I've been writing a few things about the climate at the other place, https://doctorjanicesblog.org/. Just thought I'd mirror those here. Since I last mentioned the climate in this blog, there have been catastrophic floods in the Northwest and record high temperatures in the east coast. The area of South Sudan where I have spent time teaching ultrasound and helping out a bit in a hospital serving internally displaced people remains flooded. For most of a year now there have been no safe places to sleep in the land near Old Fangak, other than those protected by mud dikes and sandbags. So not safe, actually, at all. Gardens are flooded. Roads are rivers. I see photos and I don't recognize the place. I can only barely imagine what it must be like to be trying to live there. Flooding is normal in the rainy season, but never persisting through the dry season like this. The climate continues to change and the results are unpredictable and often tragic. I have been writing a bit about it.1. This first one is about a climate bank, part of a bill in Congress, who knows whether it will pan out, but the concept is definitely great.
2. The next one is about Carbon Fee and Dividend, the basis of proposed legislation, in which taxing carbon pollution uses the free market system to encourage switching to renewable energy.
3. This one is about methane, and why we need to limit its release into the atmosphere. Methane sounds innocuous when we call it "natural gas." Kind of like "natural food" except not.
4. Today's offering, about the FOREST act which has a chance of passing in congress since it has bipartisan support. It fights worldwide deforestation.
On the subject of medicine, I'm very excited about the introduction of two antiviral medications for Covid. Molnupiravir (named after the hammer of Thor, initially intended for influenza) inhibits a polymerase enzyme to create destructive mutations in coronavirus. Paxlovid combines a protease inhibitor, ritonavir, originally use in the treatment of HIV and another protease inhibitor more specific for Covid 19. This combination drug helps limit the viruses ability to replicate itself. Having effective drugs, especially ones that may be synergistically effective if combined, gives me hope. The fact that the government has been subsidizing medication related to Covid makes me believe that their newness may not price most people out of the market. New drugs are usually unaffordable, but the need to make these globally available may mean that they do not go through the usual multi-year period in which nobody without gold plated health insurance can afford them. Vaccination helps prevent infection and severe disease but we also need medication to treat infections that break through our immunity.
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