Clients in the News – February 2015

• In an article in the International Business Times, Connor Adams Sheets asks, “Why Is Ebola Outbreak In West Africa So Difficult To End?” World Hope International CEO John Lyon gives his opinion, based on the organization’s firsthand experience in Sierra Leone—ground zero for the epidemic: “I think we are still under-resourced to tackle the problem, we still don’t have enough beds to tackle the patients when they come in, and I think that’s a major problem to fully quelling the outbreak. Then there’s ancillary things around that. For instance, we’re working on a program to move discharged patients from our Ebola treatment centers, to move more people in and make sure the beds are being used efficiently.” To learn more about WHI’s critical on-the-ground efforts to stop the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, visit its website.
• Music lovers will be glad to hear that the National Trust for Historic Preservation just added Music Row in Nashville to its National Treasures list. NTHP chose the iconic heart of country music for this honor and protection “because of its central importance to Nashville’s identity as Music City and the strong desire to preserve it as a cornerstone of America’s cultural and music heritage.” You can read more about this designation in the Nashville Business Journal and learn how NTHP works to protect our national treasures on the organization’s website.
• Chesapeake Bay Foundation President Will Baker recently wrote a compelling Washington Post op-ed, “A Manure Solution for the Chesapeake Bay,” in which he describes how agriculture is the largest source of pollution to the Bay and its rivers and streams. Specifically, farmers are over-applying manure fertilizers, which then run off and severely pollute waterways. Baker offers commonsense solutions to this problem, some of them legislative, in just in time for the 21st annual Environmental Legislative Summit, which took place in Annapolis on February 3. Attendees heard from top Maryland legislative leaders and advocates about the environmental priorities for the 2015 General Assembly session.
• Farm Sanctuary’s Acton shelter held a heartwarming Valentine’s Day event on February 14. “Come celebrate and experience the transformative power of love,” the Sanctuary said in its invitation. “Whether you join us as an individual or with some of the people you love, this will be a fun time to share hugs with our animal residents and watch them give love to one another.” The day of fun included stories about some of the Sanctuary’s “valentines”—special pairs and groups of animal friends at the Acton shelter. 
• Any chance you’ll be visiting the Galapagos Islands in February? If so, you could attend the Galapagos Conservancy’s International Workshop on Marine Bioinvasions of Tropical Island Ecosystems, February 24-27 at the Charles Darwin Research Station in Puerto Ayora. Contact inti.keith@fc.darwin.org.ec for more information about the workshop. Or visit GC’s website to learn more about the monitoring project it is undertaking with the Charles Darwin Foundation to identify and eradicate well-established invasive species in the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR)—including two species of algae, a crab, a starfish, and two species of plant-like animals that resemble ferns and mosses. The goal of this project is to ensure the long-term conservation of the GMR by minimizing the negative impacts of invasive species on marine biodiversity and the ecosystem.