Skip to main content

Natural Awakenings Central New Jersey

Palo-Santo-Candles

Scientists Confront Academic Racism

Stop Systemic Racism

MkzqWlAu/Storyblocks.com

Nearly 6,000 scientists signed a pledge to #ShutDownSTEM on June 10, the day of the Strike for Black Lives across higher education. (STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math.) They canceled lab meetings, halted research projects and actively confronted perceived racism in their institutions in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Particles for Justice physics collective members Brian Nord and Chanda Prescod-Weinstein helped develop the idea for the strike. They called on university science departments, national laboratories and all others engaged in scientific endeavors to stop business as usual for that one day.

The aim was educating themselves and their colleagues about the role of their own institutions in perpetuating white supremacy and creating concrete actions they could take to reduce anti-Black bias after the strike. According to the Pew Research Center, only 24 percent of college faculty members were nonwhite as of 2017, and a study published in the March edition of the journal BioScience found that Black, Latino, Native American and other underrepresented scholars account for only 9 percent of faculty members in STEM fields.
In-Print education National Content Global Brief Global and Health Briefs November 2020
Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

Upcoming Events Near You
Follow Us On Facebook