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Lena
Sanchez Editor
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Thursday August 13, 2009
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=> IN THIS ISSUE!
============================
==> Editors' Ranting & or Warnings
==> Something To Think About
==> Thought for the day!
==> Showcase Health Spotlight
==> Monthly Spotlight Ads
==> Today's Health Tip
==> Health Today
==> Environmental Report
==> Life Changing Information
+++++++++++++++++++++
EDITORS' RANTING
+++++++++++++++++++++
Greetings and thank you for
being an optin subscriber!
Be sure to read "Health Today" and hopefully gain some insight to your
health freedoms."
Some of today's articles are simply reviews of what I've told you in the
past but now others are saying it with some twists added. I don't think I'm ahead of time,
just more aware about health issues. Being 72 kind of gives you that
kind of insight if you take a look and pay attention as you age!
This week's "Food of the Week" is another harvesting food from dh
garden and one he is so fond of all summer long. All foods grown in his garden are organically grown
that makes for way more nutrients than you receive from buying at your
grocer but doesn't mean they aren't healthy from the stores.
If you have a
Question or comment (good or
not so good) Click Here
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http://www.thehungersite.com Share your LOVE here!
==================================
Something To Think About
============================
Flu drugs little use for children,
experts say
Mon Aug 10, 2009
LONDON (Reuters) - Children should not routinely be treated with flu
drugs like Tamiflu since there is no clear evidence they prevent
complications and the medicines may do more harm than good, British
researchers said on Monday.
They called for a rethink of current widespread use of antivirals among
under-12s in the light of an analysis of clinical data from past
seasonal flu outbreaks showing scant benefits and potentially harmful
side effects.
Governments around the world have built up large stockpiles of Roche's
Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza to deal with the current H1N1
swine flu pandemic.
In Britain, hundreds of thousands of doses of Tamiflu have been handed
out to people with the disease, of whom around half are children.
But Dr. Matthew Thompson from the University of Oxford said that while
antivirals shortened the duration of flu in children by around a day,
they didn't reduce asthma flare-ups or the likelihood of children
needing antibiotics.
Tamiflu was also linked to an increased risk of vomiting, which can be
serious in children as it causes dehydration.
The analysis was based on a systematic review of seven clinical studies
looking at use of Tamiflu and Relenza in seasonal flu outbreaks in 2,629
children aged 1 to 12 years.
Thompson said there was no reason to think the conclusions would not
also apply to the current relatively mild outbreak of swine flu.
"The strategy of giving out this treatment in a mild infection is
inappropriate," fellow Oxford researcher Dr. Carl Heneghan told
reporters.
The researchers also found that 13 people need to be treated to prevent
one additional case, meaning antivirals reduce transmission by a modest
8 percent.
"While morbidity and mortality in the current pandemic remain low, a
more conservative strategy might be considered prudent, given the
limited data, side effects such as vomiting, and the potential for
developing resistant strains of influenza," they wrote in the British
Medical Journal.
Dr. Ronald Cutler at Queen Mary, University of London, who was not
involved in the Oxford research, agreed that targeted drug use could be
more beneficial than widespread use.
Roche said the side effects of Tamiflu were known but the drug had been
shown to prevent flu infection and reduce both the duration and severity
of illness.
"In clinical studies of children taking Tamiflu the main adverse events
were nausea 4 percent, abdominal pain 1 percent and vomiting 10
percent," it added in a statement.
The most common recorded side effects with Glaxo's inhaled drug Relenza
were headache and nausea, the British company said.
LENA'S COMMENT: Did you notice the side effects percentage? A
total of 15% have side effects so - in my experience in pediatric office
- you can figure double that as most are not reported!
=======================
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY!
=======================
Most lip cancers develop on the
bottom lip, where sun exposure is highest. People who cover their lips
more than once a day (with lip balm or even colored lipstick) may
cut their lip cancer risk in half, according to research funded by the
American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute (Pogoda and
Preston-Martin 1996).
But don't expect lip balm labels to be much help in your search for the
right product. FDA says the tubes are too small for standard sunscreen
drug facts and sun warnings to fit.
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TODAY'S HEALTH TIP
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
The following is
something we have known for a long time but this study gives it a bit more
insight!
Exercising the mind could hold off dementia
Mon Aug 3, 2009
A new study in Bronx seniors provides yet more evidence that keeping your brain
active for fun can keep dementia at bay.
Dr. Charles B. Hall of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New
York, and his colleagues found that every day per week that a person engaged in
one of six mentally stimulating leisure activities delayed the onset of dementia
by about two months.
Hall and his colleagues had previously shown that people with more years of
education who developed dementia did so later than less educated individuals. In
the current study, he said, "it was the cognitive activity that mattered, not
the education."
In the current study, published in Neurology, Hall and his team looked at 101
people who developed dementia. All were participating in the Bronx Aging Study,
which has been following 488 people since the early 1980s.
All of the study participants, who ranged in age from 75 to 85, had reported
their years of formal education at the study's outset, as well as how often each
week they read, wrote, did crossword puzzles, played board or card games,
participated in group discussions, or played music. A person scored 1 for each
day that they did each activity. The study participants, all of whom were
dementia free at the beginning of the study, underwent cognitive testing every
12 to 18 months.
The higher a person's score on the activity scale, the later the onset of
accelerated mental decline, Hall and his colleagues found. For example, a person
in the top 25 percent based on their activity scale, who engaged in 11 "activity
days" a week, started their accelerated decline 1.29 years later, on average,
than a person in the bottom 25 percent, with four activity days a week.
But once that decline began, it happened faster in people with higher activity
scores.
The findings back up the idea of "cognitive reserve," Hall noted, which is the
theory that education and brain exercise build extra capacity into the brain so
it can better handle the damage to neurons caused by Alzheimer's disease. But
once that damage reaches a certain point, a person will develop dementia.
Being more mentally active "might keep you out of a nursing home for a year or
two," Hall said. "But it's not going to prevent Alzheimer's disease
unfortunately, at least that's the theory, and this is evidence toward that
theory." Eventually, he said, the disease "would overwhelm whatever reserve you
had."
Hall and his colleagues are now investigating which of the six activities in the
current study might give the most brain-preserving "bang for the buck." Studies
will need to tease out whether education and later-life mental activities have
effects that are independent of one another.
With what we know now, he added, engaging in these activities could help-and it
certainly won't hurt. "You might get depressed from not being able to do a
crossword puzzle, but there's really very little of a downside here."
SOURCE: Neurology, August 4, 2009
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
FOOD OF THE WEEK
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Citrullis lanatus!
Common Summer Fruit!
As my husband brought his favorite harvested food in from the garden it
set this week's food of the week. Timely for us!
His favorite summer time fruit can be found in our refrigerator at the
first hint of warm weather until the first hint of fall... Found at road
side stands, in gardens and stores in abundance this time of the year...
Watermelon!
As a child around Phoenix, where
melon fields were abundant but now have houses, we use to walk to a
field and pick a couple of melons, throw them in the canal then run home
and wait to pick them out of the cool water and have them nice and cool,
serving two purposes? Didn't have to carry them and they were cool
enough to eat when we pulled them from the water?
Green on the outside and red or yellow on the inside! Nothing says
summer like this subtly crunch, thirst quenching fruit. A nutritious
food best eaten alone without other foods in the stomach.
Although watermelons can now be found in the markets throughout the
year, the season for watermelon is the summer when they are sweet and of
the best quality. More Watermelon was most likely eaten, July 4th,
than any other time in the U.S. It is almost a ritual in a multitude of
homes...
Watermelons are low in calories and very nutritious. Recent research
suggests that lycopene, found most abundantly in red meated melon, a
powerful antioxidant, helps prevent some forms of cancer and
cardiovascular disease. Research shows that consuming foods that contain
lycopene are associated with a decreased risk of prostate and cervical
cancer.
Watermelon is related to the cantaloupe, squash and pumpkin as well as
some other plants that grow on ground vines. Watermelons can be round,
oblong or spherical in shape and feature thick green rinds that are
often spotted or striped. They range in size from a few pounds to upward
of ninety pounds. The biggest watermelon grown according to the 1996
Guiness Book of World Records weighed in at 262 pounds!
Health Benefits
While the watermelon does not contain a large amount of nutrients it
still is considered a healthy food! This delectable thirst-quencher may
also help quench the inflammation that contributes to conditions like
asthma, atherosclerosis, diabetes, colon cancer, and arthritis.
According to research conducted at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, men who consumed a lycopene-rich diet were half as likely
to suffer a heart attack as those who had little or no lycopene in their
diets. Red meat watermelon is rich in lycopene, second only to the
tomato.
Watermelon is also high in vitamin C and vitamin A, in the form of
disease-fighting beta carotene.
Watermelon also contains potassium, which is known to help control blood
pressure and possibly prevent strokes as well as necessary for a regular
heart beat.
Watermelon is not a commonly allergenic food, is not included in the
list of 20 foods that most frequently contain pesticide residues, and is
also NOT KNOWN to contain goitrogens (substances that suppress
the function of the thyroid gland by interfering with iodine uptake,
which can, as a result, cause an enlargement of the thyroid,),
oxalates (Consumption of excessive oxalates - example, the grazing of
animals on oxalate-containing plants such as greasewood - or human
consumption of Sorrel may result in kidney disease or even death due to
oxalate poisoning.) or purines (found in a several types of
kidney stones).
Many new varieties of watermelons have been developed in recent years.
Yellow and seedless types are finding an increasing share of the
specialty watermelon market. Small excellent quality "icebox" melons are
also becoming increasingly popular.
WATERMELON VARIETIES; Seedless yellow: Seedless red: Yellow
flesh, seeded: Red flesh, seeded: Tiny heart only melons, red flesh:
"Seedless" marketing note: "Seedless" varieties may have some seeds,
especially in the first fruits set if the plant is under moisture or
temperature stress.
Choosing the right watermelon!
Look the watermelon over, choose a firm, symmetrical watermelon
that is free of bruises, cuts and dents.
Lift it up - the watermelon should be heavy for its size.
Watermelon is 92% water, that accounts for most of its weight.
Turn it over - on the underside of the watermelon there should be
a creamy yellow spot from where it sat on the ground and ripened in the
sun.
Following these tips will help you pick the best watermelon available.
History
Originating in Africa, watermelons were first cultivated in Egypt
where testaments to their legacy were recorded in hieroglyphics painted
on building walls. The fruit was held is such regard that it was placed
in the tombs of many Egyptian kings. It is not surprising that
watermelon played such an important role in this country, and
subsequently in countries in the Mediterranean region, since water was
often in short supply in these areas, and people could depend upon
watermelon for its thirst-quenching properties.
Watermelons were brought to China around the 10th century and then to
the Western Hemisphere shortly after the discovery of the New World. In
Russia, where much of the commercial supply of watermelons is grown,
there is a popular wine made from this fruit. In addition to Russia, the
leading commercial growers of watermelon include China, Turkey, Iran and
the United States.
Tips for Preparing Watermelon:
Wash the watermelon before cutting it to prevent introducing germs into
the melon on cutting. Due to its large size, you will probably not be
able to run it under water in the sink. Instead, wash it with a wet
cloth or paper towel.
Depending upon the size that you desire, there are many ways to cut a
watermelon. The flesh can be sliced, cubed or scooped into balls.
Watermelon is delicious to eat as is, while it also makes a delightful
addition to a fruit salad. Jam, sorbet and juice are some nutritious and
delicious things you can make with watermelon.
While many people are just accustomed to eating the juicy flesh of the
watermelon, both the seeds and the rind are also edible.
My mother use to make a Melon Rind Preserve that was interesting
and tasty;
Ingredients:
For 4 lbs. (11 cups) of the melon rind, still containing some of the red
meat, make a syrup of:
9 cups of sugar
8 cups water
4 lemons, sliced
4 tsps. stick cinnamon
4 tsps. cloves (tie spices in cheesecloth bag)
Directions:
Select melons with thick rinds. Peel off all green portion using only
the white and red part of the rind. Cut into small dice. Soak in mild
salt water overnight (1/2 cup salt to 1 gallon water). Drain, rinse and
cook in clear water for about 30 minutes or until tender. Drain well.
Boil the syrup, lemon and spices 5 minutes before adding the rinds. Add
rinds and cook until transparent and clear. (If desired, a few minutes
before preserves are done add small amount of vegetable green or red
food coloring to tint preserves.) Remove spice bag, pour into sterilized
pint Jars and wash and seal each jar as filled.
Enjoy!
Lena
PS:
Sadly food alone
cannot yield all the necessary healthy nutrients - especially balance of
minerals - as they did in centuries past, so we can't rely
totally on our food intake! Because of the lack of nutrients in our
soils and the pollutants added in the form of air pollution, pesticides,
herbicides and fertilizers important nutrients are almost nonexistent
and we know the body is not capable of producing minerals with even the
healthiest of diets, as it can vitamins, and must be obtained from our
foods or daily supplemented...
Click Here to understand
why minerals are so important to your body's health!
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
HEALTH TODAY
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
Does
Freedom of Choice Exist in Your Health?
©
Lena Sanchez
Without weighing in on either side of the health care changes
being proposed and opposed with fears running rampant at the
moment on the health care reform issues seen daily with people
screaming at each other. How does today's health care issue have
to do with health care freedoms? Everything if you will read all
the way through you will understand.
Sadly ruining their health
prematurely - as no health care plan has even been presented as
absolute - I believe those fears are without merit at this time
and should be held back until a plan is actually presented that
can be opposed as these screaming matches are hurting the
screamer's health. I think this is an example of letting fear of
the unknown get the best of them and truly hurting their health
and the issues with these displays of fearful screaming. From my
years of experience in the medial office I think I can say this
without taking sides! What I also want to say to give you
something to think about... in regards to the proposals coming
at us like wildfire and angry people I say calm down, find out
what is really proposed. Being afraid of the unknown has never
made anyone healthy or happy so think for yourself, don't listen
to anyone else's thoughts and read for yourself then in a calm
manner state your position or your health is going by the
wayside caused by the anger... I don't know how much savings is
in the proposals - 4 proposals as of yesterday 8/12/09 - I
personally know Billions of Dollars can be saved simply be
eliminating many unnecessary tests, treatments and medications
now prescribed and done so out of the doctor's fear of
retribution not because it will make you healthier or help
retain your health. Why do I say that? Because I watched from
the inside and saw those tests, treatments and/or medications do
not improve life nor make them healthier and the doctors know
that and stated it many times. Also curb the pharmaceutical
companies; if the drug industry is forbidden ads for drugs and
procedures on TV and radio and removed from magazines, that will
stop patients from asking for those advertised drugs and/or
procedures that are now costing billions and aren't really good
for them but since most doctors have no backbone to say NO to
the patient for fear of being sued if they don't. That is
raising health costs...
For twenty years I watched
that mode of unnecessary testing, unnecessary treatment and
unhealthy medications prescribed, which happens thousands of
times a day to the tune of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS daily. That mode
of medicine wastes billions of dollars without improving health.
If that mode of testing, treating and medications stop we could
have the best health care in the world paid for and money left
over. But the patient has to be in charge and get smart by
studying their health issue and know when to tell doctors; "no
testing, treatments and/or medications unless you provide me
stats proving it will make me better over the long run not just
a week or month of relief and then worsen!" This can happen if
you set down with your doctor and get to know what motivates
him/her... If this form of medicine happens we could have the
best of both worlds! When the fear is done away with and the
unnecessary testing, unhelpful treatments and/or unnecessary
medications that will not improve health and only lighten the
doctors fears, on then can we see truly healthy medicine being
practiced! When fears are running this hot we will only end up
with worse health care than we already have. People need to calm
down and find out what the real truths are before getting so
angry, because that anger is definitely hurting their health and
not helping the issues!
Let me give a couple of personal examples of what I mean by
stopping unnecessary procedures.
My father - age 85 at the time - was having some slowing
down of his heart, God's way of saying your days are almost up
and time to be ready. Yet the doctors installed a pacemaker to
force his heart to beat when it slowed down taking away God's
will, natures choices as well as his choice because he didn't
have the whole story. Then he was put on medications that didn't
help, caused his body to swell and created painful legs and
plasma drained from the circulation deprived cracked, swollen,
purple legs. Just because the heart beats does not mean blood is
cleansed, picks up oxygen or circulates the blood as it should!
Well, with those measures his end of life is going to be totally
horrific as his heart can't shut down because the pacemaker
won't allow it until it totally collapses, which is a rare
occurrence as the rest of the body will shut down first. So what
usually happens in cases such as these the organs have to shut
down in order for him to die or his brain will stop functioning
from bleed outs. I was not there to say don't do the pacemaker,
as I would have but my sister who was there thinks if the doctor
says it it must be necessary. But from experience I know the
doctor would have done just what they did anyway and not
listened to me. It is the rare doctor who will obey the
family/patient wishes over the fear of being sued... I did get
him off the medications and on herbs that will give him a tiny
bit better end of life but not much because his organs are
starting to go, which creates lots of pain and suffering along
with mini strokes that is slowly killing so that his brain can't
function well in that toxic waste and oxygen deprived from it
creating hallucinations. Can my sister now let his pacemaker
battery just die and do him the service of giving him some
quality at the end? NO! Do you want that to happen to you?
Second example: We had been appointed care givers for our
elderly neighbors who had no family, her husband's heart gave
out and he died peacefully and she ended up in a nursing home
from a fall and a hospital stay. The hospital stay was
unnecessary because we were not home when she fell and the
neighbor - out of fear for her - called 911 and they forced her
to go to the hospital. The police was called because she was
refusing to go with the ambulance - once she was standing she
was okay just not able to get up when she would fall - so they
told her she would have to go or they would have to arrest her
and force her to the hospital... She had fallen several times
and we would go pick her up and she would be fine until the next
fall. She was 6'1" so breaking a hip was not very likely as
smaller people break hips not usually larger ones and she would
have had pain if that happened, which it never did nor did it
that time either... She decided to go to a nursing home on
discharge as she was alone so we helped find one for her. We
spent two full days visiting all the skilled nursing facilities
(SNF) to make sure she had the best and got her settled in but I
visited her daily either before or after I went to work
sometimes both. One Sunday we went in and heard this horrific
screaming for help coming from the hallway to her room (a long
way from the entrance) and we found her tied to a wheelchair but
hanging by her neck with the straps and nobody was paying
attention. Another patient was yelling for a nurse but nobody
was paying attention. A couple of days after that incident I
went in morning and she was totally not there mentally, I
recognized mediation reaction immediately, her pulse was very
weak, respirations not there and BP dangerously low, but was
anybody paying attention? No! I went to see her nurse and found
that they had started giving her cough medicine for a cough
night before. True she had a slight cough but nothing that
warranted medication, she survived that episode. I talked with
my medical director at the clinic, that I managed, gave him a
list of the medications she was on and got his opinion. He
spotted two medications that created coughing in about half the
patients it was prescribed, which was found to be unnecessary
anyway. So instead the doctor changing or stopping the
medication he added the cough syrup. We then decided we need to
take her out of there and home with us where we could get a
nurse to come in and take care of her while we were working. But
before that could happen - a day or so later in the evening - I
walked in and she and an NG tube. I asked what was wrong and
they said it was a feeding tube. The staff said she didn't want
to eat so the doctor ordered the feeding tube. Nobody had
informed me of that at any time that she wasn't eating so I
asked that the feeding tube be removed and I would go in morning
and evening and feed her. After an hour or so I was informed
they could not remove it as the doctor would not allow it for
fear he could be sued for malpractice if she died of starvation!
I assured them I would sign anything he wanted to say we would
not sue, but he still refused. We had to go to court to get a
court order to take her home with the hopes of removing the
feeding tube, but because the doctor said no the judge said we
could not remove it even though I was getting her to eat. She
pulled the tube out multiple times and we had to reinsert it to
her disliking. She died that way many months later and I think
the stress of being out of control of her health decisions
killed her.
While I am on my soap box let me add! Another way of savings
tons of health care $$$$; Take health care out of the hands of
the Department of Corporations (DOC), where it went when HMO's,
PPO's and other managed care health came into health scene as
designated by the insurance companies. DOC regulates nothing and
the insurance companies have free rein to do as they please.
How do I know that?
I was at the meeting in the late 1980's at Long Beach,
California that six or seven of the major insurance companies -
BC, BS, AETNA, etc. - set up for health care administrators to
explain the changes in our managing health care and billing. At
that meeting it was also announced that managed care - HMO, PPO,
EPO and employer HMO's & PPO's - would be the only health
insurances offered by them within five years and would no longer
be be managed by insurance commission but by the DOC. Well, that
came to be even faster than the five year plan they gave us...
So put health care back in the hands of doctors and away from
the drug industries' and insurance companies' DOC!
Bet you didn't know that
your health is supposedly managed by the Department of
Corporations did you? DOC is mostly run by the insurance
corporations and pharmaceutical industry as the largest holders
of corporations! The controlling board is fraught with execs
from those companies. Since the early '90s we have billions of
dollars going into an Insurance commission that people think
work for their health care but doesn't work for our health - I
have never seen that advertised to the general public and most
health care workers are unaware that ever took place!
Shortly after the managed
care came to be the major health managers there was an onslaught
of doctor's prematurely retiring - my 39 year old very smart
doctor was one of those - because they did not want to deal with
the mess we now have.
It's highly unlikely that
anyone in the know is going to listen to me but I can hope! So
if you think you have true freedom of choice in health, think
again!"
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~~^~^~^
Forests Fall To
Beetle Outbreak
Aug 5, 2009
By Ed Stoddard
MEDICINE BOW NATIONAL FOREST, Wyoming
- From the vantage point of an 80-foot (25 meter) tower rising
above the trees, the Wyoming vista seems idyllic: snow-capped
peaks in the distance give way to shimmering green spruce.
But this is a forest under siege. Among the green foliage of the
healthy spruce are the orange-red needles of the sick and the
dead, victims of a beetle infestation closely related to one
that has already laid waste to millions of acres (hectares) of
pine forest in North America.
"The gravity of the situation is very real," said Rolf Skar, a
forest campaigner with Greenpeace.
The plague has cost billions of dollars in lost timber and land
values and may thwart efforts to combat climate change, as
forests are major storing houses of carbon, the main greenhouse
gas blamed for global warming.
The beetle outbreak, which has taken a lesser, but mounting,
toll on spruce trees, could make it that much tougher to meet
the ambitious target to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 17
percent of 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050.
That is laid out in a climate bill that narrowly passed in the
U.S. House of Representatives and waits Senate debate.
Many researchers have also linked the infestation in the U.S.
and Canadian West to climate change, notably a dearth of winters
cold enough to kill the voracious little bugs.
"Pine beetle infestations are cyclical in nature and have been
occurring for thousands of years but what is making things worse
now is the effects of global warming," said Skar.
"If you don't have the real cold extremes to kill off the larvae
under the bark you are going to have extreme infestation
events," he said.
CARBON FOOTPRINT
In the Medicine Bow National Forest, scientists are getting a
first-hand look at the carbon implications.
The forest is home to the U.S. Forest Service's Glacier Lakes
Ecosystem Experiments site in a tower with gadgets that, among
other things, examine the "carbon flux" of the forest.
The site was established a decade ago, before the spruce beetle
infestation, and gives scientists a unique chance to measure the
changes to carbon storage wrought by the insects.
"We are getting readings here every half hour," said
Colorado-based U.S. Forest Service scientist Mike Ryan, shouting
above the wind as he pointed to an instrument that measures
carbon. This gas analyzer resembles a small space capsule on the
end of horizontal a metal pole.
In the terminology of trees and carbon, a healthy forest is a
net "sink," with trees storing carbon as they grow. When they
die and rot they "emit" carbon back into the atmosphere, and so
a dead or dying forest becomes a "net source" of greenhouse gas,
meaning it emits more carbon dioxide than it stores.
Ryan said the net carbon storage in this patch of woods is about
half of what it was three or four years ago. In another three or
four years, he believes it will become a net source.
A SEA OF GREEN TURNS ORANGE
This scenario is being replayed across the West. In Colorado,
aerial surveys show that from 1996 to 2008 Colorado lost almost
2.5 million acres (1 million hectares) of pine forest to the
beetle outbreak, Wyoming 677,000 acres and South Dakota 354,000
acres.
Over the same period of time, the spruce beetle, which has also
ravaged forests as far north as Alaska, took out 374,000 acres
of spruce trees in Colorado and 340,000 in Wyoming.
That cumulative total of over 6 million acres (2.5 million
hectares) is an area larger than Israel or South Africa's Kruger
National Park.
Farther north in Canada, the pine beetle has attacked trees over
an area of about 39 million acres (14.5 million hectares) in
British Columbia since the 1990s.
The sheer scale of the damage can be seen northwest of Denver in
Colorado's Yampa Valley. Vast tracts of formerly evergreen
forest now have huge splashes of orange running through them.
According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, a third
of the United States' land area is covered in forest but it is
only expanding at a rate of about 0.1 percent per year.
Under "cap and trade" provisions in the U.S. climate bill,
additional forest growth may be encouraged through a market
mechanism that will allow reforestation efforts by landowners
and other groups to be counted as "carbon offsets."
Such projects could generate cash through "carbon credits" paid
by polluters who want to exceed their own emissions caps.
A forest can recover, but that can take decades.
"Most forests will recover the carbon they lose but if the next
50 to 100 years is important we may not have that much time.
It's setting back carbon storage efforts," said Ryan.
Forest growth in the United States currently sucks up about 12
percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. "That's a big
number. To get another 10 percent you would have to convert a
third of U.S. agriculture land to forest," said Ryan.
The outbreak has other consequences. It is creating huge fire
hazards as it leaves mountains of combustible wood in its wake.
In a worrying trend, it also has spread from lodgepole pine to
ponderosa pine.
There are expenses for landowners as well.
On his ranch in northern Colorado, mountain realtor Bill
McClelland points to a dying tree and says: "A week ago that
tree was green. I've lost another one."
In May, he had to cut 476 pines on his property and then have
them ground into wood chips -- an expensive operation that is
one of the few ways to contain the outbreak. He reckons an
infestation will generally shave about 20 percent of the value
off a private wood lot or ranch.
Past beetle outbreaks have been stopped by very cold winters but
recent winters have not been cold enough.
Another factor scientists attribute to the outbreak is past
forest clearance and fires that saw large areas cleared.
Often when this happens, the forest that regrows in its place
will have huge patches of trees the same age and this makes them
susceptible to a collective attack when they mature at the same
time into the older trees that the bugs favor.
The beetles may collectively wreak havoc by nesting and feeding
in the trees but they look harmless enough as individuals, not
least because they are so tiny.
At Medicine Bow, Ryan points to a few writhing in a glass jar
that have been trapped on the trunk of a spruce tree.
"Until we get a big cold spell they are going to go on until
they have nothing to eat," he said.
©
Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
LENA'S COMMENT: Sadly our Yavapai National Forests here
have been under beetle attack for several years now, due to the
ongoing drought, and trees are thinning because of it! This has
people asking; "Are we going to have any forests left in a few
years?" I don't have the answer to that question.
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