its massive 207-foot (63-meter) wingspan didn't scrape the ground and topple the craft.

The record feat completes seven years of planning and brings the Swiss-led project one step closer to its goal of circling the globe using only energy from the sun.

"We achieved more than we wanted. Everybody is extremely happy," Borschberg told reporters after landing.

Previous flights included a brief "flea hop" and a longer airborne test earlier this year, but this week's attempt was described as a "milestone" by the team.

The team says it has now demonstrated that the single-seat plane can theoretically stay in the air indefinitely, recharging its depleted batteries using 12,000 solar cells and nothing but the rays of the sun during the day.

But while the team says this proves that emissions-free air travel is possible, it doesn't see solar technology replacing conventional jet propulsion any time soon.

Instead, the project's overarching purpose is to test and promote new energy-efficient technologies.

Project co-founder Bertrand Piccard, himself a record-breaking balloonist, said many people had been skeptical that renewable energy could ever be used to take a man into the air and keep him there.

"There is a before and after in terms of what people have to believe and understand about renewable energies," Piccard said, adding that the flight was proof new technologies can help break society's dependence on fossil fuels.

The team will now set its sights on an Atlantic crossing, before attempting a round-the-world flight in 2013, making only five stops along the way.

"It's absolutely not time to relax," said Piccard.

Borschberg took off from Payerne airfield into the clear blue sky shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday, allowing the plane to soak up plenty of sunshine and fly in gentle loops over the Jura mountains west of the Swiss Alps.

The custom-built aircraft with its thin fuselage and the wingspan of a Boeing 777passenger jet managed to climb to 28,000 feet (8,535 meters) and reached top speeds of over 75 mph (120 kph).

Borschberg, a 57-year-old former Swiss fighter who was wearing a parachute - just in case - dodged low-level turbulence and thermal winds, endured freezing conditions during the night and ended the test flight with a picture-perfect landing to cheers and whoops from hundreds of supports on the ground.

"The night is quite long, so to see the first rays of dawn and the sun returning in the morning - that was a gift" Borschberg said after touchdown.

Former NASA chief pilot Rogers E. Smith, one of the project's flight directors, praised Borschberg's feat of endurance and the overall success of the mission.

"We ended up with perhaps 20 percent more energy than we in the most optimistic way projected," Smith told The AP.

After completing final tests on the plane after landing, Borschberg embraced Piccard before gingerly unstrapping himself from the bathtub size cockpit he had spent more than 26 hours sitting in.

"When you took off it was another era," said Piccard, who achieved the first nonstop circumnavigation of the globe in a balloon, the Breitling Orbiter III, in 1999. "You land in a new era where people understand that with renewable energy you can do impossible things."

5.0 Earthquake Shakes Up New York

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703900004575325243652359592.htmlCanada Earthquake Shakes Area

 CHRIS HERRING

An earthquake from Canada sent its tremors across the border Wednesday, swaying New York-area residents and prompting countless phone calls to fire departments across the region.

The tremors stemmed from a magnitude 5.0 earthquake. New York City officials said a flurry of calls came in from Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, all with questions or details about the shaking and swaying.

"There have been too many to count," said city fire department spokesman Matt Coppeto of the phone calls, which started shortly before 2 p.m. He said there were no injuries reported and that the shaking was mild at best.

City residents said the shaking was noticeable, but didn't cause concern. Moni Pineda, who was working in Chinatown, said she and her coworkers are used to shaking because of the subway lines that run near her building, on Market Street between Madison and Monroe. "This was definitely different," she said, saying the duration of the tremors was more than a minute long. "The train is more of a rattling feeling. This felt more like things swaying back and forth."

While the shakes didn't bother her too much, Ms. Pineda, a disc jockey and video director, said the idea of earthquakes in the city was unnerving. "I can't imagine buildings in New York City are built to deal with earthquakes," she said.

New York was just one of a number of cities that reported shaking after the incident. People in cities as far west as Chicago and Cleveland, and others in the Northeast such as Boston reported feeling the quake. People in New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Vermont and West Virginia also reported the tremors.

"Our phones were lit up for quite a long time from states all over the map," said Bruce Wallace, an information specialist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

The Bergen County Administration building, in Hackensack—more than 300 miles from the epicenter—was evacuated for about 20 minutes because of the shaking. Sheri Hensley, a spokeswoman, said it was "light swaying" and that the evacuation was a precaution.

The earthquake, downgraded from a 5.5, appeared to cause no serious damage in Canada. Its epicenter was about 40 miles north of Ottawa near the Quebec-Ontario border. Some building evacuations took place in the city, Canada's capital, but no injuries were reported.

Upstate residents, closer to the epicenter, seemed a bit quicker than New York City residents to realize the trembling was a sign of an earthquake.

Anne Duggan, a spokeswoman for a commercial real estate developer in Buffalo, said she was in her dentist's chair during the tremors. When Ms. Duggan's armrest and seat began to shake, her dentist figured Ms. Duggan was adjusting the chair. "I said 'I'm not doing anything! That's not me!' That was how we realized it was an earthquake."

Write toChris Herring at chris.herring@wsj.com

Basalt Rock Formations As Carbon Dioxide Containment Vaults?

East Coast Basalt Rocks Could Sequester Carbon Dioxide

NEW YORK, New York, January 6, 2010 (ENS) - Buried volcanic rocks along the coasts of New York, New Jersey and New England might be ideal reservoirs to store carbon dioxide emitted by coal-fired power plants and factories, according to scientists from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Their study this week in the journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" outlines formations of basalt rock on land as well as offshore that the scientists have identified as the best potential sites.

Some basalt on land is already well known and highly visible. The vertical cliffs of the New Jersey Palisades, along the west bank of the Hudson River across from Manhattan, are pure basalt.

The New Jersey Palisades, overlooking the Hudson River, are pure basalt. (Photo by Cranky Scorpion)

This formation, created some 200 million years ago, extends into the hills of central New Jersey, and similar basalt masses are found in central Connecticut.

Underground burial, or sequestration, of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is being studied across the country. For instance, a proposed coal-fired plant in Linden, New Jersey would pump liquefied carbon dioxide, CO2, offshore into sedimentary sandstone.

The Lamont scientists say this idea is controversial because the CO2 might leak out into the environment. By contrast, their new study focuses on basalt, an igneous rock, which they say offers significant advantages.

Previous research by Lamont scientists and others shows that carbon dioxide injected into basalt undergoes natural chemical reactions that will eventually turn it into a solid mineral resembling limestone. If the process were made to work on a large scale, this would help eliminate the danger of leaks.

"The basalt itself is very reactive, and in the end, you make limestone," said study coauthor Dennis Kent of Rutgers University. "It's the ultimate repository."

Led by geophysicist David Goldberg, the study's authors used existing research to outline more possible basalt underwater, including four areas of more than 1,000 square kilometers each, off northern New Jersey, Long Island and Massachusetts.

A smaller patch appears to lie more or less under the beach of New Jersey's Sandy Hook peninsula, opposite New York City harbor and not far from the proposed plant at Linden.

The undersea formations are inferred from seismic and gravity measurements.

"We would need to drill them to see where we're at," said Goldberg. "But we could potentially do deep burial here. The coast makes sense. That's where people are. That's where power plants are needed. And by going offshore, you can reduce risks."

Goldberg and his colleagues previously identified similar formations off the Pacific Northwest coast.

Goldberg said the undersea formations are potentially most useful, because they are deeper. He says that CO2 pressurized into a liquid would have to be placed at least 2,500 feet below the surface for natural pressure to keep it from reverting to a gas that might make its way back to the surface.

The basalts on land are relatively shallow, but those at sea are covered not only by water, but hundreds or thousands of feet of sediment, and they appear to extend far below the seabed.

In addition to providing pressure, sediments on top would form impermeable caps, said Goldberg who believes the basalts to contain porous, rubbly layers with plenty of spaces where CO2 could fit, simply by displacing seawater.

Theoretically, after morphing into a solid, the CO2 would fill those voids. On land, the same reaction might take place, but it is possible that drilling and injection could disturb aquifers or otherwise disturb neighbors on the heavily populated surface.

The scientists estimate that just the small Sandy Hook basin may contain about seven cubic kilometers of the rock, with enough pore space to hold close to a billion tons of CO2 - the equivalent of the emissions from four billion-watt coal-fired plants over 40 years.

The largest basalt mass appears to extend offshore of Georgia and South Carolina, as well as inland. This coast also is populous, and would make a good target, said Goldberg.

"The next step would be to get some exploratory surveying and drilling going," he said. The paper suggests a half-dozen spots around New York including the Sandy Hook area, and three off South Carolina, to start with.

The study was also coauthored by geologist and paleontologist Paul Olsen, who has been involved in drilling basalt formations in New Jersey. Preliminary drilling also has been done at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory itself, which sits atop the basalt cliffs on the Hudson River's west bank.

New Clermont 6.7 Meter Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered Boat Retraces The Voyage Of Fultons Steamboat 200 Years _On

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=uncharted-waters-students-retrofit-2009-09-22

Uncharted waters: Students retrofit sailboat with hydrogen power and motor up the Hudson

By Larry Greenemeier

 

Editor's Note: A team of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute students are traveling up New York's Hudson River this week on the New Clermont, a 6.7-meter boat outfitted with a pair of 2.2-kilowatt hydrogen fuel cells to power the boat's motor. Their journey began September 21 from Manhattan's Pier 84 and will cover 240 kilometers (at a projected speed of 8 kilometers per hour). After making several stops along the way, the crew expects to arrive back at Rensselaer Polytech's campus in Troy, N.Y., on September 25. This is the first ofScientific American.com's blogs chronicling this expedition, called the New Clermont Project.

The New Clermont Project comes 200 years after Robert Fulton drove the world's first commercial steamboat, The Clermont, from New York to Albany. William Gathright, a doctoral student in Rensselaer's Materials Science and Engineering Department, began assembling the crew and resources necessary for this green-fueled tour of the Hudson earlier this year. Gathright is also pursuing a master's in management from Rensselaer's Lally School of Management & Technology.

"This morning we began to retrace the original voyage of Fulton's steamboat The Clermont," Gathright blogged about Monday's launch from Pier 84. While Fulton stopped at Albany, the Rensselaer students will continue about 16 kilometers farther to the town of Troy, where their school is located.

Casey Hoffman, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering at Rensselaer who's part of Gathright's crew, noted on the group's Web site that the journey got off to a rough start Monday, as the New Clermont was unable to safely tie up to Pier 84 in a heavy current next to the U.S.S. Intrepid, a World War II-era aircraft carrier that's been docked on Manhattan's West Side since 1982 and includes an air and space museum. "Will and I were forced to cancel the scheduled event and continue on our journey," Casey blogged about their planned sendoff. "After leaving Manhattan we were able to catch the rising tide and quickly pass the George Washington Bridge, Yonkers Science Barge (where we waved to onlookers), and Tappan Zee Bridge." The crew ended the day in Ossining, N.Y., where it could refuel for Tuesday's leg.

"Unlike Fulton we aren't burning anything," Gathright blogged. The New Clermont is powered by two GenDrive class 3 fuel cell systems on loan to the students from Latham, N.Y.-based fuel cell developer Plug Power, Inc. Each weighs about 227 kilograms and stands about one meter wide by one meter tall. The team used a crane to lift the units into the New Clermont and seat them on homemade mounts.

The New Clermont's fuel cell units run on compressed hydrogen gas. A special membrane within the fuel cell systems separates the hydrogen into electrons and protons. The protons pass through the membrane and the electrons travel around a circuit, which creates electricity. After passing through the membrane, the protons and electrons are exposed to oxygen from the ambient air, which results in the creation of exhaust water and a small amount of heat. The fuel cells power a pair of motors mounted on the stern of the New Clermont. Team members modified the store-bought engines to accept input from the fuel cell units.

"The New Clermont is rather more unimposing," Gathright blogs. "Instead of spouting fire, the fuel cell units create only pure water—cleaner even than the river we sail upon."

The New Clermont Project will at once demonstrate hydrogen power as viable for transportation, highlight some of the many challenges that must be tackled before hydrogen can be widespread, and explore the rich history of the Hudson River, says Gathright, who adds, "Join us as we help look after the future as we look back at our past."

 

Images courtesy of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Sedimentary Deposits Form New York & New Jersey Point To Violent Storm In 300BC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8028949.stm

Ancient tsunami 'hit New York'

Molly Bentley 

Such a wave today would flood Wall Street and the Long Island Expressway

A huge wave crashed into the New York City region 2,300 years ago, dumping sediment and shells across Long Island and New Jersey and casting wood debris far up the Hudson River.

The scenario, proposed by scientists, is undergoing further examination to verify radiocarbon dates and to rule out other causes of the upheaval.

Sedimentary deposits from more than 20 cores in New York and New Jersey indicate that some sort of violent force swept the Northeast coastal region in 300BC.

If we're wrong, it was one heck of a storm  Steven Goodbred Vanderbilt University

It may have been a large storm, but evidence is increasingly pointing to a rare Atlantic Ocean tsunami.

Steven Goodbred, an Earth scientist at Vanderbilt University, said large gravel, marine fossils and other unusual deposits found in sediment cores across the area date to 2,300 years ago.

The size and distribution of material would require a high velocity wave and strong currents to move it, he said, and it is unlikely that short bursts produced in a storm would suffice.

"If we're wrong, it was one heck of a storm," said Dr Goodbred.

Landslide or asteroid?

The origin of such a tsunami is also under debate. An undersea landslide is the most likely source, but one research group has proposed that an asteroid impact provided the trigger.

In 300BC, barrier beaches and marsh grass embroidered the coast, and Native Americans walked the shore.

Today, a wave of the proposed size would leave Wall Street and the Long Island Expressway awash with salt water.

Atlantic tsunamis are rare, but could be triggered by submarine landslides

An Atlantic tsunami was rare but not inconceivable, said Neal Driscoll, a geologist from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who is not associated with the research. But verifying one that is 2,000 years old is tricky.

Earthquakes, underwater landslides, or a combination of the two were the most frequent Atlantic tsunami triggers, said Professor Driscoll.

The 1929 Grand Banks tsunami, in Newfoundland, which killed more than two-dozen people and snapped many transatlantic cables, was set in motion by a submarine landslide set off by an earthquake.

Dr Goodbred imagines that the New York wave was on the Grand Banks scale - three to four metres high and big enough to leap over the barrier islands; but that it did not reach the magnitude of the 2004 Sumatran tsunami.

The evidence is buried under metres of sediment in New York and New Jersey.

High-speed wave

Dr Goodbred first proposed the link between the layers of unusual debris found in sediment cores and a tsunami while studying shellfish populations in Great South Bay, Long Island.

He extracted many mud cores with incongruous 20cm layers of sand and gravel.

Their age matched that of wood deposits buried in the Hudson riverbed and marine fossils in a New Jersey debris flow in cores gathered by other researchers.

The fist-sized gravel he found in Long Island would require a high velocity of water - well over a metre per second - to land where it did, said Dr Goodbred.

Among the fossils and shells sandwiched in the organic black mud of Sandy Hook Bay, New Jersey, Marine Geologist Cecilia McHugh of Queens College, City University of New York, discovered mud balls made from red clay that matched iron-rich sediments found onshore.

The balls form their spherical shape only through vigorous reworking, said Dr McHugh, and they do not form in small storms.

"I didn't think much about it until we dated the deposit and came up with the same date that Steve did on Long Island," she said.

It prompted her to check cores extracted from the upper continental slope 200km offshore.

She discovered a 2,200-year-old layer of sand and mud, on top of sedimentary layers 8,000 to 14,000 years old.

Dr McHugh says such relatively young debris is not found that far out on the slope, and the date is close to that of the New York and New Jersey samples.

Age of a storm

The age and nature of the material make tsunami verification a challenge.

The radiocarbon dates of the debris are accurate to within a century, said Dr Goodbred. But the only evidence that a dramatic event took place thousands of years ago is common coastal debris - wood, sand, shells and rock.

Researchers must discern whether it was strewn by a tsunami or a hurricane, or another large storm, such as a "nor'easter", said Professor Driscoll.

Unusual layers in sediment cores may be a sign of an ancient tsunami

"Understanding the origins of these deposits can be difficult," he added.

While tsunamis can occur in any ocean, they are most common in the Pacific and Indian Oceans where continental plates collide.

There, large undersea earthquakes are relatively common.

In the Atlantic, where the plates spread, tsunamis are rare, which means Atlantic tsunamis are not well studied, said Bruce Jaffe, of the United States Geological Survey.

There is little research on tsunami debris in the variety of northeast coastal environments - riverbeds, marine bays - where the New York debris layers were found. There are few modern analogues to compare them with for identification, he said.

"Grand Banks is the only unequivocal tsunami in the Atlantic on the Northeast coast because there were eye-witness accounts and the deposits matched that of other modern tsunamis," said Dr Jaffe.

To rule out the possibility of a severe storm, said Professor Driscoll, tsunami groups should collect more core samples to see whether the distribution of the debris is consistent.

Dr Goodbred said teams were planning to do just that. And this would confirm that the deposits are not quirks of local geology.

'Circumstantial evidence'

The researchers would also repeat carbon dating on cores to verify ages, said Dr Goodbred, but he has a hunch the tsunami theory will win out.

"We're building a case of circumstantial evidence that is getting harder and harder to ignore," he said.

While many geologists say a submarine landslide is the likely trigger of a tsunami, a group led by Columbia University geologist Dallas Abbot thinks a space impactor may have set off the massive wave.

Some researchers suspect a space impactor may have been involved

Her team discovered material in the New Jersey and Hudson River cores dated to 2,300 ago, and believe it to be meteoritic in nature. This includes carbon spherules, shocked minerals, and nanodiamonds, which are produced under extreme pressures and temperatures.

"We didn't find the typical shocked quartz, but that is usual for a water impact," said Dr Abbott.

She theorised that an asteroid landed in the water off the coast of New York and New Jersey, either creating the wave directly or triggering a submarine landslide. No crater has yet been found.

Many geologists and other scientists remain sceptical of the asteroid evidence so far; but proof of an asteroid impact is not necessary to build the case for a massive wave.

As Dr Goodbred pointed out: "The tsunami story stands on its own without the impact."

Discovery Quest Trail Activities Sunday May 2nd @ Hudson HighLands Nature Museum

www.hhnaturemuseum.org

DISCOVERY QUESTTRAILS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, MAY 2 AND 3 10AM - 4PM 12:30PM RANGER TALK FEATURES "SKULLS AND SKINS" This weekend, Saturday and Sunday, May 2 and May 3 from 10am-4pm, the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum will be celebrating the 2009 season opening of the Discovery Quest trails at the Outdoor Discovery Center, entrance on Muser Drive, across from 174 Angola Road, Cornwall. The Quests are perfect for people who are looking for a unique outside activity to share with family or friends. This season, the museum introduces Quest Ranger Brandon Webb who comes to the museum with a wealth of experience as an environmental educator and naturalist. He will introduce each Quest and help hikers choose their adventure! 12:30pm each day, Brandon will give a special "Ranger Talk" and this weekend it will feature, "Skins and Skulls." Visitors will learn about the Wildlife of the Hudson Highlands while examining genuine pelts and skulls of some of the area’s fascinating creatures. After the program, head out onto the trails for a Discovery Quest. Each of the four different Quests are a different length and degree of difficulty - but each uses a specially created Quest Guidebook. To see a sample Guidebook, click here. Guidebooks cost $5 each and can be shared. Admission price: $3 per person. Members are always free. Visit the museum’s website at www.hhnaturemuseum.org

10th Annual American Lung Association New-York State Of The Air Report

http://www.alany.org/site/c.kmKWJbNTJtF/b.2802033/k.BD49/Home.htm

State of the Air 2009

Note -- the map above denotes the worst grade received in each county for ozone, 24-hour PM or annual PM.   American Lung Association’s 10th Annual State of the Air Report   Details Air Quality in New York State  New Standards Provide New Insight into New York’s Toxic Air    The American Lung Association’s tenth annual State of the Air report, released  today, finds that over 12.5 million New Yorkers - a stunning 65 percent of the  state’s residents - live in counties where air pollution levels endanger lives.  According to the report, which applies new and stricter federal air quality standards,  22 out of the 33 counties with air quality monitors received failing grades.       “Cleaner air equals longer life, and the American Lung Association’s State of the Air  2009 report provides troubling proof of the unhealthy air that residents across New  York State are breathing,” said Deborah Carioto, President of the American Lung  Association in New York. “Now more than ever it is apparent that New Yorkers are  breathing in dangerously high levels of both particulate matter and ozone.”    The State of the Air 2009 acknowledges substantial progress in the fight against air  pollution in many areas of the country, but finds that nearly every major city is still  burdened by air pollution. The report includes a national air quality report card that  assigns A-F grades to communities across the country. The report also ranks cities  and counties most affected by the three most widespread types of pollution  (ozone—or smog, annual particle pollution, and 24-hour particle pollution levels)  and details trends for 900 counties over the past decade.    To determine the grades, the American Lung Association identified the number of  days that each county with at least one air quality monitor experienced air quality  designated as orange (unhealthy for sensitive groups), red (unhealthy), or purple  (very unhealthy), according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Air  Quality Index.    Ozone, a gas formed most often when sunlight reacts with vapors emitted when  motor vehicles, factories, power plants and other sources burn fuel, irritates the  respiratory tract and causes health problems like asthma attacks, coughing,  wheezing, chest pain and even premature death.    Particle pollution is a deadly cocktail of ash, soot, diesel exhaust, chemicals, metals  and aerosols that can spike dangerously for hours to weeks on end. The body’s  natural defenses, coughing and sneezing, fail to keep these microscopic particles  from burrowing deep within the lungs, triggering serious problems such as asthma  and heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer and even early death.   For more information on air quality in New York, or to view an interactive map  showing air quality findings by county, visit us online at www.alany.org/SOTA.    Significant findings from the report for New York State, by region include:    Long Island  -- Nassau County had 5 orange particle pollution days, a decrease from 6 orange  days in last year’s report.      -- Suffolk County tied with Chautauqua County as the dirtiest counties in New York  for ozone pollution. Suffolk had 34 orange days for ozone, an increase from 30  orange days in last year’s report.  Suffolk also had 9 red days and is one of only  two counties in the state to have a purple day.      New York City  -- The New York City metropolitan area ranks 17th on the top 25 list of most  polluted cities by ozone.    -- The New York City metropolitan area ranks 16th on the top 25 list of U.S. cities  most polluted by short-term particle pollution.    -- The New York City metropolitan area ranks 22nd on the top 25 list of U.S. cities  most polluted by year-round particle pollution.    -- Bronx, Queens and New York counties have the highest number of particle  pollution days in the state - with the Bronx’s 31 orange days doubling the next  closest county.     -- Richmond County’s 33 orange ozone pollution days are the third most in the  state.    -- New York County, followed by Bronx County, are two dirtiest counties for annual  PM pollution and the only counties to fail on the annual grade.      Hudson Valley  -- Westchester County has 29 orange and 7 red ozone pollution days. This is a  drastic increase from 20 orange and 4 red in last year’s report.     -- Putnam County is one of only two counties in the state to have a purple day for  ozone pollution.     -- Orange County has 27 orange and 2 red ozone pollution days - an increase from  24 orange and 1 red day in last year’s report.    -- Dutchess County’s 15 orange days for ozone pollution are almost double as many  as in last year’s report.     -- Ulster County is the only Hudson Valley county to have a decrease in ozone  pollution days, with 13 orange ozone pollution days for this year, down from 15 in  last year’s report.      Capital Region  -- Albany County received an F for ozone pollution and a D for short-term particle  pollution.      -- Rensselaer County is the only county in the Capital Region to have a red day for  ozone pollution.    -- Schenectady County, which received a D for ozone pollution in last year’s report,  received a C this year with 6 orange days for ozone pollution.    -- Saratoga County’s 21 orange days for ozone pollution are the most in the Capital  Region.      North Country  -- Essex County has 2 red days for ozone pollution and ranks 16th on the list of the  top 25 cleanest counties for long-term particle pollution in the nation.     -- Franklin County, which received an F for ozone pollution in last year’s report,  received an F again this year with 13 orange days for ozone pollution.    -- St. Lawrence County is among the cleanest in the nation for short term PM, with  zero days of any elevated levels.    -- Hamilton County has 4 orange days for ozone pollution, the same number as it  had in last year’s report.    -- Jefferson County has 17 orange and 1 red day for ozone pollution, a significant  increase from 12 orange and 1 red days in last year’s report.     Central New York  -- Onondaga County has the second highest number of ozone pollution days in  Central New York, with 14 orange days.    -- Herkimer County had 3 times the number of orange pollution days in this year’s  report and saw its grade drop from a B to a C.    -- Oneida County has 3 orange days for ozone pollution, a decrease from 4 orange  days in last year’s report.  -- Madison County, which received an B in last year’s report, received a D this year  due to almost 3 times as many orange ozone pollution days.     -- Oswego County has the highest number of ozone pollution days in Central New  York, with 15 orange days.    Western New York   -- Erie County joins Bronx and Queens as the only counties in the state to fail for  both ozone and particle pollution.      -- Monroe County, which received an F in last year’s report, receives an F again this  year with 19 orange ozone pollution days. This is almost double the number of  orange ozone pollution days as last year.    -- Niagara County has the second highest number of ozone pollution days in  Western New York, with 32 orange and 1 red ozone pollution days.    -- Chautauqua County is tied with Suffolk County as the dirtiest counties in New  York for ozone pollution. There were 48 orange ozone days, the highest number in  the state. Chautauqua County also had the most days charted in orange /purple.    -- Wayne County’s 9 orange days for ozone pollution are a stark increase from 2  ozone pollution days in last year’s report.    -- Steuben County’s 3 orange days for 24-hour particle pollution are half as many  as in last year’s report.     -- Chemung County had the cleanest ozone pollution of any county in the state with  only 2 orange days and nothing else.

Hudson Valley Wind Power Initiative Announced

http://www.catskillsnews.com/News/2009/April09/23/wind_energy-23Apr09.html

Wind power initiative launched in the Valley

Vertical turbine, similar to what is going up on the Sullivan County Community College campus LAKE KATRINE – First there was The Solar Energy Consortium with the goal of making the Hudson Valley the solar research, technology and manufacturing capital of the country. Now, the Hudson Valley Center for Innovation Wednesday announced a region-wide effort to create a wind power initiative to concentrate on research, testing and certification. “The Hudson Valley is suited to become the global epicenter of distributed wind energy development,” said Donald Perry, a green strategist and consultant to the project. The Wind Power Initiative plans to conduct wind turbine training, testing and analysis at selected community colleges in the Hudson Valley, including Sullivan, Orange and Ulster, along with its primary academic partner, the Polytechnic Institute of NYU. Perry said the wind power system being constructed now at Sullivan County Community College was as the result of his efforts to bring the players together. By the end of the year, a commercial wind power facility will be constructed and online in Westchester County, he said, with others to follow. “They will really be focused on commercial applications like hotels, schools, government buildings, the local big box stores; those are the places where you have a lot of electricity usage. They’re paying commercial rates, which are relatively expensive, particularly in the Northeast.” Placing turbines at colleges will provide students with “real world experience working with real wind energy systems and help them become expert in their design, installation, testing and maintenance, as well as helping the push the technology envelope further and create new wind turbine generators of even greater power production, efficiency and cost competitiveness,” said Les Neumann, managing director of HVCFI. The project will also provide “an excellent introduction to the potential of the Hudson Valley as a location which is in close proximity to the largest concentration of end-users – New York City and the Northeast corridor,” he said.

Basic Facts About The Swine Flu

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Swine Influenza and You

What is swine flu?
Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs. People do not normally get swine flu, but human infections can and do happen. Swine flu viruses have been reported to spread from person-to-person, but in the past, this transmission was limited and not sustained beyond three people.

Are there human infections with swine flu in the U.S.?
In late March and early April 2009, cases of human infection with swine influenza A (H1N1) viruses were first reported in Southern California and near San Antonio, Texas. Other U.S. states have reported cases of swine flu infection in humans and cases have been reported internationally as well. An updated case count of confirmed swine flu infections in the United States is kept athttp://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm CDC and local and state health agencies are working together to investigate this situation. 

Is this swine flu virus contagious? 
CDC has determined that this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is contagious and is spreading from human to human. However, at this time, it not known how easily the virus spreads between people.

What are the signs and symptoms of swine flu in people? 
The symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. In the past, severe illness (pneumonia and respiratory failure) and deaths have been reported with swine flu infection in people. Like seasonal flu, swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions.

How does swine flu spread? 
Spread of this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is thought to be happening in the same way that seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing of people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

How can someone with the flu infect someone else?
Infected people may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and up to 7 or more days after becoming sick. That means that you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick.

What should I do to keep from getting the flu? 
First and most important: wash your hands. Try to stay in good general health. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food. Try not touch surfaces that may be contaminated with the flu virus. Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

Are there medicines to treat swine flu?
Yes. CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with these swine influenza viruses. Antiviral drugs are prescription medicines (pills, liquid or an inhaler) that fight against the flu by keeping flu viruses from reproducing in your body. If you get sick, antiviral drugs can make your illness milder and make you feel better faster. They may also prevent serious flu complications. For treatment, antiviral drugs work best if started soon after getting sick (within 2 days of symptoms).

How long can an infected person spread swine flu to others?
People with swine influenza virus infection should be considered potentially contagious as long as they are symptomatic and possible for up to 7 days following illness onset. Children, especially younger children, might potentially be contagious for longer periods.

What surfaces are most likely to be sources of contamination?
Germs can be spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth. Droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person move through the air. Germs can be spread when a person touches respiratory droplets from another person on a surface like a desk and then touches their own eyes, mouth or nose before washing their hands.

How long can viruses live outside the body?
We know that some viruses and bacteria can live 2 hours or longer on surfaces like cafeteria tables, doorknobs, and desks. Frequent handwashing will help you reduce the chance of getting contamination from these common surfaces.

What can I do to protect myself from getting sick?
There is no vaccine available right now to protect against swine flu. There are everyday actions that can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza. Take these everyday steps to protect your health:

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
• If you get sick with influenza, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

What is the best way to keep from spreading the virus through coughing or sneezing?

If you are sick, limit your contact with other people as much as possible. Do not go to work or school if ill. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. It may prevent those around you from getting sick. Put your used tissue in the waste basket. Cover your cough or sneeze if you do not have a tissue. Then, clean your hands, and do so every time you cough or sneeze.

What is the best way to keep from spreading the virus through coughing or sneezing?
If you are sick, limit your contact with other people as much as possible. Do not go to work or school if ill. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. It may prevent those around you from getting sick. Put your used tissue in the waste basket. Cover your cough or sneeze if you do not have a tissue. Then, clean your hands, and do so every time you cough or sneeze.

What is the best technique for washing my hands to avoid getting the flu?
Washing your hands often will help protect you from germs. Wash with soap and water. or clean with alcohol-based hand cleaner. we recommend that when you wash your hands -- with soap and warm water -- that you wash for 15 to 20 seconds. When soap and water are not available, alcohol-based disposable hand wipes or gel sanitizers may be used. You can find them in most supermarkets and drugstores. If using gel, rub your hands until the gel is dry. The gel doesn't need water to work; the alcohol in it kills the germs on your hands.

What should I do if I get sick?
If you live in areas where swine influenza cases have been identified and become ill with influenza-like symptoms, including fever, body aches, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, or vomiting or diarrhea, you may want to contact their health care provider, particularly if you are worried about your symptoms. Your health care provider will determine whether influenza testing or treatment is needed.

If you are sick, you should stay home and avoid contact with other people as much as possible to keep from spreading your illness to others.

If you become ill and experience any of the following warning signs, seek emergency medical care.

In children emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

• Fast breathing or trouble breathing
• Bluish skin color
• Not drinking enough fluids
• Not waking up or not interacting
• Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
• Fever with a rash

In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
• Sudden dizziness
• Confusion
• Severe or persistent vomiting

How serious is swine flu infection?
Like seasonal flu, swine flu in humans can vary in severity from mild to severe. Between 2005 until January 2009, 12 human cases of swine flu were detected in the U.S. with no deaths occurring. However, swine flu infection can be serious. In September 1988, a previously healthy 32-year-old pregnant woman in Wisconsin was hospitalized for pneumonia after being infected with swine flu and died 8 days later. A swine flu outbreak in Fort Dix, New Jersey occurred in 1976 that caused more than 200 cases with serious illness in several people and one death.

Can I get swine influenza from eating or preparing pork?
No. Swine influenza viruses are not spread by food. You cannot get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe.