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Science Daily — Regular as clockwork, the flu arrives every year. And, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5 to 20 percent of the U.S. population on average will come down with it. About 36,000 people will die.

But among health experts, a bigger concern than the seasonal flu is an outright flu pandemic, such as a human strain of avian flu. And officials say it is not a question of if such a health crisis will come but when. Are we prepared? In a word, say three UCLA researchers, no.

In a report to be published in the peer-reviewed journal PLoS Computational Biology and currently available online, Sally Blower, a professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, and Romulus Breban and Raffaele Vardavas, postdoctoral fellows in Blower’s research group, used novel mathematical modeling techniques to predict that current health policy — based on voluntary vaccinations — is not adequate to control severe flu epidemics and pandemics unless vaccination programs offer incentives to individuals.

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See also 1 ➡, 2 ➡, 3 ➡, 4 ➡, & 5 ➡

-Read this and then go back and read The Power of Green. The China Price is the key factor here – and we currently don’t have a way to deflect that bullet.

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According to a report by the Natural Resources Defence Council, 39% of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from all sources in the United States in 2004 originated from the top 100 US electric power producers. Given that figure and all the recent media attention on climate change, one would think that US electric utility companies would be taking serious proactive steps to reduce their CO2 emissions. Unfortunately, the reality is quite different.

According to a March 22, 2007 article in the Christian Science Monitor, Global Boom in Coal Power and Emissions“, 37 countries plan to add new coal-fired capacity over the next 5 years. This is worrisome since burning coal generates 6% more CO2 per kilowatt-hour than burning petroleum and 52% more CO2 than natural gas (from the US Energy Information Agency). On a worldwide basis, the shift to more coal-fired power plants will result in an additional 1.2 billion tons of CO2 missions per year by 2011. The United States will have the largest increase in CO2 emissions from new coal-fired electric power plants on both a percentage and an absolute tonnage basis where nearly 38,000 megawatts of new coal-fired capacity is slated to come online resulting in an additional 230 million tons of CO2 emissions per year. Worldwide, by 2012, there will be approximately 7500 coal-fired power plants emitting 9 billion tons of CO2 annually, compared to 31 billion tons from all sources.

The central driver behind more coal-fired power generation is coal’s lower price per kilowatt and greater price stability over natural gas and petroleum fuel. Plus coal is abundantly available and poses fewer national security issues.

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A new NASA study has found that in 2005 the Arctic replaced very little of the thick sea ice it normally loses and replenishes each year. Replenishment of this thick, perennial sea ice each year is essential to the maintenance and stability of the Arctic summer ice cover.

The findings complement a NASA study released in fall 2006 that found a 14-percent drop in this perennial ice between 2004 and 2005. The lack of replenishment suggests that the decline may continue in the near future.

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A team of NASA and university scientists has found clear evidence that extensive areas of snow melted in west Antarctica in January 2005 in response to warm temperatures. This was the first widespread Antarctic melting ever detected with NASA’s QuikScat satellite and the most significant melt observed using satellites during the past three decades. The affected regions encompass a combined area as big as California.

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