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1、microscopicmess349Climate Change Poses Major Risks for Unprepared CitiesA new examination of urban policies has been carried out recently by Patricia Romero Lankao. She is a sociologist specializing in climate change and urban development. She warns that many of the worlds fast-growing urban areas,
2、especially in developing countries, will likely1 suffer from the impacts of changing climate. Her work also concludes that most cities are failing to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. These gases are known to affect the atmosphere. “Climate change is a deeply local issue
3、 and poses profound threats to the growing cities of the world,” says Romero Lankao. “But too few cities are developing effective strategies to protect their residents. ”Cities are major sources of greenhouse gases. And urban populations are likely to be among those most severely affected by future
4、climate change. Lankaos findings3 highlight ways in which city-residents are particularly vulnerable, and suggest policy interventions that could offer immediate and longer-term benefits The locations and dense construction patterns of cities often place their populations at greater risk for natural
5、 disasters. Potential threats associated with climate include storm surges and prolonged hot weather. Storm surges can flood coastal areas and prolonged hot weather can heat heavily paved cities more than surrounding areas. The impacts of such natural events can be more serious in an urban environme
6、nt. For example, a prolonged heat wave can increase existing levels of air pollution, causing widespread health problems. Poorer neighborhoods that may lack basic facilities such as drinking water or a dependable network of roads, are especially vulnerable to natural disasters. Many residents in poo
7、rer countries live in substandard housing without access to reliable drinking water, roads and basic services.Local governments,therefore,should take measures to protect their residents. “Unfortunately, they tend to move towards rhetoric rather than meaningful responses,” Romero Lankao writes. “They
8、 dont impose construction standards that could reduce heating and air conditioning needs. They dont emphasize mass transit and reduce automobile, use. In fact, many local governments are taking a hands-off approach.” Thus, she urges them to change their idle policies and to take strong steps to prev
9、ent the harmful effects of climate change on cities.Free Statins With Fast Food Could Neutralize Heart RiskFast food outlets could provide statin drugs free of charge so that customers can reduce the heart disease dangers of fatty food, researchers at Imperial College London suggest in a new study.S
10、tatins reduce the amount of unhealthy “LDL” cholesterol in the blood. A wealth of trial data4 has proven them to be highly effective at lowering a persons heart attack riskIn a paper published in the American Journal of Cardiology, Dr Darrel Francis and colleagues calculate that the reduction in hea
11、rt attack risk offered by a statin is enough to offset the increase in heart attack risk from eating a cheeseburger and drinking a milkshake.Dr Francis, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, who is the senior author of the study, said: “Statins dont cut out all of th
12、e unhealthy effects of cheeseburgers and French fries. Its better to avoid fatty food altogether. But weve worked out that in terms of your possibility of having a heart attack, taking a statin can reduce your risk to more or less the same degree as a fast food meal increases it. ”Its ironic that pe
13、ople are free to take as many unhealthy condiments in fast food outlets as they like, but statins, which are beneficial to heart health, have to be prescribed. It makes sense to make risk-reducing statins available just as easily as the unhealthy condiments that are provided free of charge. It would
14、 cost less than 5 pence per customer not much different to a sachet of sugar, “ Dr Francis said.When people engage in risky behaviours like driving or smoking, theyre encouraged to take measures that lower their risk, like wearing a seatbelt or choosing cigarettes with filters. Taking a stain is a r
15、ational way of lowering some of the risks of eating a fatty meal.Better Solar Energy Systems: More Heat, More LightSolar photovoltaic thermal energy systems, or PVTs, generate both heat and electricity, but until now they havent been very good at the heat-generating part compared to a stand-alone so
16、lar thermal collector. Thats because they operate at low temperatures to cool crystalline silicon solar cells, which lets the silicon generate more electricity but isnt a very efficient way to gather heat. Thats a problem of economics. Good solar hot-water systems can harvest much more energy than a solar-electric system at a substantially lower cost. And it，s also a space problem：photovoltaic cells
