Authorities don't know how best to de-stigmatize Monkeypox, but:
The global monkeypox outbreak appears to mostly affect men who have sex with other men. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that 98% of people diagnosed with the virus between April and June in more than a dozen countries identify as gay or bisexual men, and the WHO says that 99% of U.S. cases are related to male-to-male sexual contact.
Maybe the best policy is to just focus on this community.
As of a week ago there were 14,000 cases and only 5 deaths. While in the past monkeypox had a 5% mortality rate, the strain that is currently dominating has a much lower death rate, similar to COVID-19 before vaccinations. There is a vaccine, and if given within four days of exposure, protects about 85% of the time. There are also antivirals and immunoglobulins to treat the disease.
The July 11th TIME magazine was a special issue about the ocean, mostly by Elijah Wolfson and Tom Vanderbilt. The former head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Jane Lubchenco, is quoted:
It’s time to stop thinking of the ocean as a victim of climate change and start thinking of it as a powerful part of the solution.
In short:
- The bottom of the Pacific Ocean is littered with rare earth metals.
- The tides can be harnessed.
- Offshore wind farms are poised to expand exponentially.
- Maritime shipping is on the verge of being decarbonized.
- There is a plug for mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses to sequester CO2.
- There was a lot more, but there was no sense that all these options can develop better if linked as a total system solution.
So I checked on the background of Elijah Wolfson:
- American writer and editor, covering health and science for Time.
- Studied rhetoric and creative writing at Cal-Berkeley.
- Noted for his work on child abuse.
What about Tom Vanderbilt?
- American journalist blogger with expertise in traffic, as in transportation.
- Was a contestant on Jeopardy.
My gripe is that the subject matter is fine, and individual contributions okay. But these two authors in particular, and the overall Time editor, missed a golden opportunity to make a huge difference for the Blue Revolution.
For those familiar with this blog site, I need say no more. Those new to this field, watch my TEDx talk of December 2021, a podcast on the Blue Revolution of 2020 and another presentation, this one a decade ago, given to the Seasteading Institute.
Why am I more qualified to address this matter of the ocean as a powerful part of the solution to global warming?
- PhD in biochemical engineering.
- When I worked for the U.S. Senate, drafted the original hydrogen and ocean energy thermal conversion legislation that became law.
- Directed the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute at the University of Hawaii for 15 years.
- As deep seabed rare earth metals are mentioned above, I also was the lead staff in the U.S. Senate on this subject, and HNEI was the national center on this subject for the Department of Interior.
- Assisted in creating the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research, and hired the engineers who built and tested the 210 kW open-cycle OTEC facility at the Natural Laboratory of Hawaii Authority on the Big Island.
- Helped found Blue Revolution Hawaii, which has proposed:
- The Pacific International Ocean Station by 2030: $150 million to transfer components of the Blue Revolution into the marketplace.
- First Ocean City in 2050 to host the 200th anniversary Ocean Expo (London had the first World's Fair in 1851).
- Cost? Maybe $150 billion.
- The International Space Station cost $150 billion, has been abandoned by Russia, and is expected to crash to Earth in 2031 without creating any major industry in space.
- An international partnership to provide an opportunity for the private sector to embark on a geoengineering solution to remediate global warming, while developing and marketing sustainable products in harmony with the marine environment.
As much as I am most definitely griping and heaping disrespect on capable writers, I've too miserably failed. No luck in finding an imaginative billionaire to, with his friends, fund the Blue Revolution. Not only these three, for there are around 2700 billionaires in the world. The USA has 724 and China 698. Help!
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