the trails that guide us around acadia on our family vacations have been in use for thousands of years before us as legacy trails. instead of being used for recreation, legacy trails brought ranchers, indigenous peoples, or firefighters from point a to point b as quickly as possible, long before the times of cars and paved roads. 

rising visitation in national parks

acadia now hosts about 4 million visitors each year. on trend with many other national parks across the country, visitation soared after the pandemic. i was first thrilled to hear that many other americans are taking advantage of their public lands. however, calls from the parks rang a different tone. this rapid increase in visitor use has strained infrastructure systems, spread already overworked staff thin, and battered hiking trails. 

times like these are when the work of recreation ecologists shines through. jeffrey marion, ph.d., is a recreation ecologist with the us geological survey out of virginia tech and studies how the history of legacy trails shape the sustainability, design, and durability of our current hiking trails across the country. marion’s goal is to better understand how to mitigate the impact that humans have on the environment while allowing them a taste of wilderness through hiking trails. 

hiking trail design is oftentimes hidden on the paths that i grew up on. once trail designers and builders have completed their trail, it often should appear as if they were never there to give visitors a taste of “untouched” wilderness. careful planning is critical in ensuring that a hiking trail is long lasting. this careful planning may often be contrary to the legacy trails that already lie in place—these were built for convenience, not sustainability. 

after analyzing the legacy trails in an area, designers must assess if they are already sustainable, can be altered, or must be scrapped all together. marion emphasizes that water plays the biggest role in a trail’s sustainability. if you were to dump your water bottle down a mountain, the water would take the fall line down to the bottom. if a hiking trail follows that same route or lies at an unfriendly angle to it, water will either wash out or puddle in the trail.

creating the ideal trail

according to marion, the ideal trail angle is one that is diagonal to the fall line. in the process of trail design, designers then carefully craft the control points of a trail. these points lay out where the trail needs to begin and end, where people should go, and where people shouldn’t go. in the case of bubble rock, the iconic viewpoint that makes the hike is a positive control point. other examples of positive control points include waterfalls or scenic vistas, any beautiful scenery that humans would stray off the path to see if the trail did not already lead them there. negative control points such as ecologically sensitive sites are used to mark areas that the trail needs to avoid. 

marion says that trail design is not rocket science—it’s just a general understanding of the ecological role that outdoor recreationists have on their environment. with all of the steps that go into the design process, trails reemerge as more sustainable and durable to the effects of high foot traffic and natural elements. sustainably built hiking trails mitigate the effects that outdoor recreationists have on their environment while giving them the feeling of being in total wilderness.

with the recent surges in park visitation since the pandemic, recreation ecologists suggest that relying only on sustainable hiking trails isn’t enough. in 2020, visitation records were up 335% in july in comparison to may visitation numbers—this figure historically lies at 75%. 

christopher monz, ph.d., a professor of recreation resource management at utah state university, explains that visitor management is also key in mitigating the impacts that overcrowding has on hiking trails. he researches visitor impacts in rocky mountain national park in colorado, the fifth most visited park in 2020. to reduce overcrowding, rocky mountain national park implemented a timed-entry system into the park. visitors cannot get into the park without a reserved spot at a specific time.

monz says that timed-entry systems help reduce the burden of overcrowding on park resources while improving overall visitor satisfaction. some have suggested that extending access into the backcountry areas could alleviate overcrowding, however this raises questions about whether parks exist to serve visitors or the environments they protect. to monz, the future of managing overcrowding in america’s public lands looks like combining sustainable hiking trail design with managed access into the park. 

behind my family’s hikes in acadia were trail designers working to ensure that we had the ability to hike to bubble rock without harming the native plants, animals, and soil. after learning about how sustainable trail design and visitor management can reduce the impacts of overcrowding, i no longer just see hiking trails as the pristine nature that i once did. i now see the trail designer studying topographic maps to find the best route or the trail crews moving rocks, building stairs, or clearing trees to make a trail passable.

in a way, hiking trails are more beautiful now. i see the future of high visitation in national parks as a mesh between human impact and natural beauty. we can still preserve our public lands, make hiking trails more durable, and allow access for visitors all while protecting the core environment of parks. it’s something we rarely see in today’s world—a relationship that strikes the perfect balance of human impact and protection to let people appreciate nature while preserving it for generations to come. 

the highly infectious fungal pathogen known to target and kill amphibians poses no direct threat to humans; however, its detrimental effects on biodiversity warrant immense concern. bd and similar diseases, like batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (bsal), contribute to a pressing global biodiversity problem. they serve as fuel for additional policy initiatives needed to mitigate these deadly fungi but also target the loss of biodiversity at local, national, and international levels spanning wild, rural, and urban interfaces. there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution to these issues. therefore, several policy changes are needed to prevent the spread of bd and similar infectious diseases and help combat the threat of a loss of biodiversity. 

an unlikely disappearance

according to professor of biology at university of maryland, college park, and self-proclaimed “animal lover,” karen lips, ph.d., “bd infects over 700 species across three orders of vertebrates, causes species extinctions, mass mortality events and precipitous and persistent population declines where it has invaded.” lips has spent her life tracking bd’s impact on frogs throughout central america in countries like costa rica and panama. 

in the 1980s, lips first discovered the disappearance of amphibians in those concentrated areas. it began with the golden toad in costa rica. “when it first disappeared, people didn’t know why,” lips said. the sites she was researching were secured, protected, and remote, so a disappearance like this was strikingly unusual. she first blamed the weather, but the decline in species was too drastic.

when lips returned to central america in the 1990s, frog numbers were abnormal and her research team found “dozens of dead or dying animals,” on their paths of study. they were quickly able to determine that it was bd that was killing off the frog population, or rather, a catalyst for their extinction. bd is an invasive species with zoospores, rounded, water-borne cells that help to move bacteria around the species. according to scholars at global change biology, zoospores spread bd by settling on the frog and entering the cells of the skin, ultimately causing a fatal cardiac arrest. lips calls these zoospores “little balls,” yet despite their benign nickname, they make it especially easy for bd to spread and kill off various amphibian species.

bd ultimately paves the way for an even bigger issue: a catastrophic impact on wildlife biodiversity. “when you remove amphibians from the ecosystem, bugs and tadpoles also disappear, and as a result, entire ecosystems shift,” lips said. during her research, lips also discovered other indirect effects of bd on human health. after the frogs disappeared in costa rica and panama, there was a 10-year increase in the number of malaria cases. 

old laws, new fungi

bd is already in the united states and while there isn’t a definitive way to cure populations with the disease on a global scale, the further spread of bd can be prevented. the u.s. fish and wildlife service (fws) is actively monitoring the spread of bd through many ways such as activating first responders to mitigate the impact, said meghan snow, fws staff member. these efforts are making headway, but only on a small scale. for instance, snow described that biologists are helping frogs fight the deadly fungus, but they’re focused in california. the bd epidemic needs more large-scale change. not only do these mitigation efforts need to continue, but there needs to be an increase in regulating the trade of these infected species. 

enter: the lacey act. introduced by iowa congressman john lacey in 1900 after a noticeable decline in north america’s wild game species, the lacey act prohibits the “trade of any species taken in violation of international or domestic law” and regulates the import of injurious wildlife, according to the wildlife society. while this may seem like a good sign for stopping the spread of bd, the list of animals is small and the sad fact is that most species are unregulated. according to lips, she nearly “had to beg fws to add more animals.” 

in 2013, researchers discovered a new chytrid fungus known as bsal. much like how bd attacks the skin of frogs, bsal attacks the skin of salamanders. because north america is “the global hotspot for salamanders,” noted lips, the fws placed a ban on the import of 201 salamander species under the lacey act in 2016. according to a recent article featuring lips in the atlantic, bsal has not been detected in north america. bd, on the other hand, is already present in many areas of the united states. while the salamander ban under the lacey act acts as a preventative measure to stop the potential spread of bsal, there lies a gap in policy to make effective strides towards mitigating bd, which lips believes to have been pushed to the sidelines.

protecting our biodiversity 

approaches to helping solve this problem span wild, rural, and urban interfaces in which lips outlined many policy initiatives. for instance, on the wild interface front, it’s about placing efforts to reduce deforestation, protect habitats, and increase research on wildlife disease. in the rural interface, it’s increased surveillance on these species and regulating wildlife harvest. for urban interfaces, efforts to create effective vaccines and treatments for amphibians, reduce trade and trafficking, and monitor these invasive diseases are key. 

other approaches stem from a need to quantify the value of nature, lips said. “currently, we don’t have a system in the u.s. to document all the species,” she said. “you need to know how many exist and how good they’re doing before you can measure their value.” there are still a lot of unknown gaps in biodiversity. compiling tangible lists of species is a way to close these gaps, as lists help people visualize the impact of biodiversity crisis. 

under the current administration, a climate and environment division was created to underscore their very commitment to tackling the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. in 2021, the white house office of science and technology policy (ostp), added five new experts in biodiversity to the division, including heather tallis, ph.d. previously, tallis worked with the natural capital project, a platform striving towards quantifying the value of nature. 

looking ahead

the bd epidemic is just one of the many catalysts for a loss in biodiversity. the hard truth is that the world is facing a huge biodiversity crisis. bd and bsal are just contributors, so any efforts to mitigate the spread of these deadly fungi can help immensely in moving the needle towards a brighter future for the environment. “it’s not just about the frogs,” lips said, “it’s also about the importance of protecting biodiversity.”

it can be especially hard to grasp the personal impact of a loss of biodiversity as a result of these species-destroying fungi. if there’s anything that the covid-19 pandemic has proven, it’s that understanding a global spread of disease is important and that the management of emerging infectious diseases at national and international scales requires close attention. but, it’s not just about covid-19, it’s also about the epidemics that are silently killing amphibians and ultimately biodiversity.

phoenix – when the sun is up, he’s up and ready to hit the road by 8. flatbed trucks are loaded with brimming barrels of water, and the teams take off – up and down the burnt orange washboard roads that crisscross the navajo nation reservation.

zoel zohnnie grew up on a ranch in these vast lands, knowing what it’s like to live without running water, knowing what it means to drive for miles to fill up at a community water station and then haul it back home.

“for some families, it’s a whole day of leaving home, waiting in line, coming back, unloading,” he said. “just to drink water and have water for living.”

when the covid-19 pandemic arrived on the reservation, zohnnie saw families and elders sheltering in place – and no one helping them to haul water they desperately needed.

“so i took up a paypal and purchased a water tank, put it in the back of my truck and hit the road, and ended up doing that day after day,” said zohnnie, who calls his group water warriors united.

water is a precious commodity that’s scarce in many places across the u.s. but even more so in rural native american communities like the navajo nation, where a virus that requires hand-washing and proper hygiene has taken an especially heavy toll.

zohnnie, 42, is a boilermaker by trade, doing pipe welding, power plant maintenance and refinery construction. but he was laid off at the end of march, just as covid-19 cases began increasing across the sprawling reservation.

he has underlying health conditions that put him at higher risk of contracting covid-19 and suffering more. but as the virus that causes the disease took hold of dinétah, he knew he had to find a way to help, even while practicing social distancing and staying safe.

his is the story of how one person saw a problem that needed a solution and started a movement to try to find one – as a friend said, “changing the world one barrel at a time.”

a scarce resource

a november report released by the nonprofit us water alliance found that more than 2 million americans lack access to running water, indoor plumbing or wastewater services.

those disparities are worse in communities of color and even more extreme, the study found, among indigenous people – whose households are 19 times more likely to lack indoor plumbing than those of white families.

on the navajo reservation, which stretches 27,000 square miles through arizona and into new mexico and utah, an estimated 30% of the 174,000 residents lack access to running water. many, the us water alliance report said, have less than 10 gallons of water in their homes at any given time, sometimes using as little as 2 or 3 gallons a day. the average american uses 88 gallons a day.

some residents drive hours to get water to haul home, ration what water they do have between hygienic uses and cooking, or stockpile it in case of emergency.

one woman, the report noted, has bartered homemade pies for water.

these obstacles often force residents to travel to towns bordering the reservation to buy water, said monica harvey, a navajo who founded defend our community, a group working to assist elders during the pandemic.

harvey, who lives in leupp, points to other problems, such as broken windmills that hinder water pumping and limited hours at tribal chapter houses, the government subdivisions and communal gathering places where navajos often get their water.

“there was one point … where the chapter house in leupp was announcing that they were going to shut down a water station,” harvey said. “the water from that water station is for livestock only. but sometimes, residents have to resort to that water to drink.”

a report by the navajo nation’s department of water resources notes that a lack of reliable drinking water “stifles economic growth throughout the reservation” while contributing to higher incidence of disease.

add an extremely contagious virus into this mix and the circumstances become even more dire, experts note.

“you can imagine if you don’t have access to running water, then the very basic things you need to do to stay home and stay safe during a viral pandemic aren’t possible,” said george mcgraw, founder of digdeep, a nonprofit that works on the reservation to bring running water into homes and schools.

“you can’t wash your hands for 20 seconds several times a day with soap and water. you’re constantly being forced to leave social isolation … to drive to a grocery store that’ll have bottled water … or to drive to a gas station, a truck stop, a school, a library – if they’re open – to take a shower or collect water.”

cynthia harris, director of tribal programs at the environmental law institute in washington d.c., said the long-standing issues around access to water and water quality in indian country can be boiled down to three main obstacles: resources, logistics and battles over water rights.

funding for infrastructure improvements is limited. the indian health service reported last year a backlog of almost 2,000 sanitation-related construction projects in indian country and estimated it would cost $2.7 billion to provide all american indians and alaska natives with safe drinking water and adequate sewerage systems.

the rural nature of homes also makes for logistical challenges. on the navajo reservation, which is bigger than the state of west virginia, many households are not good candidates for centralized water systems because extending water lines to low-density, mountainous areas is extremely expensive, according to harris’ group.

“we’ve heard quite a bit from congress and the executive branch about looking at infrastructure, ensuring that tribes are included in that at a sufficient level,” harris said, noting some opportunities to address these issues may be part of the $2.2 trillion coronoavirus relief package known as the cares act.

“there is a toolbox,” she said. “the question is, which tools bring to bear ensuring tribes are included.”

the navajo nation has received $714 million under the cares act, and president jonathan nez has proposed using $300 million of that for agriculture projects and water infrastructure, including improved residential plumbing.

final expenditures are being negotiated between the navajo nation council and nez. but time is running out: the federal government is requiring that cares act funding be spent by year’s end.

a hand for the forgotten

“we will never be able to measure the magnitude of language, culture, or history that this virus has taken from our tribes. … we have already lost so much, but are also collectively doing so much.”

zoel zohnnie’s words punctuate the website of collective medicine, the nonprofit that serves as the umbrella organization for his water warriors united campaign. the effort has grown from one man and one water tank to an operation where volunteers deliver on average 5,000 gallons a week to residents across the reservation.

“the idea behind this whole campaign … was to reach the people who can’t get to the water themselves, and to reach the people who are … far away enough to have been forgotten,” zohnnie said.

“and there’s been a lot of people that have been forgotten.”

the more he ventured out, the more donations started flowing in. he used the money to buy 55-gallon water barrels for navajos living out of 5-gallon buckets or small containers.

zohnnie now has four 16-foot flatbed trucks that carry 550-gallon tanks, hoses, equipment and a water pump. his team has delivered more than 400 barrels and more than 100,000 gallons of water to more than 20 communities.

“now what we’re trying to do is figure out a refill system for the places we’ve already been, so that we can just go back to these homes and kind of recirculate where we’ve already been,” he said. “but if we do that, then it takes away from us being able to reach other areas that haven’t been given barrels yet.

“so we’re trying to get as many barrels out there as possible, first, so that way at least the residents and our elders and tribal members can have a barrel. that makes their life a little easier when they have to haul water for themselves.”

along the way, zohnnie has met dozens of people, many whose circumstances brought tears to his eyes. one family of 18 was living in a small shack with no running water. another home included several children living alone without water or electricity.

“the dad had passed away probably four months ago, and the mom had passed away two months before that,” he recalled. “so the kids were just trying to make their way, and there was nobody that was really helping them.

“that was one that kind of stuck with me.”

another man was caring for his 90-year-old mother, who requires a feeding tube. they lived off a 20-mile dirt road and were unable to haul water on their own because the man couldn’t leave his mother for the time it would take to go out and return.

“it’s been quite an eye-opener,” zohnnie said. “growing up on the reservation, you kind of know what’s going on. but until you’re there visiting each home, talking to each person, it never really hits you until you hear them or you look at them in the eye and see how they feel.”

harvey’s group, defend our community, began collaborating with zohnnie to get water to the elders it works with.

“it was very difficult for elders throughout the community to get drinking water, so his team came out and was able to provide 55-gallon water barrels with drinking water,” she said. “they had a water tank in the back of their vehicle as well. so elders who needed water jugs or containers filled, they were able to help fill those containers with drinking water.

“a lot of them were so grateful … that a few of the elders broke into tears because they received help. finally someone showed up to help them, to provide aid to them.”

zohnnie’s effort is just one of several, and harris and others note that any permanent solutions to the water access issues must go beyond trucking in gallons here and there. the pandemic, harris said, is “an opportunity to stop, to pause, to reflect and consider these issues and look at how we can do better.”

zohnnie hopes to continue his initiative beyond covid-19, to keep helping his people in whatever way he can. he wants the world to see that not all that’s come from the pandemic is sorrow and tragedy.

“i feel like because of this virus, there are beautiful things happening,” he said. “and i think one of them is the fact that it has brought a lot of people together.

“there’s a lot of people still out there suffering from it, still out there protecting themselves from it, too.”

but, he added: “even though it’s a dangerous and ugly virus, it has done beautiful things to help people see that we can come together in times of crisis.”

—

this story originally was published on cronkite news and features additional reporting. for more stories, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.

phoenix – rows of cardboard boxes containing corpses line the walls of refrigerated storage containers, waiting for charred human remains to be cleared from the incineration chamber to make room for the next body.

the cremations continue through the night in a scene that has unfolded across america as covid-19 deaths have risen to more than 540,000 over the past year.

in arizona, where 16,842 have died in the pandemic, the smoke and the hum of crematoriums working overtime have left some neighbors desperate for relief from the odor and pollution.

arizonans opt for cremation more frequently than the national average, with 67% choosing that option in 2020, according to a july 2020 report from the national funeral directors association.

the national cremation rate reached 56% last year, an increase from 47.9% in 2015, the last reported year. the rise was fueled by the covid-19 death toll and pandemic restrictions, the low cost of cremation services and the flexible timing for funeral arrangements with cremated ashes.

some condo owners in east scottsdale have taken notice of unexpected wafts of smoke and a lingering odor coming from the nearby paradise memorial crematory near 93rd street and shea boulevard.

“the smell was so unbearable that everybody needs to run into their houses,” said retiree marlene dove, who moved there in september. “if you have guests, they have to come in or they put things over their heads and their faces to keep the smell out.”

her complaint is among 20 filed in maricopa county regarding crematorium smoke from feb. 27, 2020, to march 2, 2021. records from maricopa county air quality show the complaints include black or brown smoke and a “horrible odor.” some residents claimed the emissions gave them sore throats.

“i understand that you have to take care of the dead,” dove said. “but i also understand you have to take care of the living.”

last april, maricopa county air quality lifted a regulation prohibiting crematoriums from operating past sunset, giving them more time to cremate the increased number of covid-19 deaths. that lift, which was extended in june and again in december, is in effect through may 31.

according to arizona department of health services data, the state saw surges in covid-19 related deaths during the summer and winter, with a single-day high of 173 deaths reported jan. 18.

the occasional smoke coming from crematorium chimneys is an inevitable byproduct of the cremation process, said james ahearne, coo of messinger mortuaries, the company that oversees paradise memorial crematory.

“every crematory will smoke, if they tell you they don’t, they’re lying,” he said. “it’s just the way it is.”

last year, paradise memorial crematory – one of the largest in the state – cremated 6,868 bodies, an increase from 6,071 in 2019, before the pandemic began. from the start of 2021, paradise memorial already has cremated 1,931 bodies, ahearne said, with much of those coming in january after the holidays. if the trend continues, 2021 could outpace last year.

ahearne said a walk-in freezer used to store bodies at paradise memorial had 60 to 70 bodies backlogged in january, waiting to be cremated.

by 2030, the cremation rate in arizona is expected to reach nearly 80%, the national funeral directors association says.

nationally, the median cost to bury an adult in a traditional ceremony is $7,640, according to the association. in arizona, it’s $6,906.

cremations cost an average of $6,645 nationally, with a cremation casket and urn, and about $5,812 in arizona, according to the association.

there’s also the convenience of cremating now and organizing a service later at a particular destination, said barbara kemmis, executive director of the cremation association of north america.

with travel restrictions and social distancing guidelines in place for many states throughout the pandemic, cremation extends the time frame for grieving families to make decisions for the deceased.

as covid-19 cremations surged across the country, so did neighbor’s complaints about smoke and sore throats.

“that’s completely a danger when they’re overwhelmed and trying to do as many cases a day to return those cremated remains to loved ones,” kemmis said.

issues with smoke coming from paradise memorial crematory are not new but have seemingly worsened throughout the pandemic, said david dubner, 79, who has filed multiple complaints with maricopa county and is dove’s neighbor.

“there’s not just been puffs but pouring smoke, sometimes for up to five, six minutes. (it) covers the whole area,” dubner said.

three years ago, paradise memorial crematory expanded the number of cremation ovens on their premises from three to six, ahearne said, and plans to add another in the next five or six months.

“what we’re trying to do here is cremate as many as we have to for our clients and not smoke at all,” ahearne said. “and unfortunately, sometimes we do.”

throughout the pandemic, said gregg busch, funeral service manager at neptune society in tempe, the increased number of covid-related deaths and cremations has forced staff members to work into the night and put employees at risk of covid-19 infection.

“everybody is shorthanded and everybody is struggling to keep up,” busch said.

“organizations like our own – which focus entirely on cremation – have been overwhelmed by the pandemic,” said busch, who has more than 40 years of experience in the funeral industry. “not only just the number of deaths that have occurred but also in the fact that our staff and our employees have many times become infected, which puts us even farther behind with low staffing.”

this wasn’t the first time crematoriums extended hours of operation to keep up with an increased number of deaths, he said, but “nothing compared to this.”

“it was certainly a difficult time during the h1n1 pandemic,” busch said. “the covid-19 pandemic is much more.”

an estimated 151,700 to 575,400 people worldwide died from the h1n1 “swine flu” pandemic in 2009, its first year of circulation, according to the centers for disease control and prevention.

in about the same time, more than 2.5 million people worldwide have died from covid-19, according to the johns hopkins university of medicine.

dove tries to escape the emissions from paradise memorial crematory by keeping her windows and doors shut – or leaving her complex. she has stopped inviting people to her home, and some of her neighbors refrain from using their patios, she said, because they never know when the “smell is going to hit.”

“we’re not unreasonable people,” dove said. “we just need a break from this once in a while. i mean, it’s just continuously going.”

crematorium emissions depend on the materials burned in the chamber, according to a 2020 canadian study, such as natural gas used to fuel incineration chambers and particulate matter and heavy metals, such as trace amounts of mercury from dental fillings.

the cdc says obesity increases likelihood for severe illness and death from covid-19, and bodies weighing more than 200 pounds generate more smoke than those weighing less, ahearne said. paradise memorial crematory processes heavier bodies in the morning and the lighter ones in the afternoon and evening to limit visible pollution.

“the size of people that are dying of covid are larger people,” he said. “weight has a lot to do with the ability to cremate somebody, and when you can cremate them. when you have a lot of heavier people, you do those first thing in the morning.”

no matter the materials burned, or the weight of the deceased, crematoriums are allowed to release smoke visible up to 20% opacity in the air, according to maricopa county air quality regulations.

the hazardous visible aerosol particles, referred to as particulate matter, that crematoriums emit is of “minimal” concern compared with the pollution caused by vehicle traffic or backyard bonfires, said philip mcneely, director of the air quality department.

the county sets crematorium emission standards and includes regulations to test for machine efficiency, times of operation and allows for 2,500 tons, or 5 million pounds, of total material to be burned within a 12-month period. all complaints are individually investigated by the department, mcneely said.

although rare, accidents and machine malfunctions do happen, ahearne said.

a power outage march 2 interrupted an active cremation at paradise memorial and sent black smoke billowing from the chimney for 5 to 10 minutes while the system shut down, ahearne said.

“that was the worst i’ve seen,” he said. “i’ve been doing this for 50 years and it was just terrible. but once it starts, there’s nothing we can do.”

system malfunctions are not unique to paradise memorial crematory and similar situations have been reported at other crematoriums in the phoenix area.

one funeral director in sun city reported a thermocouple, a sensor used to measure temperature, malfunction and told county investigators that “black smoke was visible for about 10 minutes” during a cremation, according to county records. the thermocouple was replaced and the investigation has been closed.

despite unexpected malfunctions and the increased of cremations, the accompanying emissions still have significantly less of an environmental impact on total air quality than unregulated fires that burn at lower temperatures around 600-900 degrees, said leif abrell, an associate research scientist with the arizona laboratory for emerging contaminants at the university of arizona.

burning trash or wood used in a bonfire increases “the potential for other noncarbon dioxide pollutants” to be released into the atmosphere compared to county regulated, high-temperature burning at crematoriums, abrell said.

“that’s why one person burning trash in their backyard at a low temperature can kind of obliterate a whole bunch of work that’s done by other people (operating) at high temperatures according to regulation,” he said.

although vehicle traffic and backyard fires of of greater concern for county regulators, dove and dubner are waiting for relief from both the pandemic and the smoke wafting from the crematorium chimney.

“you can’t be inside during covid,” dove said, “because you’re not supposed to be in a closed area with people, and you can’t sit outside because sooner or later the smell is going to come up.”

ahearne said the number of cremations is incrementally decreasing, and lasting relief may be on the horizon as vaccines reach more arizonans and fewer people test positive for covid-19.

“hopefully this pandemic thing will calm down and get back to kind of normal,” he said.

—

this story originally was published on cronkite news. for more stories, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.

the media has been vocal in speaking out about rising rates of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation in the general population. but what about the health of those diagnosed with a mental illness? a search of the new york times reveals that only 22% of articles on mental health published between oct. 1, 2020, and dec. 10, 2020, specifically covered the impact of mental illness. despite the rise of “wellness culture” and the fact that 70% of americans feel that the nation is now more open to discussions about mental health, 68% would oppose a relative’s marriage to a person with a mental disorder. mental illness remains one of the most stigmatized health conditions today. yet, according to the national alliance on mental health (nami), 20% of u.s. adults and 17% of u.s. children were struggling with a mental health condition in 2019. clearly, there is something very wrong with the way we are leaving the most vulnerable—those with mental illness—out of our discussions about mental health.

there are many categories of mental disorders, each with their own associated set of symptoms and characteristics. two of the most common are mood disorders and anxiety disorders. mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder, are characterized by emotional states inconsistent with those expected of a particular situation. people with mood disorders may be unusually happy, irritable, or sad, or may cycle rapidly through multiple emotions. meanwhile, aptly-named anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive worry or fear, often in circumstances in which such emotions are not merited. examples of anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

some mental health conditions, such as substance abuse and alcoholism, fall into multiple categories, including both mood and anxiety disorders. as opposed to adults without mental health conditions, those with mood and anxiety disorders are more likely to experience lower quality of life. many mood and anxiety disorders are so disabling they are considered protected disabilities under the law. and these mental illness can be deadly: as many as 90% of people who commit suicide have a diagnosed mental illness, although that number is inflated by the impact of more “serious” conditions such as personality and psychotic disorders, which tend to be more deadly than either mood or anxiety disorders.

but none of that takes into account the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

a new study conducted in july 2020 by psychologists from the university of regina, the university of british columbia, and fordham university indicates that those with pre-existing mood and anxiety disorders are susceptible to higher levels of covid-19 related stress than the general population. dr. gordon j.g. asmundson, a clinical psychologist, and his team surveyed a group of 1,568 individuals with a mood disorder, an anxiety disorder, or no mental illness about stress and coping during the coronavirus pandemic. compared to the control group, those with mood or anxiety disorders tended to be more stressed about the impacts of the pandemic. these individuals worried most about contracting or being exposed to the virus. they also reported a higher rate of traumatic stress symptoms, which may include difficulty concentrating and making decisions, feelings of isolation, irritability, and numbness, and physical symptoms such as nausea, headache, and insomnia. these individuals also tended to struggle more while self-isolating, and were more likely to partake in ineffective coping activities such as playing video games, reaching out to friends, sleeping more than usual, and engaging in stress-shopping.

while those with anxiety disorders tended to be more negatively affected by covid-19 stressors than those with mood disorders, the study largely focused on the greater struggles for those with a mental illness compared to those without; additionally, findings for both mood and anxiety disorders alone could have been skewed by the high likelihood that many individuals with anxiety disorders also had mood disorders and vice versa. these findings are backed up by several other studies conducted during the covid-19 pandemic.

the implications of asmundson’s study can only be described as dire. despite the finding that those with pre-existing mental health conditions are more likely than others to experience traumatic stress symptoms because of covid-19, the pandemic has also limited access to mental healthcare. in a 130-country survey, the world health organization found that 67% of respondents reported reduced accessibility of counseling and psychotherapy. seventy percent of respondents reported that mental health professionals turned to telemedicine to fill the void, but virtual therapy can only do so much.

exposure therapy, the gold standard of treatment for many anxiety disorders, often only works in-person. in exposure therapy, sufferers are encouraged to gradually expose themselves to the thing they fear in a controlled environment. for example, a sufferer with contamination fears may be asked to touch a dirty surface and then not wash their hands. of course, this therapy can now be extremely difficult to administer without violating covid-19 protocols and putting both the patient and the therapist at risk of infection. and those with substance abuse issues often rely on in-person “mutual help groups,” such as alcoholics anonymous, that are harder to facilitate over zoom. job loss, loneliness, and lack of routine—all side effects of social distancing, and all risk factors for relapse in those with alcoholism and drug addiction—have likely contributed to higher rates of overdose during the pandemic. according to the overdose detection mapping application program, overdoses in may 2020 were up a whopping 42% from the previous year.

asmundson and his co-authors recommend “tailoring covid-19-related mental health interventions to meet the needs of people with pre-existing mental health conditions.” this is not just advice for psychiatrists and therapists—it applies to those who populate the (now-virtual) places where people with mental illnesses live, play, and work. yet we continue to ignore the significant challenge that over 20% of american adults struggle with on a daily basis. forty-seven percent of companies haven’t paid any attention to mental health in the workplace during the pandemic. among those that have provided support for employee mental health, the majority do not offer programs specifically for those with pre-existing mental health conditions. 

clearly, our treatment of mental health during the covid-19 pandemic points towards a larger societal problem: the way we view people with mental illness. when people without mental disorders experience symptoms of depression and anxiety during covid-19, it’s considered a normal reaction to stress, covered widely in media outlets, and supported by workplaces. a full 44% of companies that offer mental health counseling as a benefit only started doing so after the coronavirus pandemic hit, introducing many non-mentally ill people to challenges that those with mental disorders have faced for years. and 60% of americans feel that depression, the most common mood disorder, is the result of a character flaw rather than a genetically- and environmentally-influenced health condition. fifty-eight percent don’t want to work with a person with a mental illness. it’s no surprise, then, that while non-mentally ill people talk loudly about the impact covid-19 has had on their mental health, nami warns those with mental disorders that sharing their diagnosis is “risky.” 

there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging and providing support to those who have been newly impacted by mental issues during the covid-19 pandemic. but while many of us are struggling with mental health during this prolonged period of isolation and anxiety, there is overwhelming evidence that those with mental illness are struggling even more. yet rather than following asmundson’s advice and meeting the needs of those with mental health conditions, we are doing the opposite—keeping those with mental disorders out of sight and out of mind at a time when they need more support than ever before. in the end, the hidden mental health epidemic of covid-19 is just that: people with mental illnesses being swept under the rug just when mental health is becoming a common topic of conversation.

from the news to the workplace to our personal interactions, those with diagnosable disorders are left out of the conversation about the impact of covid-19 on mental health. the pandemic should have been a golden opportunity to change the way we think and talk about mental illness: as normal, human, and, with the right support, treatable. instead, it has reinforced the ways in which those with mental disorders are ignored, stigmatized, and seen as “other” in everyday life. unless we start paying attention to the needs of those with mental disorders, we are in for a long, at best depressed, and at worst, deadly spring—and not just because of covid-19.

that powerful idea is none other than the green bronx machine, but rest assured it is not your typical machine. the green bronx machine is powered by none other than students with a passion for gardening healthy greens, as well as educators who spark that passion in their students.

planted in the bronx

the green bronx machine’s most notable educator is also its founder: stephen ritz. ritz is a bronx native and can easily be identified by his exuberant energy both in and out of the classroom. teaching at schools with some of the worst dropout rates in the country, ritz has always been deeply committed to his students and has worked tirelessly to keep them engaged in school. 

nearly a decade ago, ritz had a lightbulb moment that would change the trajectory of his career and students’ lives forever. when his middle schoolers accidentally stumbled upon a box of flower bulbs in his classroom, they were fascinated by their discovery and were eager to learn how to plant.

pleasantly surprised by his students’ reaction, stephen realized that he could better engage his students by making gardening the center of the classroom experience. 

“i could teach children to read and write and do math if i put this magical garden in the middle of the classroom and built school around it,” ritz said.

in 2013, ritz became the first teacher in the u.s. to implement tower gardens in the classroom. 

sprouting local solutions

since the introduction of tower gardens, the green bronx machine has flourished into an educational and community-based organization that teaches students how to garden and consume healthier foods. under its model, students still learn core subjects like science and math, but gardening is put at the center of teaching so that students have a more engaging and hands-on learning experience. while unconventional, the green bronx machine education model has proven to be effective in training and empowering students.

“we’ve taken a formerly failing, slated-to-be-closed school that now outperforms city and statewide benchmarks in all areas,” ritz said.

notably, the green bronx machine has not only closed education gaps in the bronx but has also expanded to address local food insecurity as well. today, the organization runs classroom and community gardens all throughout the bronx, serving as a production hub for healthy greens around the bronx community. cory gamble, a former student of ritz’s and the green bronx machine’s farm technician, has witnessed how the green bronx machine fills an incredibly important food access gap in his community.

“that’s the main thing in the bronx: lack of food,” gamble said. “the bronx doesn’t really have food like that. it’s mostly junk food around here than anything else.”

ritz’s vision for the green bronx machine is rooted in community empowerment and self-sufficiency. instead of waiting for outsiders to fix the bronx’s food deserts, ritz is eager to make change from within, empowering the bronx’s youth to be farmers who change the trajectory of local food insecurity.

“we at green bronx machine are determined to be the light inside of our tunnel, instead of seeking light at the end of the tunnel,” ritz said.

rooted in resilience

when the covid-19 pandemic took the world by surprise, the green bronx machine was already prepared to address the exacerbated food crisis in the bronx.

“once the covid-19 crisis started, it was amazing that nothing fell off, and green bronx machine didn’t have to readjust,” said michaela, ritz’s daughter who had been helping the organization deliver meals to families during the pandemic.

according to michaela, the green bronx machine worked hard to “fill in the cracks that became even more glaringly apparent in society.” with schools shutting down and healthy meals becoming more difficult to access, the green bronx machine went above and beyond to ensure that their students were still learning and families were still eating. ritz and his team hosted frequent cooking classes, even delivering ingredients to students to make sure they could participate. they also transformed their national health and wellness center into a food pick-up station, in addition to hand-delivering more than 100,000 pounds of food to locals in their community.

“without green bronx machine, i don’t know if half of these kids would be eating due to covid,”  gamble said.

when schools started opening back up again in the bronx, the green bronx machine also resumed their classroom gardening projects in a socially distant manner. in this way, the green bronx machine improved students’ lives during the pandemic through three main avenues: an academic need for learning, a material need for nutritious food, and a social need for human connection.

harvesting a movement

the systemic issues of food insecurity and school dropout rates are not unique to the bronx, and so the green bronx machine strives to replicate these positive impacts in other communities that struggle with their same issues. with expansive success in the bronx education system, the green bronx machine has developed a curriculum model now implemented in over 500 classrooms around the u.s. and world. 

what makes the green bronx machine model so powerful, though, is that it isn’t just an education success story. it’s a societal success story. the green bronx machine’s journey to make the bronx a greener and healthier community shows that societal transformation is most effective and sustainable when it starts from within. instead of employing outside food delivery to feed the bronx, the green bronx machine placed the seeds in the hands of those with the most power to change the bronx for the better: the local youth. 

ultimately, food is the key ingredient that powers the green bronx machine model, bringing together students, educators, and community members alike because nutritious food is a universal necessity of life. food is what we all have in common, and so what the green bronx machine brings to the bronx can be brought to any community in need of healthy food.

according to ritz, “food is the language in which society reveals itself.” and in the bronx, the success of the green bronx machine reveals that youth and education are two of the most powerful channels to bring healthy food access to some of the country’s poorest communities.

a seed of an idea planted in the bronx, the green bronx machine model now has the potential to be harvested around the world. 

for almost thirty years, karen lips has been studying and advocating for policies to stop one mysterious fungal disease that has irreparably damaged international amphibian populations.

at the first world congress of herpetology in 1989, scientists compared extinctions of amphibian species in different environments since the 1970s, but they had no idea what was causing these declines. 

lips noticed this same decline as a graduate student in 1992, when she spent a year and a half recording the reproductive season of spiky tree frogs, called isthmohyla calypsa, in a cloud forest between costa rica and panama. 

lips remembers seeing “from like 200 [frogs] in an hour to two all day.” it was a massacre but without any dead frogs left behind. now, if you look up the isthmohyla calypsa frogs, they are considered critically endangered in panama and extinct in costa rica. 

lips remained undeterred by the subject of her studies disappearing over her winter break. she finished her doctorate in tropical biology and began writing about the decline of amphibians in a seemingly pristine habitat. 

like she would prove to be for most of her career, lips was ahead of the curve. comparing the earlier extinctions in north costa rica to the disappearance of species in the southern cloud forests she’d seen, she noticed that there was a wave of extinction traveling down into panama. in 1996, she brought a team of grad students with her to western panama and started recording the amphibian populations, hoping to catch the mysterious disappearance of frogs in its tracks. 

lips and her students finally had a breakthrough when they found 50 dead frogs in one area, all of different species. the researchers sent the frogs to a lab that found something in their skin; a chytrid fungus, called batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (bd).

amphibians “breathe” and drink through their skin, it’s how they absorb water and oxygen and dispose of carbon dioxide. when an amphibian’s skin is blocked by bd, it alters their blood chemistry. slowly all the organs in a frog’s body will shut down as bd spreads, and according to lips, “eventually their heart just gives out.” 

amphibians tested in australia and at the smithsonian national zoo all had the same skin infection. lips had helped prove that an epidemic was killing amphibians worldwide, not climate change.

for many scientists this discovery would be the end of their work, but as lips watched bd directly cause the extinction of 90 species of amphibians and the decline of 500 species, she realized her work must go beyond traditional academic institutions.

“because she saw her study and research sites destroyed by this disease, she realized she was going to have to jump in and get her hands dirty in the policy world to try to deal with it,” says peter jenkins, an environmental lawyer. 

jenkins first partnered with lips in 2008 to use her bd research to petition the u.s. fish and wildlife service to restrict the importing of infected amphibians. 

“fish and wildlife basically said after a lengthy review, what do you want us to do? bd is already here,” lips summarized. “and so they just sort of put it on the shelf.”

in 2014, a new chytrid fungus that affected salamanders and other amphibians was discovered, called bsal. the u.s. fish and wildlife service reached out to jenkins and lips again, and this time they partnered with advocacy groups, journalists, and even the pet industry to help make their case. lips, with her wide smile and willingness to break down any scientific process into simple terms, spoke at congressional hearings and met one-on-one with senators.

“she’s a really great resource in that way,” jenkins said. “and is, you know, not only fantastic on the science, but can communicate about the policy.”

lips partly gained these communication and collaboration skills during her fellowship at the aldo leopold leadership program, now called the earth leadership program, where program designer margaret krebs remembers “her curiosity and her ability to just persist.”

“there is nothing about her that was pompous or ‘listen to me.’ you know, she really was humble,” krebs said. “she really recognized that it was going to take a whole network of people to move this forward.”

lips and jenkins’ collaborative work helped to halt the spread of bsal coming from asia and europe. the u.s. fish and wildlife service blacklisted the international trade of 200 species of salamanders, leading to canada and the eu banning imports of all salamanders.

lips has shown a willingness throughout her career to develop new skills when her research leads to novel fields of ecology and calls for urgent policy change.

“i got into all this because i really wanted to sort of go to the jungle, be the explorer, live in my shack and do what i was doing,” lips said. “and then when the frogs started dying, i basically changed. and i ended up as a disease ecologist for you know, a couple decades.”

when lips was finishing her doctorate, disease ecology wasn’t an established field, and scientists weren’t working with lawyers to successfully petition the government to protect amphibians, but lips carved out the skills and connections to pursue both paths.

lips is continuing to re-define her role as a biologist and policy advocate. now, she’s raising awareness of how human encroachment on wildlife is causing diseases like bd and covid-19 to appear. 

lips explained that “it’s not so much about the frogs and salamanders per se. it’s about the broader problem of infectious diseases of wildlife that are completely unregulated.” while covid-19 can be traced back to human interactions with diseased animals, the spread and variants of bd are connected to the international trade of amphibians.

“if we can prevent the next covid, we can also save the frogs at the same time, right?” lips asked.

in washington, d.c., a bag tax originated as part of an initiative to clean up the anacostia river. according to a 2008 study by the department of energy and environment, disposable plastic bags were one of the most prevalent forms of trash pollution in the river. as a result, the district created the anacostia river clean up and protection act of 2009. this law was the first of its kind in the nation, according to the doee. it requires any district business selling food or alcohol to charge five cents per paper or plastic bag, with a goal of shifting consumer behavior away from disposable bags. as of 2017, plastic bag usage had dropped 50% to 70% since the law took effect in 2009. 

across the country, bag taxes similar to d.c.’s were beginning to take effect early this year. however, with the onset of covid-19, all progress was halted due to fears that reusable bags would spread the virus. 

in new york, for example, a plastic bag ban was set to take effect on march 1, 2020. after initially delaying the ban 30 days due to a lawsuit, the delay was extended further due to the pandemic. the ban is now scheduled to take effect on oct. 19, 2020, according to the new york department of environmental conservation. 

additionally, u.s. senator tom udall and u.s. representative alan lowenthal formed the break free from plastic pollution act just a few weeks before the virus became a concern in the u.s. the congressmen are still urging legislative action, according to a statement. 

states and retailers across the country have temporarily suspended the disposable bag bans and taxes to ease fears of contamination by reusable bags. now, i’m concerned about how big an effect the pandemic will have on the previous environmental progress — could it be detrimental? 

according to a report from august, the demand for plastics is expected to increase by 40 percent because of safety concerns. the same study reported that the virus lasts longer on plastic than other surfaces — according to the national institute of health, two to three days — which begs the question: were the ban reversals a premature move, especially after society had finally adapted to using reusable bags? 

a july study also compared the increases of different types of plastics since the pandemic. 

has the plastic industry exploited pandemic fears to further their business? or were ban reversals the right call to make to ensure safety?

i believe reusable bags should be allowed in stores, despite the pandemic. at trader joe’s, for example, the bag tax was recently reinstated temporarily suspending it. they are also allowing customers to bring their own reusable bags if they bag their items themselves. following that precedent, while sanitizing check out counters after the presence of reusable bags, should maintain a level of safety that still follows the initiatives set before the pandemic, both in d.c. and nationwide. the pandemic shouldn’t derail the environmental progress made in the last decade — we don’t have to choose between our own safety and the safety of the anacostia.

hosted by frank sesno, healthy you: surviving a pandemic is a co-production of the george washington university milken institute school of public health and the school of media and public affairs.

global warming may make infectious diseases such as covid-19 more widespread, warn health and climate experts. they say increasing temperatures are changing disease progression and interaction among people in ways that make it hard to predict and prepare for future public health crises.

with 2020 tied with 2016 for the warmest year on record and covid-19 topping 400,000 deaths in the u.s., climate change and public health are both at crisis points and inextricably linked. nasa scientists report that rising temperatures are part of the long-term trend of global warming, resulting in more droughts and heat waves, more intense and frequent hurricanes, and increased flooding and infrastructure damage.

“all of those things are being affected by the changes in climate, so the net effect of those is quite hard to predict ahead of time,” said gavin schmidt, director of nasa’s goddard institute for space studies, in a press webinar on 2020 temperature rise.

the warming climate is also affecting disease progression. schmidt said diseases carried by hosts that are sensitive to temperature — mosquitoes, parasites or other organisms such as bats — will shift, making people more vulnerable to unknown diseases in the future.

these diseases may be spread more rapidly as people congregate in warmer weather. but colder weather is posing challenges as well. in the case of covid-19, the winter season has made it likelier that people congregate indoors, where the virus is more easily transmitted to others.

“coronaviruses are spread person to person, so the way that climate change is going to affect the spread of infectious diseases such as the covid-19 virus is really how it changes the way people interact,” said dr. robert horsburgh, professor of epidemiology at boston university and founding steering committee chairman of the cdc’s tuberculosis epidemiologic studies 2022年世界杯亚洲预选赛结果 .

horsburgh said deforestation and habitat destruction, accelerated by climate change, may expose more people to zoonotic diseases (those that pass from animals or insects to humans). human expansion into natural areas increases interaction between people and pathogen-carrying animals.

at the same time, biodiversity loss poses challenges for antibiotic development to protect against new diseases. the world wildlife fund’s 2020 living planet report found a nearly 70% decline in the population sizes of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish between 1970 and 2016. one in five plants are now threatened with extinction.

“we don’t know what we’ve missed,” he said. “many of our effective biologicals come from plant sources … so there’s certainly a theoretical possibility that by changing the environment, we will lose some possible antibiotics in the future.”

responding quickly is key. in his first few hours in office wednesday, president joe biden signed a series of executive orders, including rejoining the paris agreement for international cooperation to curtail climate change and mandating mask-wearing on federal property. the day one directives promise more aggressive action by the biden administration to combat the covid-19 pandemic and climate change.

but there is a lag in the effect human corrective activity will have on environmental recovery. the rollback of protective measures under former president donald trump, together with the delay of international negotiations due to covid-19, will continue to have serious public health consequences.

“i’ve been saying for years that we’re not spending enough time to try to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, and perhaps the covid epidemic has been a wake-up call,” horsburgh said. “we need to be vigilant about looking out for the next epidemic — and it won’t be a coronavirus. it’ll be something that we never expected. that’s what’s hardest to prevent: something that you don’t expect.”