This blog was created because I'm very much concerned about our Planet and the many environmental issues which deserve being known by everybody. Some are real catastrophes while others are achievements of great importance for the survival of numerous endangered species or the health of the only planet we've got: E A R T H !
To my dear visitors and commenters
Hi, everybody!
I've noticed with lots of joy and happiness, that thousands of comments have been written in my posts. It's wonderful that so may people around the world appreciate my work. Therefore, I want to thank you for that and ,at the same time I want to ask you to be this blog's followers. It's fast and easy!
Make it be even more visited and spread all over the world! I'm a woman, a teacher of English in Portugal, and I've been away for quite a long time because of my father's health.
Unfortunately he died from Covid19 a few months ago. Now I felt it was time to restart my activity in this and other blogs I owe. I've recently created a new one in a partnership with a street photographer, Mr. Daniel Antunes. He's fabulous!
https://pandpbydandd.blogspot.com
I'd like you to visit it and, who knows, become our followers. The poems, chronicles and thoughts are all mine.
Thank you so much!
Kisses :-)
Ash trees are a key part of the treescape of Britain. You don't have to go to the countryside to see them. In and around towns and cities there are 2.2 million. In woodland, only the oak is more common.
However, according to a review led by Dr Peter Thomas of Keele University and published in the Journal of Ecology, "between the fungal disease ash dieback and a bright green beetle called the emerald ash borer, it is likely that almost all ash trees in Europe will be wiped out - just as the elm was largely eliminated by Dutch elm disease".
Ash dieback, also known as Chalara, is a disease that was first seen in Eastern Europe in 1992. It now affects more than 2 million sq km, from Scandinavia to Italy.
Officials in four Latin American and Caribbean nations have warned women to avoid pregnancy amid concerns over an illness causing severe birth defects.
In El Salvador houses have been fumigated against mosquitoes
Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador and Jamaica recommended to delay pregnancies until more was known about the mosquito-borne Zika virus.This followed an outbreak in Brazil.Brazil said the number of babies born with suspected microcephaly - or abnormally small heads - had reached nearly 4,000 since October.
Meanwhile, US health authorities have warned pregnant women to avoid travelling to more than 20 countries in the Americas and beyond, where Zika cases have been registered.
The link between microcephaly and Zika has not been confirmed - but a small number of babies who died had the virus in their brain and no other explanation for the surge in microcephaly has been suggested.
The virus is not contagious and normally has flu-like symptoms.
In Colombia, Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria urged women to delay pregnancies for up to eight months.
"We are doing this because I believe it's a good way to communicate the risk, to tell people that there could be serious consequences," he was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Similar warnings were issued in Ecuador, El Salvador and Jamaica.
However, women's rights campaigners criticised the recommendations, saying women in the region often had little choice about becoming pregnant.
"It's incredibly naive for a government to ask women to postpone getting pregnant in a context such as Colombia, where more than 50% of pregnancies are unplanned and across the region where sexual violence is prevalent," said Monica Roa, a member of Women's Link Worldwide group.
What is Zika virus?
Babies born with abnormally small heads may face lifelong difficulties
It is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also carries dengue fever and yellow fever
It was first discovered in Africa in the 1940s but is now spreading in Latin America
Scientists say there is growing evidence of a link to microcephaly, that leads to babies being born with small heads
While Zika virus can lead to fever and a rash, most people show no symptoms, and there is no known cure
The only way to fight Zika is to clear stagnant water where mosquitoes breed, and to protect against mosquito bites
Forty-nine babies with suspected microcephaly have died, Brazil's health ministry says. In five of these cases an infection with Zika virus was found.
Brazil is experiencing the largest known outbreak of Zika, with most cases in the north-east. Others have been detected in the south-east, an area which includes Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
There has been a sharp rise in the number of cases of Zika in several other Latin American countries.
In Colombia, more than 13,500 cases have been reported.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued initial travel warnings to pregnant women last week, adding eight more places to the list on Friday. The warnings now extend to:
Central and South America: Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela
Caribbean: Barbados, Saint Martin, Haiti, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe
