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People caused most of California's wildfires over the past 30 years
The vast majority of the more than 250,000 wildfires that blazed through California over the past three decades were caused by people.
Why it matters: With climate change increasing wildfire risk in the West, fires can quickly spread, destroy property and become deadly.
- Changing human behavior could help reduce the devastating threat.
By the numbers: About 86% of wildfires in California between 1992 and 2020 were spurred by human activity, burning 63 acres on average, U.S. Forest Service analysis of wildfire data found.
- Meanwhile, Cal Fire officials say 95% of fires are human-caused currently.
Of note: Lightning strikes accounted for the other fires with known causes, mostly in the northeastern and mountainous parts of the state that border Nevada.
- Lightning strikes were behind California's largest fires, which took place in August 2020, burning more than 2 million acres combined — that's about three-quarters of the size of San Diego County.
Details: The top three human activities known to have led to these blazes were from equipment and vehicles, arson and debris burning, the data shows.
- That includes accidental incidents and neglect, such as leaving a campfire unattended or a malfunctioning catalytic converter spitting a molten substance out of an exhaust pipe.
Between the lines: While firearms and explosives caused 0.2% of wildfires, they led to the largest human-caused blazes, at 380 acres on average.
The big picture: This summer's extreme weather and simultaneous climate disasters are the new reality across North America with unprecedented wildfires, heat waves and storms.
Zoom in: Five wildfires in San Diego County have burned nearly 800 acres so far this year, with three this month.
- The Coyote Fire that burned over 460 acres last week and forced evacuations around Potrero was contained with help from Tropical Storm Hilary.
What they're saying: The San Diego area is particularly fire-prone and susceptible to destructive blazes, partly because there's a lot of rural land in East County, Cal Fire Capt. Mike Cornette told Axios.
- With houses and brush intermixed, it's "more difficult to get in there and defend those homes."
- "And then we get the seasonal Santa Ana winds that can spread those fires very quickly and sometimes outpace firefighters," he said.
Be smart: To help prevent fires, do yard work and agricultural burns with the right tools and avoid hot, dry, windy weather.
More San Diego stories
No stories could be found
Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios San Diego.
|
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People caused most of California's wildfires over the past 30 years
The vast majority of the more than 250,000 wildfires that blazed through California over the past three decades were caused by people.
Why it matters: With climate change increasing wildfire risk in the West, fires can quickly spread, destroy property and become deadly.
- Changing human behavior could help reduce the devastating threat.
By the numbers: About 86% of wildfires in California between 1992 and 2020 were spurred by human activity, burning 63 acres on average, U.S. Forest Service analysis of wildfire data found.
- Meanwhile, Cal Fire officials say 95% of fires are human-caused currently.
Of note: Lightning strikes accounted for the other fires with known causes, mostly in the northeastern and mountainous parts of the state that border Nevada.
- Lightning strikes were behind California's largest fires, which took place in August 2020, burning more than 2 million acres combined — that's about three-quarters of the size of San Diego County.
Details: The top three human activities known to have led to these blazes were from equipment and vehicles, arson and debris burning, the data shows.
- That includes accidental incidents and neglect, such as leaving a campfire unattended or a malfunctioning catalytic converter spitting a molten substance out of an exhaust pipe.
Between the lines: While firearms and explosives caused 0.2% of wildfires, they led to the largest human-caused blazes, at 380 acres on average.
The big picture: This summer's extreme weather and simultaneous climate disasters are the new reality across North America with unprecedented wildfires, heat waves and storms.
Zoom in: Five wildfires in San Diego County have burned nearly 800 acres so far this year, with three this month.
- The Coyote Fire that burned over 460 acres last week and forced evacuations around Potrero was contained with help from Tropical Storm Hilary.
What they're saying: The San Diego area is particularly fire-prone and susceptible to destructive blazes, partly because there's a lot of rural land in East County, Cal Fire Capt. Mike Cornette told Axios.
- With houses and brush intermixed, it's "more difficult to get in there and defend those homes."
- "And then we get the seasonal Santa Ana winds that can spread those fires very quickly
|
and sometimes outpace firefighters," he said.
Be smart: To help prevent fires, do yard work and agricultural burns with the right tools and avoid hot, dry, windy weather.
More San Diego stories
No stories could be found
Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios San Diego.
|
Record-setting U.S. heat dome places 126 million under alerts
Editor's note: Read the latest on this record heat wave here.
About 126 million people were under heat alerts Wednesday, as an "extremely dangerous" heat dome lingers over a major swath of the Midwest, South and Southwest.
The big picture: The heat dome's intensity is setting records dating back to at least 1950.
- The strength of this heat dome appears to be beating one that occurred during August 1936, which was in the midst of the notorious "Dust Bowl." (That's despite producing somewhat lower temperatures at the surface this year.)
State of play: The "searing" heat that saw over 100 new records set or tied on Monday alone "will persist across a widespread region spanning from the Central to Southeast U.S. this week," per a National Weather Service (NWS) forecast discussion Wednesday morning.
- Excessive heat warnings, watches and advisories have been issued for 17 states, from Minnesota to Louisiana.
- Multiple major cities with populations above 500,000 people were under extreme heat alerts — including Chicago, Dallas, Twin Cities, Kansas City, Louisville, Nashville and Oklahoma City.
- Millions of people face dangerous heat indices or "feels like" values of 110°F to 120°F or higher on Wednesday and will continue to see them throughout this week, increasing the risk of developing heat illness, which can be deadly.
- Among the worst-affected areas for these high indices was Chicago, where students have this week returned to school.
- In Oklahoma, one observing site in the northeastern part of the state recorded an all-time highest heat index record of 127°F on Monday.
- And in Lawrence, Kansas, the heat index hit 134°F Sunday after the air temperature reached 102°F.
- St. Louis, Missouri, saw a heat index of 115°F on Sunday, which has only happened 14 times before, according to the NWS.
Of note: Overnight minimum temperatures have been staying unusually high in many areas, preventing people from getting some relief.
- In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for example, the overnight minimum temperature of 81°F early Tuesday tied the record for the hottest such temperature on record, per the NWS.
Threat level: The NWS said in a Wednesday morning forecast discussion that the "searing" heat wave would continue this week "underneath a potent, potentially record breaking upper-level ridge anchored over the Mid-Mississippi Valley, which will drive oppressive heat from the Central to Southeast U.S."
- High temperatures throughout these areas were forecast to hit the "upper 90s and low 100s each day" through the end of the work week.
Yes, but: "When factoring in brutal humidity levels, maximum heat indices could approach 120 degrees," the NWS noted.
- "While it is not uncommon for August to feature dangerous heat, these temperatures are extremely anomalous and likely to break numerous daily and potentially monthly records."
Meanwhile, "very warm overnight temperatures only dropping into the upper 70s and low 80s will compound the impacts associated with this potentially deadly heat wave."
- It tests the limits of power infrastructure nationwide as people turn to air conditioning for cooling, triggering energy demand spikes that raise the potential of brownouts, rolling blackouts or total blackouts.
Zoom out: Over the past 14 days in the U.S. there were at least 3,836 EMS activations in response to heat-related illnesses, including 11 that involved a heat-related death, according to a new federal system for tracking heat sickness.
- The top jurisdictions with the highest rate of heat-EMS activations within that period were Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Oregon, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada and North Carolina, respectively.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.
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Record-setting U.S. heat dome places 126 million under alerts
Editor's note: Read the latest on this record heat wave here.
About 126 million people were under heat alerts Wednesday, as an "extremely dangerous" heat dome lingers over a major swath of the Midwest, South and Southwest.
The big picture: The heat dome's intensity is setting records dating back to at least 1950.
- The strength of this heat dome appears to be beating one that occurred during August 1936, which was in the midst of the notorious "Dust Bowl." (That's despite producing somewhat lower temperatures at the surface this year.)
State of play: The "searing" heat that saw over 100 new records set or tied on Monday alone "will persist across a widespread region spanning from the Central to Southeast U.S. this week," per a National Weather Service (NWS) forecast discussion Wednesday morning.
- Excessive heat warnings, watches and advisories have been issued for 17 states, from Minnesota to Louisiana.
- Multiple major cities with populations above 500,000 people were under extreme heat alerts — including Chicago, Dallas, Twin Cities, Kansas City, Louisville, Nashville and Oklahoma City.
- Millions of people face dangerous heat indices or "feels like" values of 110°F to 120°F or higher on Wednesday and will continue to see them throughout this week, increasing the risk of developing heat illness, which can be deadly.
- Among the worst-affected areas for these high indices was Chicago, where students have this week returned to school.
- In Oklahoma, one observing site in the northeastern part of the state recorded an all-time highest heat index record of 127°F on Monday.
- And in Lawrence, Kansas, the heat index hit 134°F Sunday after the air temperature reached 102°F.
- St. Louis, Missouri, saw a heat index of 115°F on Sunday, which has only happened 14 times before, according to the NWS.
Of note: Overnight minimum temperatures have been staying unusually high in many areas, preventing people from getting some relief.
- In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for example, the overnight minimum temperature of 81°F early Tuesday tied the record for the hottest such temperature on record, per the NWS.
Threat level:
|
The NWS said in a Wednesday morning forecast discussion that the "searing" heat wave would continue this week "underneath a potent, potentially record breaking upper-level ridge anchored over the Mid-Mississippi Valley, which will drive oppressive heat from the Central to Southeast U.S."
- High temperatures throughout these areas were forecast to hit the "upper 90s and low 100s each day" through the end of the work week.
Yes, but: "When factoring in brutal humidity levels, maximum heat indices could approach 120 degrees," the NWS noted.
- "While it is not uncommon for August to feature dangerous heat, these temperatures are extremely anomalous and likely to break numerous daily and potentially monthly records."
Meanwhile, "very warm overnight temperatures only dropping into the upper 70s and low 80s will compound the impacts associated with this potentially deadly heat wave."
- It tests the limits of power infrastructure nationwide as people turn to air conditioning for cooling, triggering energy demand spikes that raise the potential of brownouts, rolling blackouts or total blackouts.
Zoom out: Over the past 14 days in the U.S. there were at least 3,836 EMS activations in response to heat-related illnesses, including 11 that involved a heat-related death, according to a new federal system for tracking heat sickness.
- The top jurisdictions with the highest rate of heat-EMS activations within that period were Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Oregon, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada and North Carolina, respectively.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.
|
MSU professor, NASA team, discover new planet that could sustain life
EAST LANSING — After more than a year of extra-stellar detective work, a Michigan State University professor has helped NASA confirm the existence of a new planet about 100 light years away that could be capable of supporting life.
The newly confirmed planet, TOI-700e, is the third discovered in the TOI-700 solar system by Joey Rodriguez, an assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, and a team of researchers working with NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, a space-based telescope that observes millions of stars and looks for planets passing in front of the stars.
The team announced the discovery Tuesday at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle. In 2020, Rodriguez and his team first confirmed the existence of the TOI-700 solar system and at the time confirmed the existence of three planets — TOI-700b, TOI-700c, and TOI-700d. But there was some indication that there could be a fourth planet, Rodriguez said.
After another year of observation and studying the TOI-700 star, researchers were able to confirm TOI-700e, the solar system’s fourth-known planet. Because of TOI-700e's location within the star’s habitable zone, Rodriguez and his team believe the newly discovered planet could be capable of supporting life.
“We don’t know a ton about the planet,” Rodriguez said on Friday. “We know how big it is. We know how far away from the star it is. We know how long its year is. It’s at a distance where the energy of the star … that it should be at the temperature for liquid water to exist.”
Liquid water is a crucial ingredient needed to sustain life on a planet, he said, and TOI-700e sits at a distance in proximity to the solar system’s star to where the liquid water could be possible.
One way scientists can confirm their suspicions that the planet can indeed sustain life is by studying the planet’s atmosphere, pressure and looking for biological signatures, like oxygen or other molecules that could confirm that conditions exist on the planet that would allow for life.
It’s an issue Rodriguez expects will be debated for decades. Even if a biological signature is identified in the planet’s atmosphere, which is very difficult to determine, some chemical signatures could be explained by non-biological sources, according to the press release.
“We need to look for the evidence that there’s the right biology on the planet (to conclude that it could sustain life),” Rodriguez said.
Researchers also suspect that TOI-700d could be capable of sustaining life because it too orbits within the star’s habitable zone. Rodriguez compared the two newly discovered planets to Earth and Venus — TOI-700d sits in a similar proximity to its star as Earth does to the sun, and TOI-700e sits similar to where Venus is on the edge of the habitable zone.
There are no signs that the solar system is home to any more planets that have yet to be discovered, but Rodriguez didn’t rule out the possibility as researchers continue to study the TOI-700 system.
“This is one of only a few systems with multiple, small, habitable-zone planets that we know of,” said Emily Gilbert, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, who is leading the project, in a press release. “That makes the TOI-700 system an exciting prospect for additional follow-up.”
Neither humans nor satellites will be traveling anywhere close to the new planet any time soon. The technology needed for a 100-light year trip does not yet exist, Rodriguez said, but that won’t keep him and the team of researchers from continuing to study the solar system and the planets they’ve discovered.
Rodriguez, who has been doing this work for 12 years, hopes there are more planets to find.
“There’s so much parameter space and places where planets could exist,” he said. “We’ll probably find more things, but they’ll be more difficult to discover.”
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MSU professor, NASA team, discover new planet that could sustain life
EAST LANSING — After more than a year of extra-stellar detective work, a Michigan State University professor has helped NASA confirm the existence of a new planet about 100 light years away that could be capable of supporting life.
The newly confirmed planet, TOI-700e, is the third discovered in the TOI-700 solar system by Joey Rodriguez, an assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, and a team of researchers working with NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, a space-based telescope that observes millions of stars and looks for planets passing in front of the stars.
The team announced the discovery Tuesday at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle. In 2020, Rodriguez and his team first confirmed the existence of the TOI-700 solar system and at the time confirmed the existence of three planets — TOI-700b, TOI-700c, and TOI-700d. But there was some indication that there could be a fourth planet, Rodriguez said.
After another year of observation and studying the TOI-700 star, researchers were able to confirm TOI-700e, the solar system’s fourth-known planet. Because of TOI-700e's location within the star’s habitable zone, Rodriguez and his team believe the newly discovered planet could be capable of supporting life.
“We don’t know a ton about the planet,” Rodriguez said on Friday. “We know how big it is. We know how far away from the star it is. We know how long its year is. It’s at a distance where the energy of the star … that it should be at the temperature for liquid water to exist.”
Liquid water is a crucial ingredient needed to sustain life on a planet, he said, and TOI-700e sits at a distance in proximity to the solar system’s star to where the liquid water could be possible.
One way scientists can confirm their suspicions that the planet can indeed sustain life is by studying the planet’s atmosphere, pressure and looking for biological signatures, like oxygen or other molecules that could confirm that conditions exist on the planet that would allow for life.
It’s an issue Rodriguez expects will be debated for decades. Even if a biological signature is identified in the planet’s atmosphere, which is very difficult to determine, some chemical signatures could be explained
|
by non-biological sources, according to the press release.
“We need to look for the evidence that there’s the right biology on the planet (to conclude that it could sustain life),” Rodriguez said.
Researchers also suspect that TOI-700d could be capable of sustaining life because it too orbits within the star’s habitable zone. Rodriguez compared the two newly discovered planets to Earth and Venus — TOI-700d sits in a similar proximity to its star as Earth does to the sun, and TOI-700e sits similar to where Venus is on the edge of the habitable zone.
There are no signs that the solar system is home to any more planets that have yet to be discovered, but Rodriguez didn’t rule out the possibility as researchers continue to study the TOI-700 system.
“This is one of only a few systems with multiple, small, habitable-zone planets that we know of,” said Emily Gilbert, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, who is leading the project, in a press release. “That makes the TOI-700 system an exciting prospect for additional follow-up.”
Neither humans nor satellites will be traveling anywhere close to the new planet any time soon. The technology needed for a 100-light year trip does not yet exist, Rodriguez said, but that won’t keep him and the team of researchers from continuing to study the solar system and the planets they’ve discovered.
Rodriguez, who has been doing this work for 12 years, hopes there are more planets to find.
“There’s so much parameter space and places where planets could exist,” he said. “We’ll probably find more things, but they’ll be more difficult to discover.”
|
The city of Boston has collected more than 1 million artifacts through its Archaeology Program over the past 40 years. Those artifacts — and the process of preserving them — is being done at Boston's newly re-opened Archaeology Lab.
Radio Boston visited the lab to see some of the collection. City archaeologist Joe Bagley and Rev. Mariama White Hammond, Boston's chief of environment, energy and open space, joined us for the conversation.
As part of the tour, Bagley and Hammond showed Radio Boston three artifacts pulled from the archives. They included a cowrie shell, a necklace, and the oldest artifact ever found to date in Boston.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
On centering people and purpose in archeology:
Joe Bagley: "We have a saying here that 'It's not about the stuff, it's about the story.' And archaeologists know a lot about what these things are and some of the story, but the story is really only completed when other people have a chance to actually look at it and interpret what we're finding. Because, to me, a ceramic shard can tell me about dates and locations of where trade was happening. But to a ceramicist, they could tell me about what kind of techniques are being used or what kind of technology went into actually firing those pot shirts.
And even today, an artist could look at those same things and then turn them into new art. And so I think that what we're trying to do here is get everything to the point where we have completed what we can say about the story and it can now go out and so more people can add to that story."
"These things come from places and the places are part of that story. It's not just a toothbrush. A toothbrush that was found at the factory where they're made has a totally different story than a toothbrush found in an outhouse at a brothel."
On reckoning with the city's past with slavery:
Rev. Mariama White Hammond: "We have an image of ourselves in Boston as abolitionists, but we have not had accurate understandings of how many enslaved people did live here and contributed to the building of this city ... The team spent lots of time ... to pull out the names of over 2,000 [enslaved residents.] Many of them who are named and some of whom are not ... I knew that there were enslaved people in the city, but I didn't know the extent of how many, nor did I really understand their contributions nor their names."
"One of the things that they discovered is that there were two enslaved potters who were contributing to ceramics in Charlestown. And the question is, 'What was their story? And where did they come from?'"
"One of the reasons we have you out here and wanted to do this is that more people need to know there is power in these artifacts. There is healing in these artifacts. There are tough conversations in these artifacts, but we need to have them. And I believe our city will be richer and better if more of us are leaning in and interacting with this material, even if sometimes it's hard."
On the oldest artifact in the city's collection:
Joe Bagley: "If you looked at Boston's history as a hundred foot long timeline, 1630 happens in the last three feet. So the vast majority of the story that we know of the place we now call Boston happened before 1630. And so one of the things that we've been really trying to make sure is talked about and heard is, is the story of the native community in Boston. In working with the community, we've been asked to use the term 'creation' instead of artifact to keep the humanity of the person that made these things in the storytelling of it."
"This is the base of a spear point or a knife of some kind. It broke probably around the time that it was made ... it became part of the ground and was found during the 1980s during a dig to build some lighting projects in the [Boston] Common ... this is between 5,500 and 7,500 years old. So that means that when this was being made, there were no pyramids in Egypt. There was no Stonehenge. But there were people in Boston living here. And on that 100-foot timeline of the human history of Boston, this is only halfway down. So we still have 5,000 years of history in Boston where we know people are here."
On working with indigenous groups and the changing role of archeology:
Joe Bagley: "Archaeology is an inherently colonial act. Archaeologists, especially back in the day, were like, 'I have every right to go wherever I want and to dig up whatever I'm interested in learning about, regardless of whether people think it should or shouldn't be dug up.' And we're really trying to go back to square one and fundamentally question archaeology: What is archaeology? What should archaeology be?
"Now we have policies where we only dig if there's something going to happen to the site [and] we're working with the tribe to come up with a plan together ... my goal is to more or less make a new archaeology that says when you're doing archaeology of Native things, Native time periods, you're doing that with the Native community. Answering their questions and doing what they ultimately want done with those things if it means putting them right back. Okay. If that means turning them over to the tribe afterwards for curation. Great. But archaeology is now needing to become more of a technical service that can answer questions that communities who's stuff we're digging up actually have, and not just, I'm digging it up because I want to know the story."
This segment aired on January 8, 2024.
|
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The city of Boston has collected more than 1 million artifacts through its Archaeology Program over the past 40 years. Those artifacts — and the process of preserving them — is being done at Boston's newly re-opened Archaeology Lab.
Radio Boston visited the lab to see some of the collection. City archaeologist Joe Bagley and Rev. Mariama White Hammond, Boston's chief of environment, energy and open space, joined us for the conversation.
As part of the tour, Bagley and Hammond showed Radio Boston three artifacts pulled from the archives. They included a cowrie shell, a necklace, and the oldest artifact ever found to date in Boston.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
On centering people and purpose in archeology:
Joe Bagley: "We have a saying here that 'It's not about the stuff, it's about the story.' And archaeologists know a lot about what these things are and some of the story, but the story is really only completed when other people have a chance to actually look at it and interpret what we're finding. Because, to me, a ceramic shard can tell me about dates and locations of where trade was happening. But to a ceramicist, they could tell me about what kind of techniques are being used or what kind of technology went into actually firing those pot shirts.
And even today, an artist could look at those same things and then turn them into new art. And so I think that what we're trying to do here is get everything to the point where we have completed what we can say about the story and it can now go out and so more people can add to that story."
"These things come from places and the places are part of that story. It's not just a toothbrush. A toothbrush that was found at the factory where they're made has a totally different story than a toothbrush found in an outhouse at a brothel."
On reckoning with the city's past with slavery:
Rev. Mariama White Hammond: "We have an image of ourselves in Boston as abolitionists, but we have not had accurate understandings of how many enslaved people did live here and contributed to the building of this city ... The team spent lots of time ... to pull out the names of over 2,000 [enslaved residents.] Many of them who are named and some of whom are not ... I knew that there were enslaved people in the city, but I didn't know the extent of how many, nor did
|
I really understand their contributions nor their names."
"One of the things that they discovered is that there were two enslaved potters who were contributing to ceramics in Charlestown. And the question is, 'What was their story? And where did they come from?'"
"One of the reasons we have you out here and wanted to do this is that more people need to know there is power in these artifacts. There is healing in these artifacts. There are tough conversations in these artifacts, but we need to have them. And I believe our city will be richer and better if more of us are leaning in and interacting with this material, even if sometimes it's hard."
On the oldest artifact in the city's collection:
Joe Bagley: "If you looked at Boston's history as a hundred foot long timeline, 1630 happens in the last three feet. So the vast majority of the story that we know of the place we now call Boston happened before 1630. And so one of the things that we've been really trying to make sure is talked about and heard is, is the story of the native community in Boston. In working with the community, we've been asked to use the term 'creation' instead of artifact to keep the humanity of the person that made these things in the storytelling of it."
"This is the base of a spear point or a knife of some kind. It broke probably around the time that it was made ... it became part of the ground and was found during the 1980s during a dig to build some lighting projects in the [Boston] Common ... this is between 5,500 and 7,500 years old. So that means that when this was being made, there were no pyramids in Egypt. There was no Stonehenge. But there were people in Boston living here. And on that 100-foot timeline of the human history of Boston, this is only halfway down. So we still have 5,000 years of history in Boston where we know people are here."
On working with indigenous groups and the changing role of archeology:
Joe Bagley: "Archaeology is an inherently colonial act. Archaeologists, especially back in the day, were like, 'I have every right to go wherever I want and to dig up whatever I'm interested in learning about, regardless of whether people think it should or shouldn't be dug up.' And we're really trying to go back to square one and fundamentally question archaeology: What is archaeology? What should archaeology be?
"Now we have policies where we only dig if there's something going to happen to the site [and] we're working with the tribe to come up with a plan together ... my goal is to more or less make a new archaeology that says when you're doing archaeology of Native things, Native time periods, you're doing that with the Native community. Answering their questions and doing what they ultimately want done with those things if it means putting them right back. Okay. If that means turning them over to the tribe afterwards for curation. Great. But archaeology is now needing to become more of a technical service that can answer questions that communities who's stuff we're digging up actually have, and not just, I'm digging it up because I want to know the story."
This segment aired on January 8, 2024.
|
Thousands of small satellites are being launched into the “lower orbit” of space, just above the stratosphere, by companies like SpaceX, OneWeb, Amazon’s proposed Project Kuiper and more — devices that can provide internet service among other uses. Because the number will soon reach many tens of thousands, concern is growing among atmospheric scientists about how they may harm the protective ozone layer that shields life on Earth from dangerous radiation from the sun.
Most of these low-earth-orbit satellites, sometimes called LEO constellations, are propelled by rockets that are fueled by kerosene. The satellites are mostly made of aluminum and contain numerous electronic parts, batteries, carbon fiber, epoxies and metals, including titanium, cadmium, lithium, nickel and cobalt — materials that may contribute to ozone depletion as they continuously disintegrate in space and descend into the stratosphere.
A recent report published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office said at least 5,500 such satellites are in orbit, but it also questioned why these systems are not subject to environmental scrutiny by the Federal Communications Commission, which licenses such systems in the United States, even as the agency is reviewing applications involving tens of thousands of new satellites.
The United States isn’t alone. In 2021, the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union received radio frequency applications for various systems worldwide that, if all approved, could total more than 1 million new LEO satellites.
In response to the GAO report, the FCC said its requirements for evaluating environmental concerns are based on the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 — which doesn’t cover these systems. “How NEPA applies to new activities in an outer space environment is a novel issue,” FCC spokesman Will Wiquist told The Post in an email.
Historically, there has been global concern over substances that destroy stratospheric ozone. In 1987, the historic Montreal Protocol greatly restricted the use of chlorofluorocarbons worldwide, after those chemicals, used since the 1920s for refrigeration, air-conditioning, foam and aerosol spray cans, were found to deplete ozone after rising into the stratosphere. Before that, similar concerns were raised in the 1970s regarding supersonic jets, such as the Concorde, which released ozone-destroying emissions directly into the stratosphere, where they flew.
Kerosene produces black carbon, commonly known as soot, which absorbs solar radiation, and would, in large emissions, exert a warming effect on the stratosphere, according to Christopher Maloney, a research scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“This stratospheric warming can in turn impact ozone chemistry,” Maloney told The Post. He recently published a paper on the topic along with fellow NOAA scientists Robert Portmann and Karen Rosenlof, and Martin Ross of the Aerospace Corp., a California-based nonprofit research facility.
The science “is very clear” that stratospheric black carbon emissions could lead to ozone depletion, said Ross, comparing the effect to a “thin black umbrella that shades the Earth’s surface and warms the stratosphere.”
While jet aircraft also use kerosene, Ross notes that soot from airplanes dissipates within a few weeks. But black carbon from rocket engines lasts years. Rockets also emit black carbon directly into the stratospheric ozone layer, whereas most jets fly lower in the stratosphere, below the ozone. Finally, Ross points out that rocket engines produce black carbon at much greater magnitude per kilogram of fuel burned than airplanes – up to a factor of 1,000.
“There is currently an estimated 1 gigagram (Gg) of black carbon emitted into the stratosphere from rockets every year,” said Maloney, “but by 2040, if space traffic increases as proposed, there could be as much as 10 Gg (10,000 metric tons) released per year.”
There’s also concern about emissions during reentry.
LEO satellites have a life span of about five years, yet little thought has been given to what happens during reentry.
“The end-of-life disposal mechanism for geosynchronous satellites is to put them in a graveyard orbit and not think about it,” said Ross. “The end-of-life disposal for these large, lower-orbit constellations is to dump them into the atmosphere.”
An estimated 50 to 90 percent of LEO satellites’ mass will disintegrate into an array of chemicals and metals. Aluminum breaks apart into alumina, which reflects sunlight. This too, could cause ozone loss, by creating a “white umbrella” that cools the Earth, and by providing surfaces for ozone-depleting chemistry to flourish, said Ross.
Scientists want to work with satellite companies to learn what components go into the devices so they can create models to test how the ozone might be affected by a mass amounts of other chemicals.
Meanwhile, satellites are not only exploding in quantity but in size.
John Janka, an executive with Viasat, a manufacturer of satellites and related components, said today’s satellites are eight times bigger than first-generation iterations just a few years ago, expanding from about 250 kilograms to more than 2,000 kg (4,400 pounds).
“This is a paradigm shift in the space industry unlike anything we’ve seen since the 1950s,” says Ross, the researcher from Aerospace. “Instead of a few, huge satellites in geosynchronous orbit, it’s going to become thousands of satellites in the lower orbit — 200 to 1,000 kilometers (124 to 621 miles) above the earth," Janka said. "Those of us who study how aviation affects the stratosphere have always assumed that launch is where the action is, but with these lower-orbit large constellations, reentry will be a larger source of emissions that are much more varied and will have greater potential for impacts. We need to start enlarging our point of view.”
In December, the FCC granted SpaceX conditional approval to “construct, deploy and operate” an initial 7,500 new satellites in a proposed constellation of nearly 30,000 satellites, on the condition that SpaceX takes steps to mitigate excessive “reflected sunlight,” an issue linked to “light pollution" rather than ozone depletion.
SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment. In FCC hearings, SpaceX said its constellations help the public by expanding broadband coverage to rural and underserved areas.
Another company, OneWeb, is also working on launching more satellites. A media representative for the communications firm pointed to its online pledge of responsible practices, which says in part, “OneWeb believes the space industry has a responsibility to work with governments, scientific communities, and enterprise to advance causes in connectivity that have transformational impact.”
Amid additional discussions — beyond ozone depletion and light pollution — about the potential for satellite collisions and crowded radio frequencies, the FCC also recently announced plans to create a new bureau to address spaceflight.
Andrew Von Ah, a director at GAO, predicts some satellite companies will resist government-imposed regulations regarding fuel emissions or components.
“It’s important to remember that space is not solely under the authority of the FCC,” he said. “These companies could go elsewhere to obtain licensing to launch. We want to have appropriate controls, but we don’t want to drive these companies to places where there will be no controls essentially.”
Janka, however, says Viasat welcomes more scientific assessment.
“We believe some governmental oversight is necessary,” he said, adding it’s in the industry’s own interest to address problems before a crisis might force a halt to satellite growth.
“It’s just like we’re trying to do with global warming,” Janka added. “How do we modify our behavior so we can live modern lives without unnecessarily damaging the earth? We’re not saying stop, we’re saying do it in a way that’s not harmful.”
Paul Newman, a NASA physicist and ozone expert, agrees an environmental impact study on low-orbit satellites is important.
“Ozone is that fundamental gas that we need to screen ultraviolet radiation,” he said. “You want to make sure that when you’re putting something into the stratosphere it’s not going to have a negative effect. We learned our lesson with chlorofluorocarbons. Ozone is so important you’d better be darned sure you’re doing the right thing.”
|
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Thousands of small satellites are being launched into the “lower orbit” of space, just above the stratosphere, by companies like SpaceX, OneWeb, Amazon’s proposed Project Kuiper and more — devices that can provide internet service among other uses. Because the number will soon reach many tens of thousands, concern is growing among atmospheric scientists about how they may harm the protective ozone layer that shields life on Earth from dangerous radiation from the sun.
Most of these low-earth-orbit satellites, sometimes called LEO constellations, are propelled by rockets that are fueled by kerosene. The satellites are mostly made of aluminum and contain numerous electronic parts, batteries, carbon fiber, epoxies and metals, including titanium, cadmium, lithium, nickel and cobalt — materials that may contribute to ozone depletion as they continuously disintegrate in space and descend into the stratosphere.
A recent report published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office said at least 5,500 such satellites are in orbit, but it also questioned why these systems are not subject to environmental scrutiny by the Federal Communications Commission, which licenses such systems in the United States, even as the agency is reviewing applications involving tens of thousands of new satellites.
The United States isn’t alone. In 2021, the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union received radio frequency applications for various systems worldwide that, if all approved, could total more than 1 million new LEO satellites.
In response to the GAO report, the FCC said its requirements for evaluating environmental concerns are based on the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 — which doesn’t cover these systems. “How NEPA applies to new activities in an outer space environment is a novel issue,” FCC spokesman Will Wiquist told The Post in an email.
Historically, there has been global concern over substances that destroy stratospheric ozone. In 1987, the historic Montreal Protocol greatly restricted the use of chlorofluorocarbons worldwide, after those chemicals, used since the 1920s for refrigeration, air-conditioning, foam and aerosol spray cans, were found to deplete ozone after rising into the stratosphere. Before that, similar concerns were raised in the 1970s regarding supersonic jets, such as the Concorde, which released ozone-destroying emissions directly into the stratosphere, where they flew.
Kerosene produces black carbon, commonly known as soot, which absorbs solar radiation, and would
|
, in large emissions, exert a warming effect on the stratosphere, according to Christopher Maloney, a research scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“This stratospheric warming can in turn impact ozone chemistry,” Maloney told The Post. He recently published a paper on the topic along with fellow NOAA scientists Robert Portmann and Karen Rosenlof, and Martin Ross of the Aerospace Corp., a California-based nonprofit research facility.
The science “is very clear” that stratospheric black carbon emissions could lead to ozone depletion, said Ross, comparing the effect to a “thin black umbrella that shades the Earth’s surface and warms the stratosphere.”
While jet aircraft also use kerosene, Ross notes that soot from airplanes dissipates within a few weeks. But black carbon from rocket engines lasts years. Rockets also emit black carbon directly into the stratospheric ozone layer, whereas most jets fly lower in the stratosphere, below the ozone. Finally, Ross points out that rocket engines produce black carbon at much greater magnitude per kilogram of fuel burned than airplanes – up to a factor of 1,000.
“There is currently an estimated 1 gigagram (Gg) of black carbon emitted into the stratosphere from rockets every year,” said Maloney, “but by 2040, if space traffic increases as proposed, there could be as much as 10 Gg (10,000 metric tons) released per year.”
There’s also concern about emissions during reentry.
LEO satellites have a life span of about five years, yet little thought has been given to what happens during reentry.
“The end-of-life disposal mechanism for geosynchronous satellites is to put them in a graveyard orbit and not think about it,” said Ross. “The end-of-life disposal for these large, lower-orbit constellations is to dump them into the atmosphere.”
An estimated 50 to 90 percent of LEO satellites’ mass will disintegrate into an array of chemicals and metals. Aluminum breaks apart into alumina, which reflects sunlight. This too, could cause ozone loss, by creating a “white umbrella” that cools the Earth, and by providing surfaces for ozone-depleting chemistry to flourish, said Ross.
Scientists want to work with satellite companies to learn what components go into the devices so they can create models to test how the ozone might be affected by a mass amounts of other chemicals.
Meanwhile, satellites are not only exploding in quantity but in size.
John Janka, an executive with Viasat, a manufacturer of satellites and related components, said today’s satellites are eight times bigger than first-generation iterations just a few years ago, expanding from about 250 kilograms to more than 2,000 kg (4,400 pounds).
“This is a paradigm shift in the space industry unlike anything we’ve seen since the 1950s,” says Ross, the researcher from Aerospace. “Instead of a few, huge satellites in geosynchronous orbit, it’s going to become thousands of satellites in the lower orbit — 200 to 1,000 kilometers (124 to 621 miles) above the earth," Janka said. "Those of us who study how aviation affects the stratosphere have always assumed that launch is where the action is, but with these lower-orbit large constellations, reentry will be a larger source of emissions that are much more varied and will have greater potential for impacts. We need to start enlarging our point of view.”
In December, the FCC granted SpaceX conditional approval to “construct, deploy and operate” an initial 7,500 new satellites in a proposed constellation of nearly 30,000 satellites, on the condition that SpaceX takes steps to mitigate excessive “reflected sunlight,” an issue linked to “light pollution" rather than ozone depletion.
SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment. In FCC hearings, SpaceX said its constellations help the public by expanding broadband coverage to rural and underserved areas.
Another company, OneWeb, is also working on launching more satellites. A media representative for the communications firm pointed to its online pledge of responsible practices, which says in part, “OneWeb believes the space industry has a responsibility to work with governments, scientific communities, and enterprise to advance causes in connectivity that have transformational impact.”
Amid additional discussions — beyond ozone depletion and light pollution — about the potential for satellite collisions and crowded radio frequencies, the FCC also recently announced plans to create a new bureau to address spaceflight.
Andrew Von Ah, a director at GAO, predicts some satellite companies will resist government-imposed regulations regarding fuel emissions or components.
“It’s important to remember that space is not solely under the authority of the FCC,” he said. “These companies could go elsewhere to obtain licensing to launch. We want to have appropriate controls, but we don’t want to drive these companies to places where there will be no controls essentially.”
Janka, however, says Viasat welcomes more scientific assessment.
“We believe some governmental oversight is necessary,” he said, adding it’s in the industry’s own interest to address problems before a crisis might force a halt to satellite growth.
“It’s just like we’re trying to do with global warming,” Janka added. “How do we modify our behavior so we can live modern lives without unnecessarily damaging the earth? We’re not saying stop, we’re saying do it in a way that’s not harmful.”
Paul Newman, a NASA physicist and ozone expert, agrees an environmental impact study on low-orbit satellites is important.
“Ozone is that fundamental gas that we need to screen ultraviolet radiation,” he said. “You want to make sure that when you’re putting something into the stratosphere it’s not going to have a negative effect. We learned our lesson with chlorofluorocarbons. Ozone is so important you’d better be darned sure you’re doing the right thing.”
|
It can be annoying to fail. However, it may also encourage you to view issues differently. Fresh approaches also result from this new viewpoint. Great ideas frequently come to mind when there is a specific issue, or when something has failed. Failure can act as a catalyst for advancement if the failure itself motivates you to discover a solution.
Consider the ATM, which was invented as a result of John Shephard-Barron forgetting to pick up some cash from the bank one day. In other words, he was unable to pay his bills on time. However, his failure led to the invention of a brand-new remedy: a cash dispenser that is operational after bank hours.
Failure is a technique to fine-tune complex processes in addition to sparking the development of new solutions, as it enables us to identify the elements of a problem. It is more difficult to fine-tune a process the more sophisticated it is. It is more difficult to pinpoint exactly what went wrong when things are complex.
Say you want to contribute to enhancing education across the African continent. How can you tell if your assistance is having an impact? Since there are too many variables involved, relying solely on grades to provide information is insufficient.
However, it becomes simpler to identify which tactics are effective and then use them on a larger scale by allowing oneself to fail on a small scale. For instance, a group of economists in Kenya wished to raise the standard of the neighborhood schools. They began by keeping track of the grades at various schools and experimenting with different strategies to see if they might raise test scores.
Their initial suggestion was to distribute free textbooks. They soon realized, however, that schools that were not given this assistance performed just as well. So they tried a variety of various strategies. De-worming medication was the final answer they found, and it actually helped raise grades. This kind of small-scale solution can then be tried on a larger scale.
It is not sufficient to know in your head that failure is useful if you want to fully benefit from it. Additionally, you must have a good rapport with it. You will wind up failing more than required if you can’t manage failure or if you choose to avoid it.
In fact, people who are afraid of failing may put up unneeded obstacles to their achievement. For instance, the author remembers several of his classmates who used to go out partying the night before exams since they were the “popular kids.” These pupils chose to take measures to lessen the sting of probable failure because they were so terrified of falling short of expectations. Everything was alright if they performed well on the test. However, if they ended up failing, they might put it down to their drinking binge.
This is obviously a horrible strategy for development. In order to grow, you must be willing to fail and accept responsibility for that failure since it is a great teacher. But if you’re unwilling to listen, no teacher in the entire world can help you.
Spending time and effort reflecting on your errors is the key to learning from failure. Unfortunately, most would prefer to ignore their mistakes than to admit them. This is a serious issue since how we respond to failure typically determines how successful we are.
An experiment conducted by a group of psychologists from Michigan State University provides proof of this. Children who felt they were born brilliant and those who believed they might become smarter with work were split into two groups for the experiment.
Each group had assignments that got harder as they went along, with the intention of making the kids fail. The results of the experiment showed that kids who thought they could become better were able to utilize their mistakes as a springboard for success in later exams. The other kids, who thought their intelligence was predetermined, just gave up.
Admitting to mistakes is challenging. But in order to reach your greatest potential, you must not only accept that you make mistakes but also view them as necessary steps on the road to success. Indeed, there can be no development without failure.
Check out my related post: Why should we be honest about failure?
[…] Check out my related post: Why failure can help you with new solutions? […]
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It can be annoying to fail. However, it may also encourage you to view issues differently. Fresh approaches also result from this new viewpoint. Great ideas frequently come to mind when there is a specific issue, or when something has failed. Failure can act as a catalyst for advancement if the failure itself motivates you to discover a solution.
Consider the ATM, which was invented as a result of John Shephard-Barron forgetting to pick up some cash from the bank one day. In other words, he was unable to pay his bills on time. However, his failure led to the invention of a brand-new remedy: a cash dispenser that is operational after bank hours.
Failure is a technique to fine-tune complex processes in addition to sparking the development of new solutions, as it enables us to identify the elements of a problem. It is more difficult to fine-tune a process the more sophisticated it is. It is more difficult to pinpoint exactly what went wrong when things are complex.
Say you want to contribute to enhancing education across the African continent. How can you tell if your assistance is having an impact? Since there are too many variables involved, relying solely on grades to provide information is insufficient.
However, it becomes simpler to identify which tactics are effective and then use them on a larger scale by allowing oneself to fail on a small scale. For instance, a group of economists in Kenya wished to raise the standard of the neighborhood schools. They began by keeping track of the grades at various schools and experimenting with different strategies to see if they might raise test scores.
Their initial suggestion was to distribute free textbooks. They soon realized, however, that schools that were not given this assistance performed just as well. So they tried a variety of various strategies. De-worming medication was the final answer they found, and it actually helped raise grades. This kind of small-scale solution can then be tried on a larger scale.
It is not sufficient to know in your head that failure is useful if you want to fully benefit from it. Additionally, you must have a good rapport with it. You will wind up failing more than required if you can’t manage failure or if you choose to avoid it.
In fact, people who are afraid of failing may put up unneeded obstacles to their achievement. For instance, the author remembers several of his classmates who used to go out partying the night before exams since they were the “popular kids.” These pupils chose to take measures to lessen the sting of probable failure because they were so terrified
|
of falling short of expectations. Everything was alright if they performed well on the test. However, if they ended up failing, they might put it down to their drinking binge.
This is obviously a horrible strategy for development. In order to grow, you must be willing to fail and accept responsibility for that failure since it is a great teacher. But if you’re unwilling to listen, no teacher in the entire world can help you.
Spending time and effort reflecting on your errors is the key to learning from failure. Unfortunately, most would prefer to ignore their mistakes than to admit them. This is a serious issue since how we respond to failure typically determines how successful we are.
An experiment conducted by a group of psychologists from Michigan State University provides proof of this. Children who felt they were born brilliant and those who believed they might become smarter with work were split into two groups for the experiment.
Each group had assignments that got harder as they went along, with the intention of making the kids fail. The results of the experiment showed that kids who thought they could become better were able to utilize their mistakes as a springboard for success in later exams. The other kids, who thought their intelligence was predetermined, just gave up.
Admitting to mistakes is challenging. But in order to reach your greatest potential, you must not only accept that you make mistakes but also view them as necessary steps on the road to success. Indeed, there can be no development without failure.
Check out my related post: Why should we be honest about failure?
[…] Check out my related post: Why failure can help you with new solutions? […]
|
Remembering the Great Flood of 1913 in Columbus and around Ohio 110 years later
On March 23, 1913, Ohioans were in for an unexpected and tragic weather event, the Great Flood of 1913.
The disaster, considered the most catastrophic weather event in Ohio's history, left behind destruction and loss of life.
The flood lasted from Easter Sunday, March 23, until March 27, and caused the deaths of at least 467 people. Columbus and Dayton suffered the worst from the flood, with 93 and 123 fatalities, respectively. Chillicothe had 22 deaths and Delaware reported 18.
The storm dropped as much as 10 inches of rain, causing streams, creeks and rivers across Ohio to flood and leading to the crumbling of levees in the Miami and Scioto river valleys.
The flood destroyed nearly 500 buildings in Columbus and damaged over 4,000 more, with 15 to 20 feet of water drenching areas west of the Scioto River. The Broad, State and Town street bridges were washed away by the strong currents, separating east from west. Residents were trapped by the floodwaters in their homes or in trees.
The situation was even worse in Dayton, where some streets were topped with more than 20 feet of water. The Dispatch also reported that fires were a significant concern and partly destroyed Dayton's business block.
Throughout Ohio, 40,000 homes were flooded, with infrastructure damage alone estimated at $3 billion in today's dollars.
The tragedy led to the first joint watershed planning and flood-control measures. In the Columbus area, the Franklinton floodwall went up, as well as dams and reservoirs like Delaware Lake and Alum Creek Lake.
Then-Governor James Cox sent out requests for aid to the secretary of war, Pennsylvania's governor, Indiana's governor, and President Woodrow Wilson. He asked for tents, supplies, rations and physicians, stating that "in the name of humanity, see that this is granted at the earliest possible moment." The situation in Dayton was critical, he said, with up to 250,000 people unsheltered.
Although Ohio was hit the worst, flooding stretched from Indiana to Connecticut and along the Mississippi River. An estimated 12 trillion gallons of rain fell from the Midwest into New England, the equivalent of a four-month water flow over Niagara Falls.
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Remembering the Great Flood of 1913 in Columbus and around Ohio 110 years later
On March 23, 1913, Ohioans were in for an unexpected and tragic weather event, the Great Flood of 1913.
The disaster, considered the most catastrophic weather event in Ohio's history, left behind destruction and loss of life.
The flood lasted from Easter Sunday, March 23, until March 27, and caused the deaths of at least 467 people. Columbus and Dayton suffered the worst from the flood, with 93 and 123 fatalities, respectively. Chillicothe had 22 deaths and Delaware reported 18.
The storm dropped as much as 10 inches of rain, causing streams, creeks and rivers across Ohio to flood and leading to the crumbling of levees in the Miami and Scioto river valleys.
The flood destroyed nearly 500 buildings in Columbus and damaged over 4,000 more, with 15 to 20 feet of water drenching areas west of the Scioto River. The Broad, State and Town street bridges were washed away by the strong currents, separating east from west. Residents were trapped by the floodwaters in their homes or in trees.
The situation was even worse in Dayton, where some streets were topped with more than 20 feet of water. The Dispatch also reported that fires were a significant concern and partly destroyed Dayton's business block.
Throughout Ohio, 40,000 homes were flooded, with infrastructure damage alone estimated at $3 billion in today's dollars.
The tragedy led to the first joint watershed planning and flood-control measures. In the Columbus area, the Franklinton floodwall went up, as well as dams and reservoirs like Delaware Lake and Alum Creek Lake.
Then-Governor James Cox sent out requests for aid to the secretary of war, Pennsylvania's governor, Indiana's governor, and President Woodrow Wilson. He asked for tents, supplies, rations and physicians, stating that "in the name of humanity, see that this is granted at the earliest possible moment." The situation in Dayton was critical, he said, with up to 250,000 people unsheltered.
Although Ohio was hit the worst, flooding stretched from Indiana to Connecticut and along the Mississippi River. An estimated 12 trillion gallons of rain fell from the Midwest into New England, the equivalent of a
|
four-month water flow over Niagara Falls.
|
America's 10 most endangered rivers 2023: See which waterways are most at-risk
- Advocacy group American Rivers compiles a yearly list of America's most endangered rivers.
- This year's most endangered river is the Colorado River. It's the river's second year topping the list.
- Others include rivers in Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Florida.
Climate change and development projects have put many of America's rivers at risk, but some face greater danger than others, according to a new ranking.
American Rivers, an advocacy group based in Washington D.C. that works with communities to reduce river pollution and create policies that promote clean water and reduce flood risks, compiles a yearly list of the country's most endangered rivers.
This year, the group's report placed special attention on how threats to the rivers disproportionately affect communities of color and Tribal nations.
The organization named the Colorado River the most at-risk in the U.S. The federal government in 2021 declared its first water shortage on the essential Western waterway, which has been the subject of interstate litigation and hundreds of millions in spending.
Here's a list of other rivers the organization deems at risk and what to know about them.
Fact check: In Norway, land is rising faster than sea level is rising
Sea level rise: Southeast US has seen rapid sea level rise since 2010, studies say. Will it keep going?
#1 Colorado River
First on the list is Arizona's Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.
According to the organization, the river has been plagued with outdated water management, over-use and of course, climate change.
This is the river's second time topping the list.
"This year, however, the Grand Canyon is of specific focus due to severe drought," the organization wrote. "As critical decisions are made about water management along the Colorado River, decision makers must recognize the environment as a critical component of human health and public safety – absolutely vital for the 40 million people that depend on the river for drinking water."
Another reason the river topped the list is a smallmouth bass invasion, according to the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network. Bass that may have slipped through the Glen Canyon Dam’s hydropower turbines from Lake Powell reproduced in the river, making things worse for already threatened humpback chubs in the Grand Canyon.
#2 Ohio River
American Rivers ranked the Ohio River at No. 2 due to pollution and climate change.
The river flows through Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois.
According to the advocacy group, pollution has threatened the lives of the 5 million people who live there and rely on the river for clean water.
The organization cites industrialization and pollution threatening the upper river, exemplified by a Norfolk Southern train carrying almost 900,000 pounds of vinyl chloride, a human carcinogen, that derailed in Ohio and released chemicals into the air.
#3 Pearl River
The Pearl River in Mississippi has been threatened by the One Lake development project, American Rivers said.
According to the Associated Press, the flood project is estimated to cost $345 million and involves the dredging and excavation of the Pearl River to widen, deepen and straighten 7 miles of the river. Waterfront property could also be developed along the new 1,500-acre lake.
The project is supposed to prevent a flood like the Pearl River flood of 1979, which caused millions of dollars in damages, the National Weather Service said.
Locals have pushed back against the development project, the Associated Press reported. Concerned citizens think damming the Pearl River would decrease flow downstream and harm endangered species and oyster production.
American Rivers said the project would worsen urban flooding, exacerbate the ongoing water crisis and take away important resources from marginalized communities.
#4 Snake River
Ranking at No. 4 is the Snake River in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Salmon are nearly extinct in the Columbia-Snake River basin, a result of four dams that provide irrigation transportation and hydropower benefits to the Northwest, the group said.
According to the group, dam removal is vital in the protection of fish habitats and honoring commitments to nearby Tribal Nations.
#5 Clark Fork River
The Clark Fork River in Montana came in at No. 5 due to pulp mill pollution.
A former pulp mill has leaked toxic chemicals into the groundwater and increased the risk of catastrophic flooding, American Rivers said, putting public health, fish and wildlife at risk.
According to the Clark Fork Valley Press and Mineral Independent, the Clark Fork River has historically been polluted by hard rock mining, which led to heavy metal contamination in the river including copper, zinc and arsenic.
In 2020, biologist Ladd Knotek told the outlet that local trout fisheries were mostly threatened by pollution, warming water temperature and the introduction of fish like northern pike, smallmouth bass, walleye, yellow perch and sunfish.
#6 Eel River
The Eel River in California is also at risk due to dams, American Rivers said.
Similar to the Snake River, the group pushed for dam removal to protect fish habitats and maintain treaties with Tribal Nations.
Two "obsolete" dams owned by Pacific Gas and Electric harm salmon migration and river habitat, the group says.
Populations of Chinook salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey are in decline on the river, the organization stated.
#7 Lehigh River
Pennsylvania's Lehigh River ranked No. 7 on the list due to what American Rivers calls "poorly planned development" that threatens clean water, fish and wildlife habitat, rural and local communities and open space.
The development turns critical forests and wetlands into hard surfaces such as roofs and parking lots, American Rivers said.
"These impervious surfaces prevent rainwater from soaking into the ground," the group wrote on its website. "Instead, warm, salty, dirty water runs off the pavement directly into the river and its tributaries. These impacts to water quality, and the paving of the remaining open space in the urban stretches in the Lehigh Valley, disproportionately impact downstream communities that have already borne the brunt of environmental degradation and pollution."
#8 Chilkat and Klehini rivers
Ranking at No. 8 are Alaska's Chilkat and Klehini rivers.
According to American Rivers, there is an ongoing development called the Palmer Project and its next phase is set to begin in summer 2023. The plan is to dig a mile-long tunnel under the Saksaia Glacier, directly above the Klehini River.
"The excavation will create huge waste storage piles and contaminated wastewater discharges in an area with extremely high levels of sulfide deposits, rainfall, snowfall, and seismic activity," the advocacy group wrote on its website.
The group said acidic wastewater contaminated with heavy metals, hydrocarbons from vehicles and drilling muds and explosive residues will flow into creeks and the Chilkat and Klehini rivers.
The valley is home to the largest group of bald eagles in the world.
#9 Rio Gallinas
Rio Gallinas in New Mexico ranked No. 9 this year. American Rivers cited climate change as a main perpetrator threatening the river.
The river provides drinking water for 13,000 people in Las Vegas and is also a source of nutrients for plants and wildlife in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
Last year, a wildfire swept through the area and destroyed 341,735 acres, American Rivers said, including part of the upper Rio Gallinas watershed.
"Community-focused, coordinated restoration efforts are imperative in protecting the future of the river," the organization wrote.
#10 Okefenokee Swamp
Last on the list is the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia and Florida.
Since 2019, a company called Twin Pines Minerals, LLC has sought permits to mine titanium less than 3 miles from the edge of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, reported the Savannah Morning News, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Environmental activists have said mining would lower water levels in the swamp, putting its ecosystem even more at risk due to drought and wildfires. The Okefenokee swamp is also part of the ancestral homeland of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, which opposes the mining.
Contributing: Dinah Voyles Pulver
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America's 10 most endangered rivers 2023: See which waterways are most at-risk
- Advocacy group American Rivers compiles a yearly list of America's most endangered rivers.
- This year's most endangered river is the Colorado River. It's the river's second year topping the list.
- Others include rivers in Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Florida.
Climate change and development projects have put many of America's rivers at risk, but some face greater danger than others, according to a new ranking.
American Rivers, an advocacy group based in Washington D.C. that works with communities to reduce river pollution and create policies that promote clean water and reduce flood risks, compiles a yearly list of the country's most endangered rivers.
This year, the group's report placed special attention on how threats to the rivers disproportionately affect communities of color and Tribal nations.
The organization named the Colorado River the most at-risk in the U.S. The federal government in 2021 declared its first water shortage on the essential Western waterway, which has been the subject of interstate litigation and hundreds of millions in spending.
Here's a list of other rivers the organization deems at risk and what to know about them.
Fact check: In Norway, land is rising faster than sea level is rising
Sea level rise: Southeast US has seen rapid sea level rise since 2010, studies say. Will it keep going?
#1 Colorado River
First on the list is Arizona's Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.
According to the organization, the river has been plagued with outdated water management, over-use and of course, climate change.
This is the river's second time topping the list.
"This year, however, the Grand Canyon is of specific focus due to severe drought," the organization wrote. "As critical decisions are made about water management along the Colorado River, decision makers must recognize the environment as a critical component of human health and public safety – absolutely vital for the 40 million people that depend on the river for drinking water."
Another reason the river topped the list is a smallmouth bass invasion, according to the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network. Bass that may have slipped through the Glen Canyon Dam’s hydropower turbines from Lake Powell reproduced in the river, making things worse for already threatened humpback chubs in the Grand Canyon.
#2 Ohio River
American Rivers ranked the Ohio River at No. 2 due to pollution and climate change.
The river
|
flows through Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois.
According to the advocacy group, pollution has threatened the lives of the 5 million people who live there and rely on the river for clean water.
The organization cites industrialization and pollution threatening the upper river, exemplified by a Norfolk Southern train carrying almost 900,000 pounds of vinyl chloride, a human carcinogen, that derailed in Ohio and released chemicals into the air.
#3 Pearl River
The Pearl River in Mississippi has been threatened by the One Lake development project, American Rivers said.
According to the Associated Press, the flood project is estimated to cost $345 million and involves the dredging and excavation of the Pearl River to widen, deepen and straighten 7 miles of the river. Waterfront property could also be developed along the new 1,500-acre lake.
The project is supposed to prevent a flood like the Pearl River flood of 1979, which caused millions of dollars in damages, the National Weather Service said.
Locals have pushed back against the development project, the Associated Press reported. Concerned citizens think damming the Pearl River would decrease flow downstream and harm endangered species and oyster production.
American Rivers said the project would worsen urban flooding, exacerbate the ongoing water crisis and take away important resources from marginalized communities.
#4 Snake River
Ranking at No. 4 is the Snake River in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Salmon are nearly extinct in the Columbia-Snake River basin, a result of four dams that provide irrigation transportation and hydropower benefits to the Northwest, the group said.
According to the group, dam removal is vital in the protection of fish habitats and honoring commitments to nearby Tribal Nations.
#5 Clark Fork River
The Clark Fork River in Montana came in at No. 5 due to pulp mill pollution.
A former pulp mill has leaked toxic chemicals into the groundwater and increased the risk of catastrophic flooding, American Rivers said, putting public health, fish and wildlife at risk.
According to the Clark Fork Valley Press and Mineral Independent, the Clark Fork River has historically been polluted by hard rock mining, which led to heavy metal contamination in the river including copper, zinc and arsenic.
In 2020, biologist Ladd Knotek told the outlet that local trout fisheries were mostly threatened by pollution, warming water temperature and the introduction of fish like northern pike, smallmouth bass, walleye, yellow perch and sunfish.
#6 Eel River
The Eel River in California is also at risk due to dams, American Rivers said.
Similar to the Snake River, the group pushed for dam removal to protect fish habitats and maintain treaties with Tribal Nations.
Two "obsolete" dams owned by Pacific Gas and Electric harm salmon migration and river habitat, the group says.
Populations of Chinook salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey are in decline on the river, the organization stated.
#7 Lehigh River
Pennsylvania's Lehigh River ranked No. 7 on the list due to what American Rivers calls "poorly planned development" that threatens clean water, fish and wildlife habitat, rural and local communities and open space.
The development turns critical forests and wetlands into hard surfaces such as roofs and parking lots, American Rivers said.
"These impervious surfaces prevent rainwater from soaking into the ground," the group wrote on its website. "Instead, warm, salty, dirty water runs off the pavement directly into the river and its tributaries. These impacts to water quality, and the paving of the remaining open space in the urban stretches in the Lehigh Valley, disproportionately impact downstream communities that have already borne the brunt of environmental degradation and pollution."
#8 Chilkat and Klehini rivers
Ranking at No. 8 are Alaska's Chilkat and Klehini rivers.
According to American Rivers, there is an ongoing development called the Palmer Project and its next phase is set to begin in summer 2023. The plan is to dig a mile-long tunnel under the Saksaia Glacier, directly above the Klehini River.
"The excavation will create huge waste storage piles and contaminated wastewater discharges in an area with extremely high levels of sulfide deposits, rainfall, snowfall, and seismic activity," the advocacy group wrote on its website.
The group said acidic wastewater contaminated with heavy metals, hydrocarbons from vehicles and drilling muds and explosive residues will flow into creeks and the Chilkat and Klehini rivers.
The valley is home to the largest group of bald eagles in the world.
#9 Rio Gallinas
Rio Gallinas in New Mexico ranked No. 9 this year. American Rivers cited climate change as a main perpetrator threatening the river.
The river provides drinking water for 13,000 people in Las Vegas and is also a source of nutrients for plants and wildlife in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
Last year, a wildfire swept through the area and destroyed 341,735 acres, American Rivers said, including part of the upper Rio Gallinas watershed.
"Community-focused, coordinated restoration efforts are imperative in protecting the future of the river," the organization wrote.
#10 Okefenokee Swamp
Last on the list is the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia and Florida.
Since 2019, a company called Twin Pines Minerals, LLC has sought permits to mine titanium less than 3 miles from the edge of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, reported the Savannah Morning News, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Environmental activists have said mining would lower water levels in the swamp, putting its ecosystem even more at risk due to drought and wildfires. The Okefenokee swamp is also part of the ancestral homeland of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, which opposes the mining.
Contributing: Dinah Voyles Pulver
|
You’re reading an excerpt from the Today’s WorldView newsletter. Sign up to get the rest free, including news from around the globe and interesting ideas and opinions to know, sent to your inbox every weekday.
This wave of economic uncertainty and subsequent workers’ action has reminded many of the “winter of discontent,” an infamously volatile period in 1978-1979. That phrase, a reference to a line from William Shakespeare’s “Richard III,” was popularized as a way to describe the moment by Larry Lamb, the editor of the popular right-leaning Sun tabloid. It came to summarize the mass disruption that ultimately led to a new government led by Margaret Thatcher — who brought with her radical laissez-faire economic policies that would shatter Britain’s postwar consensus politics.
There are major differences between the winter of discontent 43 years ago and the one Britain is experiencing today. Britain’s unions were still profoundly powerful beasts in the 1970s. Today, their membership has halved and fallen to below 10 percent in some key industries. They have little ability or even will to produce the widespread chaos caused by the original winter of discontent.
For some, this suggests that labor action is a futile exercise. In the Telegraph, historian Simon Heffer wrote that “strikes don’t work now,” adding that innovations such as telework naturally limited the disruptiveness of strikes. “The shrunken unions will find before too long that fighting 21st-century battles with 19th-century weapons simply won’t work,” Heffer wrote.
But that was far from the only thing to have changed. The 1978-1979 strikes, which saw widespread action in favor of higher salaries in the place of government-backed wage caps designed to avoid inflation, were a fatal problem for the union-backed Labour government of James Callaghan. They contributed to the landslide Conservative victory of Thatcher in the summer of 1979. Thatcher, now an icon of the right on both sides of the Atlantic, soon crushed the unions’ power.
This time, however, the Conservatives are already in charge. In fact, they have been for almost 13 years. The power of unions has already been rolled back; academics describe the laws governing British industrial action as already the strictest in Europe. The laissez-faire economic revolution already happened and Britain has been run by austerity budgets, on and off, for over a decade.
Britain’s government has so far tried to repeat Thatcher’s victory over the unions. Last summer, as strikes began to disrupt British life, Grant Shapps, Britain’s business secretary, wrote on Twitter: “We must make union barons think twice before wielding the strike weapon — and complete Margaret Thatcher’s unfinished business.” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak later introduced new “anti-strike” legislation designed to make it harder to take industrial action.
But in the original winter of discontent, as trash piled up on the streets and bodies lay unburied amid strikes, the public lost sympathy for workers. There’s little sign of that happening this time. A Sky News/YouGov poll released this week found that British support for unions had risen two percentage points to 37 percent, while the opposition was falling — 34 percent felt unions’ impact was negative in November; that dropped to 28 percent in January.
As Steven Fielding, emeritus professor of political history at the University of Nottingham, told my colleague Karla Adam, the prime minister appeared to have been caught by surprise. “He’s basically tried a retread of Margaret Thatcher, but that’s not working,” Fielding said.
The strikes aren’t just about wages, but bigger questions of economic fairness and political legitimacy. Another YouGov poll found that there was a “very strong relationship between support for strikes and whether a profession is seen as making a contribution to the country.” Many are particularly sympathetic to the plight of the nurses and ambulance staff who support Britain’s beloved National Health Service, where years of underfunding have left to a very visible crisis.
Union bosses were once condemned in Britain as greedy, unelected bureaucrats. But Sunak’s government suffers from its own democratic credibility problems and far more significant allegations of corruption. The British prime minister never won a national election to occupy that role and, despite the fact his political party is historically underwater in polls, there may not be a general election before 2025.
Sunak himself has enormous personal wealth, with an estimated fortune put at $830 million. That certainly makes it hard for him to argue that a nurse shouldn’t get a significant pay raise (nurses unions have said that due to years of below-inflation pay increases, their real salaries are now one-fifth lower than they were in 2010). And his colleagues make it worse.
On Sunday, Sunak fired the chairman of his Conservative Party, Nadhim Zahawi, following an ethics investigation into Zahawi’s tax affairs. The chairman came under scrutiny for settling a multimillion-dollar tax bill, along with a penalty, while he was Britain’s finance minister.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson has faced yet another scandal recently, with reports that a former banker later appointed to head the BBC by his government had been involved in talks for a loan of up to $990,000 to Johnson. Despite the scandal, the high-profile leader was traveling to Kyiv and Washington this week — with the cost of his security in Ukraine borne by the taxpayer.
The original winter of discontent may be looked back upon fondly by Conservatives, but Sunak should fear this one.
Harvey Wiltshire, an expert on Shakespeare at Royal Holloway University of London, wrote recently for the Conversation that the original meaning has become muddied over time. Uttered by the titular Richard, then the Duke of Gloucester, it’s come to suggest the hard times before a “glorious summer.” But Richard is a tyrant, “hell-bent on securing power” who “increasingly jeopardizes the well-being of his country to serve his own ends,” Wiltshire writes.
The lesson is not of the dangers of a chaotic society, he adds — but of an irresponsible government.
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You’re reading an excerpt from the Today’s WorldView newsletter. Sign up to get the rest free, including news from around the globe and interesting ideas and opinions to know, sent to your inbox every weekday.
This wave of economic uncertainty and subsequent workers’ action has reminded many of the “winter of discontent,” an infamously volatile period in 1978-1979. That phrase, a reference to a line from William Shakespeare’s “Richard III,” was popularized as a way to describe the moment by Larry Lamb, the editor of the popular right-leaning Sun tabloid. It came to summarize the mass disruption that ultimately led to a new government led by Margaret Thatcher — who brought with her radical laissez-faire economic policies that would shatter Britain’s postwar consensus politics.
There are major differences between the winter of discontent 43 years ago and the one Britain is experiencing today. Britain’s unions were still profoundly powerful beasts in the 1970s. Today, their membership has halved and fallen to below 10 percent in some key industries. They have little ability or even will to produce the widespread chaos caused by the original winter of discontent.
For some, this suggests that labor action is a futile exercise. In the Telegraph, historian Simon Heffer wrote that “strikes don’t work now,” adding that innovations such as telework naturally limited the disruptiveness of strikes. “The shrunken unions will find before too long that fighting 21st-century battles with 19th-century weapons simply won’t work,” Heffer wrote.
But that was far from the only thing to have changed. The 1978-1979 strikes, which saw widespread action in favor of higher salaries in the place of government-backed wage caps designed to avoid inflation, were a fatal problem for the union-backed Labour government of James Callaghan. They contributed to the landslide Conservative victory of Thatcher in the summer of 1979. Thatcher, now an icon of the right on both sides of the Atlantic, soon crushed the unions’ power.
This time, however, the Conservatives are already in charge. In fact, they have been for almost 13 years. The power of unions has already been rolled back; academics describe the laws governing British industrial action as already the strictest in Europe. The laissez-faire economic revolution already happened and Britain has been run by austerity budgets, on and off, for over a decade
|
.
Britain’s government has so far tried to repeat Thatcher’s victory over the unions. Last summer, as strikes began to disrupt British life, Grant Shapps, Britain’s business secretary, wrote on Twitter: “We must make union barons think twice before wielding the strike weapon — and complete Margaret Thatcher’s unfinished business.” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak later introduced new “anti-strike” legislation designed to make it harder to take industrial action.
But in the original winter of discontent, as trash piled up on the streets and bodies lay unburied amid strikes, the public lost sympathy for workers. There’s little sign of that happening this time. A Sky News/YouGov poll released this week found that British support for unions had risen two percentage points to 37 percent, while the opposition was falling — 34 percent felt unions’ impact was negative in November; that dropped to 28 percent in January.
As Steven Fielding, emeritus professor of political history at the University of Nottingham, told my colleague Karla Adam, the prime minister appeared to have been caught by surprise. “He’s basically tried a retread of Margaret Thatcher, but that’s not working,” Fielding said.
The strikes aren’t just about wages, but bigger questions of economic fairness and political legitimacy. Another YouGov poll found that there was a “very strong relationship between support for strikes and whether a profession is seen as making a contribution to the country.” Many are particularly sympathetic to the plight of the nurses and ambulance staff who support Britain’s beloved National Health Service, where years of underfunding have left to a very visible crisis.
Union bosses were once condemned in Britain as greedy, unelected bureaucrats. But Sunak’s government suffers from its own democratic credibility problems and far more significant allegations of corruption. The British prime minister never won a national election to occupy that role and, despite the fact his political party is historically underwater in polls, there may not be a general election before 2025.
Sunak himself has enormous personal wealth, with an estimated fortune put at $830 million. That certainly makes it hard for him to argue that a nurse shouldn’t get a significant pay raise (nurses unions have said that due to years of below-inflation pay increases, their real salaries are now one-fifth lower than they were in 2010). And his colleagues make it worse.
On Sunday, Sunak fired the chairman of his Conservative Party, Nadhim Zahawi, following an ethics investigation into Zahawi’s tax affairs. The chairman came under scrutiny for settling a multimillion-dollar tax bill, along with a penalty, while he was Britain’s finance minister.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson has faced yet another scandal recently, with reports that a former banker later appointed to head the BBC by his government had been involved in talks for a loan of up to $990,000 to Johnson. Despite the scandal, the high-profile leader was traveling to Kyiv and Washington this week — with the cost of his security in Ukraine borne by the taxpayer.
The original winter of discontent may be looked back upon fondly by Conservatives, but Sunak should fear this one.
Harvey Wiltshire, an expert on Shakespeare at Royal Holloway University of London, wrote recently for the Conversation that the original meaning has become muddied over time. Uttered by the titular Richard, then the Duke of Gloucester, it’s come to suggest the hard times before a “glorious summer.” But Richard is a tyrant, “hell-bent on securing power” who “increasingly jeopardizes the well-being of his country to serve his own ends,” Wiltshire writes.
The lesson is not of the dangers of a chaotic society, he adds — but of an irresponsible government.
|
January 31, 2023 News Editor Spotlight Comments Offon Worst Bird Flu Outbreak in U.S. History Kills Millions
RIVERDALE, Maryland, January 31, 2023 (ENS) – Wild birds and commercially raised chickens alike are dropping dead from bird flu by the millions across the United States. Red-tailed hawks and great horned owls in Wyoming, American and Canadian wild birds along the Atlantic coast and across the Midwest, and 58.2 million birds in commercial and backyard poultry flocks in 47 states have died in the past year, reports the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
That number of 58.2 million birds affected is way over the largest previous bird flu outbreak in the United States in 2015 that affected 50.5 million birds in just 21 states.
Domestic poultry that can be affected include chickens; turkeys; ring-necked pheasants; ducks; geese; common, Japanese, or bobwhite quail; Indian peafowl; chukar or grey partridge; pigeons; ostrich; and guinea fowl.
The National Chicken Council, a U.S. trade association, assures consumers that the food supply is safe, saying, “All U.S. flocks are tested year-round for avian influenza, and if a single bird in a flock were to test positive for avian flu, then none of those birds would be allowed to enter the food supply.”
Wild turkeys, ducks and geese are at greater risk than some other species, it appears. Confirmed cases of the avian flu have killed wild waterfowl in Brevard, Volusia and Indian River counties, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission first announced in February 2022.
Bird flu is caused by influenza Type A viruses. Avian-origin influenza viruses have combinations of two groups of proteins on the surface of the influenza A virus – hemagglutinin or “H” proteins, of which there are 16 (H1-H16), and neuraminidase or “N” proteins, of which there are nine (N1-N9).
Avian influenza viruses are classified as either “low pathogenic” or “highly pathogenic” based on their genetic features and the severity of the disease they cause in poultry. Most viruses are of low pathogenicity, meaning they cause no signs or only minor clinical signs of inflection in poultry.
But the bird flu now sweeping the country is H5N1, considered to be a highly pathogenic avian influenza, HPAI – and it is not confined to birds.
Bird Flu Spreads to Mammals
Scientists have documented the first cases in wild grizzly bears. The three juvenile bears, which were euthanized last fall in Montana, later tested positive for the virus, the state’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department announced January 17.
These were the first documented cases of HPAI in grizzly bears, but on Alaska’s Kodiak Island an infected Kodiak bear was found last December.
Harbor seals have been found with the disease in Maine; a bottlenose dolphin became sick in Florida; skunks, opossums, raccoons, coyotes, and bobcats have been reported sick with avian influenza across the country, and foxes have been infected with the virus in Michigan, Alaska, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and New York.
“We suspect these mammals probably get the virus from consuming infected birds,” said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks veterinarian Jennifer Ramsey.
Infection may cause illness, including severe disease and death in some cases.
Yes, Bird Flu Can Jump to Unwary Humans
As of January 5, 2023, a total of 240 cases of human infection with the H5N1 bird flu virus have been reported from four countries within the Western Pacific Region since January 2003. Of these cases, 135 were fatal, resulting in a case fatality rate of 56 percent.
On January 10, Ecuador reported its first case of human transmission of avian influenza.
Although the overall risk to the general public from the current bird flu outbreaks remains low, health officials say, it is important that people take preventive measures around infected or potentially infected wild birds and poultry to prevent the spread of bird flu viruses to themselves or to other birds and other animals, including pets.
This applies not just to workplace or wildlife settings but potentially to household settings where people have backyard flocks or pet birds with potential exposures to wild or domestic infected birds.
To prevent infection, people should avoid unprotected contact with wild or domestic birds and poultry that look sick or have died.
Bird flu infections in people happen most often after close, prolonged, and unprotected contact with infected birds or surfaces contaminated with bird flu viruses.
If contact cannot be avoided, people should minimize contact with wild birds or sick or dead poultry by taking the following precautions:
- – Wear personal protective equipment, PPE, like disposable gloves, boots, an N95 respirator if available, or if not available, wear a well-fitting facemask, such as a surgical mask, and eye protection. Specific CDC and U.S. Department of Agriculture PPE recommendations are available at “Backyard Flock Owners: Take Steps to Protect Yourself from Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)”. To access, click here.
- – Don’t touch sick or dead birds, their feces or litter, or any surface or water source such as ponds, waterers, buckets, pans, and troughs that might be contaminated with their bodily fluids without wearing personal protective equipment.
- – While cleaning and disinfecting contaminated premises, avoid stirring up dust, bird waste, and feathers to prevent virus from dispersing into the air.
- – Avoid touching your mouth, nose, or eyes during and after contact with birds or surfaces that may be contaminated with saliva, mucous or feces from wild or domestic birds/poultry.
- – Wash your hands with soap and water after touching birds/poultry.
- – Change your clothes before contact with healthy domestic poultry and after handling wild birds, captive wild birds, farmed birds, and other pet birds. Then, throw away the gloves and facemask, and wash your hands with soap and water.
U.S. Preparing a New Environmental Impact Statement
On January 18, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced its intention to prepare an environmental impact statement, EIS, to examine the potential environmental effects of the agency’s response activities to HPAI outbreaks in commercial and backyard poultry operations in the United States.
APHIS is requesting public comment to further define the scope of the EIS, identify reasonable alternatives and potential issues, as well as relevant information, studies, and/or analyses that APHIS should consider in the EIS.
Additional information on this action can be found here.
HPAI Felt Around the World
New Outbreaks in Poultry
The most recent report from the World Organisation for Animal Health, WOAH, based in Paris shows that during the five weeks between December 2, 2022 and January 5, 2023 a total of 288 new outbreaks in poultry were reported by 17 countries: Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Niger, Poland, South Korea, Spain, United Kingdom and United States.
New Outbreaks in Wild Birds
During the five-week period covered by WOAH’s latest report, a total of 139 outbreaks in non-poultry were reported by 24 countries and territories: Austria, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, France, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States.
The current HPAI epidemic season continues with about 290 outbreaks being reported in poultry and about 140 in nonpoultry birds over the five weeks covered by the report, mainly in Europe, and also in the Americas, Asia and Africa.
Many of the countries in these regions are experiencing a larger number of outbreaks than occurred last year at the same time. Outbreaks are also spreading further to Central and South American countries.
WOAH points out that the first occurrence of HPAI in Panama, Honduras, Venezuela and the recurrence in Chile after 20 years of absence happened during these five weeks, all in nonpoultry birds. In Peru, the disease was reported in poultry during the period covered by this report, in addition to nonpoultry infections previously reported.
Over 10 million birds died or were culled worldwide during the five week period between December 2, 2022 and January 5, 2023.
Featured image: Wood duck drake and a flock of mallards overwintering on a small creek in South Dakota, 2014, the year before the bird flu wave of 2015. (Photo by Tom Koerner courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
Environment News Service (ENS) © 2023 All Rights Reserved.
Reblogged this on Exposing the Big Game.
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January 31, 2023 News Editor Spotlight Comments Offon Worst Bird Flu Outbreak in U.S. History Kills Millions
RIVERDALE, Maryland, January 31, 2023 (ENS) – Wild birds and commercially raised chickens alike are dropping dead from bird flu by the millions across the United States. Red-tailed hawks and great horned owls in Wyoming, American and Canadian wild birds along the Atlantic coast and across the Midwest, and 58.2 million birds in commercial and backyard poultry flocks in 47 states have died in the past year, reports the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
That number of 58.2 million birds affected is way over the largest previous bird flu outbreak in the United States in 2015 that affected 50.5 million birds in just 21 states.
Domestic poultry that can be affected include chickens; turkeys; ring-necked pheasants; ducks; geese; common, Japanese, or bobwhite quail; Indian peafowl; chukar or grey partridge; pigeons; ostrich; and guinea fowl.
The National Chicken Council, a U.S. trade association, assures consumers that the food supply is safe, saying, “All U.S. flocks are tested year-round for avian influenza, and if a single bird in a flock were to test positive for avian flu, then none of those birds would be allowed to enter the food supply.”
Wild turkeys, ducks and geese are at greater risk than some other species, it appears. Confirmed cases of the avian flu have killed wild waterfowl in Brevard, Volusia and Indian River counties, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission first announced in February 2022.
Bird flu is caused by influenza Type A viruses. Avian-origin influenza viruses have combinations of two groups of proteins on the surface of the influenza A virus – hemagglutinin or “H” proteins, of which there are 16 (H1-H16), and neuraminidase or “N” proteins, of which there are nine (N1-N9).
Avian influenza viruses are classified as either “low pathogenic” or “highly pathogenic” based on their genetic features and the severity of the disease they cause in poultry. Most viruses are of low pathogenicity, meaning they cause no signs or only minor clinical signs of inflection in
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poultry.
But the bird flu now sweeping the country is H5N1, considered to be a highly pathogenic avian influenza, HPAI – and it is not confined to birds.
Bird Flu Spreads to Mammals
Scientists have documented the first cases in wild grizzly bears. The three juvenile bears, which were euthanized last fall in Montana, later tested positive for the virus, the state’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department announced January 17.
These were the first documented cases of HPAI in grizzly bears, but on Alaska’s Kodiak Island an infected Kodiak bear was found last December.
Harbor seals have been found with the disease in Maine; a bottlenose dolphin became sick in Florida; skunks, opossums, raccoons, coyotes, and bobcats have been reported sick with avian influenza across the country, and foxes have been infected with the virus in Michigan, Alaska, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and New York.
“We suspect these mammals probably get the virus from consuming infected birds,” said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks veterinarian Jennifer Ramsey.
Infection may cause illness, including severe disease and death in some cases.
Yes, Bird Flu Can Jump to Unwary Humans
As of January 5, 2023, a total of 240 cases of human infection with the H5N1 bird flu virus have been reported from four countries within the Western Pacific Region since January 2003. Of these cases, 135 were fatal, resulting in a case fatality rate of 56 percent.
On January 10, Ecuador reported its first case of human transmission of avian influenza.
Although the overall risk to the general public from the current bird flu outbreaks remains low, health officials say, it is important that people take preventive measures around infected or potentially infected wild birds and poultry to prevent the spread of bird flu viruses to themselves or to other birds and other animals, including pets.
This applies not just to workplace or wildlife settings but potentially to household settings where people have backyard flocks or pet birds with potential exposures to wild or domestic infected birds.
To prevent infection, people should avoid unprotected contact with wild or domestic birds and poultry that look sick or have died.
Bird flu infections in people happen most often after close, prolonged, and unprotected contact with infected birds or surfaces contaminated with bird flu viruses.
If contact cannot be avoided, people should minimize contact with wild birds or sick or dead poultry by taking the following precautions:
- – Wear personal protective equipment, PPE, like disposable gloves, boots, an N95 respirator if available, or if not available, wear a well-fitting facemask, such as a surgical mask, and eye protection. Specific CDC and U.S. Department of Agriculture PPE recommendations are available at “Backyard Flock Owners: Take Steps to Protect Yourself from Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)”. To access, click here.
- – Don’t touch sick or dead birds, their feces or litter, or any surface or water source such as ponds, waterers, buckets, pans, and troughs that might be contaminated with their bodily fluids without wearing personal protective equipment.
- – While cleaning and disinfecting contaminated premises, avoid stirring up dust, bird waste, and feathers to prevent virus from dispersing into the air.
- – Avoid touching your mouth, nose, or eyes during and after contact with birds or surfaces that may be contaminated with saliva, mucous or feces from wild or domestic birds/poultry.
- – Wash your hands with soap and water after touching birds/poultry.
- – Change your clothes before contact with healthy domestic poultry and after handling wild birds, captive wild birds, farmed birds, and other pet birds. Then, throw away the gloves and facemask, and wash your hands with soap and water.
U.S. Preparing a New Environmental Impact Statement
On January 18, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced its intention to prepare an environmental impact statement, EIS, to examine the potential environmental effects of the agency’s response activities to HPAI outbreaks in commercial and backyard poultry operations in the United States.
APHIS is requesting public comment to further define the scope of the EIS, identify reasonable alternatives and potential issues, as well as relevant information, studies, and/or analyses that APHIS should consider in the EIS.
Additional information on this action can be found here.
HPAI Felt Around the World
New Outbreaks in Poultry
The most recent report from the World Organisation for Animal Health, WOAH, based in Paris shows that during the five weeks between December 2, 2022 and January 5, 2023 a total of 288 new outbreaks in poultry were reported by 17 countries: Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Niger, Poland, South Korea, Spain, United Kingdom and United States.
New Outbreaks in Wild Birds
During the five-week period covered by WOAH’s latest report, a total of 139 outbreaks in non-poultry were reported by 24 countries and territories: Austria, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, France, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States.
The current HPAI epidemic season continues with about 290 outbreaks being reported in poultry and about 140 in nonpoultry birds over the five weeks covered by the report, mainly in Europe, and also in the Americas, Asia and Africa.
Many of the countries in these regions are experiencing a larger number of outbreaks than occurred last year at the same time. Outbreaks are also spreading further to Central and South American countries.
WOAH points out that the first occurrence of HPAI in Panama, Honduras, Venezuela and the recurrence in Chile after 20 years of absence happened during these five weeks, all in nonpoultry birds. In Peru, the disease was reported in poultry during the period covered by this report, in addition to nonpoultry infections previously reported.
Over 10 million birds died or were culled worldwide during the five week period between December 2, 2022 and January 5, 2023.
Featured image: Wood duck drake and a flock of mallards overwintering on a small creek in South Dakota, 2014, the year before the bird flu wave of 2015. (Photo by Tom Koerner courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
Environment News Service (ENS) © 2023 All Rights Reserved.
Reblogged this on Exposing the Big Game.
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Rethinking Quindaro: A Kansas ACLU report shines a new light on a 'truly democratic place'
Quindaro in Wyandotte County was once a thriving, multiracial community, inextricably linked to the region’s history before, during and after the Civil War. This week, the ACLU of Kansas is releasing a carefully curated, more than 40-page analysis of the former township.
The ACLU of Kansas is asking people to study the history of Quindaro to envision a more just and equitable Kansas.
Quindaro, the organization argues, is more than a site of historic significance, known mostly as a stop along the Underground Railroad on the Kansas bank of the Missouri River in what is now Wyandotte County.
Quindaro was an idea.
The organization is releasing “Quindaro Report: Same Water Coming ‘Round,” a carefully curated, more than 40-page analysis of the former township. Quindaro was once a thriving, multiracial community, inextricably linked to the region’s history before, during and after the Civil War.
“The fact is that they were able to come together to share this common vision of a truly democratic place that tells us that it can be done, and it gives us a model to look to,” said Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Kansas.
Every city in the nation likely has such a marker, a moment in time when more equitable thinking and action prevailed, offering a chance for a fairer, more just society to evolve.
For this region, Quindaro was determined to be that place.
“Quindaro was really that metaphor for a way of thinking about how the state started, how it’s gone and where we should go,” Kubic said.
The report was authored by Mark McCormick, deputy director of strategic initiatives for the ACLU of Kansas.
Quindaro’s struggles are documented, offering insight into the many factors that undermined and fractured the township. Key factors include the highway that divided it, legal segregation and economic isolation.
Many of the impacts fall under what’s often noted as engrained systemic racism.
The project’s genesis came while Kubic was reading The 1619 Project and began thinking about what a similar framework for this region would be.
The 1619 Project is a Pulitzer Prize-winning body of work produced by The New York Times magazine. The date 1619 denotes when the first ship carrying enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia and when the people were later sold to colonists.
At its core, it’s a framework for seeing the nation through the consequences of slavery, for documenting the importance of the contributions of enslaved people in creating this country’s wealth and all that followed for their descendants.
“We’re putting it out there as a way of hoping to sort of shape the debate and the conversation and to get people thinking about what Kansas can be,” Kubic said of the report.
Eventually, a symposium might be organized around the history of Quindaro, Kubic said.
But at this point, the ACLU will ensure that Quindaro, its original goals, are infused with the organization’s work.
Included in the report are descriptions of previous efforts, and many of its recent legal filings seeking to ensure voting rights are upheld in Kansas.
The establishment of Quindaro predated the state’s founding by five years.
Initially, Quindaro flourished, growing to more than 1,000 residents with thriving businesses to serve their needs.
Today, it is an archaeological site, often referred to as “ruins.”
But the site’s history is a way to also study the importance of the Fugitive Slave Act, the Missouri Compromise and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Each had a role in the Civil War.
Also discussed are the accomplishments of people who were instrumental to Quindaro’s story.
There was Abelard Guthrie and his wife, Nancy Quindaro Guthrie, the town’s namesake.
More recent history is also covered, such as the building of Interstate 635, which came about in the 1960s, cutting through the area.
Kubic spoke to the bravery of Quindaro’s original inhabitants and their vision of their community and this country as a “free and equal multiracial democracy.”
“If we’re talking about the future, we’ve got to think about the past,” Kubic said.
In many ways, it’s a conversation that has already begun.
Across the state line, the city of Kansas City has embarked on a study to decide what it could hold itself responsible for in terms of reparations. A mayor’s commission has been appointed to study the issue and make recommendations.
The city’s work began after years of similar study led by the local chapter of the National Black United Front in Kansas City.
The ACLU is not shying away from the fact that the 1619 Project – indeed any aspect of studying U.S. history – has become controversial. One common argument is that studying slavery and racism, in general, makes white people feel bad or places blame.
Making people think deeply often does come with some resistance, Kubic noted.
“I think the challenge for white people is to understand this history, to know the history, to know the way that privilege and systemic racism and structures have created the outcomes that we have today.”
This story was originally published by Flatland, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
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Rethinking Quindaro: A Kansas ACLU report shines a new light on a 'truly democratic place'
Quindaro in Wyandotte County was once a thriving, multiracial community, inextricably linked to the region’s history before, during and after the Civil War. This week, the ACLU of Kansas is releasing a carefully curated, more than 40-page analysis of the former township.
The ACLU of Kansas is asking people to study the history of Quindaro to envision a more just and equitable Kansas.
Quindaro, the organization argues, is more than a site of historic significance, known mostly as a stop along the Underground Railroad on the Kansas bank of the Missouri River in what is now Wyandotte County.
Quindaro was an idea.
The organization is releasing “Quindaro Report: Same Water Coming ‘Round,” a carefully curated, more than 40-page analysis of the former township. Quindaro was once a thriving, multiracial community, inextricably linked to the region’s history before, during and after the Civil War.
“The fact is that they were able to come together to share this common vision of a truly democratic place that tells us that it can be done, and it gives us a model to look to,” said Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Kansas.
Every city in the nation likely has such a marker, a moment in time when more equitable thinking and action prevailed, offering a chance for a fairer, more just society to evolve.
For this region, Quindaro was determined to be that place.
“Quindaro was really that metaphor for a way of thinking about how the state started, how it’s gone and where we should go,” Kubic said.
The report was authored by Mark McCormick, deputy director of strategic initiatives for the ACLU of Kansas.
Quindaro’s struggles are documented, offering insight into the many factors that undermined and fractured the township. Key factors include the highway that divided it, legal segregation and economic isolation.
Many of the impacts fall under what’s often noted as engrained systemic racism.
The project’s genesis came while Kubic was reading The 1619 Project and began thinking about what a similar framework for this region would be.
The 1619 Project is a Pulitzer Prize-winning body of work produced by The New York Times magazine. The date 1619 denotes when the first ship carrying enslaved Africans arrived
|
in Virginia and when the people were later sold to colonists.
At its core, it’s a framework for seeing the nation through the consequences of slavery, for documenting the importance of the contributions of enslaved people in creating this country’s wealth and all that followed for their descendants.
“We’re putting it out there as a way of hoping to sort of shape the debate and the conversation and to get people thinking about what Kansas can be,” Kubic said of the report.
Eventually, a symposium might be organized around the history of Quindaro, Kubic said.
But at this point, the ACLU will ensure that Quindaro, its original goals, are infused with the organization’s work.
Included in the report are descriptions of previous efforts, and many of its recent legal filings seeking to ensure voting rights are upheld in Kansas.
The establishment of Quindaro predated the state’s founding by five years.
Initially, Quindaro flourished, growing to more than 1,000 residents with thriving businesses to serve their needs.
Today, it is an archaeological site, often referred to as “ruins.”
But the site’s history is a way to also study the importance of the Fugitive Slave Act, the Missouri Compromise and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Each had a role in the Civil War.
Also discussed are the accomplishments of people who were instrumental to Quindaro’s story.
There was Abelard Guthrie and his wife, Nancy Quindaro Guthrie, the town’s namesake.
More recent history is also covered, such as the building of Interstate 635, which came about in the 1960s, cutting through the area.
Kubic spoke to the bravery of Quindaro’s original inhabitants and their vision of their community and this country as a “free and equal multiracial democracy.”
“If we’re talking about the future, we’ve got to think about the past,” Kubic said.
In many ways, it’s a conversation that has already begun.
Across the state line, the city of Kansas City has embarked on a study to decide what it could hold itself responsible for in terms of reparations. A mayor’s commission has been appointed to study the issue and make recommendations.
The city’s work began after years of similar study led by the local chapter of the National Black United Front in Kansas City.
The ACLU is not shying away from the fact that the 1619 Project – indeed any aspect of studying U.S. history – has become controversial. One common argument is that studying slavery and racism, in general, makes white people feel bad or places blame.
Making people think deeply often does come with some resistance, Kubic noted.
“I think the challenge for white people is to understand this history, to know the history, to know the way that privilege and systemic racism and structures have created the outcomes that we have today.”
This story was originally published by Flatland, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
|
Sausalito was once known for its shipbuilding prowess when hundreds of steel transport vessels, known as Liberty Ships, splashed into its waters during World War II.
But the nearly silent splash that occasioned the launching of Amana, or Seven Seas, was an entirely different affair Saturday afternoon.
The 30-foot, hand-built boat—made from tule reeds collected in California’s Lake County by a Pomo man—slipped from the ways of Sausalito’s Galilee Harbor into San Francisco Bay with its builder aboard as a crowd looked on.
For the past several weeks, Jin Ishikawa, a Japanese explorer, has been building the prototype vessel as part of his mission to sail a similar 60-foot boat to Hawaii in 2025.
“We want to re-create the navigation system of ancient Californians,” Ishikawa said aboard the tightly bound reed craft, as it swayed in the water at its new berth.
His plan is mostly to drift with the tides and use the stars to make his way to the islands, once he has built the larger boat.
“California has had the technology to build and move boats for 13,000 years. And, if you ride the winds and ocean currents, you can easily reach Hawaii. We will re-create the ancient reed boats used in California and examine the possibility of a new ocean route for Hawaiian immigration,” Ishikawa’s website, Expedition Amana, explained.
He’s no stranger to adverse conditions in out-of-the-way corners of the world. Although Ishikawa was born in Chiba prefecture and studied English literature, once he’d crossed the Sahara desert alone at 23, he said he couldn't go back to normal life. He’s spent the last 30 years working and fundraising to pay for his adventures, which have included a solo canoe trip down South American rivers and a Pacific Ocean crossing in another, similar reed boat.
His latest plan was hatched more than four years ago, but the pandemic put a halt to the boat’s construction.
That idea and the boat have precedents.
Thor Heyerdahl, a notable Norwegian explorer, built a number of similar vessels to prove that ancient societies could cross oceans and hence potentially have links.
Called Kon-Tiki, Heyerdahl’s vessel sailed from South America to Polynesia in 1947. He later sailed a balsa wood raft across the Atlantic from Africa to the Caribbean. Many of his adventures were documented in films and books, although his theories have come under criticism from anthropologists who say there is ample evidence Polynesia was populated from east to west.
Ishikawa, who wants to prove only that ancient peoples had the technology for such journeys, has a connection to the Norwegian explorer that is more than theoretical. Kitín Muñoz—his mentor and the man who taught him to build reed boats—made a number of voyages similar to Heyerdahl's. Ishikawa joined one such voyage across the Pacific in 1999, he said. He also participated in a similar journey across the Atlantic.
Ishikawa said he has been drawn to empty, distant places like the sea and the desert because he finds that he is closer with the natural world in such locales.
But any connection to the open ocean will have to wait, as he’s first got to spend months traversing the San Francisco Bay in his prototype. Ishikawa’s summer will be spent on board tweaking everything from the boat’s sail size and position to its rudder location.
In 2025, he plans to build the real boat in Sausalito and then set sail with six others to Hawaii on a roughly 75-day voyage, all without modern navigation techniques.
“He just wants to prove that it’s possible,” Expedition Amana coordinator Stan Teng said.
Jonah Owen Lamb can be reached at <email-pii>
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Sausalito was once known for its shipbuilding prowess when hundreds of steel transport vessels, known as Liberty Ships, splashed into its waters during World War II.
But the nearly silent splash that occasioned the launching of Amana, or Seven Seas, was an entirely different affair Saturday afternoon.
The 30-foot, hand-built boat—made from tule reeds collected in California’s Lake County by a Pomo man—slipped from the ways of Sausalito’s Galilee Harbor into San Francisco Bay with its builder aboard as a crowd looked on.
For the past several weeks, Jin Ishikawa, a Japanese explorer, has been building the prototype vessel as part of his mission to sail a similar 60-foot boat to Hawaii in 2025.
“We want to re-create the navigation system of ancient Californians,” Ishikawa said aboard the tightly bound reed craft, as it swayed in the water at its new berth.
His plan is mostly to drift with the tides and use the stars to make his way to the islands, once he has built the larger boat.
“California has had the technology to build and move boats for 13,000 years. And, if you ride the winds and ocean currents, you can easily reach Hawaii. We will re-create the ancient reed boats used in California and examine the possibility of a new ocean route for Hawaiian immigration,” Ishikawa’s website, Expedition Amana, explained.
He’s no stranger to adverse conditions in out-of-the-way corners of the world. Although Ishikawa was born in Chiba prefecture and studied English literature, once he’d crossed the Sahara desert alone at 23, he said he couldn't go back to normal life. He’s spent the last 30 years working and fundraising to pay for his adventures, which have included a solo canoe trip down South American rivers and a Pacific Ocean crossing in another, similar reed boat.
His latest plan was hatched more than four years ago, but the pandemic put a halt to the boat’s construction.
That idea and the boat have precedents.
Thor Heyerdahl, a notable Norwegian explorer, built a number of similar vessels to prove that ancient societies could cross oceans and hence potentially have links.
Called Kon-Tiki, Heyerdahl’s vessel sailed from South America to Polynesia in 1947. He later sailed a balsa wood raft across the Atlantic from Africa to the Caribbean. Many of his adventures were documented in films and books, although his
|
theories have come under criticism from anthropologists who say there is ample evidence Polynesia was populated from east to west.
Ishikawa, who wants to prove only that ancient peoples had the technology for such journeys, has a connection to the Norwegian explorer that is more than theoretical. Kitín Muñoz—his mentor and the man who taught him to build reed boats—made a number of voyages similar to Heyerdahl's. Ishikawa joined one such voyage across the Pacific in 1999, he said. He also participated in a similar journey across the Atlantic.
Ishikawa said he has been drawn to empty, distant places like the sea and the desert because he finds that he is closer with the natural world in such locales.
But any connection to the open ocean will have to wait, as he’s first got to spend months traversing the San Francisco Bay in his prototype. Ishikawa’s summer will be spent on board tweaking everything from the boat’s sail size and position to its rudder location.
In 2025, he plans to build the real boat in Sausalito and then set sail with six others to Hawaii on a roughly 75-day voyage, all without modern navigation techniques.
“He just wants to prove that it’s possible,” Expedition Amana coordinator Stan Teng said.
Jonah Owen Lamb can be reached at <email-pii>
|
For half a century Canadians have told polls they worry about the environment.
In 1970, in a Gallup poll, 63 per cent thought “the dangers of pollution” were “very serious.” In 1989, pollster Angus Reid asked the public, “Would you support a political party that made protection of the environment its primary objective?”
Across the country, 19 per cent said they “definitely” would consider that party; another 52 per cent would “seriously consider it.” In Ontario, 23 per cent said they would definitely support that party, and 48 per cent seriously consider it.
Yet, wherever the Green Party runs, in federal or provincial elections, its support dramatically lags the voters’ avowed concern for the environment.
In an Ipsos poll before last year’s Ontario election, only 13 per cent of voters who said the environment was one of their most important issues intended to vote for a Green Party candidate. In the election the Greens got 6 per cent. In a Vector Poll in January this year 8 per cent supported the Greens. In April, in an Angus Reid Institute poll only 6 per cent were “most likely” to vote Green.
Those who resisted legislation to curb fossil fuels shrewdly framed the choice facing voters as jobs or the environment. Possibly the first poll on the tradeoff was a 1990 Gallup survey asking Canadians, “What do you think is more important — to create jobs or to protect the environment?”
The poll found that 58 per cent said protect the environment, 29 per cent said create jobs (13 per cent had no opinion). But this strong verdict in favour of the environment was misleading. Canadians want a painless, inexpensive transition to a green economy.
In an Innovative Research Group poll last year, 38 per cent agreed “putting a price on pollution is one of the best ways to lower carbon consumption and to fight climate change” But 45 per cent agreed, “The carbon pricing policy is just another tax grab that hinders the economic development of the country and does nothing for the environment.”
The same poll underscores the public’s ambivalence: 41 per cent agreed “fossil fuels should be phased out as quickly as possible to speed up the shift to a lower-carbon future even if it means job losses or paying more for energy, ” but 57 per cent agreed “it is critical to Canada’s ongoing prosperity that we responsibly develop and export our oil and gas resources.”
This year, 60 per cent said no when Ipsos asked, “Are you prepared to pay more in taxes to help fight climate change?” In March, 37 per cent told Ipsos that lowering taxes should be federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s priority in her recent budget, while only 12 per cent said “spending to support the transition to greener energy.”
Like other Green Party leaders, Ontario’s Mike Schreiner wants voters to see the Greens as more than a single-issue party.
“We’re demanding better care for patients,” says a recent Green Party fundraising letter. A new donor appeal from the Ontario NDP says, “We can invest in and grow our public health care system….” Greens are “standing up for young people who need an affordable place to call home.”
The diversification strategy is failing because the more the Greens campaign on different issues the more they become indistinguishable from other parties. Instead, the Greens should double down on the environment to engage environmental voters.
Schreiner could promise a Green government will use the $6 billion a year Ontario spends to subsidize hydro prices to give cash rewards to individuals and businesses who reduce their energy consumption.
He could pledge to get thousands of CO2-emitting vehicles off the road by giving drivers financial incentives to buy or lease an electric car, provided they scrap a fossil-fuel-burning vehicle.
He could promise a Green government will replace — one-for-one — any job eliminated by the shift to a low-carbon economy.
Every business faces the choice to specialize or diversify its products, customers or services. For the Greens diversifying isn’t working. They need to specialize.
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For half a century Canadians have told polls they worry about the environment.
In 1970, in a Gallup poll, 63 per cent thought “the dangers of pollution” were “very serious.” In 1989, pollster Angus Reid asked the public, “Would you support a political party that made protection of the environment its primary objective?”
Across the country, 19 per cent said they “definitely” would consider that party; another 52 per cent would “seriously consider it.” In Ontario, 23 per cent said they would definitely support that party, and 48 per cent seriously consider it.
Yet, wherever the Green Party runs, in federal or provincial elections, its support dramatically lags the voters’ avowed concern for the environment.
In an Ipsos poll before last year’s Ontario election, only 13 per cent of voters who said the environment was one of their most important issues intended to vote for a Green Party candidate. In the election the Greens got 6 per cent. In a Vector Poll in January this year 8 per cent supported the Greens. In April, in an Angus Reid Institute poll only 6 per cent were “most likely” to vote Green.
Those who resisted legislation to curb fossil fuels shrewdly framed the choice facing voters as jobs or the environment. Possibly the first poll on the tradeoff was a 1990 Gallup survey asking Canadians, “What do you think is more important — to create jobs or to protect the environment?”
The poll found that 58 per cent said protect the environment, 29 per cent said create jobs (13 per cent had no opinion). But this strong verdict in favour of the environment was misleading. Canadians want a painless, inexpensive transition to a green economy.
In an Innovative Research Group poll last year, 38 per cent agreed “putting a price on pollution is one of the best ways to lower carbon consumption and to fight climate change” But 45 per cent agreed, “The carbon pricing policy is just another tax grab that hinders the economic development of the country and does nothing for the environment.”
The same poll underscores the public’s ambivalence: 41 per cent agreed “fossil fuels should be phased out as quickly as possible to speed up the shift to a lower-carbon future even if it means job losses or paying more for energy, ” but 57 per cent agreed “it is critical to
|
Canada’s ongoing prosperity that we responsibly develop and export our oil and gas resources.”
This year, 60 per cent said no when Ipsos asked, “Are you prepared to pay more in taxes to help fight climate change?” In March, 37 per cent told Ipsos that lowering taxes should be federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s priority in her recent budget, while only 12 per cent said “spending to support the transition to greener energy.”
Like other Green Party leaders, Ontario’s Mike Schreiner wants voters to see the Greens as more than a single-issue party.
“We’re demanding better care for patients,” says a recent Green Party fundraising letter. A new donor appeal from the Ontario NDP says, “We can invest in and grow our public health care system….” Greens are “standing up for young people who need an affordable place to call home.”
The diversification strategy is failing because the more the Greens campaign on different issues the more they become indistinguishable from other parties. Instead, the Greens should double down on the environment to engage environmental voters.
Schreiner could promise a Green government will use the $6 billion a year Ontario spends to subsidize hydro prices to give cash rewards to individuals and businesses who reduce their energy consumption.
He could pledge to get thousands of CO2-emitting vehicles off the road by giving drivers financial incentives to buy or lease an electric car, provided they scrap a fossil-fuel-burning vehicle.
He could promise a Green government will replace — one-for-one — any job eliminated by the shift to a low-carbon economy.
Every business faces the choice to specialize or diversify its products, customers or services. For the Greens diversifying isn’t working. They need to specialize.
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Scoop: Phoenix kept working on shelter site even after ground risks were discovered
The city of Phoenix knew in January that "environmental work was needed" at the site where it planned to build a homeless shelter but continued onsite work through June, when methane gas was discovered, according to records obtained by Axios Phoenix.
Why it matters: The homeless campus was supposed to open this summer to provide more than 200 people with indoor shelter during the dangerous heat. Instead, the city is starting from scratch to find a new location.
Catch up quick: City spokesperson Kristin Couturier tells Axios Phoenix the city knew the site was used for illegal dumping in the past. A geotechnical report produced in January found a significant amount of construction debris and trash, confirming previous dumping.
- The report recommended the city and its contractor remove the entire 15- to 30-foot-deep layer of fill that was not native to the area to mitigate environmental and structural issues.
- The city ultimately agreed to remove just the top 5 feet of fill to "limit earthwork."
Of note: The city did not test the soils for methane gas or other environmental hazards at that time, even though the January report noted the presence of organic material that could be "problematic."
- Methane is produced when organic materials decompose, which is why it's commonly found at landfills and dumping sites.
- High levels of methane can cause explosions or asphyxiation, per the National Institute of Health.
What they're saying: Couturier tells Axios the city realized "additional environmental work was needed" after reviewing the January report but had to "work within scheduling constraints and availability of contractors and equipment" to complete it.
Yes, but: That didn't stop the city from moving forward with potholing, fire hydrant line demolition and other pre-construction work, according to city emails.
Reality check: "If the city intends to put human beings on top of a trash pile it definitely mandates [an environmental] study," Peter Petrovsky, a civil engineer and environmental testing expert, tells us.
- "They shouldn't even start a project without taking those fundamental steps."
The intrigue: According to emails reviewed by Axios Phoenix, representatives from the city's homeless solutions office, planning and development department and street transportation department discussed conducting an environmental assessment in February but decided it wasn't needed.
- The first soil test was conducted in May, but the city thought there were quality control issues with the testing, so it ordered a new environmental assessment that was completed in June.
- The assessment found methane at high enough levels that could produce "acute physical hazards during site construction activities, as well as potential long-term physical hazards."
The latest: The scrapped homeless campus was supposed to include a structure large enough for 200 beds and four prefabricated shelters with private rooms made from shipping containers.
- One of the shipping container projects was deployed outside St. Vincent de Paul's Washington Street shelter last week, but the city has not found locations for the other structures yet.
More Phoenix stories
No stories could be found
Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Phoenix.
|
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Scoop: Phoenix kept working on shelter site even after ground risks were discovered
The city of Phoenix knew in January that "environmental work was needed" at the site where it planned to build a homeless shelter but continued onsite work through June, when methane gas was discovered, according to records obtained by Axios Phoenix.
Why it matters: The homeless campus was supposed to open this summer to provide more than 200 people with indoor shelter during the dangerous heat. Instead, the city is starting from scratch to find a new location.
Catch up quick: City spokesperson Kristin Couturier tells Axios Phoenix the city knew the site was used for illegal dumping in the past. A geotechnical report produced in January found a significant amount of construction debris and trash, confirming previous dumping.
- The report recommended the city and its contractor remove the entire 15- to 30-foot-deep layer of fill that was not native to the area to mitigate environmental and structural issues.
- The city ultimately agreed to remove just the top 5 feet of fill to "limit earthwork."
Of note: The city did not test the soils for methane gas or other environmental hazards at that time, even though the January report noted the presence of organic material that could be "problematic."
- Methane is produced when organic materials decompose, which is why it's commonly found at landfills and dumping sites.
- High levels of methane can cause explosions or asphyxiation, per the National Institute of Health.
What they're saying: Couturier tells Axios the city realized "additional environmental work was needed" after reviewing the January report but had to "work within scheduling constraints and availability of contractors and equipment" to complete it.
Yes, but: That didn't stop the city from moving forward with potholing, fire hydrant line demolition and other pre-construction work, according to city emails.
Reality check: "If the city intends to put human beings on top of a trash pile it definitely mandates [an environmental] study," Peter Petrovsky, a civil engineer and environmental testing expert, tells us.
- "They shouldn't even start a project without taking those fundamental steps."
The intrigue: According to emails reviewed by Axios Phoenix, representatives from the city's homeless solutions office, planning and development department and street transportation department discussed conducting an environmental assessment in February but decided it wasn't needed.
- The first soil test was conducted in May, but the city thought there were quality control issues with
|
the testing, so it ordered a new environmental assessment that was completed in June.
- The assessment found methane at high enough levels that could produce "acute physical hazards during site construction activities, as well as potential long-term physical hazards."
The latest: The scrapped homeless campus was supposed to include a structure large enough for 200 beds and four prefabricated shelters with private rooms made from shipping containers.
- One of the shipping container projects was deployed outside St. Vincent de Paul's Washington Street shelter last week, but the city has not found locations for the other structures yet.
More Phoenix stories
No stories could be found
Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Phoenix.
|
Letters to the Editor: Technology has a place in the classroom. Chatbots don’t
To the editor: I can only guess that the experts in adolescent character development and computer science who wrote the op-ed article, “Don’t ban chatbots in classrooms — use them to change how we teach,” have never served as classroom teachers who assign and grade essays. They claim that that artificial intelligence provided by chatbots will provide the knowledge that encourages students to think.
The process these authors envision is a student approaching an essay writing assignment thirsting for knowledge, using the knowledge-providing chatbot and then starting to think. As a longtime college teacher, I know that this perception is far from reality.
Normally, a student’s first reaction is fear of failure. Most students will then start the process of writing by thinking. Those few who want to take shortcuts will first consult Google, Wikipedia or a professional essay writing service. These forms of high-tech cheating relieve the fear of failure and bypasses the desired process of thinking.
The op-ed writers cite Socrates, who eschewed writing out of fear that it encourages forgetfulness. Fortunately for us, the wisdom of Socrates has indeed not been forgotten because it has been passed down through the ages by means of the written word.
The process of thinking as the road to learning is fundamentally a human process, one that should use technology as a resource rather than a crutch.
Stephen Sloane, Lomita
To the editor: Thank you for publishing the piece by Angela Duckworth and Lyle Ungar, who obviously have never taught K-12 students to read or write.
As one who has and was a fellow of the UCI Writing Project, I agree with them on this statement: “Writing a good essay still requires lots of human thought and work. Indeed, writing is thinking, and authentically good writing is authentically good thinking.”
Teaching writing is time consuming and difficult. So, why go through this technological mess? The process of writing demands thinking, drafting, revision and feedback. I believe that no technological advance can circumvent this process.
Gail McClain, Laguna Beach
To the editor: Although I agree that chatbots need to be integrated into the learning environment, I strongly disagree with the authors’ claim that today’s students know less but think better than students of a previous era.
Online education during the pandemic has sucked knowledge from the brains of students and diminished their ability to think.
Duckworth and Ungar mention the common use of calculators in calculus. Calculators have at best a minimal role in teaching calculus and mathematics in general. An argument could be made that calculators should be permitted only when students have mastered arithmetic. Computers, however, have a vital and increasing role in the teaching of mathematics.
I think teachers of the humanities will find chatbots a challenge. Thankfully, I teach math, and in-class tests will tell me who knows the material and who doesn’t.
James Stein, Redondo Beach
The writer is a professor emeritus of mathematics and statistics at Cal State Long Beach.
|
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|
Letters to the Editor: Technology has a place in the classroom. Chatbots don’t
To the editor: I can only guess that the experts in adolescent character development and computer science who wrote the op-ed article, “Don’t ban chatbots in classrooms — use them to change how we teach,” have never served as classroom teachers who assign and grade essays. They claim that that artificial intelligence provided by chatbots will provide the knowledge that encourages students to think.
The process these authors envision is a student approaching an essay writing assignment thirsting for knowledge, using the knowledge-providing chatbot and then starting to think. As a longtime college teacher, I know that this perception is far from reality.
Normally, a student’s first reaction is fear of failure. Most students will then start the process of writing by thinking. Those few who want to take shortcuts will first consult Google, Wikipedia or a professional essay writing service. These forms of high-tech cheating relieve the fear of failure and bypasses the desired process of thinking.
The op-ed writers cite Socrates, who eschewed writing out of fear that it encourages forgetfulness. Fortunately for us, the wisdom of Socrates has indeed not been forgotten because it has been passed down through the ages by means of the written word.
The process of thinking as the road to learning is fundamentally a human process, one that should use technology as a resource rather than a crutch.
Stephen Sloane, Lomita
To the editor: Thank you for publishing the piece by Angela Duckworth and Lyle Ungar, who obviously have never taught K-12 students to read or write.
As one who has and was a fellow of the UCI Writing Project, I agree with them on this statement: “Writing a good essay still requires lots of human thought and work. Indeed, writing is thinking, and authentically good writing is authentically good thinking.”
Teaching writing is time consuming and difficult. So, why go through this technological mess? The process of writing demands thinking, drafting, revision and feedback. I believe that no technological advance can circumvent this process.
Gail McClain, Laguna Beach
To the editor: Although I agree that chatbots need to be integrated into the learning environment, I strongly disagree with the authors’ claim that today’s students know less but think better than students of a previous era.
Online education during the pandemic has sucked knowledge from the brains of students and diminished their ability to think.
Duckworth and Ungar mention the common use of calcul
|
ators in calculus. Calculators have at best a minimal role in teaching calculus and mathematics in general. An argument could be made that calculators should be permitted only when students have mastered arithmetic. Computers, however, have a vital and increasing role in the teaching of mathematics.
I think teachers of the humanities will find chatbots a challenge. Thankfully, I teach math, and in-class tests will tell me who knows the material and who doesn’t.
James Stein, Redondo Beach
The writer is a professor emeritus of mathematics and statistics at Cal State Long Beach.
|
Recognition for Black pioneers Nathaniel Sargent, Rodney White moves forward at state level
A state committee endorsed the plan to adopt Nathaniel Sargent Lake and Rodney White Slough to honor Black pioneers.
A proposal to rename two natural features in Mason County after early Black settlers has taken another step forward, after gaining approval from the Washington State Committee on Geographic Names last week. The plan to honor Kitsap County pioneers Rodney White and Nathaniel Sargent now will be presented to the state's Board of Natural Resources and then the U.S. Board of Geographic Names for federal approval.
In October the state's Department of Natural Resources announced a plan to rename an 18-acre Mason County wetland for Rodney White, a Black pioneer whose homestead there was branded as a racial slur for decades after his death. White is believed to have arrived in Mason County in 1890, as reported in the Kitsap Sun last fall, went on to farm and build roads in the Tahuya River Valley and died in 1913. The proposed Rodney White Slough had been formerly known by the N-word, which was included on maps in later years, because White lived there.
The second proposal that was approved by the committee will rename Grass Lake, a 10.5-acre body of water north of Tahuya that was called Negro Slough through the 1990s and a slur prior to that, Nathaniel Sargent Lake. Sargent was a Black man born into slavery in Kentucky, who eventually moved to Kitsap and ranched 248 acres. He was elected justice of the peace in 1894 and died in 1954.
In addition to approving the two name changes of Mason County landmarks, the committee on Thursday also adopted proposals to rename two features that had been known by a derogatory term that refers to Indigenous women, according to a news release. A spring in Garfield County will be renamed South Tucannon Spring upon approval, after the Tucannon River, and a two-mile long creek in Okanogan County will be renamed Gooseberry Creek.
Also, a new name for the passage between Marrowstone Island and Indian Island in Jefferson County was proposed, and will be considered by the Committee on Geographic Names at an upcoming meeting. The passage would be called A Passage Through, a translation of a Clallam language word and recognizing the traditional name used by S'Klallam and Chemacum people. The waterway was block by a causeway for around 100 years, according to a news release from the committee, before reopening in 2019 to connect Kilisut Harbor with Oak Bay.
Kitsap Sun archives were used in reporting this story.
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|
Recognition for Black pioneers Nathaniel Sargent, Rodney White moves forward at state level
A state committee endorsed the plan to adopt Nathaniel Sargent Lake and Rodney White Slough to honor Black pioneers.
A proposal to rename two natural features in Mason County after early Black settlers has taken another step forward, after gaining approval from the Washington State Committee on Geographic Names last week. The plan to honor Kitsap County pioneers Rodney White and Nathaniel Sargent now will be presented to the state's Board of Natural Resources and then the U.S. Board of Geographic Names for federal approval.
In October the state's Department of Natural Resources announced a plan to rename an 18-acre Mason County wetland for Rodney White, a Black pioneer whose homestead there was branded as a racial slur for decades after his death. White is believed to have arrived in Mason County in 1890, as reported in the Kitsap Sun last fall, went on to farm and build roads in the Tahuya River Valley and died in 1913. The proposed Rodney White Slough had been formerly known by the N-word, which was included on maps in later years, because White lived there.
The second proposal that was approved by the committee will rename Grass Lake, a 10.5-acre body of water north of Tahuya that was called Negro Slough through the 1990s and a slur prior to that, Nathaniel Sargent Lake. Sargent was a Black man born into slavery in Kentucky, who eventually moved to Kitsap and ranched 248 acres. He was elected justice of the peace in 1894 and died in 1954.
In addition to approving the two name changes of Mason County landmarks, the committee on Thursday also adopted proposals to rename two features that had been known by a derogatory term that refers to Indigenous women, according to a news release. A spring in Garfield County will be renamed South Tucannon Spring upon approval, after the Tucannon River, and a two-mile long creek in Okanogan County will be renamed Gooseberry Creek.
Also, a new name for the passage between Marrowstone Island and Indian Island in Jefferson County was proposed, and will be considered by the Committee on Geographic Names at an upcoming meeting. The passage would be called A Passage Through, a translation of a Clallam language word and recognizing the traditional name used by S'Klallam and Chemacum people. The waterway was block
|
by a causeway for around 100 years, according to a news release from the committee, before reopening in 2019 to connect Kilisut Harbor with Oak Bay.
Kitsap Sun archives were used in reporting this story.
|
People with mental illness have the body of a person up to two years older than they actually are, a study has revealed.
People with anxiety, bipolar and depression have long been known to also suffer from worse physical health and now scientists may have found evidence to suggest this is because mental health is linked to accelerated ageing.
Dr Julian Mutz, a postdoctoral researcher at King’s College London, led a project which analysed data on 168 different blood metabolites (products of metabolism) from 110,780 participants in the UK Biobank study.
The profile of markers in the blood revealed people with mental health conditions resembled a person older than the patient’s actual age, the data show.
“We examined biological ageing in people with bipolar disorder, depression or anxiety disorder,” Dr Mutz told the Telegraph.
“We found that across these diagnoses, people with a history of mental illness had an older biological age than their actual age.
More age-related diseases
“The differences were largest for people with bipolar disorder, smallest for people with anxiety disorder and depression was somewhere in between.
“We observed the largest difference between biological age and actual age in people with bipolar disorder, a mean difference of about two years.
“For depression the corresponding difference was about one year and for anxiety disorder was 0.7 years.
“The finding that these differences were greatest in people with bipolar disorder is something that we also observed for other measures of biological ageing, for example when looking at frailty.”
According to the researchers, their findings may go some way to explaining why people with mental health problems tend to have shorter lifespans and more age-related diseases than the general population.
“It is now possible to predict people’s age from blood metabolites,” Dr Mutz said.
“We found that, on average, those who had a lifetime history of mental illness had a metabolite profile which implied they were older than their actual age.”
‘Mutually reinforcing process’
The study was presented at the European Congress of Psychiatry in Paris and Dr Mutz told the Telegraph that while the data did not prove causation, it opened up avenues for future research.
“There are several plausible pathways linking psychiatric disorders to accelerated biological ageing,” he said.
“For example, lifestyle (e.g., physical inactivity, higher rates of smoking), biology (e.g., overactivation of the autonomic nervous system, chronic low-grade inflammation) and psychosocial factors (social isolation, loneliness) in people with mental illness likely negatively impact biological ageing and their health, highlighted by the higher prevalence of age-related diseases and lower life expectancy compared to the general population.
“I would speculate that it is a mutually reinforcing process, i.e. mental illness negatively impacts ageing, and faster biological ageing and poor health in turn negatively impacts mental health.
“However, we need more data to repeatedly measure biological age over time.”
He added that the study has not yet been published in a journal but the team is hoping to submit the work for publication in the next few months.
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People with mental illness have the body of a person up to two years older than they actually are, a study has revealed.
People with anxiety, bipolar and depression have long been known to also suffer from worse physical health and now scientists may have found evidence to suggest this is because mental health is linked to accelerated ageing.
Dr Julian Mutz, a postdoctoral researcher at King’s College London, led a project which analysed data on 168 different blood metabolites (products of metabolism) from 110,780 participants in the UK Biobank study.
The profile of markers in the blood revealed people with mental health conditions resembled a person older than the patient’s actual age, the data show.
“We examined biological ageing in people with bipolar disorder, depression or anxiety disorder,” Dr Mutz told the Telegraph.
“We found that across these diagnoses, people with a history of mental illness had an older biological age than their actual age.
More age-related diseases
“The differences were largest for people with bipolar disorder, smallest for people with anxiety disorder and depression was somewhere in between.
“We observed the largest difference between biological age and actual age in people with bipolar disorder, a mean difference of about two years.
“For depression the corresponding difference was about one year and for anxiety disorder was 0.7 years.
“The finding that these differences were greatest in people with bipolar disorder is something that we also observed for other measures of biological ageing, for example when looking at frailty.”
According to the researchers, their findings may go some way to explaining why people with mental health problems tend to have shorter lifespans and more age-related diseases than the general population.
“It is now possible to predict people’s age from blood metabolites,” Dr Mutz said.
“We found that, on average, those who had a lifetime history of mental illness had a metabolite profile which implied they were older than their actual age.”
‘Mutually reinforcing process’
The study was presented at the European Congress of Psychiatry in Paris and Dr Mutz told the Telegraph that while the data did not prove causation, it opened up avenues for future research.
“There are several plausible pathways linking psychiatric disorders to accelerated biological ageing,” he said.
“For example, lifestyle (e.g., physical inactivity, higher rates of smoking), biology (e.g., overactivation of the autonomic nervous system, chronic low-grade inflammation) and psychosocial factors (social isolation, loneliness) in people with mental illness likely negatively impact biological ageing and their health, highlighted by the higher prevalence of age-related diseases and lower
|
life expectancy compared to the general population.
“I would speculate that it is a mutually reinforcing process, i.e. mental illness negatively impacts ageing, and faster biological ageing and poor health in turn negatively impacts mental health.
“However, we need more data to repeatedly measure biological age over time.”
He added that the study has not yet been published in a journal but the team is hoping to submit the work for publication in the next few months.
|
These are the wee hours of Winter’s long night. Each day the sunlight grows stronger, winter’s icy grip begins to slip just a bit, and the promise of spring, though weeks away, can be heard in the whispers of a less frigid wind.
This moon cycle, starting with the new moon on January 20, contains the sabbat of Imbolc. In some traditions this is the Milky Moon. Imbolc means in the belly of the Mother and oimelc means ewe’s milk—this was the time of year many herd animals gave birth and began producing milk. Milk was an import source of nourishment, not only for the animal babes, but also for the community as winter stores were running out. The creation of life-giving and life-renewing milk was a cause for celebration.
This moon is also known as Snow Moon, Hunger Moon, Storm Moon, Quickening Moon and other names evocative of the season, depending on tradition. But as this new moon dawns we are still in the time of high winter, a time of waiting and anticipation, watching for early signs of reassurance that winter will soon be taking its leave.
This is the moon for divining the time of Spring’s arrival. If the groundhog sees its shadow, winter will have a long farewell. It’s ironic that a clear, bright blue sky and sunshine on Ground Hog Day, after so many overcast gray days of winter, is really just a “save the date” sent from Spring, an announcement of arrival at some distant time in the future.
If you have difficulty remembering whether sun or clouds predict the early arrival of spring, this rhyme may help ~
If Candlemas Day be sunny and bright
Then winter shall have another flight.
But if it be dark, with clouds and rain,
Winter is gone and will not come again.
Candlemas has its origins in the Christian church, both as a time to honor the purification of Mary and presentation of Jesus in the temple, and as the day when the candles that will be used in mass throughout the year are blessed in the church— thus Candle Mass.
Imbolc, Groundhog Day, or Candlemas, February 2nd* marks the continuation of the growing light that will reach full apex in June, on the Summer Solstice. As a pagan observation, Imbolc marks the first stirring of spring, deep below ground, like the quickening of a child growing in the womb.
While some cultures associate this moon with purification, the energy of this moon also includes planing and preparation. These two aspects compliment one another, especially at the time of the dark into new moon.
Think of it like Persephone in the Underworld with Hades, tidying, organizing, pulling the suitcases down, preparing for her trip back to the surface. This “quickening” energy is also reflected in the nesting behaviors of mothers about to give birth.
After being closed in for the dark winter months, take this in-between time to clean house—literally. Sweep away the dust and cobwebs of winter, get into the corners and under the beds, organize the closets and cupboards.
Magically, tap into Winter’s waning cycle to perform spells and rituals of release and banishing. Then, as the moon visibly grows in the sky from first quarter until full illumination, work your magic to manifest supporting structures for your desires.
During this season, beneath this Milky Moon, is the time to start feeding your personal goals. Think about what lies ahead, where you’re going, what you’ll need and want for the journey, and how to lay the groundwork.
What seeds do you want to plant, nurture and grow to fruition? How will you achieve your desires? What tools and strategies will you use? What and how can you adapt for a greater chance of success? Direct your magical workings to these outcomes.
*Astrological Imbolc falls on February 3 this year.
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These are the wee hours of Winter’s long night. Each day the sunlight grows stronger, winter’s icy grip begins to slip just a bit, and the promise of spring, though weeks away, can be heard in the whispers of a less frigid wind.
This moon cycle, starting with the new moon on January 20, contains the sabbat of Imbolc. In some traditions this is the Milky Moon. Imbolc means in the belly of the Mother and oimelc means ewe’s milk—this was the time of year many herd animals gave birth and began producing milk. Milk was an import source of nourishment, not only for the animal babes, but also for the community as winter stores were running out. The creation of life-giving and life-renewing milk was a cause for celebration.
This moon is also known as Snow Moon, Hunger Moon, Storm Moon, Quickening Moon and other names evocative of the season, depending on tradition. But as this new moon dawns we are still in the time of high winter, a time of waiting and anticipation, watching for early signs of reassurance that winter will soon be taking its leave.
This is the moon for divining the time of Spring’s arrival. If the groundhog sees its shadow, winter will have a long farewell. It’s ironic that a clear, bright blue sky and sunshine on Ground Hog Day, after so many overcast gray days of winter, is really just a “save the date” sent from Spring, an announcement of arrival at some distant time in the future.
If you have difficulty remembering whether sun or clouds predict the early arrival of spring, this rhyme may help ~
If Candlemas Day be sunny and bright
Then winter shall have another flight.
But if it be dark, with clouds and rain,
Winter is gone and will not come again.
Candlemas has its origins in the Christian church, both as a time to honor the purification of Mary and presentation of Jesus in the temple, and as the day when the candles that will be used in mass throughout the year are blessed in the church— thus Candle Mass.
Imbolc, Groundhog Day, or Candlemas, February 2nd* marks the continuation of the growing light that will reach full apex in June, on the Summer Solstice. As a pagan observation, Imbolc marks the first stirring of spring, deep below ground, like the quickening of a child growing in the w
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omb.
While some cultures associate this moon with purification, the energy of this moon also includes planing and preparation. These two aspects compliment one another, especially at the time of the dark into new moon.
Think of it like Persephone in the Underworld with Hades, tidying, organizing, pulling the suitcases down, preparing for her trip back to the surface. This “quickening” energy is also reflected in the nesting behaviors of mothers about to give birth.
After being closed in for the dark winter months, take this in-between time to clean house—literally. Sweep away the dust and cobwebs of winter, get into the corners and under the beds, organize the closets and cupboards.
Magically, tap into Winter’s waning cycle to perform spells and rituals of release and banishing. Then, as the moon visibly grows in the sky from first quarter until full illumination, work your magic to manifest supporting structures for your desires.
During this season, beneath this Milky Moon, is the time to start feeding your personal goals. Think about what lies ahead, where you’re going, what you’ll need and want for the journey, and how to lay the groundwork.
What seeds do you want to plant, nurture and grow to fruition? How will you achieve your desires? What tools and strategies will you use? What and how can you adapt for a greater chance of success? Direct your magical workings to these outcomes.
*Astrological Imbolc falls on February 3 this year.
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Scientists at Osaka University in Japan have just created baby mice with two dads. That’s right: these mice have two parents, and both parents are males.
How did they do it, and what might this mean for humans?
Well, as reported recently in the journal Nature, it wasn’t easy. The scientists fertilized 630 eggs to get just seven mouse pups, but all seven mouse pups appeared normal and grew into fertile adults.
Let’s dig into the process just a little bit. The research team, led by biologist Katsuhiko Hayashi, first took cells from male mice, and they had to somehow re-program the cells to create egg cells.
One thing about egg cells in mammals: they are always female. Or to be more precise, they have two copies of the X chromosome. Males have one X and one Y chromosome, and the male mouse cells in this experiment started out that way too.
Hayashi’s team first took cells from male mice and turned them into pluripotent stem cells–a special type of cell that can then be turned into many other types of cells, including eggs. Then they grew these cells in Petri dishes until some of them spontaneously lost their Y chromosomes. Now the cells had 1 copy of the X chromosome, but no Y.
That only got the scientists part of the way to where they needed to be. The team then used another genetic trick that induced some of these cells to pick up an extra X chromosome while they were replicating. At that point, they had created mouse cells with two X chromosomes: in other words, the cells were genetically female.
The next step was to convince these XX cells to turn into egg cells. They did that using additional genetic techniques to coax the pluripotent cells to divide and form egg cells, each of which had just one copy of every chromosome (as egg cells do), including the X chromosome.
Those were the hard parts. Once they had the egg cells, the scientists fertilized them with sperm from other males, and then implanted 630 fertilized eggs in female mice. It wasn’t a very efficient process, but it worked: seven of the embryos successfully matured into baby mice, which grew into normal, fertile adults. (Note that mice only take 3-6 months to reach maturity.)
You might be wondering if all mice (or other mammals) with two male parents would have to be males. Well no, not at all. Sperm cells, which come from males, have either an X or a Y chromosome. After fertilizing the eggs, which all have X, the result is either XX (female) or XY (male), depending on which chromosome the sperm carried.
The scientists who did this work emphasized that we’re still a long way from making it work in humans. Among other things, we’d have to be sure that all of the steps involved in turning the male cell into an egg didn’t create harmful mutations elsewhere.
You might also ask if this means that we can also create babies using two female parents. Well, probably yes, but not using the process described here: to create a baby from two females, we’d need to take a female cell (any cell would do) and then turn it into a sperm cell. This is possible too! As it happens, a 2021 paper from Emory University described how scientists have recently created sperm cells from pluripotent cells in rhesus macaques. If viable sperm cells can be created, then they can be used to fertilize eggs, which would give us offspring with two female parents. (In this case, all of the babies would be female.)
But at least in principle, it may soon be possible for two men to have a child where both of them are the child’s genetic father.
|
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Scientists at Osaka University in Japan have just created baby mice with two dads. That’s right: these mice have two parents, and both parents are males.
How did they do it, and what might this mean for humans?
Well, as reported recently in the journal Nature, it wasn’t easy. The scientists fertilized 630 eggs to get just seven mouse pups, but all seven mouse pups appeared normal and grew into fertile adults.
Let’s dig into the process just a little bit. The research team, led by biologist Katsuhiko Hayashi, first took cells from male mice, and they had to somehow re-program the cells to create egg cells.
One thing about egg cells in mammals: they are always female. Or to be more precise, they have two copies of the X chromosome. Males have one X and one Y chromosome, and the male mouse cells in this experiment started out that way too.
Hayashi’s team first took cells from male mice and turned them into pluripotent stem cells–a special type of cell that can then be turned into many other types of cells, including eggs. Then they grew these cells in Petri dishes until some of them spontaneously lost their Y chromosomes. Now the cells had 1 copy of the X chromosome, but no Y.
That only got the scientists part of the way to where they needed to be. The team then used another genetic trick that induced some of these cells to pick up an extra X chromosome while they were replicating. At that point, they had created mouse cells with two X chromosomes: in other words, the cells were genetically female.
The next step was to convince these XX cells to turn into egg cells. They did that using additional genetic techniques to coax the pluripotent cells to divide and form egg cells, each of which had just one copy of every chromosome (as egg cells do), including the X chromosome.
Those were the hard parts. Once they had the egg cells, the scientists fertilized them with sperm from other males, and then implanted 630 fertilized eggs in female mice. It wasn’t a very efficient process, but it worked: seven of the embryos successfully matured into baby mice, which grew into normal, fertile adults. (Note that mice only take 3-6 months to reach maturity.)
You might be wondering if all mice (or other mammals) with two male parents would have to be males. Well no, not at all. Sperm cells, which come from males, have either
|
an X or a Y chromosome. After fertilizing the eggs, which all have X, the result is either XX (female) or XY (male), depending on which chromosome the sperm carried.
The scientists who did this work emphasized that we’re still a long way from making it work in humans. Among other things, we’d have to be sure that all of the steps involved in turning the male cell into an egg didn’t create harmful mutations elsewhere.
You might also ask if this means that we can also create babies using two female parents. Well, probably yes, but not using the process described here: to create a baby from two females, we’d need to take a female cell (any cell would do) and then turn it into a sperm cell. This is possible too! As it happens, a 2021 paper from Emory University described how scientists have recently created sperm cells from pluripotent cells in rhesus macaques. If viable sperm cells can be created, then they can be used to fertilize eggs, which would give us offspring with two female parents. (In this case, all of the babies would be female.)
But at least in principle, it may soon be possible for two men to have a child where both of them are the child’s genetic father.
|
Where are the statues of women at the Georgia Capitol?
Arguably the most prominent statue at the Georgia Capitol is "Miss Freedom" who sits atop the cupola. But she's not a real woman — rather a 19th-century stock statue.
- In reality, in a state Capitol adorned with roughly 130 portraits, statues and busts of Georgia historical figures, just 13 are of real women.
Why it matters: More than half of Georgia's population is female. About one-third of elected state lawmakers are women this year.
State of play: Of the 13 statues, only one is a full-body statue — of Elizabeth Brown, the wife of Civil War-era Gov. Joseph E. Brown with her husband.
- Three of the eight portraits on display are also of Georgia first ladies with their husbands.
- Just two of the 13 are Black.
- "There's this huge deficit [of women] in the building that represents the history of the state," Georgia State University historian and author of a history of the Capitol Timothy Crimmins told Axios.
What's happening: Other women at the Capitol include a fountain featuring Mary Latimer McLendon, a women's suffrage leader (albeit only for white women) and busts of Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low, author Margaret Mitchell and Moina Belle Michael, who came up with the idea of selling poppies on behalf of World War I veterans.
- All statues and busts are of white women.
- Of the eight women in portraits, only two are Black: Grace Towns Hamilton, the first Black woman elected to the state legislature and Lucy Craft Laney, who founded the first school for Black children in Augusta in 1883.
How it works: Crimmins said adding portraits and statues is a matter of political will and raising money. Both the governor and the legislature can alter the collection, though governors automatically get portraits when they leave office.
- For example, former Gov. Jimmy Carter established a commission in 1973 to select the first portraits of Black Georgians added to the building, including of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Lucy Craft Laney.
- But statues, Crimmins said, are more difficult, in part because they're more expensive. It took lawmakers 20 years to get a statue of King added to the Capitol grounds in 2017.
Flashback: A portrait of Robert E. Lee hangs prominently in the Capitol because former Gov. Roy Barnes hoped doing so might appease the Sons of Confederate Veterans who protested his decision in the early 2000s to push to remove a Confederate emblem from the state flag, Crimmins said.
The latest: The most recent push for a new statue on Capitol grounds has been for one of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by Republicans.
Between the lines: Just as with Black Georgians in the past, "The sparsity of statues and portraits of women in a political building is representative of their lack of political clout" historically, Crimmins said. A women's bathroom near the legislative chambers, for example, was only added in the 1970s.
- As Georgia women's political influence increases, he said — for example, if a woman is elected governor of Georgia— their representation in the Capitol should also increase.
Threat level: The Capitol grounds are already full of statues, Crimmins said. And the removal of any statue is difficult.
- A 2019 GOP-backed law mandated that if a monument is moved, it must be relocated to "a site of similar prominence, honor, visibility, and access."
More Atlanta stories
No stories could be found
Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Atlanta.
|
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Where are the statues of women at the Georgia Capitol?
Arguably the most prominent statue at the Georgia Capitol is "Miss Freedom" who sits atop the cupola. But she's not a real woman — rather a 19th-century stock statue.
- In reality, in a state Capitol adorned with roughly 130 portraits, statues and busts of Georgia historical figures, just 13 are of real women.
Why it matters: More than half of Georgia's population is female. About one-third of elected state lawmakers are women this year.
State of play: Of the 13 statues, only one is a full-body statue — of Elizabeth Brown, the wife of Civil War-era Gov. Joseph E. Brown with her husband.
- Three of the eight portraits on display are also of Georgia first ladies with their husbands.
- Just two of the 13 are Black.
- "There's this huge deficit [of women] in the building that represents the history of the state," Georgia State University historian and author of a history of the Capitol Timothy Crimmins told Axios.
What's happening: Other women at the Capitol include a fountain featuring Mary Latimer McLendon, a women's suffrage leader (albeit only for white women) and busts of Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low, author Margaret Mitchell and Moina Belle Michael, who came up with the idea of selling poppies on behalf of World War I veterans.
- All statues and busts are of white women.
- Of the eight women in portraits, only two are Black: Grace Towns Hamilton, the first Black woman elected to the state legislature and Lucy Craft Laney, who founded the first school for Black children in Augusta in 1883.
How it works: Crimmins said adding portraits and statues is a matter of political will and raising money. Both the governor and the legislature can alter the collection, though governors automatically get portraits when they leave office.
- For example, former Gov. Jimmy Carter established a commission in 1973 to select the first portraits of Black Georgians added to the building, including of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Lucy Craft Laney.
- But statues, Crimmins said, are more difficult, in part because they're more expensive. It took lawmakers 20 years to get a statue of King added to the Capitol grounds in 2017.
Flashback: A portrait of Robert E. Lee hangs prominently in the Capitol because former Gov.
|
Roy Barnes hoped doing so might appease the Sons of Confederate Veterans who protested his decision in the early 2000s to push to remove a Confederate emblem from the state flag, Crimmins said.
The latest: The most recent push for a new statue on Capitol grounds has been for one of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by Republicans.
Between the lines: Just as with Black Georgians in the past, "The sparsity of statues and portraits of women in a political building is representative of their lack of political clout" historically, Crimmins said. A women's bathroom near the legislative chambers, for example, was only added in the 1970s.
- As Georgia women's political influence increases, he said — for example, if a woman is elected governor of Georgia— their representation in the Capitol should also increase.
Threat level: The Capitol grounds are already full of statues, Crimmins said. And the removal of any statue is difficult.
- A 2019 GOP-backed law mandated that if a monument is moved, it must be relocated to "a site of similar prominence, honor, visibility, and access."
More Atlanta stories
No stories could be found
Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Atlanta.
|
Title IX transformed women’s sports.
The 1972 federal law was passed to end discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities — notably athletics — in schools and colleges that receive federal funds. It worked. When the law was passed, only about 320,000 girls and women played high school and college sports. That number today is about 3.4 million.
The law corrected a glaring societal imbalance concerning women and athletics. The new standard it introduced was, and still is, equal treatment of the sexes in athletics. Societies evolve. Now, more than 50 years since it was enacted, Title IX needs an update to preserve the balance.
The issue is whether transgender females, specifically those who went through puberty as males before transitioning to women, should be allowed to compete against cisgender female athletes — those who identify as females all their lives.
The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, the governing body of scholastic sports in Connecticut, has since 2013 allowed trans athletes to participate on the teams that represent their current sexual identity. They did so because they thought it unfair not to. But in doing so they create the kind of imbalance that Title IX was supposed to correct. They made the wrong call.
Here’s why. Men, in general, are bigger, stronger, and faster than women. For example, the average NBA player is a little over 6-foot-6 and weighs 217, while the average WNBA player is just over 6 feet and weighs 166.
That is why there are two leagues, and why nearly all sports competitions are divided by gender (the only Olympic sport in which men compete against women is equestrian, where the horse does the heavy lifting). Some sports are also divided by weight and age. The idea is to create fair competition.
It is inescapable that bodies that go through male puberty develop musculoskeletal physiques that are affected by testosterone in ways that make them bigger, stronger, and faster than bodies that do not. When a person transitions from male to female after puberty, she keeps most of these characteristics, thus creating an obvious advantage in athletic competition. In basketball terms, the 6-foot-6 player gets more rebounds than the 6-foot player.
So, allowing transgender female athletes to compete against cisgender females creates a disadvantage for the latter, which is the opposite of what Title IX was trying to achieve.
Two world class athletes who are members of the LGBT community agree. Martina Navratilova, 18-time Grand Slam winner in professional women’s tennis, said that allowing transgender females to compete against cisgender females is a form of cheating.
She elaborated: “When I talk about sports and rules that must be fair, I am not trying to exclude trans people from living a full, healthy life,” she said. “All I am trying to do is to make sure girls and women who were born female are competing on as level a playing field as possible within their sport.”
Trans activist and former Olympic men’s decathlon champion Caitlin (nee Bruce) Jenner praised the recent decision by FINA (the world body governing swimming), to ban from women’s competitions people who have gone through male puberty, saying: “What’s fair is fair!”
That is the point. The CIAC ‘s transgender policy is unfair because it creates an illusion of fairness but allows one group of athletes a competitive advantage that is unfair.
To say that transgender females should not compete against cisgender females raises the question of who they should compete against, because they have a right to take part in athletics as well. There are options, one of which is to compete against cisgender males, or, if there are enough transgender females, against each other. Some have suggested that in noncontact sports such as track, two winners be named.
Solutions involving drugs should be avoided. If performance enhancing drugs are bad, performance diminishing drugs are no better.
It’s possible the courts will supply a solution, although a recent Connecticut case suggests otherwise. In December 2022, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit brought by three Connecticut female high school athletes who challenged the CIAC’s transgender participation policy. The suit was dismissed on procedural and legal grounds such as standing and mootness and did not resolve the substantive issue.
For that we must turn to Congress. The lawmakers should revise Title IX to re-level the playing field in school sports. We can work out the details.
Bill Connon of Canton is a retired lawyer and a former adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education’s graduate program.
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Title IX transformed women’s sports.
The 1972 federal law was passed to end discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities — notably athletics — in schools and colleges that receive federal funds. It worked. When the law was passed, only about 320,000 girls and women played high school and college sports. That number today is about 3.4 million.
The law corrected a glaring societal imbalance concerning women and athletics. The new standard it introduced was, and still is, equal treatment of the sexes in athletics. Societies evolve. Now, more than 50 years since it was enacted, Title IX needs an update to preserve the balance.
The issue is whether transgender females, specifically those who went through puberty as males before transitioning to women, should be allowed to compete against cisgender female athletes — those who identify as females all their lives.
The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, the governing body of scholastic sports in Connecticut, has since 2013 allowed trans athletes to participate on the teams that represent their current sexual identity. They did so because they thought it unfair not to. But in doing so they create the kind of imbalance that Title IX was supposed to correct. They made the wrong call.
Here’s why. Men, in general, are bigger, stronger, and faster than women. For example, the average NBA player is a little over 6-foot-6 and weighs 217, while the average WNBA player is just over 6 feet and weighs 166.
That is why there are two leagues, and why nearly all sports competitions are divided by gender (the only Olympic sport in which men compete against women is equestrian, where the horse does the heavy lifting). Some sports are also divided by weight and age. The idea is to create fair competition.
It is inescapable that bodies that go through male puberty develop musculoskeletal physiques that are affected by testosterone in ways that make them bigger, stronger, and faster than bodies that do not. When a person transitions from male to female after puberty, she keeps most of these characteristics, thus creating an obvious advantage in athletic competition. In basketball terms, the 6-foot-6 player gets more rebounds than the 6-foot player.
So, allowing transgender female athletes to compete against cisgender females creates a disadvantage for the latter, which is the opposite of what Title IX was trying to achieve.
Two world class athletes who are members
|
of the LGBT community agree. Martina Navratilova, 18-time Grand Slam winner in professional women’s tennis, said that allowing transgender females to compete against cisgender females is a form of cheating.
She elaborated: “When I talk about sports and rules that must be fair, I am not trying to exclude trans people from living a full, healthy life,” she said. “All I am trying to do is to make sure girls and women who were born female are competing on as level a playing field as possible within their sport.”
Trans activist and former Olympic men’s decathlon champion Caitlin (nee Bruce) Jenner praised the recent decision by FINA (the world body governing swimming), to ban from women’s competitions people who have gone through male puberty, saying: “What’s fair is fair!”
That is the point. The CIAC ‘s transgender policy is unfair because it creates an illusion of fairness but allows one group of athletes a competitive advantage that is unfair.
To say that transgender females should not compete against cisgender females raises the question of who they should compete against, because they have a right to take part in athletics as well. There are options, one of which is to compete against cisgender males, or, if there are enough transgender females, against each other. Some have suggested that in noncontact sports such as track, two winners be named.
Solutions involving drugs should be avoided. If performance enhancing drugs are bad, performance diminishing drugs are no better.
It’s possible the courts will supply a solution, although a recent Connecticut case suggests otherwise. In December 2022, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit brought by three Connecticut female high school athletes who challenged the CIAC’s transgender participation policy. The suit was dismissed on procedural and legal grounds such as standing and mootness and did not resolve the substantive issue.
For that we must turn to Congress. The lawmakers should revise Title IX to re-level the playing field in school sports. We can work out the details.
Bill Connon of Canton is a retired lawyer and a former adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education’s graduate program.
|
Spring forward: Daylight saving time returns to Utah this weekend
It's that time again.
Utah, along with most of the rest of the U.S., is scheduled to "spring forward" into daylight saving time on Sunday. The clocks move forward one hour from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m., local time.
A twice-annual changing of the clocks is habit for most Americans, but it still raises questions among many each time. Exactly when the clocks change and why are common questions across the Internet this week, according to Google, and so too are inquiries about why the U.S. — along with a majority of other countries — bother with it.
What is daylight saving time?
Daylight saving time, or DST, was first used in the U.S. in 1918 as a way to conserve energy during wartime. Now, a full century later, many Americans believe the practice is antiquated, with recent research suggesting it may cause more problems than it solves, with ongoing debates over the apparent health issues associated with clock changes, the potential economic costs, and a general frustration over the different practices used in different states and in different countries.
Yet DST remains the most common practice across the U.S. — except Arizona — and across most of the world, with advocates celebrating its benefits for farmers, ranchers and others who work outside, and for the long summer evenings that many associate with warmer seasons.
Utah has been a telling example, with a series of legislative efforts to exempt the state from DST having seen public debate in recent years, all of which failed.
Why bother with DST?
While changing the clocks is a twice-a-year habit, few Americans know why they are doing it. A report from Rasmussen Reports suggested only a third of Americans thought it was worth the hassle, and many didn't understand why they were supposed to do it.
Pushing the clocks forward in the summer has helped create a tradition of late summer evenings, and the extra hour of daylight can be indispensable for those who enjoy more time outdoors.
But studies in recent years have tied clock changes to health issues, increased car accident rates, workplace injuries and even depression. There is also a body of research suggesting that reduced workplace productivity and maintenance issues resulting from the clock changes take a toll on economic activity.
Some businesses have vouched for DST as being a good thing, especially golf courses, grill and charcoal industries and other companies that profit from people being outdoors during their waking hours.
How did daylight saving time start?
The idea of changing clocks to better match up with the seasons goes back to ancient times, but the modern practice is usually credited as starting in World War I era Germany, where officials wanted an extra hour of daylight to cut down on nighttime fuel usage and allow for another hour of work productivity.
According to TimeandDate.com, which tracks time trends worldwide, most countries dropped the practice after the war, but Great Britain kept the practice up, making it a permanent national policy in 1925.
In the U.S., Daylight Saving Time returned with World War II and then left up to states to decide whether to adopt it or not. The Uniform Time Act, passed in 1966, attempted to simplify DST patterns, requiring states to either change the clocks at a specified time or stick with standard time throughout the year.
Only two states don't observe it – Hawaii and Arizona. Other non-observers include American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
In 2007, the federal government expanded daylight saving time in order to reduce energy consumption. The law now specifies that daylight time applies from 2 a.m. on the second Sunday of March until 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of November. Daylight saving time now accounts for about 65% of the year.
Could Congress end daylight saving time?
The U.S. Senate voted unanimously last March to pass the Sunshine Protection Act, which would extend DST to last for the entire year. If enacted, it would have meant the clocks would never change, starting after they "spring forward" in March 2023. But the bill never received a vote in the U.S. House, let alone head to President Joe Biden's desk for a signature.
Another version of the bill was reintroduced last week, sponsored by Florida's Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.
“This ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid,” Rubio said in a statement released along with the bill proposal. “Locking the clock has overwhelming bipartisan and popular support. This Congress, I hope that we can finally get this done.”
The new bill is similar to last year's and proposes again that this weekend's clock change is the country's last.
State legislation on daylight saving time
In the meantime, states keep taking their own steps toward dropping the practice.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, in the past five years, 19 states have "enacted legislation or passed resolutions to provide for year-round daylight saving time, if Congress were to allow such a change, and in some cases, if surrounding states enact the same legislation. Because federal law does not currently allow full-time DST, Congress would have to act before states could adopt changes."
At the federal level, the U.S. Department of Transportation is actually in charge of daylight saving time and all time zones within the country.
"The oversight of time zones was assigned to DOT because time standards are important for many modes of transportation," according to the department's website.
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Spring forward: Daylight saving time returns to Utah this weekend
It's that time again.
Utah, along with most of the rest of the U.S., is scheduled to "spring forward" into daylight saving time on Sunday. The clocks move forward one hour from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m., local time.
A twice-annual changing of the clocks is habit for most Americans, but it still raises questions among many each time. Exactly when the clocks change and why are common questions across the Internet this week, according to Google, and so too are inquiries about why the U.S. — along with a majority of other countries — bother with it.
What is daylight saving time?
Daylight saving time, or DST, was first used in the U.S. in 1918 as a way to conserve energy during wartime. Now, a full century later, many Americans believe the practice is antiquated, with recent research suggesting it may cause more problems than it solves, with ongoing debates over the apparent health issues associated with clock changes, the potential economic costs, and a general frustration over the different practices used in different states and in different countries.
Yet DST remains the most common practice across the U.S. — except Arizona — and across most of the world, with advocates celebrating its benefits for farmers, ranchers and others who work outside, and for the long summer evenings that many associate with warmer seasons.
Utah has been a telling example, with a series of legislative efforts to exempt the state from DST having seen public debate in recent years, all of which failed.
Why bother with DST?
While changing the clocks is a twice-a-year habit, few Americans know why they are doing it. A report from Rasmussen Reports suggested only a third of Americans thought it was worth the hassle, and many didn't understand why they were supposed to do it.
Pushing the clocks forward in the summer has helped create a tradition of late summer evenings, and the extra hour of daylight can be indispensable for those who enjoy more time outdoors.
But studies in recent years have tied clock changes to health issues, increased car accident rates, workplace injuries and even depression. There is also a body of research suggesting that reduced workplace productivity and maintenance issues resulting from the clock changes take a toll on economic activity.
Some businesses have vouched for DST as being a good thing, especially golf courses, grill and charcoal industries and other companies that profit from people being outdoors during their waking hours.
How did daylight saving time
|
start?
The idea of changing clocks to better match up with the seasons goes back to ancient times, but the modern practice is usually credited as starting in World War I era Germany, where officials wanted an extra hour of daylight to cut down on nighttime fuel usage and allow for another hour of work productivity.
According to TimeandDate.com, which tracks time trends worldwide, most countries dropped the practice after the war, but Great Britain kept the practice up, making it a permanent national policy in 1925.
In the U.S., Daylight Saving Time returned with World War II and then left up to states to decide whether to adopt it or not. The Uniform Time Act, passed in 1966, attempted to simplify DST patterns, requiring states to either change the clocks at a specified time or stick with standard time throughout the year.
Only two states don't observe it – Hawaii and Arizona. Other non-observers include American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
In 2007, the federal government expanded daylight saving time in order to reduce energy consumption. The law now specifies that daylight time applies from 2 a.m. on the second Sunday of March until 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of November. Daylight saving time now accounts for about 65% of the year.
Could Congress end daylight saving time?
The U.S. Senate voted unanimously last March to pass the Sunshine Protection Act, which would extend DST to last for the entire year. If enacted, it would have meant the clocks would never change, starting after they "spring forward" in March 2023. But the bill never received a vote in the U.S. House, let alone head to President Joe Biden's desk for a signature.
Another version of the bill was reintroduced last week, sponsored by Florida's Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.
“This ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid,” Rubio said in a statement released along with the bill proposal. “Locking the clock has overwhelming bipartisan and popular support. This Congress, I hope that we can finally get this done.”
The new bill is similar to last year's and proposes again that this weekend's clock change is the country's last.
State legislation on daylight saving time
In the meantime, states keep taking their own steps toward dropping the practice.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, in the past five years, 19 states have "enacted legislation or passed resolutions to provide for year-round daylight saving time, if Congress were to allow such a change, and in some cases, if surrounding states enact the same legislation. Because federal law does not currently allow full-time DST, Congress would have to act before states could adopt changes."
At the federal level, the U.S. Department of Transportation is actually in charge of daylight saving time and all time zones within the country.
"The oversight of time zones was assigned to DOT because time standards are important for many modes of transportation," according to the department's website.
|
By Ruairi Nolan, Library Assistant, formerly of MU Library
While conducting research in the Russell Library I came across a book which caught my interest. It was the Memoires de M.L’Abbé Edgeworth de Firmont dernier Confesseur de Louis XVI by C. Sneyd Edgeworth, translated into English by Edmund Burke, and published in 1815 in Paris. Henry Essex Edgeworth, (1745-1807) was known also as Abbé Edgeworth in France, where he had lived most of his life from an early age.
Edgeworth was the final confessor to King Louis XVI, the French monarch who fell victim to the guillotine during the French Revolution. The King sent for Edgeworth personally – Edgeworth had developed a friendship with Princess Elizabeth, the King’s sister in the late 1780s-90s and came highly recommended.
The book is one of many in the collections that is directly linked to the history of the foundation of the College. The effects of the French Revolution influenced the establishment of St. Patrick’s College. A number of French professors came to teach in the aftermath of the Revolution. L’Abbe Edgeworth was offered the presidency of the College in 1795 which he turned down.
In Edgeworth’s account, we are told the narrative of events which brought the Abbé to King Louis on the night of 20-21 January 1793 and we are introduced to the gut-wrenching first moment of when the two are alone. Edgeworth, thus far composed and in control of his emotions loses strength and begins to weep, prompting the King to follow suit:
‘Forgive me, sir…for a long time, I have lived among my enemies, and habit has in some degree familiarised me to them; but when I behold a faithful subject…a different language reaches my heart, and in spite of my utmost efforts, I am melted’.
From this we receive a detailed retelling of the evening spent with the monarch right through to the morning, he speaks of Louis’ final hour with his family where ‘Not only tears were shed, and sobs were heard, but piercing cries’. In the morning, the two were constantly bothered by paranoid officials and officers worried that the monarch would take his own life to avoid the shame of execution to which the king responded: ‘These people see daggers and poison everywhere; they fear that I shall destroy myself…they little know me! To kill myself would indeed be weakness’.
At 8 o’clock on the morning of 21 January 1793, the King was brought to the Place de la Révolution. The streets of Paris were so crowded with silent spectators that it took two hours to reach the site of execution. Once they arrived, the gendarmes attempted to bind the King’s hands and chop off his hair to which he exclaimed: ‘do what you have been ordered, but you shall never bind me’. (Fig 2)
Edgeworth claims that the King looked to him in that moment as if seeking guidance, at which time he reassured him that this final humiliation served only to bring him closer to Christ in that he is suffering the same humilities as the son of God. Edgeworth is noted to have proclaimed ‘Fils de St Louis, Montez au ciel! / Son of St Louis, ascend to heaven!’ – though when asked himself about it, he could not recall having said anything.
A footnote to the memoirs highlight that the King was astonished that the Abbé chose to accompany him to the scaffold – he had assumed he would give flight once the night had passed. When the execution took place Edgeworth did become acutely aware of his position and feared he was next for the guillotine and he ‘thought it time to quit the scaffold…I saw myself invested by 20 or 30,000 men at arms…all eyes upon me’. Edgeworth had managed to blend in with the crowd, he simply looked like another spectator once he made it deeper into the crowd. (Fig 3)
France remained a dangerous place for him, he became known as King Louis’ final confessor and he noted in his memoir that a confidant expressed a dire warning: ‘Fly, my dear sir, from this land of tigers that are now let loose in it…it is not Paris alone, but France itself you must leave. For you I do not see a safe place in it’. (Fig 4)
Edgeworth remained in France for the next three years, evading arrest and hiding away. He eventually left to rejoin the then-exiled royal family, spending much time in Germany and Russia. He had refused a pension from the British Government. He died in Mittau, Russia (now in Latvia) while ministering for French prisoners of war on 22 May 1807. He was cared for in his dying days by the daughter of Louis XVI, further highlighting the close relationship he had with the family.
Liam Swords, The Green Cockade (Dublin, 1989).
Letters from the Abbé Edgeworth to his friends, written between the years 1777 and 1807; with memoirs of his life (London, 1818).
Charles Sneyd Edgeworth, Mémoires de m. l’abbé Edgeworth de Firmont : dernier confesseur de Louis XVI (Paris, 1815).
|
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By Ruairi Nolan, Library Assistant, formerly of MU Library
While conducting research in the Russell Library I came across a book which caught my interest. It was the Memoires de M.L’Abbé Edgeworth de Firmont dernier Confesseur de Louis XVI by C. Sneyd Edgeworth, translated into English by Edmund Burke, and published in 1815 in Paris. Henry Essex Edgeworth, (1745-1807) was known also as Abbé Edgeworth in France, where he had lived most of his life from an early age.
Edgeworth was the final confessor to King Louis XVI, the French monarch who fell victim to the guillotine during the French Revolution. The King sent for Edgeworth personally – Edgeworth had developed a friendship with Princess Elizabeth, the King’s sister in the late 1780s-90s and came highly recommended.
The book is one of many in the collections that is directly linked to the history of the foundation of the College. The effects of the French Revolution influenced the establishment of St. Patrick’s College. A number of French professors came to teach in the aftermath of the Revolution. L’Abbe Edgeworth was offered the presidency of the College in 1795 which he turned down.
In Edgeworth’s account, we are told the narrative of events which brought the Abbé to King Louis on the night of 20-21 January 1793 and we are introduced to the gut-wrenching first moment of when the two are alone. Edgeworth, thus far composed and in control of his emotions loses strength and begins to weep, prompting the King to follow suit:
‘Forgive me, sir…for a long time, I have lived among my enemies, and habit has in some degree familiarised me to them; but when I behold a faithful subject…a different language reaches my heart, and in spite of my utmost efforts, I am melted’.
From this we receive a detailed retelling of the evening spent with the monarch right through to the morning, he speaks of Louis’ final hour with his family where ‘Not only tears were shed, and sobs were heard, but piercing cries’. In the morning, the two were constantly bothered by paranoid officials and officers worried that the monarch would take his own life to avoid the shame of execution to which the king responded: ‘These people see daggers and
|
poison everywhere; they fear that I shall destroy myself…they little know me! To kill myself would indeed be weakness’.
At 8 o’clock on the morning of 21 January 1793, the King was brought to the Place de la Révolution. The streets of Paris were so crowded with silent spectators that it took two hours to reach the site of execution. Once they arrived, the gendarmes attempted to bind the King’s hands and chop off his hair to which he exclaimed: ‘do what you have been ordered, but you shall never bind me’. (Fig 2)
Edgeworth claims that the King looked to him in that moment as if seeking guidance, at which time he reassured him that this final humiliation served only to bring him closer to Christ in that he is suffering the same humilities as the son of God. Edgeworth is noted to have proclaimed ‘Fils de St Louis, Montez au ciel! / Son of St Louis, ascend to heaven!’ – though when asked himself about it, he could not recall having said anything.
A footnote to the memoirs highlight that the King was astonished that the Abbé chose to accompany him to the scaffold – he had assumed he would give flight once the night had passed. When the execution took place Edgeworth did become acutely aware of his position and feared he was next for the guillotine and he ‘thought it time to quit the scaffold…I saw myself invested by 20 or 30,000 men at arms…all eyes upon me’. Edgeworth had managed to blend in with the crowd, he simply looked like another spectator once he made it deeper into the crowd. (Fig 3)
France remained a dangerous place for him, he became known as King Louis’ final confessor and he noted in his memoir that a confidant expressed a dire warning: ‘Fly, my dear sir, from this land of tigers that are now let loose in it…it is not Paris alone, but France itself you must leave. For you I do not see a safe place in it’. (Fig 4)
Edgeworth remained in France for the next three years, evading arrest and hiding away. He eventually left to rejoin the then-exiled royal family, spending much time in Germany and Russia. He had refused a pension from the British Government. He died in Mittau, Russia (now in Latvia) while ministering for French prisoners of war on 22 May 1807. He was cared for in his dying days by the daughter of Louis XVI, further highlighting the close relationship he had with the family.
Liam Swords, The Green Cockade (Dublin, 1989).
Letters from the Abbé Edgeworth to his friends, written between the years 1777 and 1807; with memoirs of his life (London, 1818).
Charles Sneyd Edgeworth, Mémoires de m. l’abbé Edgeworth de Firmont : dernier confesseur de Louis XVI (Paris, 1815).
|
State seeks scoop on poop to keep watch on flu, RSV, polio, other pathogens
Viruses are "shed" through people’s digestive tract – in other words, we poop them out. Wastewater tests can see if certain pathogens are present.
New York state health officials are investing millions in a community source that’s flush with information about the presence of flu, RSV, norovirus, polio, COVID and more: sewage.
The State Department of Health announced this month it is boosting wastewater analysis – from 125 sewer sheds to more than 215. This will allow for monitoring of various diseases in the 81% of New York's population that's served by sewer systems. The $21.6 million cost includes a $6.6 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a three-year, $15 million investment by the governor’s office.
Why watch wastewater?
Viruses like COVID, the flu and polio end up in people’s digestive tract and are “shed” – in other words, we poop them out along with other bodily waste. Depending on the pathogen being tested, sewage can provide information about the presence of a virus, and sometimes the level and risk of spread.
The expanded pathogen testing will be piloted in Westchester, Erie, Onondaga, and Jefferson counties.
State health officials say they expect to learn a lot about community spread by comparing wastewater results with what an area is seeing in reported virus cases.
For some, it's too late: 9/11 responders and survivors now get coverage for uterine cancer
Polio again detected in New York wastewater: Virus found in Orange County after weeks of negative results
New COVID variant: What to know about the more contagious XBB.1.5
“Expanded wastewater monitoring is a good idea and a helpful tool that we can use to track the presence of pathogens," Westchester County Health Commissioner Dr. Sherlita Amler said. "The surveillance could help us identify potential public health threats in the making.”
The pilot testing will also look for antimicrobial-resistant genes. Antibiotic resistance can make it more challenging to treat infections and so-called "super bugs" that don't respond to usual medication protocols. The CDC has called the growing problem of antibiotic resistance an urgent global threat.
How COVID testing branched out
New York began analyzing sewage for COVID in March 2020, shortly after the state's first confirmed case. It was a pilot program by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Initially, the COVID wastewater surveillance concentrated on four counties − Orange, Onondaga, Erie and Albany. In late 2021, the state joined the CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System. By January of 2022, 14 wastewater treatment plans in five New York counties were participating; by December, all counties in the state had joined in.
That research led to the state's Wastewater Surveillance Network, which now draws data samples in every county. State health department partners include Syracuse University, the DEC, SUNY Environmental Sciences & Forestry, University at Buffalo, and Stony Brook University.
Used to find polio
When a young unvaccinated man from Rockland County was left permanently paralyzed by polio in July 2022, past wastewater samples taken from local sewer plants to track COVID were then tested for polio. The testing showed that the virus had been present in that county, and nearby locations, for months.
Wastewater testing continues in the downstate region to keep tabs on polio. This winter, wastewater testing turned up negative for polio for weeks, but recently, an Orange County sample detected the virus, which can lead to paralysis or death.
There is a key distinction between COVID and polio detection results in wastewater: levels of COVID circulating in a community can be gleaned by wastewater sampling. For polio, sampling shows presence and strain, but does not calculate the amount of virus circulating in a community.
The scoop on testing poop
The wastewater tested comes from composite samples, which combine sewage drawn over 24 hours. The blended contents of wastewater from multiple times over the course of a day gives a bigger picture than taking one sample of what happens to be flowing past at any given moment.
The added levels of wastewater sampling will also include measuring new COVID variants. Until now, the tracking of new COVID variants has mainly been done through clinical tests on infected people. The wastewater testing will boost efforts to keep tabs on new COVID variants and how they spread.
For common viruses like influenza and RSV, many people don't end up getting tested and diagnosed, so wastewater sampling can help keep tabs on these more common sicknesses.
Staff writer Chris McKenna contributed to this report.
Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy. Follow her on Twitter at @nancyrockland.
Click here for her latest stories.
|
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State seeks scoop on poop to keep watch on flu, RSV, polio, other pathogens
Viruses are "shed" through people’s digestive tract – in other words, we poop them out. Wastewater tests can see if certain pathogens are present.
New York state health officials are investing millions in a community source that’s flush with information about the presence of flu, RSV, norovirus, polio, COVID and more: sewage.
The State Department of Health announced this month it is boosting wastewater analysis – from 125 sewer sheds to more than 215. This will allow for monitoring of various diseases in the 81% of New York's population that's served by sewer systems. The $21.6 million cost includes a $6.6 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a three-year, $15 million investment by the governor’s office.
Why watch wastewater?
Viruses like COVID, the flu and polio end up in people’s digestive tract and are “shed” – in other words, we poop them out along with other bodily waste. Depending on the pathogen being tested, sewage can provide information about the presence of a virus, and sometimes the level and risk of spread.
The expanded pathogen testing will be piloted in Westchester, Erie, Onondaga, and Jefferson counties.
State health officials say they expect to learn a lot about community spread by comparing wastewater results with what an area is seeing in reported virus cases.
For some, it's too late: 9/11 responders and survivors now get coverage for uterine cancer
Polio again detected in New York wastewater: Virus found in Orange County after weeks of negative results
New COVID variant: What to know about the more contagious XBB.1.5
“Expanded wastewater monitoring is a good idea and a helpful tool that we can use to track the presence of pathogens," Westchester County Health Commissioner Dr. Sherlita Amler said. "The surveillance could help us identify potential public health threats in the making.”
The pilot testing will also look for antimicrobial-resistant genes. Antibiotic resistance can make it more challenging to treat infections and so-called "super bugs" that don't respond to usual medication protocols. The CDC has called the growing problem of antibiotic resistance an urgent global threat.
How COVID testing branched out
New York began analyzing sewage for COVID in March 2020, shortly after the state's first confirmed case. It
|
was a pilot program by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Initially, the COVID wastewater surveillance concentrated on four counties − Orange, Onondaga, Erie and Albany. In late 2021, the state joined the CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System. By January of 2022, 14 wastewater treatment plans in five New York counties were participating; by December, all counties in the state had joined in.
That research led to the state's Wastewater Surveillance Network, which now draws data samples in every county. State health department partners include Syracuse University, the DEC, SUNY Environmental Sciences & Forestry, University at Buffalo, and Stony Brook University.
Used to find polio
When a young unvaccinated man from Rockland County was left permanently paralyzed by polio in July 2022, past wastewater samples taken from local sewer plants to track COVID were then tested for polio. The testing showed that the virus had been present in that county, and nearby locations, for months.
Wastewater testing continues in the downstate region to keep tabs on polio. This winter, wastewater testing turned up negative for polio for weeks, but recently, an Orange County sample detected the virus, which can lead to paralysis or death.
There is a key distinction between COVID and polio detection results in wastewater: levels of COVID circulating in a community can be gleaned by wastewater sampling. For polio, sampling shows presence and strain, but does not calculate the amount of virus circulating in a community.
The scoop on testing poop
The wastewater tested comes from composite samples, which combine sewage drawn over 24 hours. The blended contents of wastewater from multiple times over the course of a day gives a bigger picture than taking one sample of what happens to be flowing past at any given moment.
The added levels of wastewater sampling will also include measuring new COVID variants. Until now, the tracking of new COVID variants has mainly been done through clinical tests on infected people. The wastewater testing will boost efforts to keep tabs on new COVID variants and how they spread.
For common viruses like influenza and RSV, many people don't end up getting tested and diagnosed, so wastewater sampling can help keep tabs on these more common sicknesses.
Staff writer Chris McKenna contributed to this report.
Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy. Follow her on Twitter at @nancyrockland.
Click here for her latest stories.
|
18 billion-dollar disasters killed nearly 500 people last year, NOAA says
Hurricane Ian, the mega-drought in the west and a massive snowstorm across much of the country in December were just some of the 18 billion-dollar disasters in the United States in 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says.
That's the third most billion-dollar disasters on record, behind 2020 and 2021, said Rick Spinrad, administrator of the NOAA, during a Tuesday briefing on the nation's weather statistics for last year.
"It is a reality that regardless of where you are in the country, where you call home, you've likely experienced a high-impact weather event firsthand," Spinrad said.
"Climate change is creating more and more intense extreme events that cause significant damage, and often (sets) off cascading hazards, like intense drought followed by devastating wildfires, followed by dangerous flooding and mudslides, as we've seen for example as a consequence of the atmospheric rivers in California right now."
CALIFORNIA WEATHER LIVE UPDATES:Thousands flee homes, death toll rises as endless storms slam California
NEWSLETTER: Subscribe to the weekly Climate Point newsletter
READ MORE: Latest climate change news from USA TODAYC
Costs of weather-related disasters mount
At least 474 deaths were reported last year as a result of the billion-dollar disasters, Spinrad said.
With a total cost of $165 billion, the 18 disasters made it the third most costly year on record behind 2017 and 2005, the years when Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the U.S.
Hurricane Ian was the costliest disaster of 2022, with estimated damages so far at $112.9 billion.
Over the past seven years, 122 billion-dollar disasters have killed at least 5,000 people, and cost more than $1 trillion in damages. Spinrad said the disasters are a "wake up call that we must build our resiliency to these types of events to mitigate the damage and the loss of life."
CLIMATE RECKONING:Too many homes in harm's way, 'too many zeros' in the costs
Several factors are driving the increase in costs in the U.S. and globally, Spinrad said, quoting Swiss Re, an international reinsurance company.
"Urban development, wealth accumulation in disaster-prone areas, inflation and climate change are factors at play turning extreme weather into ever-rising natural catastrophe losses."
How did the weather in 2022 compare to previous years?
The average annual temperature in the contiguous U.S. last year was 53.4 degrees, said Karen Gleason, a scientist with NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. That was roughly 1.4 degrees above the 20th century average, ranking it the 18th warmest year on record.
Gleason said 2022 also was:
- The 27th driest year on record overall.
- The fourth driest year on record in Nebraska.
- The ninth driest in California, thanks to wetter than average conditions during the past two months.
- Alaska's 16th warmest year and fourth wettest year.
- An above average year for tornadoes, with 1,331.
Europe records second warmest year on record
Globally, 2022 was the fifth warmest, according to data released Tuesday by the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service. The past eight years have been the warmest on record.
In Europe, 2022 was the second warmest on record, while the summer was the hottest on record. A lack of rainfall combined with high temperatures and other factors, leading to widespread drought conditions.
The EU also pointed out that atmospheric carbon dioxide increased at a similar rate to recent years, but methane concentrations increased more than average.
What were the 2022 billion-dollar disasters in the US?
- A winter storm/cold wave across the central and eastern U.S.
- Wildfires across the western U.S. and Alaska.
- The lingering drought and heat wave across the western and central U.S.
- Flooding in Missouri and Kentucky.
- Two tornado outbreaks across the southern and southeastern U.S. The 293 tornadoes in March were more than triple the average.
- Three tropical cyclones – the hurricanes Fiona, Ian and Nicole.
- Nine severe weather/hail events across the country.
Graphic: Billion-dollar disasters over time
Drought continues in US
Significant drought was seen across the contiguous 48 states for the second year in a row, with a minimum extent of 44% on Sept. 6, Gleason said.
In total, damages from the drought and heat waves this year are estimated at $22.2 billion, and blamed for at least 136 deaths.
The drought reached its maximum coverage – 63% – on Oct. 25, she said. That was the largest area in drought since 2012.
At least 40% of the contiguous 48 states, or more, has been in drought for 119 weeks.
California drought 2022: Two water districts eye hefty Colorado River cuts
Graphic: 2022 by the numbers
Dinah Voyles Pulver covers climate and environment issues for USA TODAY. She can be reached at <email-pii> or at @dinahvp on Twitter.
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18 billion-dollar disasters killed nearly 500 people last year, NOAA says
Hurricane Ian, the mega-drought in the west and a massive snowstorm across much of the country in December were just some of the 18 billion-dollar disasters in the United States in 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says.
That's the third most billion-dollar disasters on record, behind 2020 and 2021, said Rick Spinrad, administrator of the NOAA, during a Tuesday briefing on the nation's weather statistics for last year.
"It is a reality that regardless of where you are in the country, where you call home, you've likely experienced a high-impact weather event firsthand," Spinrad said.
"Climate change is creating more and more intense extreme events that cause significant damage, and often (sets) off cascading hazards, like intense drought followed by devastating wildfires, followed by dangerous flooding and mudslides, as we've seen for example as a consequence of the atmospheric rivers in California right now."
CALIFORNIA WEATHER LIVE UPDATES:Thousands flee homes, death toll rises as endless storms slam California
NEWSLETTER: Subscribe to the weekly Climate Point newsletter
READ MORE: Latest climate change news from USA TODAYC
Costs of weather-related disasters mount
At least 474 deaths were reported last year as a result of the billion-dollar disasters, Spinrad said.
With a total cost of $165 billion, the 18 disasters made it the third most costly year on record behind 2017 and 2005, the years when Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the U.S.
Hurricane Ian was the costliest disaster of 2022, with estimated damages so far at $112.9 billion.
Over the past seven years, 122 billion-dollar disasters have killed at least 5,000 people, and cost more than $1 trillion in damages. Spinrad said the disasters are a "wake up call that we must build our resiliency to these types of events to mitigate the damage and the loss of life."
CLIMATE RECKONING:Too many homes in harm's way, 'too many zeros' in the costs
Several factors are driving the increase in costs in the U
|
.S. and globally, Spinrad said, quoting Swiss Re, an international reinsurance company.
"Urban development, wealth accumulation in disaster-prone areas, inflation and climate change are factors at play turning extreme weather into ever-rising natural catastrophe losses."
How did the weather in 2022 compare to previous years?
The average annual temperature in the contiguous U.S. last year was 53.4 degrees, said Karen Gleason, a scientist with NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. That was roughly 1.4 degrees above the 20th century average, ranking it the 18th warmest year on record.
Gleason said 2022 also was:
- The 27th driest year on record overall.
- The fourth driest year on record in Nebraska.
- The ninth driest in California, thanks to wetter than average conditions during the past two months.
- Alaska's 16th warmest year and fourth wettest year.
- An above average year for tornadoes, with 1,331.
Europe records second warmest year on record
Globally, 2022 was the fifth warmest, according to data released Tuesday by the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service. The past eight years have been the warmest on record.
In Europe, 2022 was the second warmest on record, while the summer was the hottest on record. A lack of rainfall combined with high temperatures and other factors, leading to widespread drought conditions.
The EU also pointed out that atmospheric carbon dioxide increased at a similar rate to recent years, but methane concentrations increased more than average.
What were the 2022 billion-dollar disasters in the US?
- A winter storm/cold wave across the central and eastern U.S.
- Wildfires across the western U.S. and Alaska.
- The lingering drought and heat wave across the western and central U.S.
- Flooding in Missouri and Kentucky.
- Two tornado outbreaks across the southern and southeastern U.S. The 293 tornadoes in March were more than triple the average.
- Three tropical cyclones – the hurricanes Fiona, Ian and Nicole.
- Nine severe weather/hail events across the country.
Graphic: Billion-dollar disasters over time
Drought continues in US
Significant drought was seen across the contiguous 48 states for the second year in a row, with a minimum extent of 44% on Sept. 6, Gleason said.
In total, damages from the drought and heat waves this year are estimated at $22.2 billion, and blamed for at least 136 deaths.
The drought reached its maximum coverage – 63% – on Oct. 25, she said. That was the largest area in drought since 2012.
At least 40% of the contiguous 48 states, or more, has been in drought for 119 weeks.
California drought 2022: Two water districts eye hefty Colorado River cuts
Graphic: 2022 by the numbers
Dinah Voyles Pulver covers climate and environment issues for USA TODAY. She can be reached at <email-pii> or at @dinahvp on Twitter.
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El Niño may bring extreme weather to West Coast, models suggest
Climate models are suggesting that El Niño could become a "strong" or even "super'' strong event this winter, potentially bringing a wide range of extreme weather to the West Coast.
- "This year has been unbelievably, insanely warm and we are shattering records by margins that are, quite frankly, shocking" he said.
Both climate change and El Niño — a normal and predictable phenomenon — contribute to higher global temperatures and extreme weather events like flooding, heat waves and intense tropical cyclones, writes Axios' Andrew Freedman.
Driving the news: The most recent forecast from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) gives a roughly 70% chance for a "strong" El Niño from November through January, NOAA meteorologist Scott Handel told Axios.
- But the greatest impacts and most extreme weather events will more likely occur between January and March, said Swain.
- One experimental model developed by the National Science Foundation's National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) suggests that because ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific are above a certain threshold, we could even see a "super" El Niño.
- If so, it could become one of the strongest such events on record, comparable to the 1997–1998 El Niño that brought massive flooding to parts of Mexico and dumped 7 inches of rain on Orange County, California, in one day.
Be smart: El Niño predictions are based on a composite of information, including different forecast models, data from the last 15 years and the 30-year climate trend, said Handel. That said, no two El Niños are the same and it's impossible to predict precisely what will happen, he said.
Details: Generally, El Niños bring drier, warmer winter conditions to the Pacific Northwest and wetter conditions to the southern two-thirds of California, said Handel. State officials and climate experts on the West Coast expect varying conditions by state.
- For Seattle and Western Washington, this could mean less rain and less of our critically important snowpack this winter.
- In Portland and Northwest Oregon, warm and dry conditions could impact the ski season and aggravate existing drought conditions.
- San Francisco and southern Oregon are the wild cards, as the region is right at the dividing line between the expected drier conditions of the Northwest and the potentially wetter conditions of the Southwest.
- San Diego and the rest of Southern California could see much higher than normal levels of precipitation and flooding.
How it works: In the simplest terms, you can think of El Niño as generating atmospheric ripples that spread out from areas of tall tropical thunderstorm clouds that form over a blob of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean, said Swain.
- The reverberation of these ripples, which can cause shifts in the Pacific storm tracks during winter, will depend on the intensity of the blob and where in the ocean it's located, with an east-centered blob having greater impact, he said.
What's next: The Climate Prediction Center will issue the next set of seasonal outlooks on Oct. 19.
More Seattle stories
No stories could be found
Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Seattle.
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|
El Niño may bring extreme weather to West Coast, models suggest
Climate models are suggesting that El Niño could become a "strong" or even "super'' strong event this winter, potentially bringing a wide range of extreme weather to the West Coast.
- "This year has been unbelievably, insanely warm and we are shattering records by margins that are, quite frankly, shocking" he said.
Both climate change and El Niño — a normal and predictable phenomenon — contribute to higher global temperatures and extreme weather events like flooding, heat waves and intense tropical cyclones, writes Axios' Andrew Freedman.
Driving the news: The most recent forecast from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) gives a roughly 70% chance for a "strong" El Niño from November through January, NOAA meteorologist Scott Handel told Axios.
- But the greatest impacts and most extreme weather events will more likely occur between January and March, said Swain.
- One experimental model developed by the National Science Foundation's National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) suggests that because ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific are above a certain threshold, we could even see a "super" El Niño.
- If so, it could become one of the strongest such events on record, comparable to the 1997–1998 El Niño that brought massive flooding to parts of Mexico and dumped 7 inches of rain on Orange County, California, in one day.
Be smart: El Niño predictions are based on a composite of information, including different forecast models, data from the last 15 years and the 30-year climate trend, said Handel. That said, no two El Niños are the same and it's impossible to predict precisely what will happen, he said.
Details: Generally, El Niños bring drier, warmer winter conditions to the Pacific Northwest and wetter conditions to the southern two-thirds of California, said Handel. State officials and climate experts on the West Coast expect varying conditions by state.
- For Seattle and Western Washington, this could mean less rain and less of our critically important snowpack this winter.
- In Portland and Northwest Oregon, warm and dry conditions could impact the ski season and aggravate existing drought conditions.
- San Francisco and southern Oregon are the wild cards, as the region is right at the dividing line between the expected drier conditions of the Northwest and the potentially wetter conditions of the Southwest.
- San Diego and the rest of Southern California could see much higher than normal
|
levels of precipitation and flooding.
How it works: In the simplest terms, you can think of El Niño as generating atmospheric ripples that spread out from areas of tall tropical thunderstorm clouds that form over a blob of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean, said Swain.
- The reverberation of these ripples, which can cause shifts in the Pacific storm tracks during winter, will depend on the intensity of the blob and where in the ocean it's located, with an east-centered blob having greater impact, he said.
What's next: The Climate Prediction Center will issue the next set of seasonal outlooks on Oct. 19.
More Seattle stories
No stories could be found
Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Seattle.
|
A disease is killing domestic and wild rabbits. But there is a vaccine
The disease, Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus Type 2, was first observed in the southwest United States in March of 2020 and has rapidly spread to nearly half of all states.
The Easter Bunny may want to get a vaccine this year — as a disease deadly to rabbits spreads throughout the U.S.
Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus Type 2—or RHDV2—is a viral disease that’s fatal to both domestic and wild rabbits. The latest strain was first detected in a jackrabbit in Palm Springs, California in March 2020. Since then it’s spread east to nearly half of U.S. states, including South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas and Wisconsin in the Midwest.
The highly contagious disease is hard to detect. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports sometimes the only signs are sudden death or a bloody nose caused by internal bleeding.
For rabbits that are infected, most will die, according to Dr. Anthony Pliny, a veterinarian in Phoenix, Arizona.
“The virus will in the later stages induce a state where uncontrolled, unstoppable, bleeding occurs, and that will lead to death,” he said.
The good news is that there is a vaccine.
Edie Gower, the president of the House Rabbit Society, said that vaccinations are available at many veterinary offices and are the best way to keep rabbits safe.
“Pet rabbits can be vaccinated and should be vaccinated,” she said. “This will save their lives.”
RHDV2 is the first disease that veterinarians in the U.S. actively vaccinate pet rabbits against.
In 2020, the USDA began allowing RHDV vaccines to be imported from European manufacturers for emergency use in states with confirmed rabbit hemorrhagic cases. A year later, the department granted emergency-use authorization to Medgene, a South Dakota-based biotech company, for their RHVD2 vaccine.
Gary Bosch, a veterinarian and executive vice president at Medgene Laboratories, said the efficacy studies show that the vaccine can significantly prevent the likelihood that a rabbit succumbs to the virus.
“None of the rabbits in our vaccinated group died of rabbit hemorrhagic disease,” Bosch said. “But 69% of the rabbits in the unvaccinated group did.”
The vaccine is administered in two doses, with the second dose applied 21 days after the initial dose. Currently the vaccine is available in nearly every state except for Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.
The RHDV2 virus is resistant to extreme temperatures and can spread through exposure to an infected rabbit or materials that have come in contact with an infected rabbit. Gower said the virus’ ability to persist in the environment is concerning.
“It can spread on agricultural items, through picking it up on your shoes, through the dogs and cats going outside and bringing it back into your house,” she said.
Despite being highly contagious, RHDV2 poses no known risk to humans or other animals.
This story was produced in partnership with Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest. It reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues. Follow Harvest on Twitter: @HarvestPM.
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|
A disease is killing domestic and wild rabbits. But there is a vaccine
The disease, Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus Type 2, was first observed in the southwest United States in March of 2020 and has rapidly spread to nearly half of all states.
The Easter Bunny may want to get a vaccine this year — as a disease deadly to rabbits spreads throughout the U.S.
Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus Type 2—or RHDV2—is a viral disease that’s fatal to both domestic and wild rabbits. The latest strain was first detected in a jackrabbit in Palm Springs, California in March 2020. Since then it’s spread east to nearly half of U.S. states, including South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas and Wisconsin in the Midwest.
The highly contagious disease is hard to detect. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports sometimes the only signs are sudden death or a bloody nose caused by internal bleeding.
For rabbits that are infected, most will die, according to Dr. Anthony Pliny, a veterinarian in Phoenix, Arizona.
“The virus will in the later stages induce a state where uncontrolled, unstoppable, bleeding occurs, and that will lead to death,” he said.
The good news is that there is a vaccine.
Edie Gower, the president of the House Rabbit Society, said that vaccinations are available at many veterinary offices and are the best way to keep rabbits safe.
“Pet rabbits can be vaccinated and should be vaccinated,” she said. “This will save their lives.”
RHDV2 is the first disease that veterinarians in the U.S. actively vaccinate pet rabbits against.
In 2020, the USDA began allowing RHDV vaccines to be imported from European manufacturers for emergency use in states with confirmed rabbit hemorrhagic cases. A year later, the department granted emergency-use authorization to Medgene, a South Dakota-based biotech company, for their RHVD2 vaccine.
Gary Bosch, a veterinarian and executive vice president at Medgene Laboratories, said the efficacy studies show that the vaccine can significantly prevent the likelihood that a rabbit succumbs to the virus.
“None of the rabbits in our vaccinated group died of rabbit hemorrhagic disease,” Bosch said. “But 69% of the rabbits in the unvaccinated group did.”
The vaccine is administered in two doses, with the second dose applied 21 days after the initial dose. Currently the vaccine is available in nearly every state except for Alaska, Maine
|
, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.
The RHDV2 virus is resistant to extreme temperatures and can spread through exposure to an infected rabbit or materials that have come in contact with an infected rabbit. Gower said the virus’ ability to persist in the environment is concerning.
“It can spread on agricultural items, through picking it up on your shoes, through the dogs and cats going outside and bringing it back into your house,” she said.
Despite being highly contagious, RHDV2 poses no known risk to humans or other animals.
This story was produced in partnership with Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest. It reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues. Follow Harvest on Twitter: @HarvestPM.
|
Dry weather to slash Australia’s next wheat crop by a third
Australia’s wheat production is forecast to slump 34% in the coming season as the development of El Niño is likely to suppress rainfall across large swaths of the country, the government crop forecaster said.
Dry conditions and low soil moisture in some growing regions mean that much of the 2023–24 crop has been sown dry and will require adequate and timely rain to allow plants to germinate, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences said.
Wheat is a major winter crop in Australia with planting from April and the harvest starting in November.
Apart from Australia, wild weather is affecting crops elsewhere, including in the Americas and North Africa. The harvest in top wheat consumer China has also been hit by torrential rains, potentially boosting the need for more imports. For now, global wheat prices are near their lowest in over two years on optimism for bumper harvests across Europe, helping to keep food costs in check.
The expected onset of El Niño conditions from July will likely see winter crop output fall significantly, Abares said. Dry weather has already arrived, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with the second-driest May on record nationwide and the driest in Western Australia since observations began. Prior to this, the country had a run of three very wet years, unusual historically.
“Western Australia is looking dry overall, but there were some recent rains to help crops along,” said Dennis Voznesenski, agricultural analyst at Rabobank. “There is more rain in the forecast,” he said. Still, weather systems that cause dryness are forming on both the west and east coasts of Australia, he added.
Global benchmark wheat futures have gained 10% after reaching the lowest in more than two years last week, as traders weigh weather risks around the world. Prices were up 0.8% at $6.2875 a bushel by 1.05pm in Sydney.
The country’s wheat output may decline 34% from a record to 26.2 million tons, slightly below the 10-year average. Barley production is set to fall 30% to 9.9 million tons, around 11% below the 10-year average. Canola output may drop 41% to 4.9 million tons, 15% above the 10-year average, according to Abares.
Abares predicted the value of Australia’s agricultural exports would fall 17% from a record to A$65 billion ($43 billion) in 2023-24, it said in a separate report. Export earnings are still forecast to be the third highest on record. DM
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|
Dry weather to slash Australia’s next wheat crop by a third
Australia’s wheat production is forecast to slump 34% in the coming season as the development of El Niño is likely to suppress rainfall across large swaths of the country, the government crop forecaster said.
Dry conditions and low soil moisture in some growing regions mean that much of the 2023–24 crop has been sown dry and will require adequate and timely rain to allow plants to germinate, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences said.
Wheat is a major winter crop in Australia with planting from April and the harvest starting in November.
Apart from Australia, wild weather is affecting crops elsewhere, including in the Americas and North Africa. The harvest in top wheat consumer China has also been hit by torrential rains, potentially boosting the need for more imports. For now, global wheat prices are near their lowest in over two years on optimism for bumper harvests across Europe, helping to keep food costs in check.
The expected onset of El Niño conditions from July will likely see winter crop output fall significantly, Abares said. Dry weather has already arrived, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with the second-driest May on record nationwide and the driest in Western Australia since observations began. Prior to this, the country had a run of three very wet years, unusual historically.
“Western Australia is looking dry overall, but there were some recent rains to help crops along,” said Dennis Voznesenski, agricultural analyst at Rabobank. “There is more rain in the forecast,” he said. Still, weather systems that cause dryness are forming on both the west and east coasts of Australia, he added.
Global benchmark wheat futures have gained 10% after reaching the lowest in more than two years last week, as traders weigh weather risks around the world. Prices were up 0.8% at $6.2875 a bushel by 1.05pm in Sydney.
The country’s wheat output may decline 34% from a record to 26.2 million tons, slightly below the 10-year average. Barley production is set to fall 30% to 9.9 million tons, around 11% below the 10-year average. Canola output may drop 41% to 4.9 million tons, 15% above the 10-year average, according to Abares.
A
|
bares predicted the value of Australia’s agricultural exports would fall 17% from a record to A$65 billion ($43 billion) in 2023-24, it said in a separate report. Export earnings are still forecast to be the third highest on record. DM
|
The use of artificial intelligence in breast cancer screening is very promising, a new Swedish study suggests.
In a trial screening more than 80,000 Swedish women, researchers at Lund University determined that AI-driven tools could detect breast cancer at a “similar rate” to two radiologists, the BBC reported.
Researchers said AI’s potential cancer-screening abilities could address the shortage of radiologists and ease their workloads, while also cutting patients’ waiting times.
We’ve curated reporting and insights on the role AI could play in healthcare in the years to come.
- Physicians in the U.S. are burning out, and a shortage of up to 124,000 doctors is expected by 2034. David Chou, a health tech executive, wrote in Forbes that generative AI could reduce the workload of some physicians and help burnout. But AI is largely being used to “automate administrative tasks,” Chou wrote, as the industry is still skeptical about adopting AI for clinical decisions.
- Biotech company Moderna has turned to AI to identify areas with low vaccine uptake, and uses the data to roll out targeted messaging and campaigns to those communities. The company is also using the tech to hasten the development of new vaccines. AI “was what allowed us to figure out what mutations we needed to go after and expedite [the COVID-19 vaccine] to market,” Kate Cronin, chief brand officer at Moderna, said in June. — Euronews
- The Australian Medical Association has called for stronger oversight after revelations that doctors were using ChatGPT, OpenAI’s large-language model (LLM), to issue medical notes. Since there is no guarantee of patient privacy if medical concerns are shared with the LLM, the AMA asked doctors to halt the practice. The issue points to broader concerns over AI oversight. In a statement at the time, AMA president Steve Robson said, “We need to address the AI regulation gap ... especially in healthcare where there is the potential for patient injury from system errors, systemic bias embedded in algorithms and increased risk to patient privacy.” — The Guardian
In addition to breast cancer screenings, scientists are hopeful that AI will have broad applications across healthcare.
Studies in the U.K. have found that AI was able to accurately diagnose people with heart failure, and has predicted whether patients with a degenerative disease would experience disease progression. It may also have applications in managing overflowing hospital waiting rooms: One AI model was able to predict 8 in 10 times whether someone who came to the ER was in need of emergency treatment.
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The use of artificial intelligence in breast cancer screening is very promising, a new Swedish study suggests.
In a trial screening more than 80,000 Swedish women, researchers at Lund University determined that AI-driven tools could detect breast cancer at a “similar rate” to two radiologists, the BBC reported.
Researchers said AI’s potential cancer-screening abilities could address the shortage of radiologists and ease their workloads, while also cutting patients’ waiting times.
We’ve curated reporting and insights on the role AI could play in healthcare in the years to come.
- Physicians in the U.S. are burning out, and a shortage of up to 124,000 doctors is expected by 2034. David Chou, a health tech executive, wrote in Forbes that generative AI could reduce the workload of some physicians and help burnout. But AI is largely being used to “automate administrative tasks,” Chou wrote, as the industry is still skeptical about adopting AI for clinical decisions.
- Biotech company Moderna has turned to AI to identify areas with low vaccine uptake, and uses the data to roll out targeted messaging and campaigns to those communities. The company is also using the tech to hasten the development of new vaccines. AI “was what allowed us to figure out what mutations we needed to go after and expedite [the COVID-19 vaccine] to market,” Kate Cronin, chief brand officer at Moderna, said in June. — Euronews
- The Australian Medical Association has called for stronger oversight after revelations that doctors were using ChatGPT, OpenAI’s large-language model (LLM), to issue medical notes. Since there is no guarantee of patient privacy if medical concerns are shared with the LLM, the AMA asked doctors to halt the practice. The issue points to broader concerns over AI oversight. In a statement at the time, AMA president Steve Robson said, “We need to address the AI regulation gap ... especially in healthcare where there is the potential for patient injury from system errors, systemic bias embedded in algorithms and increased risk to patient privacy.” — The Guardian
In addition to breast cancer screenings, scientists are hopeful that AI will have broad applications across healthcare.
Studies in the U.K. have found that AI was able to accurately diagnose people with heart failure, and has predicted whether patients with a degenerative disease would experience disease progression. It may also have applications in managing overflowing hospital waiting rooms: One AI model was able to predict 8 in
|
10 times whether someone who came to the ER was in need of emergency treatment.
|
Christianity is one of the world’s major religions, with over 2.4 billion followers worldwide. It is centered on the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is considered the Son of God by Christians. In this article, we will explore the origins, beliefs, practices, and impact of Christianity.
Origins of Christianity:
Christianity originated in the Middle East around 2,000 years ago. Jesus Christ, who is the central figure of Christianity, was born in Bethlehem, a small town in Judea, which is now part of modern-day Israel. Jesus began his ministry around the age of 30, preaching and teaching about God’s love and salvation.
Jesus’ teachings were revolutionary and challenged the religious and political authorities of his time. He spoke about loving one’s enemies, forgiving others, and treating others as one would like to be treated. He performed many miracles, such as healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and even raising the dead. These acts drew many people to him, and he became a popular figure among the masses.
However, Jesus’ teachings and actions were seen as a threat by the Jewish leaders of the time, who feared that he might incite a rebellion against the Roman occupation. They eventually arrested him, tried him, and sentenced him to death by crucifixion. Jesus was crucified on a hill outside Jerusalem called Golgotha, which is also known as the “place of the skull.”
After Jesus’ death, his followers claimed that he had risen from the dead three days later, and they spread his teachings throughout the world. The first Christian community was formed in Jerusalem, and the religion gradually spread to other parts of the Middle East, Europe, and eventually the rest of the world.
Beliefs of Christianity:
Christianity is based on the belief in one God, who is revealed in three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. This doctrine is known as the Trinity, and it is a fundamental belief of Christianity.
Christians believe that salvation is achieved through faith in Jesus Christ. They believe that Jesus died on the cross to atone for the sins of humanity and that by believing in him, people can be forgiven and receive eternal life in heaven.
Christianity also teaches the existence of heaven and hell, where souls go after death. Christians believe that heaven is a place of eternal joy and happiness, where believers will be reunited with God and their loved ones who have also passed away. Hell, on the other hand, is a place of eternal punishment and separation from God.
Practices of Christianity:
Christianity has many practices and rituals that vary among different denominations and cultures. However, there are a few practices that are common to most Christians:
- Worship: Christians gather together to worship God through prayer, singing, and reading the Bible. Worship services may also include the celebration of the Eucharist, which is a commemoration of Jesus’ last supper with his disciples.
- Baptism: Christians believe that baptism is a symbol of a person’s acceptance of Jesus Christ as their savior. Baptism involves the immersion or sprinkling of water on a person’s head.
- Communion: Communion, also known as the Eucharist or the Lord’s Supper, is a practice in which Christians eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
- Prayer: Christians believe in the power of prayer to communicate with God, ask for forgiveness, and seek guidance.
Impact of Christianity:
Christianity has had a profound impact on the world, both positive and negative. On the positive side, Christianity has inspired countless acts of charity, compassion, and love. Many hospitals, schools, and social organizations have been founded by Christians, and the religion has also played a significant role in shaping Western culture, art, music, and literature.
Christianity has also been a driving force behind important social movements, such as the abolition of slavery, civil rights, and gender equality. Many prominent figures in these movements, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa, were motivated by their Christian faith.
On the negative side, Christianity has also been responsible for a history of violence, persecution, and religious wars. The Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Salem Witch Trials are just a few examples of the dark side of Christianity’s history.
Today, Christianity remains one of the most influential religions in the world, with a significant presence in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. There are many different denominations and interpretations of Christianity, each with their own beliefs and practices.
Christianity is a religion that is centered on the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Its beliefs in one God, salvation through faith in Jesus, and eternal life in heaven or hell have shaped the lives of billions of people over the centuries. Its impact on the world has been both positive and negative, but its legacy of love, compassion, and social justice continues to inspire people to this day.
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Christianity is one of the world’s major religions, with over 2.4 billion followers worldwide. It is centered on the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is considered the Son of God by Christians. In this article, we will explore the origins, beliefs, practices, and impact of Christianity.
Origins of Christianity:
Christianity originated in the Middle East around 2,000 years ago. Jesus Christ, who is the central figure of Christianity, was born in Bethlehem, a small town in Judea, which is now part of modern-day Israel. Jesus began his ministry around the age of 30, preaching and teaching about God’s love and salvation.
Jesus’ teachings were revolutionary and challenged the religious and political authorities of his time. He spoke about loving one’s enemies, forgiving others, and treating others as one would like to be treated. He performed many miracles, such as healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and even raising the dead. These acts drew many people to him, and he became a popular figure among the masses.
However, Jesus’ teachings and actions were seen as a threat by the Jewish leaders of the time, who feared that he might incite a rebellion against the Roman occupation. They eventually arrested him, tried him, and sentenced him to death by crucifixion. Jesus was crucified on a hill outside Jerusalem called Golgotha, which is also known as the “place of the skull.”
After Jesus’ death, his followers claimed that he had risen from the dead three days later, and they spread his teachings throughout the world. The first Christian community was formed in Jerusalem, and the religion gradually spread to other parts of the Middle East, Europe, and eventually the rest of the world.
Beliefs of Christianity:
Christianity is based on the belief in one God, who is revealed in three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. This doctrine is known as the Trinity, and it is a fundamental belief of Christianity.
Christians believe that salvation is achieved through faith in Jesus Christ. They believe that Jesus died on the cross to atone for the sins of humanity and that by believing in him, people can be forgiven and receive eternal life in heaven.
Christianity also teaches the existence of heaven and hell, where souls go after death. Christians believe that heaven is a place of eternal joy and happiness, where believers will be reunited with God and their loved ones who have also passed away. Hell,
|
on the other hand, is a place of eternal punishment and separation from God.
Practices of Christianity:
Christianity has many practices and rituals that vary among different denominations and cultures. However, there are a few practices that are common to most Christians:
- Worship: Christians gather together to worship God through prayer, singing, and reading the Bible. Worship services may also include the celebration of the Eucharist, which is a commemoration of Jesus’ last supper with his disciples.
- Baptism: Christians believe that baptism is a symbol of a person’s acceptance of Jesus Christ as their savior. Baptism involves the immersion or sprinkling of water on a person’s head.
- Communion: Communion, also known as the Eucharist or the Lord’s Supper, is a practice in which Christians eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
- Prayer: Christians believe in the power of prayer to communicate with God, ask for forgiveness, and seek guidance.
Impact of Christianity:
Christianity has had a profound impact on the world, both positive and negative. On the positive side, Christianity has inspired countless acts of charity, compassion, and love. Many hospitals, schools, and social organizations have been founded by Christians, and the religion has also played a significant role in shaping Western culture, art, music, and literature.
Christianity has also been a driving force behind important social movements, such as the abolition of slavery, civil rights, and gender equality. Many prominent figures in these movements, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa, were motivated by their Christian faith.
On the negative side, Christianity has also been responsible for a history of violence, persecution, and religious wars. The Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Salem Witch Trials are just a few examples of the dark side of Christianity’s history.
Today, Christianity remains one of the most influential religions in the world, with a significant presence in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. There are many different denominations and interpretations of Christianity, each with their own beliefs and practices.
Christianity is a religion that is centered on the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Its beliefs in one God, salvation through faith in Jesus, and eternal life in heaven or hell have shaped the lives of billions of people over the centuries. Its impact on the world has been both positive and negative, but its legacy of love, compassion, and social justice continues to inspire people to this day.
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The network of pipes and massive bathtubs that is the Colorado River Basin’s reservoir storage system is going to see some recovery this year thanks to higher-than-average snowpack. That’s a promising sign for aquatic habitats in need of a health boost.
Overuse and a 23-year drought have drawn down the water stored in reservoirs across the basin, which spans seven states, 30 Native American tribes and part of Mexico. Recently, one of the basin’s largest reservoirs, Lake Powell, even needed emergency releases from upstream reservoirs, including Blue Mesa Reservoir in western Colorado, to safeguard against a looming crisis.
As most water officials and experts will emphasize, one good year of snow won’t solve the crisis. But this year, the system’s largest reservoirs will end the year with more water than they had at the start, and water managers don’t foresee any need for drought-related releases from Blue Mesa.
Which means, as upstream reservoirs benefit from the wet year, there might be more opportunities for releases that help manage river sedimentation and bolster downstream ecosystems, said Bart Miller, healthy rivers director at Western Resource Advocates.
“Having years that do have really high flow helps counterbalance the years with low flows,” Miller said. “It helps scour out the channels; it helps get rid of some of the riparian vegetation that might otherwise encroach; it helps with spawning cues for all sorts of native species.”
The Colorado River Basin is in the midst of its worst drought in about 12 centuries, according to recent research, and years of drought-response planning haven’t been enough to avoid a water security crisis. In total, the reservoir system can store about 58 million acre-feet of water, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. In March, that system held about 19 million acre-feet, or about 32% of its capacity. An acre-foot is enough water to supply two to three U.S. households for a year.
In 2021 and 2022, water managers sent drought-response releases totaling 624,267 acre-feet downstream to shore up Lake Powell after its water supply fell to critical levels, along with the supply at Lake Mead. If the reservoirs drop below certain water levels, Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam can’t generate hydroelectric power. If levels fall too low, the dams can’t send water downstream at all.
This year has offered temporary relief. Much of the Upper Colorado River Basin, which includes Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, saw above-average snowpack, and in some places, it even neared record levels. That’s a boon for farmers, residents of cities, recreators and other water users across the whole basin, which provides water to about 40 million people.
The wet year will help slightly replenish the system’s reservoirs. Lake Powell is estimated to receive about 12.9 million acre-feet of water from spring runoff to add to its current storage, according to the 24-month study released this month by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages operations of the federal reservoir. By the end of December, the water level of Lake Powell is projected to be at around 3,573 feet — still a long way from its full capacity of 3,700 feet, or about 26 million acre-feet of water but better than the near-crisis level in 2022. At that time, the lake’s elevation was 3,536 feet and it stored about 6.64 million acre-feet of water.
The federal government and basin states have myriad plans in place to try to avoid letting Lake Powell fall below 3,525 feet in an effort to maintain a buffer. Below 3,490 feet in elevation, Glen Canyon Dam near the Utah-Arizona border can’t produce hydroelectric power, and below 3,370 feet, it can’t send water downstream to Lake Mead, a state known as dead pool.
“Things are looking good right now. We’re not at imminent risk of hitting dead pool, and that’s great,” said Amy Ostdiek, interstate, federal and water information chief for the state’s top water agency, the Colorado Water Conservation Board. She warned that the situation could go downhill quickly in just a few dry years. “We need to not lose sight of the need to have plans in place for if that happens.”
The bureau plans to send about 9.2 million acre-feet down to Lake Mead, just east of Las Vegas, which hit 1,046 feet in March, its lowest point this year. The lake’s highest elevation is about 1,219 feet, and it can’t generate hydroelectric power below about 950 feet in elevation.
Mead is projected to end the year at about 1,066 feet in elevation and to release about 8.1 million acre-feet down to the millions of water users in the Lower Basin states of Arizona, Nevada and California. Some of the water released from the two reservoirs is allocated for Mexico.
“I think having a wet year provides more flexibility for the Lower Basin to prop up Mead, and we’re hoping that they take full advantage of that opportunity,” Ostdiek said.
What’s happening to Colorado’s reservoirs?
With more-than-normal amounts of water coming down from the mountains, water officials are focused on refilling reservoirs.
Of the emergency releases sent to Lake Powell, about 36,000 acre-feet came from Blue Mesa, Colorado’s largest reservoir, and 588,267 acre-feet came from Flaming Gorge Reservoir at the Utah-Wyoming border. By April 2024, both reservoirs are projected to recover the full amount of water released, according to the Bureau of Reclamation’s 2023 drought response plan which went into effect Friday.
The plan emphasizes that the focus is on recovery — and that there are no planned drought-related releases for the reservoirs this year. If adjustments need to be made, they will take place first at Glen Canyon Dam, then at Flaming Gorge, Blue Mesa — which is part of the three-reservoir Aspinall Unit — and Navajo Reservoir, which is at the Colorado-New Mexico border, according to the plan.
The emergency releases in 2021 set back some local businesses around Blue Mesa, particularly during the dry 2022 season, said Celeste Helminski, executive director of the Gunnison County Chamber of Commerce.
“It was a hard summer out there for those people who rely on the lake,” she said. “This year is definitely looking better. The whole morale of people who are lake users and rely on the lake for their economy — everyone is definitely happier.”
In 2022, a local marina couldn’t open because of the low water levels. Boaters couldn’t launch, and the campgrounds weren’t as full. Retail shops also took a hit, said Andy Cochran, who manages a local sporting goods store. His dive and outfitting business, GSO Fishing, didn’t take as much of a hit, he said.
“Our guide service is already super booked up for the whole summer and the sporting goods store, Gene Taylor’s, has already seen an uptick in sales around the lake,” he said.
None of the three reservoirs are projected to reach their full capacity this year, but some will get close, according to the bureau’s 24-month study.
“I think we’re at the point now where we’re starting to see the 24-month study really tell us how the rest of the year is going to play out,” Ostdiek said, adding that the study is most helpful for near-term decision making. It also sheds light on factors that influence some Bureau of Reclamation decisions, and the August report is used to set reservoir operations for the next year.
According to the May study, Blue Mesa is projected to peak in July at about 7,514 feet, just below its capacity of 7,519 feet. Navajo Reservoir will peak in May at 6,060 feet, about 25 feet below its full capacity of 6,085 feet. Flaming Gorge will rise to its highest elevation in July at about 6,028 feet. Its capacity is 6,040 feet.
“We’re fortunate that this year’s good snowpack has given us the ability to not call on these reservoirs for additional releases but instead focus on storing water as it comes in to recover the amounts that were previously released,” Ostdiek said.
How does this help the fish?
The spring runoff has damaged roads, caused flooding and sent hundreds of rafters to southwestern Colorado for the rare opportunity to raft the Dolores River. But water officials and environmental organizations are also plotting how they can use water releases to benefit the environment.
“In most cases those decisions haven’t been made yet,” Ostdiek said. “I think we’re kind of at the wait-and-see phase where we are looking at runoff and watching flooding risk.”
Some releases have already started. In April, water managers began releasing a surge of water from Glen Canyon Dam for environmental purposes. The release is part of an experiment to restore sandbars, beaches and campsites — and potentially rehabilitate river wildlife — along the Grand Canyon.
In Colorado, the Dolores Water Conservancy District is timing its recreation-focused releases from McPhee Reservoir to help the downstream ecology.
Different flows have different benefits, like clearing out sediment, helping with cottonwood seeding, potentially removing overgrowth and flushing out smallmouth bass, said Ken Curtis, the district’s general manager.
“There are decades of study behind this. We do different levels of flows depending on how much water we have,” he said.
Similar projects are taking place along rivers around Colorado and beyond, like the Lower Gunnison below Blue Mesa and the Aspinall Unit, which made its own releases this month. On the Green River below Flaming Gorge Reservoir, water managers are sending down surges of water to either flush out nonnative fish while they’re still small enough to be swept downstream or to help push native fish larvae into backwater habitats where they can grow into adults, said Miller of Western Resource Advocates.
☀️ OUR RECOMMENDATIONS
In the mainstem of the Colorado River inside Colorado, there’s a 15-mile segment near Grand Junction, above the confluence with the Gunnison River, where flows during the summer can get really low.
Some years the stretch of river doesn’t see very high peak flows in the spring, but in a year like this, upstream reservoirs have enough water coming in that they have to spill some, he said.
“They can time those releases or spills to be together so the river has a real surge, more of a natural peak flow that’s almost mimicking what the river might’ve looked like 150 years ago before there was any large-scale diversions,” Miller said.
The coordinated operations lead to a higher peak flow than otherwise possible. Those higher peak flows help give spawning cues to endangered fish and generally renew the habitat for fish in the 15-mile reach.
Later in the season, there will be opportunities to use stored water to help increase base flows. At times, the river’s flows can be so shallow that the water increases in temperature or there’s a loss of connectivity between pools where the fish are living, he said. “Those stored volumes are available some years, but not others. It depends on the year, but a wetter year will probably mean that there will be more opportunities to send water down from places like Ruedi Reservoir,” Miller said, a reservoir east of Basalt.
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The network of pipes and massive bathtubs that is the Colorado River Basin’s reservoir storage system is going to see some recovery this year thanks to higher-than-average snowpack. That’s a promising sign for aquatic habitats in need of a health boost.
Overuse and a 23-year drought have drawn down the water stored in reservoirs across the basin, which spans seven states, 30 Native American tribes and part of Mexico. Recently, one of the basin’s largest reservoirs, Lake Powell, even needed emergency releases from upstream reservoirs, including Blue Mesa Reservoir in western Colorado, to safeguard against a looming crisis.
As most water officials and experts will emphasize, one good year of snow won’t solve the crisis. But this year, the system’s largest reservoirs will end the year with more water than they had at the start, and water managers don’t foresee any need for drought-related releases from Blue Mesa.
Which means, as upstream reservoirs benefit from the wet year, there might be more opportunities for releases that help manage river sedimentation and bolster downstream ecosystems, said Bart Miller, healthy rivers director at Western Resource Advocates.
“Having years that do have really high flow helps counterbalance the years with low flows,” Miller said. “It helps scour out the channels; it helps get rid of some of the riparian vegetation that might otherwise encroach; it helps with spawning cues for all sorts of native species.”
The Colorado River Basin is in the midst of its worst drought in about 12 centuries, according to recent research, and years of drought-response planning haven’t been enough to avoid a water security crisis. In total, the reservoir system can store about 58 million acre-feet of water, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. In March, that system held about 19 million acre-feet, or about 32% of its capacity. An acre-foot is enough water to supply two to three U.S. households for a year.
In 2021 and 2022, water managers sent drought-response releases totaling 624,267 acre-feet downstream to shore up Lake Powell after its water supply fell to critical levels, along with the supply at Lake Mead. If the reservoirs drop below certain water levels, Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam can’t generate hydroelectric power. If levels fall too low, the dams can’t send water downstream at all.
This year has offered temporary relief. Much of the Upper Colorado River Basin, which
|
includes Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, saw above-average snowpack, and in some places, it even neared record levels. That’s a boon for farmers, residents of cities, recreators and other water users across the whole basin, which provides water to about 40 million people.
The wet year will help slightly replenish the system’s reservoirs. Lake Powell is estimated to receive about 12.9 million acre-feet of water from spring runoff to add to its current storage, according to the 24-month study released this month by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages operations of the federal reservoir. By the end of December, the water level of Lake Powell is projected to be at around 3,573 feet — still a long way from its full capacity of 3,700 feet, or about 26 million acre-feet of water but better than the near-crisis level in 2022. At that time, the lake’s elevation was 3,536 feet and it stored about 6.64 million acre-feet of water.
The federal government and basin states have myriad plans in place to try to avoid letting Lake Powell fall below 3,525 feet in an effort to maintain a buffer. Below 3,490 feet in elevation, Glen Canyon Dam near the Utah-Arizona border can’t produce hydroelectric power, and below 3,370 feet, it can’t send water downstream to Lake Mead, a state known as dead pool.
“Things are looking good right now. We’re not at imminent risk of hitting dead pool, and that’s great,” said Amy Ostdiek, interstate, federal and water information chief for the state’s top water agency, the Colorado Water Conservation Board. She warned that the situation could go downhill quickly in just a few dry years. “We need to not lose sight of the need to have plans in place for if that happens.”
The bureau plans to send about 9.2 million acre-feet down to Lake Mead, just east of Las Vegas, which hit 1,046 feet in March, its lowest point this year. The lake’s highest elevation is about 1,219 feet, and it can’t generate hydroelectric power below about 950 feet in elevation.
Mead is projected to end the year at about 1,066 feet in elevation and to release about 8.1 million acre-feet down to the millions of water users in the Lower Basin states of Arizona, Nevada and California. Some of the water released from the two reservoirs is allocated for Mexico.
“I think having a wet year provides more flexibility for the Lower Basin to prop up Mead, and we’re hoping that they take full advantage of that opportunity,” Ostdiek said.
What’s happening to Colorado’s reservoirs?
With more-than-normal amounts of water coming down from the mountains, water officials are focused on refilling reservoirs.
Of the emergency releases sent to Lake Powell, about 36,000 acre-feet came from Blue Mesa, Colorado’s largest reservoir, and 588,267 acre-feet came from Flaming Gorge Reservoir at the Utah-Wyoming border. By April 2024, both reservoirs are projected to recover the full amount of water released, according to the Bureau of Reclamation’s 2023 drought response plan which went into effect Friday.
The plan emphasizes that the focus is on recovery — and that there are no planned drought-related releases for the reservoirs this year. If adjustments need to be made, they will take place first at Glen Canyon Dam, then at Flaming Gorge, Blue Mesa — which is part of the three-reservoir Aspinall Unit — and Navajo Reservoir, which is at the Colorado-New Mexico border, according to the plan.
The emergency releases in 2021 set back some local businesses around Blue Mesa, particularly during the dry 2022 season, said Celeste Helminski, executive director of the Gunnison County Chamber of Commerce.
“It was a hard summer out there for those people who rely on the lake,” she said. “This year is definitely looking better. The whole morale of people who are lake users and rely on the lake for their economy — everyone is definitely happier.”
In 2022, a local marina couldn’t open because of the low water levels. Boaters couldn’t launch, and the campgrounds weren’t as full. Retail shops also took a hit, said Andy Cochran, who manages a local sporting goods store. His dive and outfitting business, GSO Fishing, didn’t take as much of a hit, he said.
“Our guide service is already super booked up for the whole summer and the sporting goods store, Gene Taylor’s, has already seen an uptick in sales around the lake,” he said.
None of the three reservoirs are projected to reach their full capacity this year, but some will get close, according to the bureau’s 24-month study.
“I think we’re at the point now where we’re starting to see the 24-month study really tell us how the rest of the year is going to play out,” Ostdiek said, adding that the study is most helpful for near-term decision making. It also sheds light on factors that influence some Bureau of Reclamation decisions, and the August report is used to set reservoir operations for the next year.
According to the May study, Blue Mesa is projected to peak in July at about 7,514 feet, just below its capacity of 7,519 feet. Navajo Reservoir will peak in May at 6,060 feet, about 25 feet below its full capacity of 6,085 feet. Flaming Gorge will rise to its highest elevation in July at about 6,028 feet. Its capacity is 6,040 feet.
“We’re fortunate that this year’s good snowpack has given us the ability to not call on these reservoirs for additional releases but instead focus on storing water as it comes in to recover the amounts that were previously released,” Ostdiek said.
How does this help the fish?
The spring runoff has damaged roads, caused flooding and sent hundreds of rafters to southwestern Colorado for the rare opportunity to raft the Dolores River. But water officials and environmental organizations are also plotting how they can use water releases to benefit the environment.
“In most cases those decisions haven’t been made yet,” Ostdiek said. “I think we’re kind of at the wait-and-see phase where we are looking at runoff and watching flooding risk.”
Some releases have already started. In April, water managers began releasing a surge of water from Glen Canyon Dam for environmental purposes. The release is part of an experiment to restore sandbars, beaches and campsites — and potentially rehabilitate river wildlife — along the Grand Canyon.
In Colorado, the Dolores Water Conservancy District is timing its recreation-focused releases from McPhee Reservoir to help the downstream ecology.
Different flows have different benefits, like clearing out sediment, helping with cottonwood seeding, potentially removing overgrowth and flushing out smallmouth bass, said Ken Curtis, the district’s general manager.
“There are decades of study behind this. We do different levels of flows depending on how much water we have,” he said.
Similar projects are taking place along rivers around Colorado and beyond, like the Lower Gunnison below Blue Mesa and the Aspinall Unit, which made its own releases this month. On the Green River below Flaming Gorge Reservoir, water managers are sending down surges of water to either flush out nonnative fish while they’re still small enough to be swept downstream or to help push native fish larvae into backwater habitats where they can grow into adults, said Miller of Western Resource Advocates.
☀️ OUR RECOMMENDATIONS
In the mainstem of the Colorado River inside Colorado, there’s a 15-mile segment near Grand Junction, above the confluence with the Gunnison River, where flows during the summer can get really low.
Some years the stretch of river doesn’t see very high peak flows in the spring, but in a year like this, upstream reservoirs have enough water coming in that they have to spill some, he said.
“They can time those releases or spills to be together so the river has a real surge, more of a natural peak flow that’s almost mimicking what the river might’ve looked like 150 years ago before there was any large-scale diversions,” Miller said.
The coordinated operations lead to a higher peak flow than otherwise possible. Those higher peak flows help give spawning cues to endangered fish and generally renew the habitat for fish in the 15-mile reach.
Later in the season, there will be opportunities to use stored water to help increase base flows. At times, the river’s flows can be so shallow that the water increases in temperature or there’s a loss of connectivity between pools where the fish are living, he said. “Those stored volumes are available some years, but not others. It depends on the year, but a wetter year will probably mean that there will be more opportunities to send water down from places like Ruedi Reservoir,” Miller said, a reservoir east of Basalt.
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What recent tornado trends mean for Central Ohio
When most people think of tornadoes, Central Ohio doesn't typically come to mind — at least not yet.
Driving the news: A staggering 410 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. from January to March 2023, per the National Weather Service's preliminary count. That's the most recorded since tracking began in 1950, the second highest was 398 in 2017.
Why it matters: Ohio's number of tornadoes has tripled in 2023, from six during the first three-and-a-half months of 2022 to 19 so far this year, according to preliminary National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data.
- Our area experiences extreme windstorms, which means it's also "at risk" for a destructive tornado, especially given recent trends, Aaron Wilson, an atmospheric scientist at Ohio State University, tells us.
The latest: Research has shown a shift eastward in frequency from the part of the country traditionally known as "tornado alley," which includes parts of Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma.
- Several damaging EF3s — with wind speeds ranging from 136 to 165 mph — touched down this month in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky and Delaware.
What they're saying: Jana Houser, associate professor of meteorology at OSU, tells Axios the biggest surprise is how far north and east they're occurring, and how early in the year.
- "Usually, we'll see this kind of tornado frequency in our area in June and July, or even closer to fall," she says.
Zoom in: So far this year, tornadoes have mostly occurred in western and southwestern Ohio, but a pair did sweep through Fairfield County on April 5.
Flashback: Since 1954, 34 have touched down in or around Franklin County, according to NOAA.
- The two most recent were in 2018, in Grove City in April and in Olde Towne East and Bexley in September. Nobody was injured, but many properties were damaged.
- The last major tornado was in 1973 southwest of the airport. It caused $2.3 million in damage to the Defense Supply Center, collapsed a factory roof and hit seven warehouses.
- The Dayton area suffered a deadly tornado outbreak in 2019.
The bottom line: "While the risk may not be great, there's definitely still a risk," Houser says, "especially with the atmospheric instability we've seen this year."
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the last major tornado in Columbus occurred in 1973 (not 1974) and to remove a reference to how strong it was on the EF scale, which did not exist then.
More Columbus stories
No stories could be found
Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Columbus.
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What recent tornado trends mean for Central Ohio
When most people think of tornadoes, Central Ohio doesn't typically come to mind — at least not yet.
Driving the news: A staggering 410 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. from January to March 2023, per the National Weather Service's preliminary count. That's the most recorded since tracking began in 1950, the second highest was 398 in 2017.
Why it matters: Ohio's number of tornadoes has tripled in 2023, from six during the first three-and-a-half months of 2022 to 19 so far this year, according to preliminary National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data.
- Our area experiences extreme windstorms, which means it's also "at risk" for a destructive tornado, especially given recent trends, Aaron Wilson, an atmospheric scientist at Ohio State University, tells us.
The latest: Research has shown a shift eastward in frequency from the part of the country traditionally known as "tornado alley," which includes parts of Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma.
- Several damaging EF3s — with wind speeds ranging from 136 to 165 mph — touched down this month in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky and Delaware.
What they're saying: Jana Houser, associate professor of meteorology at OSU, tells Axios the biggest surprise is how far north and east they're occurring, and how early in the year.
- "Usually, we'll see this kind of tornado frequency in our area in June and July, or even closer to fall," she says.
Zoom in: So far this year, tornadoes have mostly occurred in western and southwestern Ohio, but a pair did sweep through Fairfield County on April 5.
Flashback: Since 1954, 34 have touched down in or around Franklin County, according to NOAA.
- The two most recent were in 2018, in Grove City in April and in Olde Towne East and Bexley in September. Nobody was injured, but many properties were damaged.
- The last major tornado was in 1973 southwest of the airport. It caused $2.3 million in damage to the Defense Supply Center, collapsed a factory roof and hit seven warehouses.
- The Dayton area suffered a deadly tornado outbreak in 2019
|
.
The bottom line: "While the risk may not be great, there's definitely still a risk," Houser says, "especially with the atmospheric instability we've seen this year."
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the last major tornado in Columbus occurred in 1973 (not 1974) and to remove a reference to how strong it was on the EF scale, which did not exist then.
More Columbus stories
No stories could be found
Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Columbus.
|
Users of marijuana had statistically higher levels of lead and cadmium in their blood and urine than people who do not use weed, a new study found.
“Compared to non-users, marijuana users had 27% higher levels of lead in their blood, and 21% higher levels in their urine,” said lead author Tiffany Sanchez, an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.
There is no safe level of lead in the body, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Marijuana users also had 22% higher cadmium levels in their blood than non-users, and 18% higher levels in their urine, Sanchez said.
“Both cadmium and lead stay in your body for quite a long time,” she said. “Cadmium is absorbed in the renal system and is filtered out to through the kidney. So, when you’re looking at urinary cadmium, that’s a reflection of total body burden, how much you have taken in over a long period of chronic exposure.”
Cadmium has been linked to kidney disease and lung cancer in people and fetal abnormalities in animals, according to the EPA, which has set specific limits for cadmium in air, water and food.
“I think this highlights the need for more detailed studies on cannabis, particularly the real world products that people are using,” said Dr. Beth Cohen, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and co-director of UCSF’s program in residency investigation methods and epidemiology. She was not involved in the study.
Measured blood and urine
The study, published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, used data between 2005 and 2018 collected by the annual National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, or NHANES, which tracks the health of Americans.
Blood and urine tests of 7,254 people who said they had used marijuana in the last 30 days were examined for levels of heavy metals, which makes the new study “unique” — most studies have simply measured metal levels in the cannabis plants, and not the people using marijuana, Sanchez said.
“Our study wasn’t able to tease apart whether or not self-reported cannabis users were using medical or recreational cannabis, so we can’t say definitively if medical cannabis users specifically had higher metal levels,” she said. “This is something that should be evaluated in future studies.”
Heavy metals bind to cells in the body, limiting their function, according to the Cleveland Clinic, and have been linked to cancer, chronic disease and neurotoxic effects.
“Immunocompromised people, such as those going through chemotherapy, may be at greater risk from metal exposure or from other common cannabis contaminants like molds. However, this is very much an understudied area,” Sanchez added.
Heavy metals aren’t just in marijuana — tobacco smokers are exposed to even more types of toxins. E-cigarettes, for example, contain high aerosol levels of nickel, chromium, lead and zinc, while researchers have found e-liquids and the tanks of e-cigarettes contain arsenic, lead, nickel, tin, manganese, copper and chromium, according to studies.
Cannabis is a ‘hyperaccumulator’
As natural elements, heavy metals are in the soil in which crops are grown and can’t be avoided, a key reason they exist in the air, water and food supply. Some crop fields and regions, however, contain more toxic levels than others, partly due to the overuse of metal-containing pesticides and ongoing industrial pollution.
“There was a time where we used metals as the predominant pesticide for many years, assuming it was safe,” Dr. Leonardo Trasande, chief of environmental pediatrics at NYU Langone, told CNN in a prior interview.
Not all plants can absorb high levels of containments without harm. But cannabis has a special property – it is a “known hyperaccumulator,” which means it’s extremely good at absorbing heavy metals, pesticides, petroleum solvents, crude oil and other potentially harmful chemicals without harm to itself.
Due to its deep, wide roots and ability to grow in poor soil, the plant can be grown in many environments. In fact, hemp been successfully used to naturally leach toxic heavy metals from the soil around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster and pesticides such as dioxin from heavily contaminated farms in Italy, according to a 2022 review.
Use of the plant is so promising, according to the review, that the US Department of Agriculture is sponsoring research on how to bioengineer the plant to absorb even greater levels of toxins.
While that’s good news for the environment, it’s worrisome for marijuana users. A 2021 study found the lead, cadmium and chromium absorbed by the plant was transported and distributed up through the stalk and into the leaves and flowers of the plant. That’s a problem, as few states have any oversight in place for legal recreational or medical cannabis.
A 2022 study examined existing regulations on heavy metals in the 31 states and the District of Columbia where recreational cannabis is legal and found that 28 had regulations on arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury.
However, even in the areas that do regulate, if weed is purchased from a bodega or individual, there is no way to know where those plants were grown, Sanchez said.
“This goes back to the fact that cannabis is still illegal at the federal level but legal at some state levels, so there’s piecemeal regulation on metals and mold and pesticides,” she said.
What can a marijuana user do to protect themselves from contaminants? That’s still a question without a clear answer, Sanchez said.
“One of the biggest things I tell people when we’re talking about heavy metals in food is to have a varied diet,” Sanchez said. “In this case, I’m not sure how you would vary your exposure — but you can at least be aware there are different environmental contaminants in things that we might not be aware of, such as cannabis.”
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified a heavy metal type that is elevated in the blood of marijuana users.
|
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Users of marijuana had statistically higher levels of lead and cadmium in their blood and urine than people who do not use weed, a new study found.
“Compared to non-users, marijuana users had 27% higher levels of lead in their blood, and 21% higher levels in their urine,” said lead author Tiffany Sanchez, an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.
There is no safe level of lead in the body, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Marijuana users also had 22% higher cadmium levels in their blood than non-users, and 18% higher levels in their urine, Sanchez said.
“Both cadmium and lead stay in your body for quite a long time,” she said. “Cadmium is absorbed in the renal system and is filtered out to through the kidney. So, when you’re looking at urinary cadmium, that’s a reflection of total body burden, how much you have taken in over a long period of chronic exposure.”
Cadmium has been linked to kidney disease and lung cancer in people and fetal abnormalities in animals, according to the EPA, which has set specific limits for cadmium in air, water and food.
“I think this highlights the need for more detailed studies on cannabis, particularly the real world products that people are using,” said Dr. Beth Cohen, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and co-director of UCSF’s program in residency investigation methods and epidemiology. She was not involved in the study.
Measured blood and urine
The study, published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, used data between 2005 and 2018 collected by the annual National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, or NHANES, which tracks the health of Americans.
Blood and urine tests of 7,254 people who said they had used marijuana in the last 30 days were examined for levels of heavy metals, which makes the new study “unique” — most studies have simply measured metal levels in the cannabis plants, and not the people using marijuana, Sanchez said.
“Our study wasn’t able to tease apart whether or not self-reported cannabis users were using medical or recreational cannabis, so we can’t say definitively if medical cannabis users specifically had higher metal levels,” she said. “This is something that should be evaluated in future studies.”
Heavy metals bind to cells in the body, limiting their function, according to the Cleveland Clinic, and have been linked to
|
cancer, chronic disease and neurotoxic effects.
“Immunocompromised people, such as those going through chemotherapy, may be at greater risk from metal exposure or from other common cannabis contaminants like molds. However, this is very much an understudied area,” Sanchez added.
Heavy metals aren’t just in marijuana — tobacco smokers are exposed to even more types of toxins. E-cigarettes, for example, contain high aerosol levels of nickel, chromium, lead and zinc, while researchers have found e-liquids and the tanks of e-cigarettes contain arsenic, lead, nickel, tin, manganese, copper and chromium, according to studies.
Cannabis is a ‘hyperaccumulator’
As natural elements, heavy metals are in the soil in which crops are grown and can’t be avoided, a key reason they exist in the air, water and food supply. Some crop fields and regions, however, contain more toxic levels than others, partly due to the overuse of metal-containing pesticides and ongoing industrial pollution.
“There was a time where we used metals as the predominant pesticide for many years, assuming it was safe,” Dr. Leonardo Trasande, chief of environmental pediatrics at NYU Langone, told CNN in a prior interview.
Not all plants can absorb high levels of containments without harm. But cannabis has a special property – it is a “known hyperaccumulator,” which means it’s extremely good at absorbing heavy metals, pesticides, petroleum solvents, crude oil and other potentially harmful chemicals without harm to itself.
Due to its deep, wide roots and ability to grow in poor soil, the plant can be grown in many environments. In fact, hemp been successfully used to naturally leach toxic heavy metals from the soil around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster and pesticides such as dioxin from heavily contaminated farms in Italy, according to a 2022 review.
Use of the plant is so promising, according to the review, that the US Department of Agriculture is sponsoring research on how to bioengineer the plant to absorb even greater levels of toxins.
While that’s good news for the environment, it’s worrisome for marijuana users. A 2021 study found the lead, cadmium and chromium absorbed by the plant was transported and distributed up through the stalk and into the leaves and flowers of the plant. That’s a problem, as few states have any oversight in place for legal recreational or medical cannabis.
A 2022 study examined existing regulations on heavy metals in the 31 states and the District of Columbia where recreational cannabis is legal and found that 28 had regulations on arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury.
However, even in the areas that do regulate, if weed is purchased from a bodega or individual, there is no way to know where those plants were grown, Sanchez said.
“This goes back to the fact that cannabis is still illegal at the federal level but legal at some state levels, so there’s piecemeal regulation on metals and mold and pesticides,” she said.
What can a marijuana user do to protect themselves from contaminants? That’s still a question without a clear answer, Sanchez said.
“One of the biggest things I tell people when we’re talking about heavy metals in food is to have a varied diet,” Sanchez said. “In this case, I’m not sure how you would vary your exposure — but you can at least be aware there are different environmental contaminants in things that we might not be aware of, such as cannabis.”
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified a heavy metal type that is elevated in the blood of marijuana users.
|
A Wisconsin school district is putting elementary school students through a weeklong gender identity and sexual orientation lesson created by LGBT activists, according to an email obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) is spending a week to teach students the difference between gender identity, sex assigned at birth and sexual orientation as a part of their “Health and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Lessons,” according to an email obtained by the DCNF. The school district’s focus is “Welcoming Schools,” an LGBTQ training and school program created by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF). (RELATED: ‘Dark Day For Wisconsin Students’: Wisconsin School Board Passes Curriculum That Calls Girls A ‘Person With A Vulva’)
“The goal is for students to understand the difference between gender, sexual orientation and sex assigned at birth,” the email stated. “Students are NOT being asked to share their specific identities for each of these components, rather just acknowledging that they exist and are different and how to show respect for all identities.”
HRCF is an organization that focuses on ending LGBTQ discrimination, according to the group website. The organization’s “Welcoming Schools” project focuses on creating “gender inclusive schools” through lessons and professional development training programs.
The lessons will include “read-alouds” and “classroom discussions” surrounding gender identity, sex assigned at birth and sexual orientation, the email said. The week concludes with a “rainbow day.”
Throughout the week, students will not be asked to share their gender identity or sexual orientation, the email stated. Families are encouraged to watch an introduction video to understand what the school district is teaching and why.
The introduction video described gender identity, sexual orientation and sex assigned at birth using a “gender snowperson” in order to be inclusive. The “gender snowperson” showed that gender identity comes from the brain and is “who you know you are” while sexual orientation comes from the heart and is “who you know you love.”
Sex, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation can all be seen as a “continuum” or a spectrum, according to the video. Kindergarten through third grade students learn sexual orientation by discussing “who they love” and that “anyone can love anyone” while fourth and fifth graders define gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual and asexual, the video stated.
“There are students in our schools with different gender identities,” the video stated. “We have at MMSD many elementary school students who identify as cisgender, as transgender, as nonbinary and the whole spectrum of identities. And if we aren’t talking and teaching about these different identities, students don’t see themselves and they don’t feel like they belong in our schools.”
MMSD and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact <email-pii>.
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A Wisconsin school district is putting elementary school students through a weeklong gender identity and sexual orientation lesson created by LGBT activists, according to an email obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) is spending a week to teach students the difference between gender identity, sex assigned at birth and sexual orientation as a part of their “Health and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Lessons,” according to an email obtained by the DCNF. The school district’s focus is “Welcoming Schools,” an LGBTQ training and school program created by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF). (RELATED: ‘Dark Day For Wisconsin Students’: Wisconsin School Board Passes Curriculum That Calls Girls A ‘Person With A Vulva’)
“The goal is for students to understand the difference between gender, sexual orientation and sex assigned at birth,” the email stated. “Students are NOT being asked to share their specific identities for each of these components, rather just acknowledging that they exist and are different and how to show respect for all identities.”
HRCF is an organization that focuses on ending LGBTQ discrimination, according to the group website. The organization’s “Welcoming Schools” project focuses on creating “gender inclusive schools” through lessons and professional development training programs.
The lessons will include “read-alouds” and “classroom discussions” surrounding gender identity, sex assigned at birth and sexual orientation, the email said. The week concludes with a “rainbow day.”
Throughout the week, students will not be asked to share their gender identity or sexual orientation, the email stated. Families are encouraged to watch an introduction video to understand what the school district is teaching and why.
The introduction video described gender identity, sexual orientation and sex assigned at birth using a “gender snowperson” in order to be inclusive. The “gender snowperson” showed that gender identity comes from the brain and is “who you know you are” while sexual orientation comes from the heart and is “who you know you love.”
Sex, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation can all be seen as a “continuum” or a spectrum, according to the video. Kindergarten through third grade students learn sexual orientation by discussing “who they love” and that “anyone can love anyone” while fourth and fifth graders define gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual and asexual, the video stated.
“There are students in our schools with different gender identities,” the video stated. “We have at M
|
MSD many elementary school students who identify as cisgender, as transgender, as nonbinary and the whole spectrum of identities. And if we aren’t talking and teaching about these different identities, students don’t see themselves and they don’t feel like they belong in our schools.”
MMSD and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact <email-pii>.
|
New guidelines for early childhood obesity treatment include use of drugs, surgery
Childhood obesity should be treated early with aggressive treatments, including anti-obesity drugs and weight-loss surgery, according to new guidelines released Monday.
The American Academy of Pediatrics' guideline — the first in 15 years — suggested that children struggling with obesity should be evaluated and offered intensive treatment options earlier, such as medications for children as young as 12 and surgery for those as young as 13. According to the group, delaying treatment or practicing "watchful waiting" will only exacerbate the disease.
“There is no evidence that ‘watchful waiting’ or delayed treatment is appropriate for children with obesity,” said Dr. Sandra Hassink, co-author of the guideline and medical director for the AAP Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight, in a statement.
More than 14.4 million children and teens in the United States are affected by obesity, according to the AAP. When left untreated, obesity can cause serious short and long-term health problems, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and depression.
The group's guidance "highlights more evidence than ever that obesity treatment is safe and effective," according to an AAP news release.
The guideline sets ages for when children and teens can be offered medical treatments such as medication and surgery — in addition to exercise, dieting, and other behavioral or lifestyle interventions, said Dr. Ihuoma Eneli, co-author of the guideline and director of the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
According to the group, the guideline intends to change the stigma around obesity and highlights the disease as a complex, biological issue.
“Weight is a sensitive topic for most of us, and children and teens are especially aware of the harsh and unfair stigma that comes with being affected by it,” said Dr. Sarah Hampl, a lead author of the guideline.
The AAP recommends that doctors should offer adolescents 12 and older with obesity access to appropriate pharmacotherapy and teens 13 and older with severe obesity should be evaluated for weight-loss surgery. But situations may vary and the group urged for a comprehensive review of each individual's medical history and other related factors.
According to the AAP, young people with a body mass index that reaches or exceeds the 95th percentile for children of the same age and gender are considered obese. Those who reach or exceed that by 120% are considered to have severe obesity.
The guideline follows the emergence of new drug treatments for childhood obesity, such as the approval of Wegovy in December. Wegovy is a weekly injection used for children ages 12 and older.
The drug is also used in different doses under different names to treat diabetes.
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that Wegovy helped teens reduce their BMI by about 16% on average, better than the results in adults.
But anti-obesity medications have been inaccessible due to recent shortages caused by manufacturing problems and high demand.
Doctors have also cautioned about the immediate use of medication and surgery, emphasizing the need for individual evaluation.
"It's not that I'm against the medications," Dr. Robert Lustig, a longtime specialist in pediatric endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, told The Associated Press. "I'm against the willy-nilly use of those medications without addressing the cause of the problem."
Contributing: The Associated Press
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New guidelines for early childhood obesity treatment include use of drugs, surgery
Childhood obesity should be treated early with aggressive treatments, including anti-obesity drugs and weight-loss surgery, according to new guidelines released Monday.
The American Academy of Pediatrics' guideline — the first in 15 years — suggested that children struggling with obesity should be evaluated and offered intensive treatment options earlier, such as medications for children as young as 12 and surgery for those as young as 13. According to the group, delaying treatment or practicing "watchful waiting" will only exacerbate the disease.
“There is no evidence that ‘watchful waiting’ or delayed treatment is appropriate for children with obesity,” said Dr. Sandra Hassink, co-author of the guideline and medical director for the AAP Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight, in a statement.
More than 14.4 million children and teens in the United States are affected by obesity, according to the AAP. When left untreated, obesity can cause serious short and long-term health problems, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and depression.
The group's guidance "highlights more evidence than ever that obesity treatment is safe and effective," according to an AAP news release.
The guideline sets ages for when children and teens can be offered medical treatments such as medication and surgery — in addition to exercise, dieting, and other behavioral or lifestyle interventions, said Dr. Ihuoma Eneli, co-author of the guideline and director of the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
According to the group, the guideline intends to change the stigma around obesity and highlights the disease as a complex, biological issue.
“Weight is a sensitive topic for most of us, and children and teens are especially aware of the harsh and unfair stigma that comes with being affected by it,” said Dr. Sarah Hampl, a lead author of the guideline.
The AAP recommends that doctors should offer adolescents 12 and older with obesity access to appropriate pharmacotherapy and teens 13 and older with severe obesity should be evaluated for weight-loss surgery. But situations may vary and the group urged for a comprehensive review of each individual's medical history and other related factors.
According to the AAP, young people with a body mass index that reaches or exceeds the 95th percentile for children of the same age and gender are considered obese. Those who reach or exceed that by 120% are considered to have severe obesity.
The guideline follows the emergence of
|
new drug treatments for childhood obesity, such as the approval of Wegovy in December. Wegovy is a weekly injection used for children ages 12 and older.
The drug is also used in different doses under different names to treat diabetes.
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that Wegovy helped teens reduce their BMI by about 16% on average, better than the results in adults.
But anti-obesity medications have been inaccessible due to recent shortages caused by manufacturing problems and high demand.
Doctors have also cautioned about the immediate use of medication and surgery, emphasizing the need for individual evaluation.
"It's not that I'm against the medications," Dr. Robert Lustig, a longtime specialist in pediatric endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, told The Associated Press. "I'm against the willy-nilly use of those medications without addressing the cause of the problem."
Contributing: The Associated Press
|
Axios Explains: Critical race theory
Under the guise of banning "critical race theory," a growing number of U.S. states now limit public schools from having certain books with content or lessons relating to race or racism.
The big picture: Following former President Trump's 2020 loss, conservative activists launched a coordinated campaign against critical race theory by falsely claiming the graduate-school-level concept was widely taught in grade schools.
- That's led to confusion, book bans and threats against educators.
Reality check: CRT is seldom taught in public schools, especially grade school. A high school in Portland has advanced-level CRT classes and a Detroit superintendent said his district uses it as a framework, but those are rare cases.
How critical race theory began
Critical race theory — which holds that racism is baked into the formation of the nation and ingrained in our legal, financial and education systems — was developed in law schools in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
- It formed after former NAACP lawyer and CRT pioneer Derrick Bell wrote academic articles that argued racial progress in the U.S. only came about when it aligned with white interests.
- He concluded that window-dressing diversity initiatives masked underlying inequity.
- Bell then was joined by other Black and Latino legal scholars such as Richard Delgado, now at the Seattle University School of Law, who pointed out the shortfalls of the legal system, liberalism and the civil rights movement in addressing racism and inequity.
What critical race theory says
Racism is baked into U.S. society, according to CRT backers. It underlays how society conducts business and encompasses the everyday experience of most people of color in the U.S., Delgado and Jean Stefancic write in "Critical Race Theory: An Introduction."
- Racism advances the material interests of white elites and the psychological comfort of working-class white people, so large segments of society have little incentive to eradicate it.
- Race is a product of social thought and relations. Even though there is no biological or genetic reality, races are categories that society invents, manipulates or retires when convenient.
- People of color, because of their different histories and experiences with oppression, can communicate to their white counterparts matters that they are unlikely to know.
Yes, but: There are divisions among CRT scholars between the "idealists" and the "realists."
- Idealists believe racism and discrimination are matters of thinking, mental categorization, attitude and arguments. It can be challenged by changing systems of images, words, attitudes, scripts and education.
- Realists feel racism is a means by which society allocates privilege and status. They believe old systems need major restructuring.
What critical race theory doesn't say
The tenets of CRT do not preach that any member of a race, group, religion or nationality is superior.
- An Axios review of CRT books by Bell, Delgado, Lani Guinier and others found no evidence that scholars endorsed hatred of white people — a recurring charge made by critics.
- Scholars do argue that race-based policies, like affirmative action, or those that take race into account, like redistricting protections, are needed to address racial inequity.
- Proponents also stress the need for empathy and putting oneself in other people's shoes, not merely making white people feel guilty for past atrocities.
What's happening in education
State of play: According to the U.S. census, about half of the nation's K-12 students today are people of color.
- Districts have faced pressure to offer more inclusive social study classes to accommodate growing, diverse student bodies.
Between the lines: The end of the Cold War slowly brought an end to social studies as a tool to reinforce U.S. nationalism and retell a romanticized version of U.S. history.
- Textbooks now offer more information about Black, Latino and Indigenous history that challenges old narratives about the U.S. being a story of only triumph and happy endings.
- The diversification of social studies garnered a backlash from white conservatives.
CRT rarely came up as an issue in school board elections before Trump's presidency.
- Trump and other Republicans started to complain that CRT was a problem in schools after the 2019 publication of The 1619 Project in the New York Times Magazine. An anti-CRT campaign followed Trump's loss in 2020.
- Conservative activist Christopher Rufo bragged on social media that he had helped rebrand CRT and turned it "toxic." He actively conflates diversity training and diversity lessons as critical race theory.
- Critics have pointed out that some teachers brought up systemic racism after the death of George Floyd, but mentioning systemic racism alone isn't CRT.
Zoom in: Elementary school teachers, administrators and college professors are facing fines, physical threats and fear of firing over accusations that they teach CRT.
- Citizens for Renewing America, a group led by a White House budget director from the Trump administration, offers conservative activists model legislation to craft bans in their states.
- The proposed legislation language says that equity, intersectionality, social justice and "woke" terms are racist ideas, and it falsely claims that critical race theory teaches that "one race or sex is superior to another race or sex."
The bottom line: The rebranding of critical race theory by conservatives and broadly written laws banning it in schools have led to the removal of books about conventional civil rights figures.
|
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Axios Explains: Critical race theory
Under the guise of banning "critical race theory," a growing number of U.S. states now limit public schools from having certain books with content or lessons relating to race or racism.
The big picture: Following former President Trump's 2020 loss, conservative activists launched a coordinated campaign against critical race theory by falsely claiming the graduate-school-level concept was widely taught in grade schools.
- That's led to confusion, book bans and threats against educators.
Reality check: CRT is seldom taught in public schools, especially grade school. A high school in Portland has advanced-level CRT classes and a Detroit superintendent said his district uses it as a framework, but those are rare cases.
How critical race theory began
Critical race theory — which holds that racism is baked into the formation of the nation and ingrained in our legal, financial and education systems — was developed in law schools in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
- It formed after former NAACP lawyer and CRT pioneer Derrick Bell wrote academic articles that argued racial progress in the U.S. only came about when it aligned with white interests.
- He concluded that window-dressing diversity initiatives masked underlying inequity.
- Bell then was joined by other Black and Latino legal scholars such as Richard Delgado, now at the Seattle University School of Law, who pointed out the shortfalls of the legal system, liberalism and the civil rights movement in addressing racism and inequity.
What critical race theory says
Racism is baked into U.S. society, according to CRT backers. It underlays how society conducts business and encompasses the everyday experience of most people of color in the U.S., Delgado and Jean Stefancic write in "Critical Race Theory: An Introduction."
- Racism advances the material interests of white elites and the psychological comfort of working-class white people, so large segments of society have little incentive to eradicate it.
- Race is a product of social thought and relations. Even though there is no biological or genetic reality, races are categories that society invents, manipulates or retires when convenient.
- People of color, because of their different histories and experiences with oppression, can communicate to their white counterparts matters that they are unlikely to know.
Yes, but: There are divisions among CRT scholars between the "idealists" and the "realists."
- Idealists believe racism and discrimination are matters of thinking, mental categorization, attitude and arguments.
|
It can be challenged by changing systems of images, words, attitudes, scripts and education.
- Realists feel racism is a means by which society allocates privilege and status. They believe old systems need major restructuring.
What critical race theory doesn't say
The tenets of CRT do not preach that any member of a race, group, religion or nationality is superior.
- An Axios review of CRT books by Bell, Delgado, Lani Guinier and others found no evidence that scholars endorsed hatred of white people — a recurring charge made by critics.
- Scholars do argue that race-based policies, like affirmative action, or those that take race into account, like redistricting protections, are needed to address racial inequity.
- Proponents also stress the need for empathy and putting oneself in other people's shoes, not merely making white people feel guilty for past atrocities.
What's happening in education
State of play: According to the U.S. census, about half of the nation's K-12 students today are people of color.
- Districts have faced pressure to offer more inclusive social study classes to accommodate growing, diverse student bodies.
Between the lines: The end of the Cold War slowly brought an end to social studies as a tool to reinforce U.S. nationalism and retell a romanticized version of U.S. history.
- Textbooks now offer more information about Black, Latino and Indigenous history that challenges old narratives about the U.S. being a story of only triumph and happy endings.
- The diversification of social studies garnered a backlash from white conservatives.
CRT rarely came up as an issue in school board elections before Trump's presidency.
- Trump and other Republicans started to complain that CRT was a problem in schools after the 2019 publication of The 1619 Project in the New York Times Magazine. An anti-CRT campaign followed Trump's loss in 2020.
- Conservative activist Christopher Rufo bragged on social media that he had helped rebrand CRT and turned it "toxic." He actively conflates diversity training and diversity lessons as critical race theory.
- Critics have pointed out that some teachers brought up systemic racism after the death of George Floyd, but mentioning systemic racism alone isn't CRT.
Zoom in: Elementary school teachers, administrators and college professors are facing fines, physical threats and fear of firing over accusations that they teach CRT.
- Citizens for Renewing America, a group led by a White House budget director from the Trump administration, offers conservative activists model legislation to craft bans in their states.
- The proposed legislation language says that equity, intersectionality, social justice and "woke" terms are racist ideas, and it falsely claims that critical race theory teaches that "one race or sex is superior to another race or sex."
The bottom line: The rebranding of critical race theory by conservatives and broadly written laws banning it in schools have led to the removal of books about conventional civil rights figures.
|
Global Research, February 01, 2023
The Future of Freedom Foundation 30 January 2023
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.
President Kennedy had a unique ability that Pentagon generals did not have. He was able to analyze an international crisis by placing himself in the shoes of his adversary in an attempt to understand his adversary’s motives. Doing that enabled him to figure a way out of the crisis that did not involve war. The response of the generals and the Pentagon was always the same: invade, bomb, kill, and destroy.
Today’s generals are no different from their counterparts back in the early 1960s. They are unable to step into the shoes of Russian officials and try to figure out a resolution of the crisis in Ukraine. Instead, their answer is bombs, missiles, death, destruction and, now, tanks. They are simply not mentally equipped to do what Kennedy did.
Understanding how Kennedy resolved the Cuban Missile Crisis goes a long way toward understanding what motivated the Russians to invade Ukraine.
In 1962, Kennedy learned that the Soviet Union (i.e., Russia) was installing nuclear missiles in Cuba. With the full support of the Pentagon, Kennedy decided that he could not let that happen. There was no way that U.S. officials were going to permit the Russians to install nuclear missiles pointed at the United States from only 90 miles away.
And yet, the Soviets had every right in the world to install nuclear missiles in Cuba, so long as it was done with the consent of the Cuban regime. After all, even though the Pentagon and the CIA considered Cuba to be a de facto U.S. colony, Cuba was, in fact, an independent and sovereign country. If it wanted Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, it had the right to invite the Soviets to install them there.
Nonetheless, both Kennedy and the Pentagon decided that they would not permit Russia’s nuclear missiles to remain in Cuba. Why? Because they simply did not want nuclear missiles pointed at the U.S. from only 90 miles away. They considered such missiles to a grave threat to U.S. “national security.”
Reflecting how important this principle was to Kennedy, he was even willing to go to nuclear war against Russia to prevent those Russian missiles from being stationed in Cuba. In fact, what is not widely recognized is that Kennedy actually did initiate war against the Soviets. That was when he ordered a military blockade against Soviet ships carrying nuclear weapons to Cuba. Under international law, a blockade is an act of war. Fortunately, the Soviets did not respond with retaliatory war measures.
Yet, Kennedy’s blockade was met with severe disapproval from the generals. It was considered to be too weak. One member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff compared Kennedy’s blockade to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler at Munich. With their one-track mind, the generals were pressuring Kennedy to bomb and invade Cuba. Their insistence on pressuring Kennedy to take an action that would almost certainly result in nuclear war reflected how strongly they felt about not having Russian missiles so close to America’s border.
Thus, if Kennedy were president today, he wouldn’t need to ask why the Russians felt the same way about having U.S. nuclear missiles stationed in Ukraine, which shares a border with Russia. He would understand that their sentiments would be no different from the sentiments of Kennedy and the Pentagon with respect to Russian nuclear missiles in Cuba.
But there was another factor that Kennedy considered when he stepped into the shoes of the Russians in an attempt to understand the crisis and arrive at a mutually agreeable peaceful resolution of it. Ever since Kennedy became president, both the CIA and the Pentagon were hell-bent on achieving regime change in Cuba. That’s what the CIA’s invasion at Cuba’s Bay of Pigs in 1961 was all about. After it failed, the Pentagon began incessantly pressuring Kennedy to initiate a full-scale military invasion of the island. The Pentagon even came up with a fraudulent false-flag operation named Operation Northwoods to provide Kennedy with an excuse to invade Cuba. To his everlasting credit, Kennedy rejected it.
Kennedy figured out that the reason the Cubans wanted those nuclear weapons was to deter the Pentagon and the CIA from invading Cuba again. If the deterrence failed, Cuban officials wanted the nuclear weapons as a way to fight back against a vastly more powerful army.
What mainstream journalists and commentators fail to realize is that in the long state of hostilities between the United States and Cuba, it has always been the United States — specifically the Pentagon and the CIA — that has been the aggressor. Given such, Cuba had every right in the world to defend itself from what Martin Luther King described as the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world.”
When Kennedy came to the realization that it was the obsessive quest of the Pentagon and the CIA to invade Cuba that had provoked the Cuban Missile Crisis, he figured a way out of the crisis. He simply promised Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that he would never permit the Pentagon and the CIA to bomb or invade Cuba again. His promise worked. The Soviets removed their nuclear missiles from Cuba and took them home.
Except for one thing. At the last minute, Khrushchev asked Kennedy to remove U.S. nuclear missiles from Turkey that were pointed at the Soviet Union. Yes, you read that right. While it was opposing Soviet missiles in Cuba that were pointed at the United States, the Pentagon had its nuclear missiles in Turkey that were pointed at Russia.
Kennedy understood Khrushchev’s point, and he agreed with it. He promised the Russian leader that he would remove the nuclear missiles in Turkey within six months.
Needless to say, most Americans were relieved and pleased with Kennedy’s resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Not so, however, the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They were livid. Kennedy had effectively left Cuba permanently in communist control, something that the Pentagon considered to be a grave threat to “national security.” As I point out in my book An Encounter with Evil: The Abraham Zapruder Story, the JCS considered Kennedy’s resolution of the crisis to be the biggest defeat in U.S. history. They considered Kennedy to be a “weak sister” when it came to confronting the communists. They considered him to be a coward and, even worse, a traitor for making nice with Russia.
What would Kennedy have done with Ukraine if he had been president? He would never have allowed the Pentagon to use NATO to absorb former members of the Warsaw Pact. He would have also recognized that Russia’s reaction to U.S. nuclear missiles in Ukraine would have been the same as the U.S. reaction to Russian missiles in Cuba. He would have understood that their reaction to having U.S. nuclear missiles in Ukraine would be no different from their reaction to having those U.S. nuclear missiles in Turkey. In fact, there is no doubt that Kennedy would have recognized that NATO was a Cold War dinosaur that needed to be put down, especially given the end of the Cold War.
Where is President Biden in all this? Needless to say, Biden, unfortunately, is no John Kennedy.
Note to readers: Please click the share buttons above. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.
Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics. In 1987, Mr. Hornberger left the practice of law to become director of programs at the Foundation for Economic Education. He has advanced freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all across the country as well as on Fox News’ Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows and he appeared as a regular commentator on Judge Andrew Napolitano’s show Freedom Watch. View these interviews at LewRockwell.com and from Full Context. Send him email.
The original source of this article is The Future of Freedom Foundation
Copyright © Jacob G. Hornberger, The Future of Freedom Foundation, 2023
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Global Research, February 01, 2023
The Future of Freedom Foundation 30 January 2023
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.
President Kennedy had a unique ability that Pentagon generals did not have. He was able to analyze an international crisis by placing himself in the shoes of his adversary in an attempt to understand his adversary’s motives. Doing that enabled him to figure a way out of the crisis that did not involve war. The response of the generals and the Pentagon was always the same: invade, bomb, kill, and destroy.
Today’s generals are no different from their counterparts back in the early 1960s. They are unable to step into the shoes of Russian officials and try to figure out a resolution of the crisis in Ukraine. Instead, their answer is bombs, missiles, death, destruction and, now, tanks. They are simply not mentally equipped to do what Kennedy did.
Understanding how Kennedy resolved the Cuban Missile Crisis goes a long way toward understanding what motivated the Russians to invade Ukraine.
In 1962, Kennedy learned that the Soviet Union (i.e., Russia) was installing nuclear missiles in Cuba. With the full support of the Pentagon, Kennedy decided that he could not let that happen. There was no way that U.S. officials were going to permit the Russians to install nuclear missiles pointed at the United States from only 90 miles away.
And yet, the Soviets had every right in the world to install nuclear missiles in Cuba, so long as it was done with the consent of the Cuban regime. After all, even though the Pentagon and the CIA considered Cuba to be a de facto U.S. colony, Cuba was, in fact, an independent and sovereign country. If it wanted Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, it had the right to invite the Soviets to install them there.
Nonetheless, both Kennedy and the Pentagon decided that they would not permit Russia’s nuclear missiles to remain in Cuba. Why? Because they simply did not want nuclear missiles pointed at the U.S. from only 90 miles away. They considered such missiles to a grave threat to U.S. “national security.”
Reflecting how important this principle was to Kennedy, he was even willing to go to nuclear war against Russia to prevent those Russian missiles from being stationed in Cuba. In fact, what is not widely recognized is that Kennedy actually did initiate war against the Soviets.
|
That was when he ordered a military blockade against Soviet ships carrying nuclear weapons to Cuba. Under international law, a blockade is an act of war. Fortunately, the Soviets did not respond with retaliatory war measures.
Yet, Kennedy’s blockade was met with severe disapproval from the generals. It was considered to be too weak. One member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff compared Kennedy’s blockade to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler at Munich. With their one-track mind, the generals were pressuring Kennedy to bomb and invade Cuba. Their insistence on pressuring Kennedy to take an action that would almost certainly result in nuclear war reflected how strongly they felt about not having Russian missiles so close to America’s border.
Thus, if Kennedy were president today, he wouldn’t need to ask why the Russians felt the same way about having U.S. nuclear missiles stationed in Ukraine, which shares a border with Russia. He would understand that their sentiments would be no different from the sentiments of Kennedy and the Pentagon with respect to Russian nuclear missiles in Cuba.
But there was another factor that Kennedy considered when he stepped into the shoes of the Russians in an attempt to understand the crisis and arrive at a mutually agreeable peaceful resolution of it. Ever since Kennedy became president, both the CIA and the Pentagon were hell-bent on achieving regime change in Cuba. That’s what the CIA’s invasion at Cuba’s Bay of Pigs in 1961 was all about. After it failed, the Pentagon began incessantly pressuring Kennedy to initiate a full-scale military invasion of the island. The Pentagon even came up with a fraudulent false-flag operation named Operation Northwoods to provide Kennedy with an excuse to invade Cuba. To his everlasting credit, Kennedy rejected it.
Kennedy figured out that the reason the Cubans wanted those nuclear weapons was to deter the Pentagon and the CIA from invading Cuba again. If the deterrence failed, Cuban officials wanted the nuclear weapons as a way to fight back against a vastly more powerful army.
What mainstream journalists and commentators fail to realize is that in the long state of hostilities between the United States and Cuba, it has always been the United States — specifically the Pentagon and the CIA — that has been the aggressor. Given such, Cuba had every right in the world to defend itself from what Martin Luther King described as the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world.”
When Kennedy came to the realization that it was the obsessive quest of the Pentagon and the CIA to invade Cuba that had provoked the Cuban Missile Crisis, he figured a way out of the crisis. He simply promised Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that he would never permit the Pentagon and the CIA to bomb or invade Cuba again. His promise worked. The Soviets removed their nuclear missiles from Cuba and took them home.
Except for one thing. At the last minute, Khrushchev asked Kennedy to remove U.S. nuclear missiles from Turkey that were pointed at the Soviet Union. Yes, you read that right. While it was opposing Soviet missiles in Cuba that were pointed at the United States, the Pentagon had its nuclear missiles in Turkey that were pointed at Russia.
Kennedy understood Khrushchev’s point, and he agreed with it. He promised the Russian leader that he would remove the nuclear missiles in Turkey within six months.
Needless to say, most Americans were relieved and pleased with Kennedy’s resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Not so, however, the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They were livid. Kennedy had effectively left Cuba permanently in communist control, something that the Pentagon considered to be a grave threat to “national security.” As I point out in my book An Encounter with Evil: The Abraham Zapruder Story, the JCS considered Kennedy’s resolution of the crisis to be the biggest defeat in U.S. history. They considered Kennedy to be a “weak sister” when it came to confronting the communists. They considered him to be a coward and, even worse, a traitor for making nice with Russia.
What would Kennedy have done with Ukraine if he had been president? He would never have allowed the Pentagon to use NATO to absorb former members of the Warsaw Pact. He would have also recognized that Russia’s reaction to U.S. nuclear missiles in Ukraine would have been the same as the U.S. reaction to Russian missiles in Cuba. He would have understood that their reaction to having U.S. nuclear missiles in Ukraine would be no different from their reaction to having those U.S. nuclear missiles in Turkey. In fact, there is no doubt that Kennedy would have recognized that NATO was a Cold War dinosaur that needed to be put down, especially given the end of the Cold War.
Where is President Biden in all this? Needless to say, Biden, unfortunately, is no John Kennedy.
Note to readers: Please click the share buttons above. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.
Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics. In 1987, Mr. Hornberger left the practice of law to become director of programs at the Foundation for Economic Education. He has advanced freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all across the country as well as on Fox News’ Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows and he appeared as a regular commentator on Judge Andrew Napolitano’s show Freedom Watch. View these interviews at LewRockwell.com and from Full Context. Send him email.
The original source of this article is The Future of Freedom Foundation
Copyright © Jacob G. Hornberger, The Future of Freedom Foundation, 2023
|
In a hopeful sign of nature’s resilience, ancient California coast redwoods charred by a catastrophic 2020 wildfire have grown new leaves. That redwoods can regenerate after a disturbance is well-known. These sprouts, however, grew from buds dormant under bark for centuries. And the carbon reserves that fueled their regrowth are believed to be up to 100 years old, some of the oldest ever measured.
“It is likely that other long-lived trees also harbor carbon reserves that are much older than previously recognized,” said Drew Peltier, a Northern Arizona University physiological ecologist and lead author of a new study on what enabled the redwoods to sprout new life on their blackened roots, trunks and branches. The carbon stores observed in the trees, some of which date back as far as 1,500 years, may provide hope for other ancient foliage destroyed by disasters such as pest outbreaks, fires and hurricanes.
Peltier and team studied redwoods torched in the CZU Lightning Complex fire, which ignited in August 2020, tearing through large groves of majestic redwoods in Big Basin State Park, the oldest state park in California. Their research appears in the journal Nature: Plants.
In the well-understood natural process known as photosynthesis, plants and trees absorb carbon dioxide and water, which turn into sugar and other carbohydrates when exposed to sunlight, energizing new tissue growth.
In the case of the burned redwoods in Big Basin State Park, “carbon photosynthesized from the atmosphere more than 50 years ago is being used as energy to grow new leaves in 2021,” Peltier said in an interview. “This is a really long time for sugars to stick around.”
Peltier, along with North Arizona University biological sciences professor George Koch and other colleagues, visited Big Basin State Park six times during the winter, spring and early summer of 2021 to explore how long the redwood trees’ carbon reserves could be saved for future use. It’s an increasingly relevant question, with wildfires and other climate-related disasters threatening natural landscapes with ever more frequency.
“Trees can't move, and climate warming makes all of these things like drought and fire worse,” Peltier said.
Many redwoods and other trees at the park, such as Douglas firs, didn’t survive the CZU Lightning Complex fire, which started when a rare summer lightning storm sparked small blazes that got carried by strong, dry winds. The fire burned a total of 86,509 acres in two Northern California counties.
To enable the study, Melissa Enright, a research consultant with the U.S. Forest Service, covered parts of 60 re-sprouting trees with black plastic bags to inhibit photosynthesis and ensure the tiny shoots were powered entirely by carbon reserves. The Northern Arizona University researchers then used radiocarbon dating to determine the age of that stored carbon.
Redwoods have evolved to be exceptionally adapted to fire, with thick, shaggy bark that keeps out flames and protects the towering trees from heat.
Still, they’re not fireproof, and even the California coast redwoods showing signs of rebirth will likely never be the same. “Those redwood trees simply cannot recover those gigantic leafy canopies they had before fire for many years," Peltier said. "So while redwoods survived, many things have also changed.”
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In a hopeful sign of nature’s resilience, ancient California coast redwoods charred by a catastrophic 2020 wildfire have grown new leaves. That redwoods can regenerate after a disturbance is well-known. These sprouts, however, grew from buds dormant under bark for centuries. And the carbon reserves that fueled their regrowth are believed to be up to 100 years old, some of the oldest ever measured.
“It is likely that other long-lived trees also harbor carbon reserves that are much older than previously recognized,” said Drew Peltier, a Northern Arizona University physiological ecologist and lead author of a new study on what enabled the redwoods to sprout new life on their blackened roots, trunks and branches. The carbon stores observed in the trees, some of which date back as far as 1,500 years, may provide hope for other ancient foliage destroyed by disasters such as pest outbreaks, fires and hurricanes.
Peltier and team studied redwoods torched in the CZU Lightning Complex fire, which ignited in August 2020, tearing through large groves of majestic redwoods in Big Basin State Park, the oldest state park in California. Their research appears in the journal Nature: Plants.
In the well-understood natural process known as photosynthesis, plants and trees absorb carbon dioxide and water, which turn into sugar and other carbohydrates when exposed to sunlight, energizing new tissue growth.
In the case of the burned redwoods in Big Basin State Park, “carbon photosynthesized from the atmosphere more than 50 years ago is being used as energy to grow new leaves in 2021,” Peltier said in an interview. “This is a really long time for sugars to stick around.”
Peltier, along with North Arizona University biological sciences professor George Koch and other colleagues, visited Big Basin State Park six times during the winter, spring and early summer of 2021 to explore how long the redwood trees’ carbon reserves could be saved for future use. It’s an increasingly relevant question, with wildfires and other climate-related disasters threatening natural landscapes with ever more frequency.
“Trees can't move, and climate warming makes all of these things like drought and fire worse,” Peltier said.
Many redwoods and other trees at the park, such as Douglas firs, didn’t survive the CZU Lightning Complex fire, which started when a rare summer
|
lightning storm sparked small blazes that got carried by strong, dry winds. The fire burned a total of 86,509 acres in two Northern California counties.
To enable the study, Melissa Enright, a research consultant with the U.S. Forest Service, covered parts of 60 re-sprouting trees with black plastic bags to inhibit photosynthesis and ensure the tiny shoots were powered entirely by carbon reserves. The Northern Arizona University researchers then used radiocarbon dating to determine the age of that stored carbon.
Redwoods have evolved to be exceptionally adapted to fire, with thick, shaggy bark that keeps out flames and protects the towering trees from heat.
Still, they’re not fireproof, and even the California coast redwoods showing signs of rebirth will likely never be the same. “Those redwood trees simply cannot recover those gigantic leafy canopies they had before fire for many years," Peltier said. "So while redwoods survived, many things have also changed.”
|
Douglas Brouwer: The Dutch prime minister apologized
A few days before Christmas, the current Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, offered an apology on behalf of the Dutch government for more than two centuries of Dutch slavery. His remarks, given at the National Archives in the Hague, where I am living this year, acknowledged his country’s role in abetting and profiting from centuries of slave trading.
The Netherlands was directly responsible for the transport of an estimated 600,000 human beings over the Atlantic Ocean, mostly to Suriname, which is on the northern coast of South America. Through the East India Company, the Netherlands also traded human beings in Indonesia, India and South Africa.
Rutte noted that the National Archives are “the home of our national memory” and that the history of slavery, preserved in millions of historical documents, is often “ugly, painful, and even downright shameful.”
The other countries, in addition to the Netherlands, which profited from the slave trade, include Portugal, Spain, Britain, France, and Denmark.
Listening to friends, neighbors, and church members talk about this apology has been instructive, not least because of what has been happening recently in my own country, which continues to resist the subject of slavery and its own role in the Atlantic slave trade, which brought more than 12 million Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas.
Most of the Dutch people I have spoken to had favorable reactions to the Prime Minister’s words, but overall, from what I read, the reaction has been mixed. Some thought Rutte should have waited a few months and made his speech on the 160th anniversary of the abolition of slavery. Others thought the apology should have come not from the prime minister, but from the king. Still others believe that apologies without talk of reparations are incomplete at best.
Rutte acknowledged that “no one alive now is personally to blame for slavery” and that “people of today could not easily take meaningful responsibility for something that happened so long ago.” But he made clear that slavery is not “behind us” and that centuries of oppression still affect us today, listing discriminatory exclusion, social inequality, and racist stereotypes.
Rutte, to his credit, spoke personally and described his own change of heart about apologizing for his country’s role in the slave trade. His change, remarkably, was spurred by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. In a news conference at the time, he said he found Floyd’s death “unacceptable,” and he began speaking with groups in the Netherlands about persistent racism here.
Government apologies for slavery (or anything else) are rare. The U.S. House of Representatives offered an apology in 2008 for enslaving African Americans and for the Jim Crow laws that followed abolition. In 2018 Denmark apologized to Ghana for the Danish role in the slave trade. During a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo last summer, the king of Belgium expressed his “deepest regrets for these wounds of the past,” though he stopped short of an actual apology.
Over the months I have lived here, I have sensed a growing coming to terms with the past. For example, during a tour of the Mauritshuis Museum in the Hague, where Vermeer’s famous painting “The Girl with the Pearl Earring” can be found, our guide made clear at the start that Johann Maurits, whose vast collection also includes paintings by Vermeer and Rembrandt, among others, made most of his money from the slave trade in Brazil.
Exactly how much money Maurits earned because of his slave trading is impossible to estimate, but he spent far more on his various palaces than his annual salary in Brazil would have allowed. This historical reckoning during a museum tour is new and indicates that, in what is at least a beginning, the Netherlands is beginning to acknowledge its role in what Rutte called a “shameful” past.
I now serve a church in the Netherlands with members from Suriname, Indonesia, and South Africa, all nations where the Dutch slave trade once flourished. These members are keenly aware of Dutch history and its impact on their home countries. They know the history better, in many ways, than other citizens of this country. They have endured its impact, and they continue to live with its legacy. They are not eager, generally speaking, to discuss the prime minister’s apology. Instead, they are curious about what happens next.
What seems hopeful to me is that these conversations are beginning to happen. They are not easy. They will take some time. But they are happening. In my own country we do not talk about our history because are afraid of making school children uncomfortable.
I would be grateful if Americans could at least have the conversation.
— Douglas Brouwer is a resident of Park Township, except for the 2022-2023 school year, when he is living and working in the Hague.
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Douglas Brouwer: The Dutch prime minister apologized
A few days before Christmas, the current Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, offered an apology on behalf of the Dutch government for more than two centuries of Dutch slavery. His remarks, given at the National Archives in the Hague, where I am living this year, acknowledged his country’s role in abetting and profiting from centuries of slave trading.
The Netherlands was directly responsible for the transport of an estimated 600,000 human beings over the Atlantic Ocean, mostly to Suriname, which is on the northern coast of South America. Through the East India Company, the Netherlands also traded human beings in Indonesia, India and South Africa.
Rutte noted that the National Archives are “the home of our national memory” and that the history of slavery, preserved in millions of historical documents, is often “ugly, painful, and even downright shameful.”
The other countries, in addition to the Netherlands, which profited from the slave trade, include Portugal, Spain, Britain, France, and Denmark.
Listening to friends, neighbors, and church members talk about this apology has been instructive, not least because of what has been happening recently in my own country, which continues to resist the subject of slavery and its own role in the Atlantic slave trade, which brought more than 12 million Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas.
Most of the Dutch people I have spoken to had favorable reactions to the Prime Minister’s words, but overall, from what I read, the reaction has been mixed. Some thought Rutte should have waited a few months and made his speech on the 160th anniversary of the abolition of slavery. Others thought the apology should have come not from the prime minister, but from the king. Still others believe that apologies without talk of reparations are incomplete at best.
Rutte acknowledged that “no one alive now is personally to blame for slavery” and that “people of today could not easily take meaningful responsibility for something that happened so long ago.” But he made clear that slavery is not “behind us” and that centuries of oppression still affect us today, listing discriminatory exclusion, social inequality, and racist stereotypes.
Rutte, to his credit, spoke personally and described his own change of heart about apologizing for his country’s role in the slave trade. His change, remarkably, was spurred by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. In a news conference at the time
|
, he said he found Floyd’s death “unacceptable,” and he began speaking with groups in the Netherlands about persistent racism here.
Government apologies for slavery (or anything else) are rare. The U.S. House of Representatives offered an apology in 2008 for enslaving African Americans and for the Jim Crow laws that followed abolition. In 2018 Denmark apologized to Ghana for the Danish role in the slave trade. During a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo last summer, the king of Belgium expressed his “deepest regrets for these wounds of the past,” though he stopped short of an actual apology.
Over the months I have lived here, I have sensed a growing coming to terms with the past. For example, during a tour of the Mauritshuis Museum in the Hague, where Vermeer’s famous painting “The Girl with the Pearl Earring” can be found, our guide made clear at the start that Johann Maurits, whose vast collection also includes paintings by Vermeer and Rembrandt, among others, made most of his money from the slave trade in Brazil.
Exactly how much money Maurits earned because of his slave trading is impossible to estimate, but he spent far more on his various palaces than his annual salary in Brazil would have allowed. This historical reckoning during a museum tour is new and indicates that, in what is at least a beginning, the Netherlands is beginning to acknowledge its role in what Rutte called a “shameful” past.
I now serve a church in the Netherlands with members from Suriname, Indonesia, and South Africa, all nations where the Dutch slave trade once flourished. These members are keenly aware of Dutch history and its impact on their home countries. They know the history better, in many ways, than other citizens of this country. They have endured its impact, and they continue to live with its legacy. They are not eager, generally speaking, to discuss the prime minister’s apology. Instead, they are curious about what happens next.
What seems hopeful to me is that these conversations are beginning to happen. They are not easy. They will take some time. But they are happening. In my own country we do not talk about our history because are afraid of making school children uncomfortable.
I would be grateful if Americans could at least have the conversation.
— Douglas Brouwer is a resident of Park Township, except for the 2022-2023 school year, when he is living and working in the Hague.
|
This article is part of a broad series on recent advances in the science and medicine of longevity and aging. The series covers a range of topics, including musculoskeletal health. Expect more articles on bone and muscle regeneration to follow.
New findings by scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine suggest low back pain may become a thing of the past. The research, published as a preprint in the journal eLife, has pinpointed senescent cells, or “sleeping” cells, as key culprits in back pain. These cells cause the bones of the spine to become porous, allowing nerve fibers to fill the empty spaces. When the nerve fibers get irritated or “pinched”, backache ensues.
Old Age and Back Pain: Two Peas in a Pod
You know the feeling: you bend over to tie your shoes or put on a sock, when suddenly, ZAP, you feel a sharp jolt in your lower back. If you’ve been spared this pain, then you’re one of the lucky few. At least, for now — statistics suggest that eight in 10 people will experience lower back pain at one point in their lives.
Although low back pain can happen at any age, it is especially prevalent in older adults. Indeed, musculoskeletal pain affects a considerable percentage of older adults, estimated between 65 to 85%, with back pain accounting for around 36 to 70% of such issues. And even though it was previously thought that back pain reaches its climax around the age of 60 before tapering off again, more recent studies indicate that pain remains common well into later years. In fact, people over the age of 80 are three times more likely to experience severe low back pain than middle-aged adults between the ages of 50 and 59.
Once back pain sets in, inactivity often follows; since movement hurts, individuals suffering from back pain will frequently cut back on exercise. This can have the knock-on effect of restricting participation in various activities and gatherings, both of which significantly reduce quality of life.
Despite the prevalence of the issue, the causes of low back pain at the cellular level remain poorly understood. Unsurprisingly, therapeutic interventions have seen mixed results. Especially for those suffering from non-specific low back pain —cases in which there is no clear cause— relief is often short-term, with treatment producing only small changes.
Enter the Suspect: “Sleeping” Osteoclasts
Think of senescent cells as retired cells in our body that have stopped dividing and working. This usually stops damaged cells from becoming cancer, which is good. However, as we age, these retired cells accumulate and start causing trouble. They release inflammatory molecules that can go on to harm nearby cells and cause other tissues to become inflamed, which can lead to various health problems linked to aging. Cell senescence has been linked to a number of musculoskeletal diseases, including osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.
In previous work, the same laboratory discovered that a particular cell type, called osteoclasts, plays an important role in the formation of pores in the endplates of our vertebrae. Under normal conditions, osteoclasts are in charge of breaking down bone tissue to help with the routine maintenance, remodeling, and repair of our bones. But in certain situations, the osteoclasts ended up misbehaving, leading to excessive pore formation in the endplates of the spine. These endplates sit between the bones of our spine —the vertebrae— and the gell-filled discs that protect and cushion those bones. Here, they act as a buffer between the hard surfaces of the vertebrae and the flexible discs. Endplates also serve as a bridge, allowing nutrients and blood to reach the discs, which do not have a dedicated blood supply of their own. To achieve this, they need to be strong enough to not crack under pressure but porous enough to allow blood and nutrients to move through them — a tricky balancing act.
The empty space left by all the pores creates an enticing “nook” for new nerves, which set up camp. But once established, the new nerves are prone to becoming irritated and begin firing off pain signals, leading to persistent low back issues. Exactly why osteoclasts began misbehaving and inducing excessive porosity remained unknown, but the researchers suspected cell senescence played a role.
Treatment on the Horizon?
To test their hunch, the scientists turned to mice suffering from spine hypersensitivity caused either by old age or lumbar spine instability. Next, they analyzed the endplates in these mice to check whether there were any senescent osteoclasts present in the pores. In both cases, biomarkers suggested the presence of osteoclasts and senescent cells. And the stronger the biomarkers, the more porous the endplates and the more sensitive the spine.
Having narrowed down the likely culprit, the researchers sought to target and remove the senescent osteoclasts. They administered an experimental drug called Navitoclax for a total of four weeks. This drug is traditionally used as an anti-cancer drug, but has been discovered to also effectively single out and destroy senescent cells in mouse models.
Navitoclax works against senescent cells because it mimics a protein, called BH3, that helps regulate controlled cell death, or apoptosis. Compared to normal cells, senescent cells have altered survival pathways and they often rely on proteins that prevent apoptosis, particularly Bcl-2 (B-cell lymphoma 2) and Bcl-xL (B-cell lymphoma-extra large), to evade the programmed cell death that would otherwise eliminate them. Navitoclax, by mimicking BH3, blocks these anti-apoptotic proteins, finally allowing the immune system to mark the senescent cells for destruction.
Treatment with Navitoclax led to a noticeable reduction in senescent osteoclasts in the endplates of the spine — the endplates were less porous and there were fewer signs of degeneration. The decrease in senescent cells and porosity also meant that the mice treated with the drug had fewer new nerves or new blood vessels in their endplates. These structural changes were mirrored by increased activity in treated mice as well as a reduction in pain, as measured by various laboratory tests.
No such positive changes to the structure of the endplates could be seen in mice that received a placebo, nor were there any changes in their activity levels.
Back pain is a serious condition that can significantly worsen quality of life. Unfortunately, as we age, more of us will begin to experience back issues. In this latest study, researchers clearly implicate senescent osteoclasts in the endplates of the spine with an increase in pores, leading to the formation of new hypersensitive nerves. These easily become irritated, causing pain. By eliminating the senescent osteoclasts with Navitoclax, the researchers were able to regenerate the endplates and reduce back pain in mice. These early results are promising and pave the way for further research.
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This article is part of a broad series on recent advances in the science and medicine of longevity and aging. The series covers a range of topics, including musculoskeletal health. Expect more articles on bone and muscle regeneration to follow.
New findings by scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine suggest low back pain may become a thing of the past. The research, published as a preprint in the journal eLife, has pinpointed senescent cells, or “sleeping” cells, as key culprits in back pain. These cells cause the bones of the spine to become porous, allowing nerve fibers to fill the empty spaces. When the nerve fibers get irritated or “pinched”, backache ensues.
Old Age and Back Pain: Two Peas in a Pod
You know the feeling: you bend over to tie your shoes or put on a sock, when suddenly, ZAP, you feel a sharp jolt in your lower back. If you’ve been spared this pain, then you’re one of the lucky few. At least, for now — statistics suggest that eight in 10 people will experience lower back pain at one point in their lives.
Although low back pain can happen at any age, it is especially prevalent in older adults. Indeed, musculoskeletal pain affects a considerable percentage of older adults, estimated between 65 to 85%, with back pain accounting for around 36 to 70% of such issues. And even though it was previously thought that back pain reaches its climax around the age of 60 before tapering off again, more recent studies indicate that pain remains common well into later years. In fact, people over the age of 80 are three times more likely to experience severe low back pain than middle-aged adults between the ages of 50 and 59.
Once back pain sets in, inactivity often follows; since movement hurts, individuals suffering from back pain will frequently cut back on exercise. This can have the knock-on effect of restricting participation in various activities and gatherings, both of which significantly reduce quality of life.
Despite the prevalence of the issue, the causes of low back pain at the cellular level remain poorly understood. Unsurprisingly, therapeutic interventions have seen mixed results. Especially for those suffering from non-specific low back pain —cases in which there is no clear cause— relief is often short-term, with treatment producing only small changes.
Enter the Suspect: “Sleeping” Osteoclasts
Think of senescent cells as retired cells in our
|
body that have stopped dividing and working. This usually stops damaged cells from becoming cancer, which is good. However, as we age, these retired cells accumulate and start causing trouble. They release inflammatory molecules that can go on to harm nearby cells and cause other tissues to become inflamed, which can lead to various health problems linked to aging. Cell senescence has been linked to a number of musculoskeletal diseases, including osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.
In previous work, the same laboratory discovered that a particular cell type, called osteoclasts, plays an important role in the formation of pores in the endplates of our vertebrae. Under normal conditions, osteoclasts are in charge of breaking down bone tissue to help with the routine maintenance, remodeling, and repair of our bones. But in certain situations, the osteoclasts ended up misbehaving, leading to excessive pore formation in the endplates of the spine. These endplates sit between the bones of our spine —the vertebrae— and the gell-filled discs that protect and cushion those bones. Here, they act as a buffer between the hard surfaces of the vertebrae and the flexible discs. Endplates also serve as a bridge, allowing nutrients and blood to reach the discs, which do not have a dedicated blood supply of their own. To achieve this, they need to be strong enough to not crack under pressure but porous enough to allow blood and nutrients to move through them — a tricky balancing act.
The empty space left by all the pores creates an enticing “nook” for new nerves, which set up camp. But once established, the new nerves are prone to becoming irritated and begin firing off pain signals, leading to persistent low back issues. Exactly why osteoclasts began misbehaving and inducing excessive porosity remained unknown, but the researchers suspected cell senescence played a role.
Treatment on the Horizon?
To test their hunch, the scientists turned to mice suffering from spine hypersensitivity caused either by old age or lumbar spine instability. Next, they analyzed the endplates in these mice to check whether there were any senescent osteoclasts present in the pores. In both cases, biomarkers suggested the presence of osteoclasts and senescent cells. And the stronger the biomarkers, the more porous the endplates and the more sensitive the spine.
Having narrowed down the likely culprit, the researchers sought to target and remove the senescent osteoclasts. They administered an experimental drug called Navitoclax for a total of four weeks. This drug is traditionally used as an anti-cancer drug, but has been discovered to also effectively single out and destroy senescent cells in mouse models.
Navitoclax works against senescent cells because it mimics a protein, called BH3, that helps regulate controlled cell death, or apoptosis. Compared to normal cells, senescent cells have altered survival pathways and they often rely on proteins that prevent apoptosis, particularly Bcl-2 (B-cell lymphoma 2) and Bcl-xL (B-cell lymphoma-extra large), to evade the programmed cell death that would otherwise eliminate them. Navitoclax, by mimicking BH3, blocks these anti-apoptotic proteins, finally allowing the immune system to mark the senescent cells for destruction.
Treatment with Navitoclax led to a noticeable reduction in senescent osteoclasts in the endplates of the spine — the endplates were less porous and there were fewer signs of degeneration. The decrease in senescent cells and porosity also meant that the mice treated with the drug had fewer new nerves or new blood vessels in their endplates. These structural changes were mirrored by increased activity in treated mice as well as a reduction in pain, as measured by various laboratory tests.
No such positive changes to the structure of the endplates could be seen in mice that received a placebo, nor were there any changes in their activity levels.
Back pain is a serious condition that can significantly worsen quality of life. Unfortunately, as we age, more of us will begin to experience back issues. In this latest study, researchers clearly implicate senescent osteoclasts in the endplates of the spine with an increase in pores, leading to the formation of new hypersensitive nerves. These easily become irritated, causing pain. By eliminating the senescent osteoclasts with Navitoclax, the researchers were able to regenerate the endplates and reduce back pain in mice. These early results are promising and pave the way for further research.
|
Corn planting in Kentucky was off to a fast start in 2023, with many farmers able to plant in early to mid-April. However, cool weather and low soil temperatures have delayed emergence and increased the risk of seedling disease in Kentucky corn fields.
Seedling diseases are caused by several soil or seed-inhabiting fungi or fungal-like organisms, which are favored by cool, wet soil conditions during and after planting. Cool, wet soils also slow plant growth and development and give pathogens more time to infect and damage seedlings. Standard corn fungicide seed treatments provide a short window of protection against seedling diseases. However, corn that was planted several (or more) weeks ago may also be at increased risk of seedling disease since seed treatments typically protect seeds and seedlings only for a few weeks. Two of the most common seedling diseases of corn in Kentucky are caused by Pythium and Fusarium species, but other fungi can occasionally cause seed and seedling issues.
Symptoms of seedling diseases can be observed after emergence and in the early vegetative stages of growth. Farmers should look for areas in the field with poor emergence, patchy stands, and/or stunted plants (Figure 1). Often these symptoms are observed first in poorly drained or ponded areas of the field, and areas with heavy or compacted soils. Infected seeds may rot after germination, preventing emergence and leading to the patchy appearance of plants in a field. Infected plants that do emerge may be yellow, stunted, and have discolored roots. In severe cases, large areas of plants may die leading to reduced stand (Figure 2). It is very difficult to accurately determine the specific organism responsible for a suspected seedling disease issue in the field. Submitting samples through a county agent to the University of Kentucky Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory can help with obtaining an accurate diagnosis.
The risk of corn seedling disease decreases when corn is planted into dry soils with soil temperatures above 50°F. These conditions allow seeds and seedlings to germinate and emerge rapidly. However, it is often necessary to plant into less-than-ideal soil conditions, and diagnosing seedling disease issues, if they occur, can improve management in future years. Obtaining an accurate diagnosis is important because fungicide active ingredients work against specific organisms, and efficacy of a given product can vary for seedling blight organisms. Higher rates of specific products may be needed in fields that have a history of severe loss due to a specific seedling disease.
More information on corn seedling blights can be found in the University of Kentucky Extension Publication, Seedling Diseases of Corn (PPFS-AG-C-02)
By Kiersten Wise, Extension Plant Pathologist
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Corn planting in Kentucky was off to a fast start in 2023, with many farmers able to plant in early to mid-April. However, cool weather and low soil temperatures have delayed emergence and increased the risk of seedling disease in Kentucky corn fields.
Seedling diseases are caused by several soil or seed-inhabiting fungi or fungal-like organisms, which are favored by cool, wet soil conditions during and after planting. Cool, wet soils also slow plant growth and development and give pathogens more time to infect and damage seedlings. Standard corn fungicide seed treatments provide a short window of protection against seedling diseases. However, corn that was planted several (or more) weeks ago may also be at increased risk of seedling disease since seed treatments typically protect seeds and seedlings only for a few weeks. Two of the most common seedling diseases of corn in Kentucky are caused by Pythium and Fusarium species, but other fungi can occasionally cause seed and seedling issues.
Symptoms of seedling diseases can be observed after emergence and in the early vegetative stages of growth. Farmers should look for areas in the field with poor emergence, patchy stands, and/or stunted plants (Figure 1). Often these symptoms are observed first in poorly drained or ponded areas of the field, and areas with heavy or compacted soils. Infected seeds may rot after germination, preventing emergence and leading to the patchy appearance of plants in a field. Infected plants that do emerge may be yellow, stunted, and have discolored roots. In severe cases, large areas of plants may die leading to reduced stand (Figure 2). It is very difficult to accurately determine the specific organism responsible for a suspected seedling disease issue in the field. Submitting samples through a county agent to the University of Kentucky Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory can help with obtaining an accurate diagnosis.
The risk of corn seedling disease decreases when corn is planted into dry soils with soil temperatures above 50°F. These conditions allow seeds and seedlings to germinate and emerge rapidly. However, it is often necessary to plant into less-than-ideal soil conditions, and diagnosing seedling disease issues, if they occur, can improve management in future years. Obtaining an accurate diagnosis is important because fungicide active ingredients work against specific organisms, and efficacy of a given product can vary for seedling blight organisms. Higher rates of specific products may be needed in fields that have a history of severe loss due to a specific seedling disease.
More information on corn seedling
|
blights can be found in the University of Kentucky Extension Publication, Seedling Diseases of Corn (PPFS-AG-C-02)
By Kiersten Wise, Extension Plant Pathologist
|
World likely has hottest summer on record
The first of many batches of temperature data is in for August — and not only did the globe have its hottest such month on record, but temperature anomalies secured meteorological summer's place in the history books.
- According to preliminary data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service's ERA5 data set, the global average surface temperature for June through August was about 0.65°C (1.17°F) above the 1991-2020 average.
- This beat the previous record warm summer of 2019 by nearly 0.3°C (0.54°F).
- August alone had a global average surface temperature of 0.71°C (1.29°F) above the 1991-2020 average, crushing August 2019, which was only about 0.37°C (0.66°F) above the long-term average.
- June and July were each record warm months, with July ranking as the warmest month ever recorded since the dawn of the instrument era in the 19th Century.
Zoom in: Numerous U.S. cities in the southern tier set records for their hottest June-through-August periods.
- This includes: New Orleans, Miami, Baton Rouge, Houston, Corpus Christi and Phoenix. Many others had a top-10-warmest meteorological summer on record, including Dallas, Atlanta, Austin, Jacksonville, Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
- Cities in the Pacific Northwest also had a top-10-warmest summer, including Portland and Seattle.
- Globally, Australia had its warmest winter on record since reliable records began there in 1910, and all-time winter heat records were set in multiple locations in South America, from Brazil to Chile on northward.
- Europe saw repeated, scorching heat waves that broke all-time seasonal records in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Switzerland and other nations. The E.U.'s largest wildfire on record has continued to burn in Greece, though in a case of weather whiplash, flash flooding is more of a concern there during the next few days.
Of note: In Tokyo, a city of about 14 million, daytime highs rose above 86°F every day during August, which was a first for any month since data began there in 1875, according to meteorologist Sayaka Mori.
- In Japan, August was the country's hottest month of any month on record. The nation also saw its hottest summer, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Between the lines: These examples from land miss some of the most important and far-reaching effects of climate change during the past few months and longer: record-warm oceans.
- Across the globe, ocean temperatures are at record highs, and the heat going into the oceans has significant consequences for those on land, since it adds more moisture and heat to storm systems.
- For example, record warmth in the Gulf of Mexico elevated air temperatures from Miami to Houston, and also provided the fuel needed for Hurricane Idalia, which struck Florida last week, to rapidly intensify when nearing landfall.
- Record water temperatures are already fueling an unusually active El Niño hurricane season in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean. Corals are bleaching and dying from the Florida Keys to the Caribbean.
The intrigue: There is no great mystery surrounding what is helping to drive these heat records, on land and sea, with the burning of fossil fuels for energy along with deforestation and agricultural practices are increasing the amounts of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the air.
- A periodic El Niño event in the tropical Pacific Ocean is also adding additional heat to the global climate system.
- This has been a summer featuring a fusillade of extreme events, however, which has the potential to yield changes in national and possibly international climate policies.
Yes, but: Climate scientists are not seeing unanticipated climate events play out, since most of what is happening is contained in the volumes of studies on the topic.
- But some of the recent impacts are happening sooner than previously expected, and having greater societal consequences than initially thought.
What's next: During the next two weeks, official data will emerge from global climate monitoring centers. These are unlikely to change the major themes of the climate change story of 2023: a record-warm year that is increasingly likely to break all-time annual milestones, to be followed by an even hotter year in 2024.
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World likely has hottest summer on record
The first of many batches of temperature data is in for August — and not only did the globe have its hottest such month on record, but temperature anomalies secured meteorological summer's place in the history books.
- According to preliminary data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service's ERA5 data set, the global average surface temperature for June through August was about 0.65°C (1.17°F) above the 1991-2020 average.
- This beat the previous record warm summer of 2019 by nearly 0.3°C (0.54°F).
- August alone had a global average surface temperature of 0.71°C (1.29°F) above the 1991-2020 average, crushing August 2019, which was only about 0.37°C (0.66°F) above the long-term average.
- June and July were each record warm months, with July ranking as the warmest month ever recorded since the dawn of the instrument era in the 19th Century.
Zoom in: Numerous U.S. cities in the southern tier set records for their hottest June-through-August periods.
- This includes: New Orleans, Miami, Baton Rouge, Houston, Corpus Christi and Phoenix. Many others had a top-10-warmest meteorological summer on record, including Dallas, Atlanta, Austin, Jacksonville, Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
- Cities in the Pacific Northwest also had a top-10-warmest summer, including Portland and Seattle.
- Globally, Australia had its warmest winter on record since reliable records began there in 1910, and all-time winter heat records were set in multiple locations in South America, from Brazil to Chile on northward.
- Europe saw repeated, scorching heat waves that broke all-time seasonal records in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Switzerland and other nations. The E.U.'s largest wildfire on record has continued to burn in Greece, though in a case of weather whiplash, flash flooding is more of a concern there during the next few days.
Of note: In Tokyo, a city of about 14 million, daytime highs rose above 86°F every day during August, which was a first for any month since data began there in 1875, according to meteor
|
ologist Sayaka Mori.
- In Japan, August was the country's hottest month of any month on record. The nation also saw its hottest summer, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Between the lines: These examples from land miss some of the most important and far-reaching effects of climate change during the past few months and longer: record-warm oceans.
- Across the globe, ocean temperatures are at record highs, and the heat going into the oceans has significant consequences for those on land, since it adds more moisture and heat to storm systems.
- For example, record warmth in the Gulf of Mexico elevated air temperatures from Miami to Houston, and also provided the fuel needed for Hurricane Idalia, which struck Florida last week, to rapidly intensify when nearing landfall.
- Record water temperatures are already fueling an unusually active El Niño hurricane season in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean. Corals are bleaching and dying from the Florida Keys to the Caribbean.
The intrigue: There is no great mystery surrounding what is helping to drive these heat records, on land and sea, with the burning of fossil fuels for energy along with deforestation and agricultural practices are increasing the amounts of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the air.
- A periodic El Niño event in the tropical Pacific Ocean is also adding additional heat to the global climate system.
- This has been a summer featuring a fusillade of extreme events, however, which has the potential to yield changes in national and possibly international climate policies.
Yes, but: Climate scientists are not seeing unanticipated climate events play out, since most of what is happening is contained in the volumes of studies on the topic.
- But some of the recent impacts are happening sooner than previously expected, and having greater societal consequences than initially thought.
What's next: During the next two weeks, official data will emerge from global climate monitoring centers. These are unlikely to change the major themes of the climate change story of 2023: a record-warm year that is increasingly likely to break all-time annual milestones, to be followed by an even hotter year in 2024.
|
Air quality in Vermont reached 'very unhealthy' with latest smoke impacts
Smoke from wildfires in Northern Quebec and Ontario made air quality in northern Vermont exceptionally bad at the start of the week.
Air quality in Burlington was rated at "very unhealthy" by the EPA's standards for most of Sunday night into Monday morning.
The Vermont Dept. of Environmental Conservation's Air Quality and Climate Division reported that Burlington may have set a new record for Vermont, for the primary pollutant of concern for human health in wildfire smoke, but the department is still analyzing the data.
But as of Monday evening, smoke conditions — at least in Vermont — had improved, and that's expected to continue through Wednesday.
And while climate change is increasing the risk of major wildfires like these ones in Quebec and across North America, Canadian scientists told NPR that Quebec's boreal forests burned regularly in the past, and fire is a part of the ecosystem there.
The National Weather Service says this latest bout of poor air quality in Vermont was due to changing wind patterns — not a change in the wildfires themselves or how much particulate matter they're emitting.
"The indications of some of the computer models is we clear out for the rest of today, tomorrow and Wednesday, for the most part," said Scott Whittier, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Burlington. "And then there's some indications that the smoke may try to make an entrance again later on in the week."
The skies cleared Tuesday as winds shifted back to the south, not because the severity of fires lessened.
Whittier says it's too soon to tell how severe that smoke will be later in the week.
He says the proximity of these fires and their intensity are making the smoke unusually intense here. As long as they burn, Vermont could see air quality impacts when the winds are from the north.
David Grass, the senior environmental health program manager at Vermont Department of Health, recommends Vermonters track air quality during these events using the EPA's airnow.gov resource.
It ranks air quality by colors — with orange being the place where vulnerable populations should consider taking steps to reduce their exposure. At red and purple, where Burlington's air quality was Sunday night, even low-risk adults can experience symptoms like coughing and shortness of breath from over-exposure.
Teenagers, pregnant people, older people, and those with asthma are particularly vulnerable to poor air quality, as are people with heart disease or lung disease and those who work outside or are experiencing homelessness.
"If you're in one of those sensitive groups, it's important that you start taking action when air quality is in that orange range," Grass said.
Grass says reducing the intensity of outdoor exercise when you can, using a HEPA filter in your house, and using air conditioning instead of keeping the windows open are a few ways to reduce your exposure to smoke.
Where that is not possible, the EPA says wearing a KN95 or P100 mask can also help. Cloth masks don't work because the particulate matter of concern in wildfire smoke is so small.
Additionally, people who have asthma should carry their medication with them during these events.
But ultimately, Grass says more solutions are needed to support people experiencing homelessness or people who work outside during these events.
"Making those types of recommendations is tricky for me, because it's an equity issue," Grass said. "Not everybody has access to an air filter in their home. Not everybody has access to a place inside their home where they can, you know, limit the intake from outside air and feel safe being there. People who are experiencing homelessness don't have the luxury of having an indoor space they can retire to."
Grass says that like on days with extreme heat — another phenomenon Vermont is poised to see more of with climate change — it's the most vulnerable people and often those who have historically been marginalized who are most impacted by smoke.
He says being hospitable to those who rely on public spaces for refuge is one way to help. Checking in with older neighbors or neighbors with a chronic illness who may have trouble smoke-proofing their homes is another.
Grass says the health department is planning for episodes of acute pollution as part of Vermont's work to adapt to climate change.
"It's never a good feeling when, you know, the forecasts that have been part of the discussion for, you know, the last 10 years start becoming a reality," he said. "But you have to adapt, adjust your programming accordingly."
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Air quality in Vermont reached 'very unhealthy' with latest smoke impacts
Smoke from wildfires in Northern Quebec and Ontario made air quality in northern Vermont exceptionally bad at the start of the week.
Air quality in Burlington was rated at "very unhealthy" by the EPA's standards for most of Sunday night into Monday morning.
The Vermont Dept. of Environmental Conservation's Air Quality and Climate Division reported that Burlington may have set a new record for Vermont, for the primary pollutant of concern for human health in wildfire smoke, but the department is still analyzing the data.
But as of Monday evening, smoke conditions — at least in Vermont — had improved, and that's expected to continue through Wednesday.
And while climate change is increasing the risk of major wildfires like these ones in Quebec and across North America, Canadian scientists told NPR that Quebec's boreal forests burned regularly in the past, and fire is a part of the ecosystem there.
The National Weather Service says this latest bout of poor air quality in Vermont was due to changing wind patterns — not a change in the wildfires themselves or how much particulate matter they're emitting.
"The indications of some of the computer models is we clear out for the rest of today, tomorrow and Wednesday, for the most part," said Scott Whittier, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Burlington. "And then there's some indications that the smoke may try to make an entrance again later on in the week."
The skies cleared Tuesday as winds shifted back to the south, not because the severity of fires lessened.
Whittier says it's too soon to tell how severe that smoke will be later in the week.
He says the proximity of these fires and their intensity are making the smoke unusually intense here. As long as they burn, Vermont could see air quality impacts when the winds are from the north.
David Grass, the senior environmental health program manager at Vermont Department of Health, recommends Vermonters track air quality during these events using the EPA's airnow.gov resource.
It ranks air quality by colors — with orange being the place where vulnerable populations should consider taking steps to reduce their exposure. At red and purple, where Burlington's air quality was Sunday night, even low-risk adults can experience symptoms like coughing and shortness of breath from over-exposure.
Teenagers, pregnant people, older people, and those with asthma are particularly vulnerable to poor air quality, as are people with heart disease or lung disease and those who work outside or are experiencing homelessness.
"If you're
|
in one of those sensitive groups, it's important that you start taking action when air quality is in that orange range," Grass said.
Grass says reducing the intensity of outdoor exercise when you can, using a HEPA filter in your house, and using air conditioning instead of keeping the windows open are a few ways to reduce your exposure to smoke.
Where that is not possible, the EPA says wearing a KN95 or P100 mask can also help. Cloth masks don't work because the particulate matter of concern in wildfire smoke is so small.
Additionally, people who have asthma should carry their medication with them during these events.
But ultimately, Grass says more solutions are needed to support people experiencing homelessness or people who work outside during these events.
"Making those types of recommendations is tricky for me, because it's an equity issue," Grass said. "Not everybody has access to an air filter in their home. Not everybody has access to a place inside their home where they can, you know, limit the intake from outside air and feel safe being there. People who are experiencing homelessness don't have the luxury of having an indoor space they can retire to."
Grass says that like on days with extreme heat — another phenomenon Vermont is poised to see more of with climate change — it's the most vulnerable people and often those who have historically been marginalized who are most impacted by smoke.
He says being hospitable to those who rely on public spaces for refuge is one way to help. Checking in with older neighbors or neighbors with a chronic illness who may have trouble smoke-proofing their homes is another.
Grass says the health department is planning for episodes of acute pollution as part of Vermont's work to adapt to climate change.
"It's never a good feeling when, you know, the forecasts that have been part of the discussion for, you know, the last 10 years start becoming a reality," he said. "But you have to adapt, adjust your programming accordingly."
|
5 Technologies That 5 Billion Will Use by 2050
Possibly changing the way we live just as profoundly as the internet did.HD Download
Since 1996, the number of people using the internet has climbed from about 40 million people to about 5 billion—or 60 percent of the world's population. There's internet access in the city slums of India, the rice terraces of Vietnam, and the favelas of Brazil.
That's a massive shift in 27 years—or my entire lifetime.
Venture capitalist Paul Graham recently asked on Twitter, "What do 36 million people use now that eventually 5 billion will?"
Here are my predictions for five technologies that could overtake the world by 2050, possibly changing the way we live just as profoundly as the internet did, and solving some of our most vexing problems, which almost always happens through creativity and innovation, not through regulation or government spending.
About 4.4 billion people live in big cities, myself included, and getting around isn't easy or convenient. The pandemic made the budgetary problems of urban transit systems even worse, bringing steep declines in ridership. Meanwhile, the federal government is providing massive new subsidies for urban rail systems that barely anyone used even pre-COVID, like a proposed $2.5 billion streetcar in Atlanta.
Rail was a cutting-edge technology—in the 19th century. I predict that by 2050 the standard in urban mobility will be electric mopeds and pedal-assisted bikes—individualized forms of street transit powered by apps.
The U.S. electric scooter market is expected to double in size by 2030. And we're actually late adopters: Throughout much of Asia, especially India and China, mopeds have already become commonplace, competing with cars, rickshaws, and the lowly bicycle in providing point-to-point mobility, which is where rail falls short.
Some U.S. cities have sought to ban e-scooter companies such as Bird, Lime, and Revel, but like Uber, these services are proving so popular that commuters won't let them be outlawed.
Since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos unveiled plans for delivery drones a decade ago, progress has been slow.
Today, there are only a few thousand delivery robots currently operating in the U.S. But that's about to change: In December, Prime Air successfully completed commercial deliveries in College Station, Texas, and Lockeford, California.
On the other side of the world, Meituan and Alibaba have just started rolling out this service to customers.
In the U.S., delivery drones have been hindered by the Federal Aviation Administration's approval process, and it's the same regulatory story in China. But I predict that won't be true much longer because of the overwhelming benefit this service brings in terms of convenience for customers and in reducing the traffic problems caused by delivery trucks clogging up our streets.
By 2050, I'm confident that the urban skyline will be buzzing with what will look like a swarm of carrier pigeons bearing books, spatulas, bottles of vinegar, or whatever else you might order on Amazon—not to mention, hearts and kidneys racing toward hospitals.
Generative A.I.—the form of artificial intelligence that uses human prompts to generate unique text and images—had a breakthrough year in 2022. From DALL-E to Lensa, people are using image generators mostly to screw around on the internet. But we're entering the age of sophisticated text A.I., which will revolutionize everything from customer service to poetry.
ChatGPT requires a prompt to generate large volumes of fairly sophisticated text. It is capable of "answering followup questions, admitting its mistakes, challenging incorrect premises, and rejecting inappropriate requests," according to its developer, OpenAI.
Described as a "second brain," ChatGPT will free up some people to work different jobs, as technology always does, while allowing others to do the same work more productively.
Why spend hours researching the technologies described in this video when you can just ask ChatGPT to generate a personalized report? ChatGPT could write the first draft of a professor's syllabus, suggest storylines for a TV show, craft portions of a journalist's article, or create website copy describing a product for sale. Language A.I. will change how we do our jobs in much the same way that search did.
When factory farming first began in the '20s, it was designed to minimize costs while maximizing production—animal welfare be damned. But now that scientists can grow meat in labs there's less reason to inflict suffering on the 50 billion chickens and 300 million cows we raise and kill for food each year.
I personally find plant-based substitutes like Impossible Burgers and Beyond Burgers disgusting, but when we can actually scale the process of growing meat in labs, that'll be a game changer. That's when the era of factory farming will come to an end, rendering the U.S. Department of Agriculture mostly useless while reducing the industry's environmental footprint. We'll finally be able to enjoy foie gras without having to think about the ducks we force-fed to fatten their livers.
I bet there will always be some demand for actual meat, just as there are upscale buildings with elevator operators and horse and carriage rides in Central Park. But meat lovers in general will make more ethical food choices as it gets easier, cheaper, and more delicious to do so.
When Fitbit trackers debuted in 2009, they allowed people for the first time to track their movement with a simple black wristband. Of course, the concept of the pedometer is an old one—there was a big step-counting craze in 1960s Japan—but the FitBit ushered in the modern-day trend of using wearables to learn about your own individual health data, whether it be step counting, sleep tracking, and continuous glucose monitoring. By 2050, I predict that wearables loaded with censors will eliminate the already dubious annual physical and send most of our primary care doctors the way of switchboard operators.
Before the advent of continuous glucose monitoring, people with diabetes had to prick their fingers throughout the day to measure their blood sugar. Now these tiny electrode devices under the skin can do so continuously. I think by 2050, even nondiabetics will use these tools to monitor their insulin responses, getting data about how their bodies interact with the things they put in them—a business idea that's already in the works.
Some 540 million adults live with diabetes worldwide, a number that's expected to grow to almost 800 million by 2045. The global prevalence of obesity tripled between 1975 and 2016. On one level, that's a free market success story: Fewer people are dying of starvation than ever before. In fact, they're now experiencing the consequences of gluttony and abundance.
But over the next 27 years, we should expect better drugs and devices that will help people manage their weight and health, detecting problems earlier and more accurately than ever before.
When French artists envisioned the year 2000 in the year 1900, they were too conservative with their predictions, unable to imagine a world that had done away with clunky propellers, electrical wiring, and bulky machinery in favor of more streamlined, more efficient tools for housework, transportation, and food production. Everyone also seemed to think that blimps would be a really big deal.
Nobody anticipated the massive shifts that would come because of exponential increases in computing power especially. Perhaps these predictions are also limited by our imagination.
The details are hard to know, but I'm confident that by 2050 technological creativity will have made mundane tasks obsolete, freed us from the constraints of biology, and collapsed distance and time in ways that make the constraints of the physical world increasingly irrelevant.
Photo Credits: Asun Díaz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; ARipstra (WMF), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Authors of the study: Dong-Hee Kang, Fiona Louis, Hao Liu, Hiroshi Shimoda, Yasutaka Nishiyama, Hajime Nozawa, Makoto Kakitani, Daisuke Takagi, Daijiro Kasa, Eiji Nagamori, Shinji Irie, Shiro Kitano & Michiya Matsusaki, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Bartz/Stockmar—Fleischatlas 2018, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Baldesteinemanuel326, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Bfyhdch, CC BY-SA 4., via Wikimedia Commons; Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons; The Cefnamwlch Home Farm Milking Carousel by Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; CAPTAIN RAJU, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Comyu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Consumer Reports, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Centro de Producción Audiovisual. Oficina responsable del archivo fotográfico institucional., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Chris Talbot / Paignton—Internet Cafe; Cqholt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; David Revoy / Blender Foundation, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Daniel Oberhaus, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Dllu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Ed Gold, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; East Devon : Heathen Hill Farm & Milking Parlour by Lewis Clarke, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Envato Elements ; Elvert Barnes from Silver Spring MD, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons; Gangaasoonu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Gabriel S. Delgado C., CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Hynek Moravec, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; IICD www.iicd.org/photos, CC BY 2., via Wikimedia Commons; Internet Archive; kamran.solangi, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Kevin Nicol/World Pictures/Photoshot/Newscom; Kiran Jonnalagadda from Bangalore, India, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Library of Congress; Marie, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Mike Winkelmann, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Martin2035, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons; Mack Male from Edmonton, AB, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Matthew T Rader, https://matthewtrader.com, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Mont Servais/Abaca/Newscom; Mliu92, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Michael Coghlan, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Noah Wulf, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Narek75, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Nevit, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Ossewa, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons; Project Kei, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Phillip Pessar, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons; Pavanaja, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Raman Patel, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Rhetos, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; Rob Croes / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons ;Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento do Estado de São Paulo Agriculturasp, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Subhashish Panigrahi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Tom Williams/Roll Call Photos/Newscom; User:psubhashish, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; User:Vmenkov, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; User: (WT-shared) Shoestring at wts wikivoyage, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Watershed Post, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Music Credits: "Stutter Island," by Ros-e via Artlist; "Youth," by ANBR, via Artlist; "Metaverse," by Lux-Inspira via Artlist; "Polygons," by Evgeny Bardyuzha via Artlist; "Lost," by Ramol, via Artlist; "Still Need Syndrome," by Yarin Primak via Artlist.
Cameras by Jim Epstein; writing by Liz Wolfe; editing by Regan Taylor.
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5 Technologies That 5 Billion Will Use by 2050
Possibly changing the way we live just as profoundly as the internet did.HD Download
Since 1996, the number of people using the internet has climbed from about 40 million people to about 5 billion—or 60 percent of the world's population. There's internet access in the city slums of India, the rice terraces of Vietnam, and the favelas of Brazil.
That's a massive shift in 27 years—or my entire lifetime.
Venture capitalist Paul Graham recently asked on Twitter, "What do 36 million people use now that eventually 5 billion will?"
Here are my predictions for five technologies that could overtake the world by 2050, possibly changing the way we live just as profoundly as the internet did, and solving some of our most vexing problems, which almost always happens through creativity and innovation, not through regulation or government spending.
About 4.4 billion people live in big cities, myself included, and getting around isn't easy or convenient. The pandemic made the budgetary problems of urban transit systems even worse, bringing steep declines in ridership. Meanwhile, the federal government is providing massive new subsidies for urban rail systems that barely anyone used even pre-COVID, like a proposed $2.5 billion streetcar in Atlanta.
Rail was a cutting-edge technology—in the 19th century. I predict that by 2050 the standard in urban mobility will be electric mopeds and pedal-assisted bikes—individualized forms of street transit powered by apps.
The U.S. electric scooter market is expected to double in size by 2030. And we're actually late adopters: Throughout much of Asia, especially India and China, mopeds have already become commonplace, competing with cars, rickshaws, and the lowly bicycle in providing point-to-point mobility, which is where rail falls short.
Some U.S. cities have sought to ban e-scooter companies such as Bird, Lime, and Revel, but like Uber, these services are proving so popular that commuters won't let them be outlawed.
Since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos unveiled plans for delivery drones a decade ago, progress has been slow.
Today, there are only a few thousand delivery robots currently operating in the U.S. But that's about to change: In December, Prime Air successfully completed commercial deliveries in College Station,
|
Texas, and Lockeford, California.
On the other side of the world, Meituan and Alibaba have just started rolling out this service to customers.
In the U.S., delivery drones have been hindered by the Federal Aviation Administration's approval process, and it's the same regulatory story in China. But I predict that won't be true much longer because of the overwhelming benefit this service brings in terms of convenience for customers and in reducing the traffic problems caused by delivery trucks clogging up our streets.
By 2050, I'm confident that the urban skyline will be buzzing with what will look like a swarm of carrier pigeons bearing books, spatulas, bottles of vinegar, or whatever else you might order on Amazon—not to mention, hearts and kidneys racing toward hospitals.
Generative A.I.—the form of artificial intelligence that uses human prompts to generate unique text and images—had a breakthrough year in 2022. From DALL-E to Lensa, people are using image generators mostly to screw around on the internet. But we're entering the age of sophisticated text A.I., which will revolutionize everything from customer service to poetry.
ChatGPT requires a prompt to generate large volumes of fairly sophisticated text. It is capable of "answering followup questions, admitting its mistakes, challenging incorrect premises, and rejecting inappropriate requests," according to its developer, OpenAI.
Described as a "second brain," ChatGPT will free up some people to work different jobs, as technology always does, while allowing others to do the same work more productively.
Why spend hours researching the technologies described in this video when you can just ask ChatGPT to generate a personalized report? ChatGPT could write the first draft of a professor's syllabus, suggest storylines for a TV show, craft portions of a journalist's article, or create website copy describing a product for sale. Language A.I. will change how we do our jobs in much the same way that search did.
When factory farming first began in the '20s, it was designed to minimize costs while maximizing production—animal welfare be damned. But now that scientists can grow meat in labs there's less reason to inflict suffering on the 50 billion chickens and 300 million cows we raise and kill for food each year.
I personally find plant-based substitutes like Impossible Burgers and Beyond Burgers disgusting, but when we can actually scale the process of growing meat in labs, that'll be a game changer. That's when the era of factory farming will come to an end, rendering the U.S. Department of Agriculture mostly useless while reducing the industry's environmental footprint. We'll finally be able to enjoy foie gras without having to think about the ducks we force-fed to fatten their livers.
I bet there will always be some demand for actual meat, just as there are upscale buildings with elevator operators and horse and carriage rides in Central Park. But meat lovers in general will make more ethical food choices as it gets easier, cheaper, and more delicious to do so.
When Fitbit trackers debuted in 2009, they allowed people for the first time to track their movement with a simple black wristband. Of course, the concept of the pedometer is an old one—there was a big step-counting craze in 1960s Japan—but the FitBit ushered in the modern-day trend of using wearables to learn about your own individual health data, whether it be step counting, sleep tracking, and continuous glucose monitoring. By 2050, I predict that wearables loaded with censors will eliminate the already dubious annual physical and send most of our primary care doctors the way of switchboard operators.
Before the advent of continuous glucose monitoring, people with diabetes had to prick their fingers throughout the day to measure their blood sugar. Now these tiny electrode devices under the skin can do so continuously. I think by 2050, even nondiabetics will use these tools to monitor their insulin responses, getting data about how their bodies interact with the things they put in them—a business idea that's already in the works.
Some 540 million adults live with diabetes worldwide, a number that's expected to grow to almost 800 million by 2045. The global prevalence of obesity tripled between 1975 and 2016. On one level, that's a free market success story: Fewer people are dying of starvation than ever before. In fact, they're now experiencing the consequences of gluttony and abundance.
But over the next 27 years, we should expect better drugs and devices that will help people manage their weight and health, detecting problems earlier and more accurately than ever before.
When French artists envisioned the year 2000 in the year 1900, they were too conservative with their predictions, unable to imagine a world that had done away with clunky propellers, electrical wiring, and bulky machinery in favor of more streamlined, more efficient tools for housework, transportation, and food production. Everyone also seemed to think that blimps would be a really big deal.
Nobody anticipated the massive shifts that would come because of exponential increases in computing power especially. Perhaps these predictions are also limited by our imagination.
The details are hard to know, but I'm confident that by 2050 technological creativity will have made mundane tasks obsolete, freed us from the constraints of biology, and collapsed distance and time in ways that make the constraints of the physical world increasingly irrelevant.
Photo Credits: Asun Díaz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; ARipstra (WMF), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Authors of the study: Dong-Hee Kang, Fiona Louis, Hao Liu, Hiroshi Shimoda, Yasutaka Nishiyama, Hajime Nozawa, Makoto Kakitani, Daisuke Takagi, Daijiro Kasa, Eiji Nagamori, Shinji Irie, Shiro Kitano & Michiya Matsusaki, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Bartz/Stockmar—Fleischatlas 2018, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Baldesteinemanuel326, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Bfyhdch, CC BY-SA 4., via Wikimedia Commons; Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons; The Cefnamwlch Home Farm Milking Carousel by Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; CAPTAIN RAJU, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Comyu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Consumer Reports, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Centro de Producción Audiovisual. Oficina responsable del archivo fotográfico institucional., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Chris Talbot / Paignton—Internet Cafe; Cqholt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; David Revoy / Blender Foundation, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Daniel Oberhaus, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Dllu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Ed Gold, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; East Devon : Heathen Hill Farm & Milking Parlour by Lewis Clarke, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Envato Elements ; Elvert Barnes from Silver Spring MD, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons; Gangaasoonu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Gabriel S. Delgado C., CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Hynek Moravec, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; IICD www.iicd.org/photos, CC BY 2., via Wikimedia Commons; Internet Archive; kamran.solangi, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Kevin Nicol/World Pictures/Photoshot/Newscom; Kiran Jonnalagadda from Bangalore, India, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Library of Congress; Marie, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Mike Winkelmann, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Martin2035, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons; Mack Male from Edmonton, AB, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Matthew T Rader, https://matthewtrader.com, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Mont Servais/Abaca/Newscom; Mliu92, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Michael Coghlan, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Noah Wulf, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Narek75, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Nevit, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Ossewa, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons; Project Kei, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Phillip Pessar, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons; Pavanaja, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Raman Patel, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Rhetos, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; Rob Croes / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons ;Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento do Estado de São Paulo Agriculturasp, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Subhashish Panigrahi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Tom Williams/Roll Call Photos/Newscom; User:psubhashish, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; User:Vmenkov, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; User: (WT-shared) Shoestring at wts wikivoyage, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Watershed Post, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Music Credits: "Stutter Island," by Ros-e via Artlist; "Youth," by ANBR, via Artlist; "Metaverse," by Lux-Inspira via Artlist; "Polygons," by Evgeny Bardyuzha via Artlist; "Lost," by Ramol, via Artlist; "Still Need Syndrome," by Yarin Primak via Artlist.
Cameras by Jim Epstein; writing by Liz Wolfe; editing by Regan Taylor.
|
Rodeo celebrates the legacy of Black cowboys
Before there were white cowboys in the American West, there were Latino vaqueros, Indigenous cattle handlers and Black cowboys.
Why it matters: That history, often forgotten in tales of the nation's frontier, is what photographer Ivan McClellan has honored by documenting Black cowboys and cowgirls for nearly a decade — and why he organized a Juneteenth rodeo in Portland, Ore., on Saturday.
- McClellan tells Axios he launched the inaugural "Eight Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo" — named for how long a rodeo bull rider has to stay on for a ride to be scored — to provide a venue for Black cowboys and cowgirls to compete in a sport usually dominated by whites.
- Black rodeos receive a fraction of sponsorships and winning payouts as big-circuit rodeos. McClellan has attracted sponsors such as Wrangler and Tecovas, allowing the Portland rodeo to offer $60,000 in prize money.
- That's more than twice the amount offered at many other Black rodeos — but still well below the hundreds of thousands of dollars offered at bigger rodeos.
- The event is drawing cowboys and cowgirls from California, Texas and Oklahoma.
Zoom in: McClellan grew up in Kansas but said that like many Black Americans, he couldn't relate to cowboy culture because of how it was portrayed on TV and in movies.
- "What I had seen in film was John Wayne, Montgomery Clift and 'Tombstone' ... all of these white cowboys. The only Black cowboys I'd seen were kind of a joke, like Cowboy Curtis on 'Pee-Wee's Playhouse.' "
- That changed when he saw real Black cowboys in Oklahoma and saw similarities with his Kansas family. He began his photo project.
Between the lines: Afro-frontierism has always been part of the American story — even before the arrival of the first enslaved people in Virginia in 1619, historian Timothy E. Nelson tells Axios.
- The original American cowboys were Afro-Mexicans in the present-day Southwest, he said.
- They later would later meet up with emancipated Black people from the American South, navigated homestead laws — 160 acres of granted federal land to anyone agreeing to farm the land — and threats of land thefts by white settlers.
Yes, but: When the Western genre was created via movies and popular culture, Black cowboys were left out of the picture, said Nelson, author of the upcoming book "Blackdom, New Mexico: The Significance of the Afro-Frontier, 1900–1930."
- Showing Black cowboys meant you'd have to discuss the racism they faced and the enslavement they once endured, he said.
- "When you see Black people in the context of cowboy-ness, it has nothing to do with white people. In fact, it's a rejection of whiteness."
- McClellan said the exclusion of Black cowboys popular Western TV shows and movies is based on "racism and laziness."
The intrigue: Rashad Robinson, president of the activist group Color Of Change, tells Axios the growing popularity of Juneteenth allows Black communities to get behind unique events like rodeos and show different sides of Black history.
- "I love that we can take these moments to claim our cultural legacies. Juneteenth is about visibility."
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Rodeo celebrates the legacy of Black cowboys
Before there were white cowboys in the American West, there were Latino vaqueros, Indigenous cattle handlers and Black cowboys.
Why it matters: That history, often forgotten in tales of the nation's frontier, is what photographer Ivan McClellan has honored by documenting Black cowboys and cowgirls for nearly a decade — and why he organized a Juneteenth rodeo in Portland, Ore., on Saturday.
- McClellan tells Axios he launched the inaugural "Eight Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo" — named for how long a rodeo bull rider has to stay on for a ride to be scored — to provide a venue for Black cowboys and cowgirls to compete in a sport usually dominated by whites.
- Black rodeos receive a fraction of sponsorships and winning payouts as big-circuit rodeos. McClellan has attracted sponsors such as Wrangler and Tecovas, allowing the Portland rodeo to offer $60,000 in prize money.
- That's more than twice the amount offered at many other Black rodeos — but still well below the hundreds of thousands of dollars offered at bigger rodeos.
- The event is drawing cowboys and cowgirls from California, Texas and Oklahoma.
Zoom in: McClellan grew up in Kansas but said that like many Black Americans, he couldn't relate to cowboy culture because of how it was portrayed on TV and in movies.
- "What I had seen in film was John Wayne, Montgomery Clift and 'Tombstone' ... all of these white cowboys. The only Black cowboys I'd seen were kind of a joke, like Cowboy Curtis on 'Pee-Wee's Playhouse.' "
- That changed when he saw real Black cowboys in Oklahoma and saw similarities with his Kansas family. He began his photo project.
Between the lines: Afro-frontierism has always been part of the American story — even before the arrival of the first enslaved people in Virginia in 1619, historian Timothy E. Nelson tells Axios.
- The original American cowboys were Afro-Mexicans in the present-day Southwest, he said.
- They later would later meet up with emancipated Black people from the American South, navigated homestead laws — 160 acres of granted federal land to anyone agreeing to farm the land — and threats of land thefts by white settlers.
Yes, but: When the Western genre was created
|
via movies and popular culture, Black cowboys were left out of the picture, said Nelson, author of the upcoming book "Blackdom, New Mexico: The Significance of the Afro-Frontier, 1900–1930."
- Showing Black cowboys meant you'd have to discuss the racism they faced and the enslavement they once endured, he said.
- "When you see Black people in the context of cowboy-ness, it has nothing to do with white people. In fact, it's a rejection of whiteness."
- McClellan said the exclusion of Black cowboys popular Western TV shows and movies is based on "racism and laziness."
The intrigue: Rashad Robinson, president of the activist group Color Of Change, tells Axios the growing popularity of Juneteenth allows Black communities to get behind unique events like rodeos and show different sides of Black history.
- "I love that we can take these moments to claim our cultural legacies. Juneteenth is about visibility."
|
Fatuma Hassan, a secondary schoolteacher in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, notices when her students are hungry. “They can’t pay attention,” she says. But, despite the lack of food, they are keen to attend class.
“They see it as important, they say in the future it will help. Now they are poor but in the future they can help their family if they learn. They are trying to struggle now for education.”
Still, the devastating current drought has caused chaos in Hassan’s workplace. New students, whose families have joined the masses of displaced people in Mogadishu, constantly turn up, swelling class sizes to as high as 80. Others who used to be regular attendees miss two or three days in a row. “If you ask them [where they were] they will tell you they go out to look for food to eat because the parents don’t have work,” Hassan says.
As Somalis suffer through the country’s worst drought in 40 years, medical workers warn of the long-term physical damage malnutrition is doing to children, while teachers say hunger is affecting their education and future prospects.
About 5.6 million Somalis are in so-called “crisis” levels of food insecurity. The UN estimates that 1.8 million children are acutely malnourished. Between January and November 2022, at least 1,049 children died in health centres and hospitals of hunger-related causes, according to UN figures. Aid workers warn that many more are dying unrecorded, without ever accessing treatment.
Experts say the level of child mortality required for a famine to be declared have been reached in two parts of Somalia, though other technical requirements have not been met. This means that more than four children per 10,000 are dying every day in areas of the capital city, Mogadishu, and Baidoa, another epicentre of the drought response.
Somali children who escape death may still be affected for life.
Nutritionists say that the first 1,000 days, from the time a child is conceived to their second birthday, are key in terms of making sure they get the nutrients needed. Deficiencies experienced at that point can impact both their physical growth and intellectual development, with repercussions for the rest of their life.
“Stunting early in a child’s life can cause irreversible damage to cognitive development and has educational, income and productivity consequences that reach far into adulthood,” the World Bank says in its nutrition overview.
In a health centre in the Salaamey Idale camp for displaced people in southern Baidoa, midwife Zainab Aanay Ali sees first hand the impact of malnutrition on pregnant women.
“Anaemia has increased recently as a result of the drought because most of the mothers seem to be malnourished,” she says. “Most of the mothers are not getting food and whatever they are getting is not nutritious.”
A stillborn child was recently delivered to an anaemic mother in the clinic. “Anaemia is a very serious complication for pregnant mothers, it makes her very weak, and the baby will be weak. If the mother bleeds during delivery she’s likely to die, and the child is likely to die.”
In the open air outside the delivery ward, children are being weighed, and their upper arms measured, to see if they qualify for food supplements. Within a few hours, 15 children are found to be malnourished and in need of nutritional support.
Among them is Zacharia, the 18-month-old son of Fardowsa Mohamed. He has not started walking, Fardowsa explains. “He is very weak. When he tries to walk he just falls over.”
Zacharia’s assessment reveals that he weighs just 6kg; the World Health Organisation’s child growth standards say a child of his age should weigh nearly double that.
This is Zacharia’s first time being enrolled in a nutrition programme, and he will receive supplements for three months. But Fardowsa says it will be a challenge not to share them with her other nine children. “The rest of the family have no food,” she says. “The father has no work. Our food insecurity is very severe. Because of food insecurity, it’s very difficult to give [food to] one [child] and leave the others [with nothing] but I will try. It would have been good if they would give us something for the rest of the family.”
The family came to Baidoa two months ago, abandoning their home 30km away. “I was keeping animals, especially cows and goats, and they all perished,” Fardowsa says. “We finished our storage of food and we came for survival.”
While many assessments focus on the impact of starvation on children under five, who are particularly vulnerable medically and physically, disruptions to their education will also affect a child for life.
Due to demand, the Ali Hussein primary and secondary school, where Fatuma Hassan works, runs two shifts for two different sets of children: 7.30am-12.30pm, and 1.30pm-5pm.
There are 2,228 students in total, 59 teachers, and three administration staff, says principal Abdulkadir Mohamed. The school is free to attend. In the past month, admission closed because of the large number of new students who were showing up and asking for an education.
“Mostly our students are the poor extreme students from the displaced areas,” says Abdulkadir, explaining that the drought has swelled overall numbers but also badly affected attendance. About 400 failed to show up for the latest midterm exam. “We know [they’re hungry] because they come from IDP [internally displaced people] camps. They are poor. They are different from other students.” He says the level of malnutrition is clear, and many students “don’t come to school regularly. If you ask them [why] they say they’ve been doing shoe-shining at one shift and coming to school the other”.
The need for food aid has created conundrums for teachers. In the past, administrators at the Ali Hussein primary and secondary school were part of an NGO feeding project, Abdulkadir says. Provisions included porridge, maize, sorghum and rice, but teachers had to cook and prepare the food, and that was so time consuming that lessons were badly affected. The school’s administrators requested dry food, or something that was already prepared, to distribute instead, but it was not forthcoming. “We stopped because it impacted the education,” says Abdulkadir.
“[But students] cannot learn, because they are hungry. They want to be familiar with literacy and numeracy. They want to learn but their life is difficult,” the principal continues. Despite the challenges, last year 93 students graduated from secondary school, he adds, with just 10 failing their exams.
“The children want to learn and the parents want them to learn,” says Mohamed Ali, deputy education programme manager for Irish charity Concern Worldwide, which supports the school with books and teaching materials, along with other aids.
Nevertheless, he says, the students who make it are the minority. “In Somalia, 61 per cent of children aged 6-24 are out of school. Forty-Five per cent have never attended school and 15 attended but dropped [out],” Ali says.
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Fatuma Hassan, a secondary schoolteacher in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, notices when her students are hungry. “They can’t pay attention,” she says. But, despite the lack of food, they are keen to attend class.
“They see it as important, they say in the future it will help. Now they are poor but in the future they can help their family if they learn. They are trying to struggle now for education.”
Still, the devastating current drought has caused chaos in Hassan’s workplace. New students, whose families have joined the masses of displaced people in Mogadishu, constantly turn up, swelling class sizes to as high as 80. Others who used to be regular attendees miss two or three days in a row. “If you ask them [where they were] they will tell you they go out to look for food to eat because the parents don’t have work,” Hassan says.
As Somalis suffer through the country’s worst drought in 40 years, medical workers warn of the long-term physical damage malnutrition is doing to children, while teachers say hunger is affecting their education and future prospects.
About 5.6 million Somalis are in so-called “crisis” levels of food insecurity. The UN estimates that 1.8 million children are acutely malnourished. Between January and November 2022, at least 1,049 children died in health centres and hospitals of hunger-related causes, according to UN figures. Aid workers warn that many more are dying unrecorded, without ever accessing treatment.
Experts say the level of child mortality required for a famine to be declared have been reached in two parts of Somalia, though other technical requirements have not been met. This means that more than four children per 10,000 are dying every day in areas of the capital city, Mogadishu, and Baidoa, another epicentre of the drought response.
Somali children who escape death may still be affected for life.
Nutritionists say that the first 1,000 days, from the time a child is conceived to their second birthday, are key in terms of making sure they get the nutrients needed. Deficiencies experienced at that point can impact both their physical growth and intellectual development, with repercussions for the rest of their life.
“Stunting early in a child’s life can cause irreversible damage to cognitive development and has educational, income and productivity consequences that reach far into adulthood,” the World Bank
|
says in its nutrition overview.
In a health centre in the Salaamey Idale camp for displaced people in southern Baidoa, midwife Zainab Aanay Ali sees first hand the impact of malnutrition on pregnant women.
“Anaemia has increased recently as a result of the drought because most of the mothers seem to be malnourished,” she says. “Most of the mothers are not getting food and whatever they are getting is not nutritious.”
A stillborn child was recently delivered to an anaemic mother in the clinic. “Anaemia is a very serious complication for pregnant mothers, it makes her very weak, and the baby will be weak. If the mother bleeds during delivery she’s likely to die, and the child is likely to die.”
In the open air outside the delivery ward, children are being weighed, and their upper arms measured, to see if they qualify for food supplements. Within a few hours, 15 children are found to be malnourished and in need of nutritional support.
Among them is Zacharia, the 18-month-old son of Fardowsa Mohamed. He has not started walking, Fardowsa explains. “He is very weak. When he tries to walk he just falls over.”
Zacharia’s assessment reveals that he weighs just 6kg; the World Health Organisation’s child growth standards say a child of his age should weigh nearly double that.
This is Zacharia’s first time being enrolled in a nutrition programme, and he will receive supplements for three months. But Fardowsa says it will be a challenge not to share them with her other nine children. “The rest of the family have no food,” she says. “The father has no work. Our food insecurity is very severe. Because of food insecurity, it’s very difficult to give [food to] one [child] and leave the others [with nothing] but I will try. It would have been good if they would give us something for the rest of the family.”
The family came to Baidoa two months ago, abandoning their home 30km away. “I was keeping animals, especially cows and goats, and they all perished,” Fardowsa says. “We finished our storage of food and we came for survival.”
While many assessments focus on the impact of starvation on children under five, who are particularly vulnerable medically and physically, disruptions to their education will also affect a child for life.
Due to demand, the Ali Hussein primary and secondary school, where Fatuma Hassan works, runs two shifts for two different sets of children: 7.30am-12.30pm, and 1.30pm-5pm.
There are 2,228 students in total, 59 teachers, and three administration staff, says principal Abdulkadir Mohamed. The school is free to attend. In the past month, admission closed because of the large number of new students who were showing up and asking for an education.
“Mostly our students are the poor extreme students from the displaced areas,” says Abdulkadir, explaining that the drought has swelled overall numbers but also badly affected attendance. About 400 failed to show up for the latest midterm exam. “We know [they’re hungry] because they come from IDP [internally displaced people] camps. They are poor. They are different from other students.” He says the level of malnutrition is clear, and many students “don’t come to school regularly. If you ask them [why] they say they’ve been doing shoe-shining at one shift and coming to school the other”.
The need for food aid has created conundrums for teachers. In the past, administrators at the Ali Hussein primary and secondary school were part of an NGO feeding project, Abdulkadir says. Provisions included porridge, maize, sorghum and rice, but teachers had to cook and prepare the food, and that was so time consuming that lessons were badly affected. The school’s administrators requested dry food, or something that was already prepared, to distribute instead, but it was not forthcoming. “We stopped because it impacted the education,” says Abdulkadir.
“[But students] cannot learn, because they are hungry. They want to be familiar with literacy and numeracy. They want to learn but their life is difficult,” the principal continues. Despite the challenges, last year 93 students graduated from secondary school, he adds, with just 10 failing their exams.
“The children want to learn and the parents want them to learn,” says Mohamed Ali, deputy education programme manager for Irish charity Concern Worldwide, which supports the school with books and teaching materials, along with other aids.
Nevertheless, he says, the students who make it are the minority. “In Somalia, 61 per cent of children aged 6-24 are out of school. Forty-Five per cent have never attended school and 15 attended but dropped [out],” Ali says.
|
Our annual celebration of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is a good moment to remember the close historical relationship between dissent from the left and American patriotism — something critics often miss.
Invariably, the right, and sometimes mainstream liberals, pounce on such claims, branding left-wing movements as anti-American. Recently, they have leveled similar charges against those who self-critically teach American history, especially the history of racism. Those on the right — in the words of former president Donald Trump — see themselves as defending “the legacy of America’s founding, the virtue of America’s heroes, and the nobility of the American character.” They see the United States as “the most exceptional nation in the history of the world” and worry about undermining that perception.
But it is a myth to argue that criticizing the United States is inherently unpatriotic or damaging. In fact, there is a long history of the patriotic left demanding that the United States do better by appealing to the promise of the republic, not rejecting it. And their pressure has often fueled seminal improvements — ones that most Americans today would agree bettered society. Few moments better captured the potential harmony between dissent from the left and patriotism than King’s “I Have a Dream” speech on Aug. 28, 1963. The March on Washington — which drew approximately 250,000 people — aimed to advance racial and economic justice, while pressuring Congress into moving forward with the civil rights bill that President John F. Kennedy had finally sent to Capitol Hill after years of hesitation.
Although today the march is recalled as a proud moment in our past, at the time, many Americans viewed King and the civil rights movement as a radical threat. As historian Glenda Gilmore explains, “Conservative and mainstream politicians smeared King as a communist throughout his career,” while during the 1950s and 1960s, “a vast majority of Americans condemned civil rights protests.” According to one Gallup Poll conducted in 1963, a whopping 78 percent of White Americans admitted that they would leave their neighborhood if a Black family moved in, while 60 percent expressed a critical outlook about the march.
The buildup to the march was tense, with Kennedy administration officials working to avoid unrest or speeches that would be too provocative. At their behest, organizers pressured speakers such as John Lewis, the head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, to cut parts of their talks that called for radical economic changes.
Despite these changes, the protest and the speeches represented a radical critique of the nation’s political and legal institutions — one that horrified many on the right. Sen. Strom Thurmond (S.C.), who switched parties from Democratic to Republican in 1964 over opposition to civil rights, asserted that the march was “uncalled for” and that it “distorted in the eyes of the whole world the view of freedom as it actually exists in America.”
Yet King refused to let conservatives like Thurmond claim patriotism as their own. He charged that the people promoting racism, not those crusading for equal rights, were the real threat to the nation.
During his speech, King underscored that the civil rights movement believed in the promise of the United States and embraced the fundamentals of the American experiment. He rooted the movement in Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and explained that it was tragic that “100 years later the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.”
The movement had come to Washington, King said, to “cash a check” that the Founders themselves had written. This “promissory note” was for “the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” for all Americans — “Black men as well as White men.” Instead of living up to this “sacred obligation,” the United States had to that point “given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.”
But King refused to sell the United States short, “to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt” or that there were “insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.”
When he reached the especially famous portion of the address, he explained that his dream was “deeply rooted in the American Dream.” He wanted the United States to “rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
Far from wanting to malign or hurt the United States, King wanted to perfect it. The march left Sen. Hubert Humphrey (D-Minn.), soon to be vice president, more encouraged “that democracy could work,” than any other day in his career. Eugene Patterson, editor of the Atlanta Constitution, also recognized the patriotism at the core of the march — the people gathered expressed their fundamental belief that the government could still be “a reliable instrument of, by and for the people.”
And in fact, the pressure from the civil rights movement helped ensure passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Open Housing Act — now considered crucial achievements in American history.
King continued to articulate his formulation of patriotism that tried to perfect the United States until his tragic assassination in 1968. When protesting the Vietnam War, King expressed that the desire to ensure “the health of our land” drove him and his allies “down the path of protest and dissent.”
Not all left-leaning critics of the United States are patriotic (as is also true of right-leaning critics, as evidenced by the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection). But King’s most famous speech is a reminder that there is also no inherent barrier separating patriotism from dissent that assails the United States for not living up to its values. History shows the two have often been deeply intertwined. As Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne wrote, “Progressives love our country so much that we know it’s strong enough to acknowledge how racism, nativism, religious prejudice, and other forms of injustice and intolerance are embedded in our nation’s story.”
And King’s moving oration in August 1963 and its aftermath demonstrate how working to address these flaws has often led the United States closer to the most fundamental promises embedded in the Founders’ vision for the nation.
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Our annual celebration of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is a good moment to remember the close historical relationship between dissent from the left and American patriotism — something critics often miss.
Invariably, the right, and sometimes mainstream liberals, pounce on such claims, branding left-wing movements as anti-American. Recently, they have leveled similar charges against those who self-critically teach American history, especially the history of racism. Those on the right — in the words of former president Donald Trump — see themselves as defending “the legacy of America’s founding, the virtue of America’s heroes, and the nobility of the American character.” They see the United States as “the most exceptional nation in the history of the world” and worry about undermining that perception.
But it is a myth to argue that criticizing the United States is inherently unpatriotic or damaging. In fact, there is a long history of the patriotic left demanding that the United States do better by appealing to the promise of the republic, not rejecting it. And their pressure has often fueled seminal improvements — ones that most Americans today would agree bettered society. Few moments better captured the potential harmony between dissent from the left and patriotism than King’s “I Have a Dream” speech on Aug. 28, 1963. The March on Washington — which drew approximately 250,000 people — aimed to advance racial and economic justice, while pressuring Congress into moving forward with the civil rights bill that President John F. Kennedy had finally sent to Capitol Hill after years of hesitation.
Although today the march is recalled as a proud moment in our past, at the time, many Americans viewed King and the civil rights movement as a radical threat. As historian Glenda Gilmore explains, “Conservative and mainstream politicians smeared King as a communist throughout his career,” while during the 1950s and 1960s, “a vast majority of Americans condemned civil rights protests.” According to one Gallup Poll conducted in 1963, a whopping 78 percent of White Americans admitted that they would leave their neighborhood if a Black family moved in, while 60 percent expressed a critical outlook about the march.
The buildup to the march was tense, with Kennedy administration officials working to avoid unrest or speeches that would be too provocative. At their behest, organizers pressured speakers such as John Lewis, the head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
|
, to cut parts of their talks that called for radical economic changes.
Despite these changes, the protest and the speeches represented a radical critique of the nation’s political and legal institutions — one that horrified many on the right. Sen. Strom Thurmond (S.C.), who switched parties from Democratic to Republican in 1964 over opposition to civil rights, asserted that the march was “uncalled for” and that it “distorted in the eyes of the whole world the view of freedom as it actually exists in America.”
Yet King refused to let conservatives like Thurmond claim patriotism as their own. He charged that the people promoting racism, not those crusading for equal rights, were the real threat to the nation.
During his speech, King underscored that the civil rights movement believed in the promise of the United States and embraced the fundamentals of the American experiment. He rooted the movement in Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and explained that it was tragic that “100 years later the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.”
The movement had come to Washington, King said, to “cash a check” that the Founders themselves had written. This “promissory note” was for “the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” for all Americans — “Black men as well as White men.” Instead of living up to this “sacred obligation,” the United States had to that point “given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.”
But King refused to sell the United States short, “to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt” or that there were “insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.”
When he reached the especially famous portion of the address, he explained that his dream was “deeply rooted in the American Dream.” He wanted the United States to “rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
Far from wanting to malign or hurt the United States, King wanted to perfect it. The march left Sen. Hubert Humphrey (D-Minn.), soon to be vice president, more encouraged “that democracy could work,” than any other day in his career. Eugene Patterson, editor of the Atlanta Constitution, also recognized the patriotism at the core of the march — the people gathered expressed their fundamental belief that the government could still be “a reliable instrument of, by and for the people.”
And in fact, the pressure from the civil rights movement helped ensure passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Open Housing Act — now considered crucial achievements in American history.
King continued to articulate his formulation of patriotism that tried to perfect the United States until his tragic assassination in 1968. When protesting the Vietnam War, King expressed that the desire to ensure “the health of our land” drove him and his allies “down the path of protest and dissent.”
Not all left-leaning critics of the United States are patriotic (as is also true of right-leaning critics, as evidenced by the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection). But King’s most famous speech is a reminder that there is also no inherent barrier separating patriotism from dissent that assails the United States for not living up to its values. History shows the two have often been deeply intertwined. As Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne wrote, “Progressives love our country so much that we know it’s strong enough to acknowledge how racism, nativism, religious prejudice, and other forms of injustice and intolerance are embedded in our nation’s story.”
And King’s moving oration in August 1963 and its aftermath demonstrate how working to address these flaws has often led the United States closer to the most fundamental promises embedded in the Founders’ vision for the nation.
|
Outside/Inbox: Why did we evolve to see so many shades of green?
Every other Friday on Morning Edition, the Outside/In team answers a question from a listener about the natural world.
We often solicit listener questions on social media, and this one comes from @BethanyJane320 on Instagram. She asks: “Why did our eyes evolve to see many shades of green?”
Rods and cones
Before we consider the evolutionary benefits, we first need to understand how humans perceive color.
You may have heard about rods and cones, maybe in a diagram of the eye on a poster on your eye doctor’s wall.
Rods and cones are photoreceptor cells on our retina. “Photo-” is the greek prefix for light, which means these are cells that are sensitive to light. Rods are useful in low-light situations; cats, for example, have more rods than humans, so they see better in dim light at night.
RGB is everything
Cones send signals to the brain in bright light. The brain then interprets those signals into what we think of as color — but only red, green or blue, the primary colors of light. Humans have evolved to be trichromatic: that is, we build all of the colors we see out of combinations of those three colors.
TVs and computer monitors also rely on those same three colors — red, green and blue — often referred to as “RGB.” And if you have ever used a color wheel in art class, or just mixed paints, you know that combinations of primary colors can make secondary colors. That's where we get oranges, purples and yellows.
Your photoreceptors are doing the same thing. Shades of green are greens mixed with colors from our other two cones. Take green plus a little red, and you get greenish yellow. Add a little blue, and you’ll see more of a shade of turquoise.
As far as why the ability to see lots of different shades of green might be helpful to humans, you can imagine it might have something to do with the amount of green on our planet.
“One of the earliest hypotheses for why there's a benefit to having red-green color vision is that it allows primates to forage for red conspicuous fruits against a green foliage,” says Adriana Briscoe, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Irvine.
That helps us spot all the good stuff: strawberries, raspberries, pomegranates, tomatoes and more! But, as we know, ripe fruit is not always available.
“Sometimes they [our evolutionary ancestors] fall back onto eating foliage, like leaves,” Briscoe says. “And young, reddish leaves or flowers often have a nutritional benefit that is potentially advantageous compared to old tough leaves.”
But what if you’re colorblind?
There is, of course, a little wrinkle: Not all humans have evolved to have three color receptors. Some people have only two photoreceptors: the blue and the green, or the blue and red. And because they only have two photoreceptors, they are dichromatic, or colorblind. Colorblindness is much more common among men than among women, affecting somewhere between 7 and 8% of the total population.
How did they fare without the evolutionary benefit of both red and green photoreceptors? Scientists think those who are dichromatic have other evolutionary advantages.
“It allows them to be better at detecting and capturing, for example, camouflaged insects under low illumination,” Briscoe says. “If you're in a group and one part of your group can detect the ripe fruit against the green leaves and another one can find delicious protein-rich insects that are maybe less conspicuous, then there would be potentially a benefit to everybody in the group from different kinds of perceptual ability.”
In addition to detecting camouflaged insects, a dichromatic person might also be better at detecting movement — like being the first to spot a snake moving through the foliage and sending up the alarm.
Different ways of perceiving color might be an evolutionary advantage that benefits an entire group. As Briscoe explains, we don’t perceive color in isolation, we also perceive “pattern, shape, size, movement, depth, brightness.”
The color green is important, but there are many factors at play in our perception of the world.
Submit your question about the natural world If you’d like to submit a question to the Outside/In team, you can record it as a voice memo on your smartphone and send it to <email-pii>. You can also leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER. Outside/In is a podcast! Subscribe wherever you get yours.
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Outside/Inbox: Why did we evolve to see so many shades of green?
Every other Friday on Morning Edition, the Outside/In team answers a question from a listener about the natural world.
We often solicit listener questions on social media, and this one comes from @BethanyJane320 on Instagram. She asks: “Why did our eyes evolve to see many shades of green?”
Rods and cones
Before we consider the evolutionary benefits, we first need to understand how humans perceive color.
You may have heard about rods and cones, maybe in a diagram of the eye on a poster on your eye doctor’s wall.
Rods and cones are photoreceptor cells on our retina. “Photo-” is the greek prefix for light, which means these are cells that are sensitive to light. Rods are useful in low-light situations; cats, for example, have more rods than humans, so they see better in dim light at night.
RGB is everything
Cones send signals to the brain in bright light. The brain then interprets those signals into what we think of as color — but only red, green or blue, the primary colors of light. Humans have evolved to be trichromatic: that is, we build all of the colors we see out of combinations of those three colors.
TVs and computer monitors also rely on those same three colors — red, green and blue — often referred to as “RGB.” And if you have ever used a color wheel in art class, or just mixed paints, you know that combinations of primary colors can make secondary colors. That's where we get oranges, purples and yellows.
Your photoreceptors are doing the same thing. Shades of green are greens mixed with colors from our other two cones. Take green plus a little red, and you get greenish yellow. Add a little blue, and you’ll see more of a shade of turquoise.
As far as why the ability to see lots of different shades of green might be helpful to humans, you can imagine it might have something to do with the amount of green on our planet.
“One of the earliest hypotheses for why there's a benefit to having red-green color vision is that it allows primates to forage for red conspicuous fruits against a green foliage,” says Adriana Briscoe, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Irvine.
That helps us spot all the good stuff: strawberries, raspberries, pomegranates, tomatoes and more! But, as
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we know, ripe fruit is not always available.
“Sometimes they [our evolutionary ancestors] fall back onto eating foliage, like leaves,” Briscoe says. “And young, reddish leaves or flowers often have a nutritional benefit that is potentially advantageous compared to old tough leaves.”
But what if you’re colorblind?
There is, of course, a little wrinkle: Not all humans have evolved to have three color receptors. Some people have only two photoreceptors: the blue and the green, or the blue and red. And because they only have two photoreceptors, they are dichromatic, or colorblind. Colorblindness is much more common among men than among women, affecting somewhere between 7 and 8% of the total population.
How did they fare without the evolutionary benefit of both red and green photoreceptors? Scientists think those who are dichromatic have other evolutionary advantages.
“It allows them to be better at detecting and capturing, for example, camouflaged insects under low illumination,” Briscoe says. “If you're in a group and one part of your group can detect the ripe fruit against the green leaves and another one can find delicious protein-rich insects that are maybe less conspicuous, then there would be potentially a benefit to everybody in the group from different kinds of perceptual ability.”
In addition to detecting camouflaged insects, a dichromatic person might also be better at detecting movement — like being the first to spot a snake moving through the foliage and sending up the alarm.
Different ways of perceiving color might be an evolutionary advantage that benefits an entire group. As Briscoe explains, we don’t perceive color in isolation, we also perceive “pattern, shape, size, movement, depth, brightness.”
The color green is important, but there are many factors at play in our perception of the world.
Submit your question about the natural world If you’d like to submit a question to the Outside/In team, you can record it as a voice memo on your smartphone and send it to <email-pii>. You can also leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER. Outside/In is a podcast! Subscribe wherever you get yours.
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The Birmingham Riots of 1791 have their origins in the years before Joseph Priestley came to live in Birmingham, when in 1793 he and others attempted to repeal the Corporation and Test Acts of the previous century. These were a series of laws which prevented those who belonged to religions other than the Church of England from holding a position of public office. It meant that those practising the Catholic, Jewish and non-conformist religions (e.g. Quakers, Unitarians and Methodists) were excluded from working in local or national government. The attempt to repeal the act failed and as a result Priestley wrote a pamphlet suggesting the reform of the established church.
After Priestley moved to Birmingham in 1781, he became Minister of the New Meeting Unitarian Church, one of the largest and wealthiest dissenting congregations in England. He devoted most of his time to the role of Minister, preaching regularly and conducting classes for children and young adults. He also wrote numerous pamphlets or books on religious and educational matters. However, some of his writings were controversial. In 1791, he defended the French Revolution from the critical writings of Edmund Burke, and it was that July that anti-radical ‘Priestley Riots’ (as they became known) swept Birmingham. There had been growing tension in the city during the previous years between local Dissenters and the established Anglican Church over the campaign to repeal the Test and Corporation Acts and this was made worse with the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789.
On 14 July 1791 a ‘Gallic Commemoration Dinner’ took place at a Hotel on Temple Row celebrating the second anniversary of the storming of the Bastille and an inflammatory handbill also appeared on the streets of Birmingham around the same time calling for ‘every Enemy to Civil and Religious Despotism’ to celebrate the anniversary. After the guests had left the hotel, a large crowd gathered, accompanied by the town’s magistrates, Joseph Carles and Benjamin Spencer, and the Under-Sheriff of Warwickshire, John Brooke. There has been controversy as to whether they actively manipulated the situation to attack local radicals like Priestley, since it was reported that they were seen drinking with the mob prior to the unrest.
The mob attacked the empty hotel, and then moved on to destroy Priestley’s New Meeting House, followed by the Old Meeting House in nearby Worcester Street. The magistrates do not appear to have wanted the violence to spread further, contemporary accounts suggesting they were shocked when the mob moved down the Stratford Road to destroy Priestley’s house, library and laboratory at Fair Hill. The magistrates were forced to draw up a list of target properties for the mob to attack to help contain the violence, which was now getting out of hand and spilling into Birmingham’s nearby suburbs and villages, such as Bordesley and Moseley.
The violence was fuelled by the plundering of the wine cellars at Priestley’s House and Baskerville House on Easy Hill, some of the drunken rioters perishing after being trapped inside the latter property as it burned down. Priestley had fled from Fair Hill to the Russell family’s house at Showell Green, but both Priestley and the Russell’s moved on, having heard the noise the rioters were making during the attack at Fair Hill. They then moved to a Mr Hawkes’ house and returned to Showell Green the next day (15 July) to find the Russell’s house had been spared (it was actually destroyed during continued rioting the next day on Saturday 16 July) but hearing of renewed unrest on the streets the Priestley family had to move, again, to a friend’s house in Dudley. The riots continued until the 16th of July and only ended when Dragoons were drafted in from Nottingham to quell the riots.
The destruction and damage caused by the rioters was extensive, with an estimated cost of £60,000 which is equivalent to £9,668,115 today. Only seventeen of the rioters were charged, and out of these only four were convicted. One was pardoned, one was transported to Botany Bay in Australia and two were hanged. An extract from the court records is reproduced below.
Priestley and his family fled to London where a few days later, he wrote his famous letter to the citizens of Birmingham, which appeared in ‘Aris’s Gazette’ on 25 July 1791 and he also published ‘An Appeal to the Public on the Subject of the Riots in Birmingham’ (1791) which accused the citizens of the city of allowing the riots to take place. He and his family left Britain in 1794, settling in Pennsylvania where he continued to preach, founding the first Unitarian church in America. He continued his educational work, helping to establish the Northumberland Academy and donating his library to the institution. He died on the 6 February 1804, aged seventy and was buried in Riverview Cemetery in Northumberland, Pennsylvania.
You can read about the earlier life of Joseph Priestley and some of his chemistry experiments in one of our previous blog posts. You can check the online archives catalogue and the online library catalogue to see what material we hold relating to Priestly.
1 thought on “Joseph Priestley and the Birmingham Riots”
Reblogged this on Andrew James.
Comments are closed.
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The Birmingham Riots of 1791 have their origins in the years before Joseph Priestley came to live in Birmingham, when in 1793 he and others attempted to repeal the Corporation and Test Acts of the previous century. These were a series of laws which prevented those who belonged to religions other than the Church of England from holding a position of public office. It meant that those practising the Catholic, Jewish and non-conformist religions (e.g. Quakers, Unitarians and Methodists) were excluded from working in local or national government. The attempt to repeal the act failed and as a result Priestley wrote a pamphlet suggesting the reform of the established church.
After Priestley moved to Birmingham in 1781, he became Minister of the New Meeting Unitarian Church, one of the largest and wealthiest dissenting congregations in England. He devoted most of his time to the role of Minister, preaching regularly and conducting classes for children and young adults. He also wrote numerous pamphlets or books on religious and educational matters. However, some of his writings were controversial. In 1791, he defended the French Revolution from the critical writings of Edmund Burke, and it was that July that anti-radical ‘Priestley Riots’ (as they became known) swept Birmingham. There had been growing tension in the city during the previous years between local Dissenters and the established Anglican Church over the campaign to repeal the Test and Corporation Acts and this was made worse with the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789.
On 14 July 1791 a ‘Gallic Commemoration Dinner’ took place at a Hotel on Temple Row celebrating the second anniversary of the storming of the Bastille and an inflammatory handbill also appeared on the streets of Birmingham around the same time calling for ‘every Enemy to Civil and Religious Despotism’ to celebrate the anniversary. After the guests had left the hotel, a large crowd gathered, accompanied by the town’s magistrates, Joseph Carles and Benjamin Spencer, and the Under-Sheriff of Warwickshire, John Brooke. There has been controversy as to whether they actively manipulated the situation to attack local radicals like Priestley, since it was reported that they were seen drinking with the mob prior to the unrest.
The mob attacked the empty hotel, and then moved on to destroy Priestley’s New Meeting House, followed by the Old Meeting House in nearby Worcester Street. The magistrates do not appear to
|
have wanted the violence to spread further, contemporary accounts suggesting they were shocked when the mob moved down the Stratford Road to destroy Priestley’s house, library and laboratory at Fair Hill. The magistrates were forced to draw up a list of target properties for the mob to attack to help contain the violence, which was now getting out of hand and spilling into Birmingham’s nearby suburbs and villages, such as Bordesley and Moseley.
The violence was fuelled by the plundering of the wine cellars at Priestley’s House and Baskerville House on Easy Hill, some of the drunken rioters perishing after being trapped inside the latter property as it burned down. Priestley had fled from Fair Hill to the Russell family’s house at Showell Green, but both Priestley and the Russell’s moved on, having heard the noise the rioters were making during the attack at Fair Hill. They then moved to a Mr Hawkes’ house and returned to Showell Green the next day (15 July) to find the Russell’s house had been spared (it was actually destroyed during continued rioting the next day on Saturday 16 July) but hearing of renewed unrest on the streets the Priestley family had to move, again, to a friend’s house in Dudley. The riots continued until the 16th of July and only ended when Dragoons were drafted in from Nottingham to quell the riots.
The destruction and damage caused by the rioters was extensive, with an estimated cost of £60,000 which is equivalent to £9,668,115 today. Only seventeen of the rioters were charged, and out of these only four were convicted. One was pardoned, one was transported to Botany Bay in Australia and two were hanged. An extract from the court records is reproduced below.
Priestley and his family fled to London where a few days later, he wrote his famous letter to the citizens of Birmingham, which appeared in ‘Aris’s Gazette’ on 25 July 1791 and he also published ‘An Appeal to the Public on the Subject of the Riots in Birmingham’ (1791) which accused the citizens of the city of allowing the riots to take place. He and his family left Britain in 1794, settling in Pennsylvania where he continued to preach, founding the first Unitarian church in America. He continued his educational work, helping to establish the Northumberland Academy and donating his library to the institution. He died on the 6 February 1804, aged seventy and was buried in Riverview Cemetery in Northumberland, Pennsylvania.
You can read about the earlier life of Joseph Priestley and some of his chemistry experiments in one of our previous blog posts. You can check the online archives catalogue and the online library catalogue to see what material we hold relating to Priestly.
1 thought on “Joseph Priestley and the Birmingham Riots”
Reblogged this on Andrew James.
Comments are closed.
|
Record-breaking heat that has been beating down on the Caribbean for the past few months poses a grave threat to regional food security. Unprecedented temperatures are impacting soil and water, worker productivity and income, food prices and trade— with consequences for the availability, accessibility and affordability of major crops, fish stocks, livestock… and even imported food.
Driven by climate change, a strong El Niño climate pattern and a much warmer than usual tropical north Atlantic, heat waves—temperatures that exceed the 90th percentile of the region’s historical range— have affected both marine and terrestrial food sources.
“Through successive COPs [United Nations Climate Change Conferences] we have heard repeated warnings about the imperative of limiting global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels,” says Dr. Didacus Jules, Director General of the Organization of Eastern European States (OECS).
“Global warming is creating hell on earth for Small Island Developing States (SIDS)— a rapid onslaught apocalypse.”
The Caribbean Regional Climate Center reported record-breaking temperatures across the region between May and August 2023, with forecasts of continued heat stress in the region through October, with ongoing increasing temperatures, humidity and frequency of heatwaves expected to rival prior records. Higher than normal temperatures are forcasted to extend into 2024, and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warns that these weather extremes will become the “new norm.”
Between the months of June and August, the mean temperature anomaly in Barbados was 0.8 degrees Celsius higher than normal, with 87 days of heat that Climate Central says was at least three times more likely to have been caused by climate change. In Jamaica, the mean temperature anomaly was 1.3 degrees Celsius higher than normal, with 89 days in which the intense temperature was attributable to climate change.
The latest Economy and Development Report (RED) issued by the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) launched in September predicts that “average temperatures will continue to rise, rainfall patterns will undergo increasing disruptions, and many parts of the region will become drier.”
According to Pablo Brassilio, CAF principal economist, aridity has been increasing considerably in the region and drought is expected to double. If emissions continue at this rate, 80% of land in the region will be dry by 2100.
Rising temperatures have already reduced yields and are expected to play a role in increased pests and diseases, changed patterns of erosion and accretion, weed proliferation, declines in labor productivity, crop quality and long-term production, leading to crop failures as well as stunted growth, compromised health and large-scale losses of livestock and poultry. And for a water insecure region that depends almost entirely on rainfall for irrigation— with 70% of all water usage going towards agriculture— drier than average conditions can multiply the negative impacts of persistently high temperatures.
In Barbados and Jamaica, for example, 88% of all crops rely on rainwater, while in St. Vincent, Trinidad & Tobago and in St. Lucia, crop irrigation depends almost entirely on rainwater.
In St. Vincent, where farmers are still reeling from the destruction caused by the catastrophic volcanic eruption of La Soufrière in 2020, a long-term drought has reduced yields, and created total crop failure in some instances. Soil nutrients and irrigation systems have been experiencing significant pressure, with worrisome implications for the future.
“We produce most of our vegetables in the open field as opposed to shade houses,” says Saboto Caesar, St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Agriculture Minister. “The intense heat over the past weeks is having a negative impact on vegetable production just ahead of the Christmas period which is categorized as a season of ery high demand for vegetables. It is becoming more challenging in this period of climate change to ensure that food is available, accessible, and affordable.”
Reports from Antigua & Barbuda refer to an inability to produce feed for livestock due to insufficient precipitation, while the Jamaican Agricultural Society has reported that many small poultry farmers have recorded significant losses, raising an alarm for a potential chicken shortage for the Christmas season.
Diana Francis of The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in Trinidad & Tobago reports that, “In the past few weeks, there have been several reports of death among poultry in Trinidad; crops in fields wilting from heat from above and below; and farm workers being cautioned to wear sunscreen and drink water in response to Met Office warnings about the continuing heat wave.”
In Trinidad, Satyananad Maharaj, Head of the Aranguez United Farmers Association says that local farmers have been contending with increases in costs and pests and reduced irrigation water and warns that heat-sensitive produce such as tomatoes, cauliflower and sweet peppers might soon be in short supply.
“If this type of weather continues, farmers may decide to save their money rather than plant and lose their labor and capital,” he says.
Elsewhere in Trinidad, farmer Alpha Sennon, says that excessive heat and little rainfall has resulted in a decline in his dasheen bush production, while Barbadian farmer John Jones says that crop selection has been affected, as some crops such as leafy greens are unable to grow adequately in the excessive heat.
“The heat affects plants, animals and humans tremendously,” says Sennon, who is also Founder and CEO of WHYFARM, a Trinidad-based nonprofit organization specializing in agricultural educational entertainment.
“The heat reduces soil water retention, preventing crop growth, which affects production; workers get dehydrated and tired, which affects production and incomes; animals need more mechanical and electrical components for their daily well-being, which affects production and costs; and after crops have been harvested, they tend to start deteriorating before they reach the grocery shelf, creating added losses, which in turn affect prices.”
The Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) indicates that the heat wave is posing a major threat to local agricultural yields and prices. With impacts extending out to sea. At one point, local fish vendors were forced to sell 10-packs of flying fish as high as $17 and $22 US dollars to turn a profit on waning stocks of Barbados’ national fish, which scientists say are migrating to cooler waters.
“As our temperature records unprecedented levels of heat, water scarcity and drought are impacting food security, and ocean warming is resulting in the bleaching of coral reefs, affecting fisheries,” says the OECS Director General.
This past summer, regional waters warmed up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit— two degrees higher than the long-term average, and in late August, the Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum (CariCOF) warned that ocean temperatures would remain well above average for at least another three months, posing a major threat to coral reefs and marine life.
The extreme conditions have extended far beyond the waters of the import-dependent region, creating similarly adverse consequences to the food systems of trade partners and the world’s major food supplying countries.
For countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)— which import approximately three-quarters of what they eat— climate-related pressures on food systems elsewhere in the world, including in the United States, the Caribbean’s closest trade partner, have had spillover effects on regional food prices.
According to the Washington D.C.-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the past three months were the hottest on its 174-year record. In addition to climate impacts on crop yields and worker productivity, heat waves have created increased insurance premiums for U.S. food producers. Persistent drought has also affected transport on shipping routes, due to lower water levels in areas such as the Panama Canal, requiring shippers to lighten their vessel loads.
Outside of the Americas, severe droughts experienced by Asia’s major food producing countries have pushed rice prices to their highest levels in well over a decade, while droughts in the Mediterranean have caused a decline in global stocks of olive oil, causing prices to skyrocket by more than 130% in the past year.
Barclays reports that severe weather has been the main disrupter of food prices in recent times.
Persistent droughts “could lead to regional shortfalls and, with poor countries unable to afford higher prices, food security issues,” said Joseph Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, in an interview with the New York Times.
Severe and persistent heat waves pose an added threat to Caribbean populations in the context of rising prices and supply shocks associated with COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, coupled with pre-existing socio-economic and environmental challenges associated with poverty, limited land availability, water insecurity, and the inter-related threats of sea level rise, tropical cyclones, and floods.
By April 2023, Caribbean food inflation rose by as much as 67% in Suriname, 17% in Trinidad & Tobago, 11% in Jamaica, 6.9% in Guyana, and 4.3% in Barbados.
The Caribbean food security and livelihoods survey conducted by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the CARICOM Secretariat reveals that 98% of respondents felt the impact of high food prices in the three months leading up to May 2023, and 42% reported being affected by climate-related hazards during the prior month.
The survey results reveal that by May 2023 some 3.7 million people, or 52% of the English-speaking Caribbean, was already food insecure.
“Extreme heat carries enormous implications for society’s most vulnerable and is just one of the latest manifestations of the climate crisis and its impact on the Caribbean,” says Regis Chapman, Representative and Country Director of the WFP Caribbean Multi-Country Office.
“We’re also seeing more frequent and severe storms and increasing frequency of droughts. The inherent risk in the Caribbean has a significant impact on those employed in agriculture, negatively impacting the capacity of the region to reduce its reliance on imported food. National systems are therefore so important, particularly when coordinated across sectors for early warning, anticipatory action and for response to these climatic shocks. This is why the World Food Programme works with disaster management, social protection, and food systems in the Caribbean, to ensure that vulnerable people, including small holder farmers, are supported.”
Extreme heat and drought have real implications for labor productivity, particularly among smallholder farmers who comprise up to 10% of the labor force in countries such as St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia, and 15% of the labor force in Jamaica and Guyana.
An analysis of the circumstances of more than half a million workers conducted by Oxford University researcher, Dr. Carolin Kroeger reveals that the “number of hot days in the last week is associated with significantly higher levels of moderate-to-severe food insecurity.”
And households that eat what they produce are the most vulnerable.
According to Kroeger, “Heat-related physical strain and health problems limit peoples’ ability to work and earn an income, thus limiting their ability to afford to buy food.”
For countries in the region, excessive heat threatens to derail development objectives and progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Climate adaptation and other measures are required to preserve the achievements of CARICOM’s 25 by 2025 initiative, which has already made significant progress on the path to reducing CARICOM’s food import bill by 25% in the lead up to 2025.
Heat-related setbacks impact both productivity and the price of food at home and for export.
Financing and solutions must be sensitive to the needs of climate vulnerable countries and must be focused more on adaptation, and not just mitigation.
This can be tricky given that the region’s economically vulnerable countries are forced to depend on the largest producers of greenhouse gases for adaptation finance. St. Kitts & Nevis, for example, has indicated that its financing needs for climate adaptation amount to some $127 million, while those of Guyana amount to $1.6 billion, and $2 billion for Trinidad & Tobago.
Other solutions come in the form of technical support. At the UN Climate Ambition Summit on September 22nd 2023 in New York, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) announced a 6 year, $157 million partnership to establish Early Warning Systems in some of the world’s most climate vulnerable countries— among them, Antigua and Barbuda.
According to World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General, Professor Petteri Taalas, “Floods, fires, heatwaves, and drought have all wreaked devastation with people’s lives and livelihoods in recent weeks. Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of these extreme events. It is therefore vital that climate adaptation policies and actions embrace multi-hazard Early Warning Systems to protect people and property.”
Advances in irrigation are also paramount to the future of the water intensive agriculture sector, particularly in the context of one of the most water stressed regions in the world.
In mid-September, Caribbean agriculture ministers and UN officials met in Jamaica for the High-level Ministerial Meeting for Caribbean Ministers of Agriculture and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to discuss regional priority project areas including advanced technological applications in irrigation.
"Jamaica has gone through one of its driest times ever; the reality is that it is also true for the rest of the region. The climate has changed, we are seeing different weather patterns; we are seeing higher temperatures, and the access to water has become more important than ever before in our history," said Floyd Green, Jamaica’s Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, who chaired the meeting.
In relation to water shortages, St. Vincent, Agriculture Minister Saboto Cesar has advised that the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines through the Ministry of Agriculture has distributed water tanks and assisted scores of small farmers with water for livestock to cope with heat waves and droughts.
“Our Ministry will continue to create an enabling environment for our farmers to grapple with the vagaries of climate change; it will not be easy and strategic technological modifications to current agro-production systems will be central to our success."
A variety of initiatives and solutions— many of which have been implemented with various degrees of success over the past two decades, have played an important role in building some degree of resilience.
“As the region continues to experience these high levels of unprecedented heat levels, it is important to employ climate resilience practices and climate smart agriculture techniques— with a strong emphasis on water management— so as to boost the region’s food security,” says Shaun Baugh, Programme Manager of Agricultural Development with the CARICOM Secretariat.
Climate smart agriculture and water management will surely be hot topics on the agenda of the upcoming 17th Caribbean Week of Agriculture in October 2023 and at the 38th Session of the Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean (LARC 38) in March 2024.
But beyond the conference halls and beneath superficial layers of academic discourse— at a purely grassroots level— many of the region’s farmers and fishers say that the scientific jargon lacks relatability.
“We have to rethink the way we do agriculture,” says Alpha Sennon. “Farmers have been getting the warnings about the climate changing but they haven't been adapting to the changes... Climate smart agriculture practices were once something nice to talk about in theory, but now the changes have to be made in real life in order for us to survive.”
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Record-breaking heat that has been beating down on the Caribbean for the past few months poses a grave threat to regional food security. Unprecedented temperatures are impacting soil and water, worker productivity and income, food prices and trade— with consequences for the availability, accessibility and affordability of major crops, fish stocks, livestock… and even imported food.
Driven by climate change, a strong El Niño climate pattern and a much warmer than usual tropical north Atlantic, heat waves—temperatures that exceed the 90th percentile of the region’s historical range— have affected both marine and terrestrial food sources.
“Through successive COPs [United Nations Climate Change Conferences] we have heard repeated warnings about the imperative of limiting global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels,” says Dr. Didacus Jules, Director General of the Organization of Eastern European States (OECS).
“Global warming is creating hell on earth for Small Island Developing States (SIDS)— a rapid onslaught apocalypse.”
The Caribbean Regional Climate Center reported record-breaking temperatures across the region between May and August 2023, with forecasts of continued heat stress in the region through October, with ongoing increasing temperatures, humidity and frequency of heatwaves expected to rival prior records. Higher than normal temperatures are forcasted to extend into 2024, and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warns that these weather extremes will become the “new norm.”
Between the months of June and August, the mean temperature anomaly in Barbados was 0.8 degrees Celsius higher than normal, with 87 days of heat that Climate Central says was at least three times more likely to have been caused by climate change. In Jamaica, the mean temperature anomaly was 1.3 degrees Celsius higher than normal, with 89 days in which the intense temperature was attributable to climate change.
The latest Economy and Development Report (RED) issued by the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) launched in September predicts that “average temperatures will continue to rise, rainfall patterns will undergo increasing disruptions, and many parts of the region will become drier.”
According to Pablo Brassilio, CAF principal economist, aridity has been increasing considerably in the region and drought is expected to double. If emissions continue at this rate, 80% of land in the region will be dry by 2100.
Rising temperatures have already reduced yields and are expected to play a role in increased pests and diseases, changed patterns
|
of erosion and accretion, weed proliferation, declines in labor productivity, crop quality and long-term production, leading to crop failures as well as stunted growth, compromised health and large-scale losses of livestock and poultry. And for a water insecure region that depends almost entirely on rainfall for irrigation— with 70% of all water usage going towards agriculture— drier than average conditions can multiply the negative impacts of persistently high temperatures.
In Barbados and Jamaica, for example, 88% of all crops rely on rainwater, while in St. Vincent, Trinidad & Tobago and in St. Lucia, crop irrigation depends almost entirely on rainwater.
In St. Vincent, where farmers are still reeling from the destruction caused by the catastrophic volcanic eruption of La Soufrière in 2020, a long-term drought has reduced yields, and created total crop failure in some instances. Soil nutrients and irrigation systems have been experiencing significant pressure, with worrisome implications for the future.
“We produce most of our vegetables in the open field as opposed to shade houses,” says Saboto Caesar, St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Agriculture Minister. “The intense heat over the past weeks is having a negative impact on vegetable production just ahead of the Christmas period which is categorized as a season of ery high demand for vegetables. It is becoming more challenging in this period of climate change to ensure that food is available, accessible, and affordable.”
Reports from Antigua & Barbuda refer to an inability to produce feed for livestock due to insufficient precipitation, while the Jamaican Agricultural Society has reported that many small poultry farmers have recorded significant losses, raising an alarm for a potential chicken shortage for the Christmas season.
Diana Francis of The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in Trinidad & Tobago reports that, “In the past few weeks, there have been several reports of death among poultry in Trinidad; crops in fields wilting from heat from above and below; and farm workers being cautioned to wear sunscreen and drink water in response to Met Office warnings about the continuing heat wave.”
In Trinidad, Satyananad Maharaj, Head of the Aranguez United Farmers Association says that local farmers have been contending with increases in costs and pests and reduced irrigation water and warns that heat-sensitive produce such as tomatoes, cauliflower and sweet peppers might soon be in short supply.
“If this type of weather continues, farmers may decide to save their money rather than plant and lose their labor and capital,” he says.
Elsewhere in Trinidad, farmer Alpha Sennon, says that excessive heat and little rainfall has resulted in a decline in his dasheen bush production, while Barbadian farmer John Jones says that crop selection has been affected, as some crops such as leafy greens are unable to grow adequately in the excessive heat.
“The heat affects plants, animals and humans tremendously,” says Sennon, who is also Founder and CEO of WHYFARM, a Trinidad-based nonprofit organization specializing in agricultural educational entertainment.
“The heat reduces soil water retention, preventing crop growth, which affects production; workers get dehydrated and tired, which affects production and incomes; animals need more mechanical and electrical components for their daily well-being, which affects production and costs; and after crops have been harvested, they tend to start deteriorating before they reach the grocery shelf, creating added losses, which in turn affect prices.”
The Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) indicates that the heat wave is posing a major threat to local agricultural yields and prices. With impacts extending out to sea. At one point, local fish vendors were forced to sell 10-packs of flying fish as high as $17 and $22 US dollars to turn a profit on waning stocks of Barbados’ national fish, which scientists say are migrating to cooler waters.
“As our temperature records unprecedented levels of heat, water scarcity and drought are impacting food security, and ocean warming is resulting in the bleaching of coral reefs, affecting fisheries,” says the OECS Director General.
This past summer, regional waters warmed up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit— two degrees higher than the long-term average, and in late August, the Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum (CariCOF) warned that ocean temperatures would remain well above average for at least another three months, posing a major threat to coral reefs and marine life.
The extreme conditions have extended far beyond the waters of the import-dependent region, creating similarly adverse consequences to the food systems of trade partners and the world’s major food supplying countries.
For countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)— which import approximately three-quarters of what they eat— climate-related pressures on food systems elsewhere in the world, including in the United States, the Caribbean’s closest trade partner, have had spillover effects on regional food prices.
According to the Washington D.C.-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the past three months were the hottest on its 174-year record. In addition to climate impacts on crop yields and worker productivity, heat waves have created increased insurance premiums for U.S. food producers. Persistent drought has also affected transport on shipping routes, due to lower water levels in areas such as the Panama Canal, requiring shippers to lighten their vessel loads.
Outside of the Americas, severe droughts experienced by Asia’s major food producing countries have pushed rice prices to their highest levels in well over a decade, while droughts in the Mediterranean have caused a decline in global stocks of olive oil, causing prices to skyrocket by more than 130% in the past year.
Barclays reports that severe weather has been the main disrupter of food prices in recent times.
Persistent droughts “could lead to regional shortfalls and, with poor countries unable to afford higher prices, food security issues,” said Joseph Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, in an interview with the New York Times.
Severe and persistent heat waves pose an added threat to Caribbean populations in the context of rising prices and supply shocks associated with COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, coupled with pre-existing socio-economic and environmental challenges associated with poverty, limited land availability, water insecurity, and the inter-related threats of sea level rise, tropical cyclones, and floods.
By April 2023, Caribbean food inflation rose by as much as 67% in Suriname, 17% in Trinidad & Tobago, 11% in Jamaica, 6.9% in Guyana, and 4.3% in Barbados.
The Caribbean food security and livelihoods survey conducted by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the CARICOM Secretariat reveals that 98% of respondents felt the impact of high food prices in the three months leading up to May 2023, and 42% reported being affected by climate-related hazards during the prior month.
The survey results reveal that by May 2023 some 3.7 million people, or 52% of the English-speaking Caribbean, was already food insecure.
“Extreme heat carries enormous implications for society’s most vulnerable and is just one of the latest manifestations of the climate crisis and its impact on the Caribbean,” says Regis Chapman, Representative and Country Director of the WFP Caribbean Multi-Country Office.
“We’re also seeing more frequent and severe storms and increasing frequency of droughts. The inherent risk in the Caribbean has a significant impact on those employed in agriculture, negatively impacting the capacity of the region to reduce its reliance on imported food. National systems are therefore so important, particularly when coordinated across sectors for early warning, anticipatory action and for response to these climatic shocks. This is why the World Food Programme works with disaster management, social protection, and food systems in the Caribbean, to ensure that vulnerable people, including small holder farmers, are supported.”
Extreme heat and drought have real implications for labor productivity, particularly among smallholder farmers who comprise up to 10% of the labor force in countries such as St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia, and 15% of the labor force in Jamaica and Guyana.
An analysis of the circumstances of more than half a million workers conducted by Oxford University researcher, Dr. Carolin Kroeger reveals that the “number of hot days in the last week is associated with significantly higher levels of moderate-to-severe food insecurity.”
And households that eat what they produce are the most vulnerable.
According to Kroeger, “Heat-related physical strain and health problems limit peoples’ ability to work and earn an income, thus limiting their ability to afford to buy food.”
For countries in the region, excessive heat threatens to derail development objectives and progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Climate adaptation and other measures are required to preserve the achievements of CARICOM’s 25 by 2025 initiative, which has already made significant progress on the path to reducing CARICOM’s food import bill by 25% in the lead up to 2025.
Heat-related setbacks impact both productivity and the price of food at home and for export.
Financing and solutions must be sensitive to the needs of climate vulnerable countries and must be focused more on adaptation, and not just mitigation.
This can be tricky given that the region’s economically vulnerable countries are forced to depend on the largest producers of greenhouse gases for adaptation finance. St. Kitts & Nevis, for example, has indicated that its financing needs for climate adaptation amount to some $127 million, while those of Guyana amount to $1.6 billion, and $2 billion for Trinidad & Tobago.
Other solutions come in the form of technical support. At the UN Climate Ambition Summit on September 22nd 2023 in New York, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) announced a 6 year, $157 million partnership to establish Early Warning Systems in some of the world’s most climate vulnerable countries— among them, Antigua and Barbuda.
According to World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General, Professor Petteri Taalas, “Floods, fires, heatwaves, and drought have all wreaked devastation with people’s lives and livelihoods in recent weeks. Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of these extreme events. It is therefore vital that climate adaptation policies and actions embrace multi-hazard Early Warning Systems to protect people and property.”
Advances in irrigation are also paramount to the future of the water intensive agriculture sector, particularly in the context of one of the most water stressed regions in the world.
In mid-September, Caribbean agriculture ministers and UN officials met in Jamaica for the High-level Ministerial Meeting for Caribbean Ministers of Agriculture and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to discuss regional priority project areas including advanced technological applications in irrigation.
"Jamaica has gone through one of its driest times ever; the reality is that it is also true for the rest of the region. The climate has changed, we are seeing different weather patterns; we are seeing higher temperatures, and the access to water has become more important than ever before in our history," said Floyd Green, Jamaica’s Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, who chaired the meeting.
In relation to water shortages, St. Vincent, Agriculture Minister Saboto Cesar has advised that the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines through the Ministry of Agriculture has distributed water tanks and assisted scores of small farmers with water for livestock to cope with heat waves and droughts.
“Our Ministry will continue to create an enabling environment for our farmers to grapple with the vagaries of climate change; it will not be easy and strategic technological modifications to current agro-production systems will be central to our success."
A variety of initiatives and solutions— many of which have been implemented with various degrees of success over the past two decades, have played an important role in building some degree of resilience.
“As the region continues to experience these high levels of unprecedented heat levels, it is important to employ climate resilience practices and climate smart agriculture techniques— with a strong emphasis on water management— so as to boost the region’s food security,” says Shaun Baugh, Programme Manager of Agricultural Development with the CARICOM Secretariat.
Climate smart agriculture and water management will surely be hot topics on the agenda of the upcoming 17th Caribbean Week of Agriculture in October 2023 and at the 38th Session of the Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean (LARC 38) in March 2024.
But beyond the conference halls and beneath superficial layers of academic discourse— at a purely grassroots level— many of the region’s farmers and fishers say that the scientific jargon lacks relatability.
“We have to rethink the way we do agriculture,” says Alpha Sennon. “Farmers have been getting the warnings about the climate changing but they haven't been adapting to the changes... Climate smart agriculture practices were once something nice to talk about in theory, but now the changes have to be made in real life in order for us to survive.”
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The United States Department of Agriculture has approved the first-ever vaccine for honeybees to prevent American foulbrood disease, a fatal bacterial disease that can destroy honeybee colonies, officials say.
The USDA told CNN that it issued a conditional vaccine license to Diamond Animal Health, the collaborating manufacturer for Dalan Animal Health, on December 29. The agency said that it was its “first licensure of a honeybee product.”
“We hope the availability of this product will aid in the prevention and/or treatment of the disease American Foulbrood in honeybees given their central role in American agriculture (e.g. pollination),” said the USDA in a statement shared over email.
The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service describes American foulbrood disease on its website as “one of the most widespread and the most destructive of the honey bee brood diseases.”
In a January 4 statement, Dalan Animal Health, which produced the vaccine, said that the primary treatment method for American foulbrood disease has been incinerating bees and infected hives, in addition to antibiotic treatment.
“This is an exciting step forward for beekeepers, as we rely on antibiotic treatment that has limited effectiveness and requires lots of time and energy to apply to our hives,” Trevor Tauzer, owner of Tauzer Apiaries and a board member of the California State Beekeepers Association, said in the release. “If we can prevent an infection in our hives, we can avoid costly treatments and focus our energy on other important elements of keeping our bees healthy.”
Dalan’s CEO, Annette Kleiser, called the vaccine “a breakthrough in protecting honeybees” in the statement.
“Global population growth and changing climates will increase the importance of honeybee pollination to secure our food supply,” said Kleiser in the statement. “We are ready to change how we care for insects, impacting food production on a global scale.”
Unlike traditional vaccines, the honeybee vaccine isn’t injected with a syringe. Instead, it’s mixed into “queen feed,” which the worker bees consume, according to Dalan’s statement. The worker bees incorporate the vaccine into royal jelly, which they feed to the queen bee. Once the queen bee has consumed the vaccine-laden royal jelly, “fragments of the vaccine are deposited in her ovaries,” says Dalan. Then the queen’s larvae will be born with immunity to the disease.
Dalan says that the vaccine will be available for purchase in the United States in 2023.
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The United States Department of Agriculture has approved the first-ever vaccine for honeybees to prevent American foulbrood disease, a fatal bacterial disease that can destroy honeybee colonies, officials say.
The USDA told CNN that it issued a conditional vaccine license to Diamond Animal Health, the collaborating manufacturer for Dalan Animal Health, on December 29. The agency said that it was its “first licensure of a honeybee product.”
“We hope the availability of this product will aid in the prevention and/or treatment of the disease American Foulbrood in honeybees given their central role in American agriculture (e.g. pollination),” said the USDA in a statement shared over email.
The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service describes American foulbrood disease on its website as “one of the most widespread and the most destructive of the honey bee brood diseases.”
In a January 4 statement, Dalan Animal Health, which produced the vaccine, said that the primary treatment method for American foulbrood disease has been incinerating bees and infected hives, in addition to antibiotic treatment.
“This is an exciting step forward for beekeepers, as we rely on antibiotic treatment that has limited effectiveness and requires lots of time and energy to apply to our hives,” Trevor Tauzer, owner of Tauzer Apiaries and a board member of the California State Beekeepers Association, said in the release. “If we can prevent an infection in our hives, we can avoid costly treatments and focus our energy on other important elements of keeping our bees healthy.”
Dalan’s CEO, Annette Kleiser, called the vaccine “a breakthrough in protecting honeybees” in the statement.
“Global population growth and changing climates will increase the importance of honeybee pollination to secure our food supply,” said Kleiser in the statement. “We are ready to change how we care for insects, impacting food production on a global scale.”
Unlike traditional vaccines, the honeybee vaccine isn’t injected with a syringe. Instead, it’s mixed into “queen feed,” which the worker bees consume, according to Dalan’s statement. The worker bees incorporate the vaccine into royal jelly, which they feed to the queen bee. Once the queen bee has consumed the vaccine-laden royal jelly, “fragments of the vaccine are deposited in her ovaries,” says Dalan. Then the queen’s larvae will be born with immunity to the disease.
Dalan says that the vaccine will be available for purchase in the United States in 202
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3.
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Credit Suisse, the 167-year-old bank and the second-largest lender in Switzerland, is in deep trouble.
The bank said it would borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs ($53.7 billion) from the Swiss National Bank, taking advantage of a lifeline late Wednesday after its stock crashed as much as 30%. It also said it would buy back some of its own debt.
Its struggles set off anxiety in Europe and across global markets, and what happens at Credit Suisse could impact the broader financial system.
Why does Credit Suisse matter?
Credit Suisse is one of the biggest financial institutions in the world.
It is categorized by the Financial Stability Board, an international body that monitors the financial system, as a “global systemically important bank,” along with just 30 others, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and the Bank of China.
“Credit Suisse is in principle a much bigger concern for the global economy than the regional US banks which were in the firing line last week,” Andrew Kenningham at Capital Economics said in a note to clients Wednesday. “Credit Suisse is much more globally interconnected … not just a Swiss problem but a global one.”
Why is Credit Suisse struggling now?
Central banks around the world have been raising interest rates to try to slow down inflation and cool the global economy.
But that process has left some banks vulnerable.
Fears about weaker lenders exploded last week when Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in the biggest US banking failure since the 2008 financial crisis. That engulfed other banks facing big problems, including Credit Suisse, which has been a slow-moving car wreck for decades.
“The problems at Credit Suisse are very different to those that brought down SVB a few days ago,” economists at Capital Economics said in an email to clients Thursday. “But they serve as a reminder that as interest rates rise, vulnerabilities are lurking in the financial system.”
The trigger for Wednesday’s rout in Credit Suisse shares wasn’t rising rates. It came from comments by the bank’s biggest backer — the Saudi National Bank — that it wasn’t prepared to put up more money after buying a near-10% stake for $1.5 billion last year.
What was going on Credit Suisse before this meltdown?
Credit Suisse has been struggling for years.
It was widely seen as the weakest link among Europe’s large banks, according to Kenningham.
The company has been plagued by a series of missteps and compliance failures in recent years that cost it billions and led to several overhauls of top management. And over the past decade, the Swiss bank has been hit with fines and penalties related to tax evasion, misplaced bets and other issues.
In 2014, Credit Suisse pleaded guilty to federal charges that it illegally allowed some U.S. clients to evade their taxes. The bank paid a total of $2.6 billion to the federal government and New York financial regulators as part of the settlement.
The bank’s reputation was damaged by an accounting scandal at Luckin Coffee. Credit Suisse acted as an underwriter when the company went public on the Nasdaq in 2019. The Chinese firm was pulled off the US exchange after it fraudulently inflated sales.
In 2020, Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam resigned after two high-profile spying scandals involving top bank officials.
A year later, the collapse of the US hedge fund Archegos Capital cost Credit Suisse $5.5 billion and damaged the bank. An independent external investigation later found that Credit Suisse allowed Archegos Capital to take “voracious” and “potentially catastrophic” risks that culminated in the US hedge fund’s spectacular collapse.
In 2022, the bank was hit by social media speculation that it was on the brink of collapse, leading customers to withdraw billions of dollars. That has made profitability a near impossibility for the bank, which has been hemorrhaging money for years.
And last month, Credit Suisse’s stock plunged to record lows after it posted its biggest annual loss since the financial crisis in 2008 and a report surfaced that regulators were reviewing comments the lender’s chairman made about the health of its finances.
What’s next for Credit Suisse?
The lifeline from the Swiss National Bank could buy time for Credit Suisse to restore confidence and push on with restructuring plans that include carving out investment banking into an independent US-based business and focusing on Switzerland as well as on managing money for wealthy clients.
But Credit Suisse may not be out of the woods yet.
JPMorgan’s banking analysts said the liquidity support offered by the Swiss central bank would not be sufficient, given “ongoing market confidence issues” with Credit Suisse’s investment banking plans and the erosion of the bank’s franchise.
“In our view, status quo is no longer an option as counterparty concerns are starting to emerge as reflected by credit/equity markets weakness,” they wrote in a research note Thursday, adding that a takeover — most likely by bigger Swiss rival UBS — was the most likely endgame.
CNN’s Mark Thompson and Anna Cooban contributed to this article.
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Credit Suisse, the 167-year-old bank and the second-largest lender in Switzerland, is in deep trouble.
The bank said it would borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs ($53.7 billion) from the Swiss National Bank, taking advantage of a lifeline late Wednesday after its stock crashed as much as 30%. It also said it would buy back some of its own debt.
Its struggles set off anxiety in Europe and across global markets, and what happens at Credit Suisse could impact the broader financial system.
Why does Credit Suisse matter?
Credit Suisse is one of the biggest financial institutions in the world.
It is categorized by the Financial Stability Board, an international body that monitors the financial system, as a “global systemically important bank,” along with just 30 others, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and the Bank of China.
“Credit Suisse is in principle a much bigger concern for the global economy than the regional US banks which were in the firing line last week,” Andrew Kenningham at Capital Economics said in a note to clients Wednesday. “Credit Suisse is much more globally interconnected … not just a Swiss problem but a global one.”
Why is Credit Suisse struggling now?
Central banks around the world have been raising interest rates to try to slow down inflation and cool the global economy.
But that process has left some banks vulnerable.
Fears about weaker lenders exploded last week when Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in the biggest US banking failure since the 2008 financial crisis. That engulfed other banks facing big problems, including Credit Suisse, which has been a slow-moving car wreck for decades.
“The problems at Credit Suisse are very different to those that brought down SVB a few days ago,” economists at Capital Economics said in an email to clients Thursday. “But they serve as a reminder that as interest rates rise, vulnerabilities are lurking in the financial system.”
The trigger for Wednesday’s rout in Credit Suisse shares wasn’t rising rates. It came from comments by the bank’s biggest backer — the Saudi National Bank — that it wasn’t prepared to put up more money after buying a near-10% stake for $1.5 billion last year.
What was going on Credit Suisse before this meltdown?
Credit Suisse has been struggling for years.
It was widely seen as the weakest link among Europe’s large banks, according to Kenningham.
The company has been plagued by a series of missteps and compliance failures in recent years that cost it billions
|
and led to several overhauls of top management. And over the past decade, the Swiss bank has been hit with fines and penalties related to tax evasion, misplaced bets and other issues.
In 2014, Credit Suisse pleaded guilty to federal charges that it illegally allowed some U.S. clients to evade their taxes. The bank paid a total of $2.6 billion to the federal government and New York financial regulators as part of the settlement.
The bank’s reputation was damaged by an accounting scandal at Luckin Coffee. Credit Suisse acted as an underwriter when the company went public on the Nasdaq in 2019. The Chinese firm was pulled off the US exchange after it fraudulently inflated sales.
In 2020, Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam resigned after two high-profile spying scandals involving top bank officials.
A year later, the collapse of the US hedge fund Archegos Capital cost Credit Suisse $5.5 billion and damaged the bank. An independent external investigation later found that Credit Suisse allowed Archegos Capital to take “voracious” and “potentially catastrophic” risks that culminated in the US hedge fund’s spectacular collapse.
In 2022, the bank was hit by social media speculation that it was on the brink of collapse, leading customers to withdraw billions of dollars. That has made profitability a near impossibility for the bank, which has been hemorrhaging money for years.
And last month, Credit Suisse’s stock plunged to record lows after it posted its biggest annual loss since the financial crisis in 2008 and a report surfaced that regulators were reviewing comments the lender’s chairman made about the health of its finances.
What’s next for Credit Suisse?
The lifeline from the Swiss National Bank could buy time for Credit Suisse to restore confidence and push on with restructuring plans that include carving out investment banking into an independent US-based business and focusing on Switzerland as well as on managing money for wealthy clients.
But Credit Suisse may not be out of the woods yet.
JPMorgan’s banking analysts said the liquidity support offered by the Swiss central bank would not be sufficient, given “ongoing market confidence issues” with Credit Suisse’s investment banking plans and the erosion of the bank’s franchise.
“In our view, status quo is no longer an option as counterparty concerns are starting to emerge as reflected by credit/equity markets weakness,” they wrote in a research note Thursday, adding that a takeover — most likely by bigger Swiss rival UBS — was the most likely endgame.
CNN’s Mark Thompson and Anna Cooban contributed to this article.
|
Return to Transcripts main page
Cyclone Gabrielle Hits New Zealand; Ohio Toxic Train Spill. Aired 4- 4:10a ET
Aired February 17, 2023 - 04:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello, lovely people. You made it. The weekend is upon us. Friday is here and Friday`s rock, especially this Friday because
we`re headed into a three-day weekend.
We have a lot of news to get through today, so not a lot of time to do it. Let`s get to it.
We`re going to begin with the latest out of New Zealand where the country just declared a national state of emergency.
Cyclone Gabrielle hit New Zealand with wind and rain, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes in the area. The wind gusts were greater than 87
miles per hour, waves were close to 36 feet high. When we recorded this show the storm had killed at least five people and caused widespread
Police in the area say they remain focused on locating those people that are unaccounted for. What exactly is a cyclone? Let`s break it down.
Cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons are essentially the same, with only the location of the storm determining what we call it. For example, the only
difference between a hurricane and a typhoon is that typhoons happen in the Western and North Pacific waters, while hurricanes occur in the Eastern and
North Pacific and the North Atlantic Basin.
That`s why whenever we talk about these types of storms in the U.S., it`s almost always a hurricane. Cyclones happen only in the Indian Ocean and the
South Pacific. We`ll keep you updated as news unfold surrounding the cyclone in New Zealand as the worst of the weather looks to have passed
significant and potentially life-threatening challenges remain.
Next story today, earlier this month, a Norfolk Southern train which was carrying toxic chemicals at the time derailed from the tracks and crashed
in eastern Ohio. Now, the derailment ignited the hazardous chemicals on board, covering the town of East Palestine with smoke. Authorities created
an evacuation zone around the crash and fearing a major explosion performed a controlled release of the chemicals.
Weeks later, residents have been encouraged to return home, but there are lots of questions about just how harmful exposure to these chemicals could
be. The plumes of smoke from the explosion carry the hazardous material into the air and water to which residents would be exposed.
With all eyes on Ohio, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator otherwise known as EPA, Michael Regan, visited the region on
Thursday to assess the ongoing response and hear from impacted residents.
Here`s CNN`s national correspondent Jason Carroll who`s been on the ground in Ohio for the last few days covering this story for us.
DR. BRUCE VANDERHOOF, DIRECTOR, OHIO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: We are strongly recommending those who have not yet had their water source checked to use
bottled water. And bottled water is being made available.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than a week after a toxic train derailment that led to the evacuation of much of this
small Ohio town, state health officials are urging some East Palestine residents to drink bottled water until water tests are complete.
Officials say the toxic spill was largely contained the day after the derailment and that tests have shown the air quality is safe.
But they have found low levels of contaminants in four nearby waterways spanning seven and a half miles, including Leslie Run, a creek which runs
through East Palestine and neighboring Negli (ph), right through the back of Kathy Reese`s (ph) property.
(on camera): In the back of your property back here, they found dead fish?
KATHY REESE (ph), EAST PALESTINE RESIDENT: Yes, they saw dead fish.
CARROLL: Reese says she has been drinking bottled water instead of well water ever since she started spotting dead fish in the creek following the
derailment. She says she`s still waiting for the state to come and test her well water.
REESE: Air wise, I feel OK. Water wise, no. No. There`s just too many chemicals and stuff that were spilled that they still don`t want to
CARROLL: An Ohio Department of Natural Resources official estimates some 3,500 fish in the state have died following the train derailment. These
people saw the flames from their homes and worried their neighborhood still may not be safe.
What about testing water or ground?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I get that I don`t recommend you put anything in the ground. I mean, vegetables or tomatoes or anything this year because we
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t think they`re going to do enough.
CARROLL: And some residents say they have been frustrated by what they describe as a lack of communication with officials on the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We pass all of the creeks and there`s crew after crew with white hoses and black hoses all through the creeks, they`re not
telling us why, and this is daily. I`m driving my children to school past all of this and they`re asking me questions that I don`t have answers to.
CARROLL: Some of their questions unanswered. We found getting information just as challenging.
OK, just tell me, are they pumping water out or pumping water back in?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can talk to the guys up in top of the hill, sir. We`re just grunts.
CARROLL: We`re just trying to get a sense of what those pumps are. Can just -- someone just --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Norfolk Southern can tell you everything. That`s the hotline. They can tell you everything.
CARROLL: But you realize people are calling this number and no one is getting back to them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re just told to direct people to that number.
CARROLL: The governor asked by reporters Tuesday if he would feel comfortable living in East Palestine.
GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R), OHIO: I think that I would be drinking the bottled water. And I would be continuing to find out what the tests were showing as
far as the air. I would be alert and concerned, but I think I would probably be back in my house.
CARROLL: But residents like Kathy Reese say they are left with few choices.
REESE: Just, I guess, pray and keep drink a bottled water until we know for sure what`s going on.
WIRE: Ten-second trivia:
Which of these is the most visited urban park in the U.S.?
Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, D.C.`s National Mall, Central Park in New York or the Lincoln Park in Chicago.
With 40 million annual visitors, Central Park is the most visited city park in the U.S.
The park is also home to a wide range of wildlife as you can imagine but a newcomer is getting most of the attention right now. Flaco, the owl,
escaped from the Central Park Zoo and is at large and on the loose in the park. The rare Eurasian eagle owl escaped his enclosure on February 2nd,
and since then, zoo officials have kept an eye on the bird which has become a bit of a celebrity.
While Flaco seems to be adapting well to the wild, there are some concerns over how he might adapt to that New York City lifestyle.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): There`s a new star in Central Park and he`s right out of central casting. Lately, bird watchers only have
eyes for owls. And some fans on David Barrett`s burger blog are saying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let Flaco be free.
MOOS: In the beginning of February Flaco escaped from his exhibit at the Central Park Zoo after someone cut through the stainless steel mesh. His
enclosure didn`t have room to do much flying.
In his first night of freedom, the NYPD almost corralled him on a Fifth Avenue sidewalk. "Well, that was a hoot," the NYPD tweeted when the owl
EDMUND BERRY, BIRDER EYEWITNESS: I was worried that it wouldn`t be able to fly but it spread its wings and flew to the nearest set of trees.
MOOS: Zoo officials were most worried that Flaco didn`t know how to hunt since he`s always had his meals delivered. They tried to learn them using a
white wrapped in a cage hoping he gets trapped in the wiry filaments on top.
DAVID BARRETT, MANHATTAN BIRD ALERT: The zoo team was rushing with nets to get Flaco but Flaco was too fast.
MOOS: And now fans are snapping photos of Flaco catching his own dinner.
MOOS: Rats on the menu.
Barrett says the owl`s gone from zero hunting skills to decent hunting skills.
BARRETT: That`s just an incredible transformation.
MOOS: He hangs out in Central Park charming New Yorkers with hooting so low it requires subtitles. Like other creatures not native to Central Park,
Flaco the Eurasian Eagle Owl has become one of the select few.
WIRE: All right. I know you are all ready to flee for the weekend like Flaco. Monday is President`s Day. So no show that day.
Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, the U.S. holiday now recognizes all presidents past and
Fairmont, West Virginia, you`re getting the shout out today. East Fairmont Middle School -- rise up, Hornets.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone, and remember you are more powerful than you know. It`s been a blessing to spend this week with you.
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Return to Transcripts main page
Cyclone Gabrielle Hits New Zealand; Ohio Toxic Train Spill. Aired 4- 4:10a ET
Aired February 17, 2023 - 04:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello, lovely people. You made it. The weekend is upon us. Friday is here and Friday`s rock, especially this Friday because
we`re headed into a three-day weekend.
We have a lot of news to get through today, so not a lot of time to do it. Let`s get to it.
We`re going to begin with the latest out of New Zealand where the country just declared a national state of emergency.
Cyclone Gabrielle hit New Zealand with wind and rain, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes in the area. The wind gusts were greater than 87
miles per hour, waves were close to 36 feet high. When we recorded this show the storm had killed at least five people and caused widespread
Police in the area say they remain focused on locating those people that are unaccounted for. What exactly is a cyclone? Let`s break it down.
Cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons are essentially the same, with only the location of the storm determining what we call it. For example, the only
difference between a hurricane and a typhoon is that typhoons happen in the Western and North Pacific waters, while hurricanes occur in the Eastern and
North Pacific and the North Atlantic Basin.
That`s why whenever we talk about these types of storms in the U.S., it`s almost always a hurricane. Cyclones happen only in the Indian Ocean and the
South Pacific. We`ll keep you updated as news unfold surrounding the cyclone in New Zealand as the worst of the weather looks to have passed
significant and potentially life-threatening challenges remain.
Next story today, earlier this month, a Norfolk Southern train which was carrying toxic chemicals at the time derailed from the tracks and crashed
in eastern Ohio. Now, the derailment ignited the hazardous chemicals on board, covering the town of East Palestine with smoke. Authorities created
an evacuation zone around the crash and fearing a major explosion performed a controlled release of the
|
chemicals.
Weeks later, residents have been encouraged to return home, but there are lots of questions about just how harmful exposure to these chemicals could
be. The plumes of smoke from the explosion carry the hazardous material into the air and water to which residents would be exposed.
With all eyes on Ohio, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator otherwise known as EPA, Michael Regan, visited the region on
Thursday to assess the ongoing response and hear from impacted residents.
Here`s CNN`s national correspondent Jason Carroll who`s been on the ground in Ohio for the last few days covering this story for us.
DR. BRUCE VANDERHOOF, DIRECTOR, OHIO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: We are strongly recommending those who have not yet had their water source checked to use
bottled water. And bottled water is being made available.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than a week after a toxic train derailment that led to the evacuation of much of this
small Ohio town, state health officials are urging some East Palestine residents to drink bottled water until water tests are complete.
Officials say the toxic spill was largely contained the day after the derailment and that tests have shown the air quality is safe.
But they have found low levels of contaminants in four nearby waterways spanning seven and a half miles, including Leslie Run, a creek which runs
through East Palestine and neighboring Negli (ph), right through the back of Kathy Reese`s (ph) property.
(on camera): In the back of your property back here, they found dead fish?
KATHY REESE (ph), EAST PALESTINE RESIDENT: Yes, they saw dead fish.
CARROLL: Reese says she has been drinking bottled water instead of well water ever since she started spotting dead fish in the creek following the
derailment. She says she`s still waiting for the state to come and test her well water.
REESE: Air wise, I feel OK. Water wise, no. No. There`s just too many chemicals and stuff that were spilled that they still don`t want to
CARROLL: An Ohio Department of Natural Resources official estimates some 3,500 fish in the state have died following the train derailment. These
people saw the flames from their homes and worried their neighborhood still may not be safe.
What about testing water or ground?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I get that I don`t recommend you put anything in the ground. I mean, vegetables or tomatoes or anything this year because we
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t think they`re going to do enough.
CARROLL: And some residents say they have been frustrated by what they describe as a lack of communication with officials on the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We pass all of the creeks and there`s crew after crew with white hoses and black hoses all through the creeks, they`re not
telling us why, and this is daily. I`m driving my children to school past all of this and they`re asking me questions that I don`t have answers to.
CARROLL: Some of their questions unanswered. We found getting information just as challenging.
OK, just tell me, are they pumping water out or pumping water back in?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can talk to the guys up in top of the hill, sir. We`re just grunts.
CARROLL: We`re just trying to get a sense of what those pumps are. Can just -- someone just --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Norfolk Southern can tell you everything. That`s the hotline. They can tell you everything.
CARROLL: But you realize people are calling this number and no one is getting back to them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re just told to direct people to that number.
CARROLL: The governor asked by reporters Tuesday if he would feel comfortable living in East Palestine.
GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R), OHIO: I think that I would be drinking the bottled water. And I would be continuing to find out what the tests were showing as
far as the air. I would be alert and concerned, but I think I would probably be back in my house.
CARROLL: But residents like Kathy Reese say they are left with few choices.
REESE: Just, I guess, pray and keep drink a bottled water until we know for sure what`s going on.
WIRE: Ten-second trivia:
Which of these is the most visited urban park in the U.S.?
Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, D.C.`s National Mall, Central Park in New York or the Lincoln Park in Chicago.
With 40 million annual visitors, Central Park is the most visited city park in the U.S.
The park is also home to a wide range of wildlife as you can imagine but a newcomer is getting most of the attention right now. Flaco, the owl,
escaped from the Central Park Zoo and is at large and on the loose in the park. The rare Eurasian eagle owl escaped his enclosure on February 2nd,
and since then, zoo officials have kept an eye on the bird which has become a bit of a celebrity.
While Flaco seems to be adapting well to the wild, there are some concerns over how he might adapt to that New York City lifestyle.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): There`s a new star in Central Park and he`s right out of central casting. Lately, bird watchers only have
eyes for owls. And some fans on David Barrett`s burger blog are saying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let Flaco be free.
MOOS: In the beginning of February Flaco escaped from his exhibit at the Central Park Zoo after someone cut through the stainless steel mesh. His
enclosure didn`t have room to do much flying.
In his first night of freedom, the NYPD almost corralled him on a Fifth Avenue sidewalk. "Well, that was a hoot," the NYPD tweeted when the owl
EDMUND BERRY, BIRDER EYEWITNESS: I was worried that it wouldn`t be able to fly but it spread its wings and flew to the nearest set of trees.
MOOS: Zoo officials were most worried that Flaco didn`t know how to hunt since he`s always had his meals delivered. They tried to learn them using a
white wrapped in a cage hoping he gets trapped in the wiry filaments on top.
DAVID BARRETT, MANHATTAN BIRD ALERT: The zoo team was rushing with nets to get Flaco but Flaco was too fast.
MOOS: And now fans are snapping photos of Flaco catching his own dinner.
MOOS: Rats on the menu.
Barrett says the owl`s gone from zero hunting skills to decent hunting skills.
BARRETT: That`s just an incredible transformation.
MOOS: He hangs out in Central Park charming New Yorkers with hooting so low it requires subtitles. Like other creatures not native to Central Park,
Flaco the Eurasian Eagle Owl has become one of the select few.
WIRE: All right. I know you are all ready to flee for the weekend like Flaco. Monday is President`s Day. So no show that day.
Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, the U.S. holiday now recognizes all presidents past and
Fairmont, West Virginia, you`re getting the shout out today. East Fairmont Middle School -- rise up, Hornets.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone, and remember you are more powerful than you know. It`s been a blessing to spend this week with you.
|
How did an inanimate universe become animate? That question has been the cause of wars and the inspiration for artists, painters, writers, and of course, scientists.
More than any other physical observable, life appears akin to a miracle. For many people, perhaps most people alive in the world today, it still is. Yet, at the heart of science is the presumption that natural effects have natural causes. If we accept that life is subject to physical laws, we are obliged to then move from the sacred to the profane. Or at least to the natural.
The conversation, when attempting to address the known unknowns of the universe, would be colossally incomplete if it did not raise what—for most people—are the two most awe-inspiring mysteries of nature: life and consciousness.
While both of these domains are typically in the purview of the biological sciences, nature doesn’t divide itself along the lines of 19th century academic disciplines. The laws of biology are determined by the laws of chemistry, which in turn are determined by the laws of physics. Any fundamental understanding of life will ultimately reflect the workings of these laws as well.
This fact has inspired some outstanding physics minds in the 20th century to ponder the problem of the nature and origin of life, as well as its possible robustness in the universe. Erwin Schrödinger, one of the fathers of quantum mechanics, wrote an influential book in 1946 entitled What is Life?, which inspired a young student, planning to be an ornithologist, to turn instead to genetics. That student, James Watson, later discovered the double helix nature of DNA as the basis for the genetic code of life. (His scientific collaborator, Francis Crick, was trained as a physicist.)
As it turns out, Schrödinger was influenced by Max Delbrück, a physicist who had done seminal work on fundamental physics interactions but later turned his attention to genetics. His work in 1935 on molecular genetics strongly impacted Schrödinger. That work on bacteria and viruses, which won Delbrück the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, was done while he still had a teaching position in physics. He didn’t become a professor of biology until 1947.
In the 21st century, the tools necessary to address the fundamental mysteries associated with the nature and origin of life are likely once again to be found in physics laboratories, and perhaps even astrophysics departments. The questions are too important and too fundamental to be relegated to merely one area of science.
Let’s first consider Schrödinger’s question:
What is life?
While it seems obvious and easy to tell if something is alive, upon more thought, the definition of life becomes particularly slippery. Ultimately, as Justice Steward said when referring to pornography, one seems driven to simply say, “I know it when I see it.”
For example, one might posit the following definition: living systems reproduce faithfully and have an internal metabolism that draws energy from the environment and stores and expends that energy to grow and reproduce.
OK then—is fire alive?
It ticks all these boxes. A forest fire draws energy from the environment. It reproduces, and even somewhat faithfully, depending on the nature of the fire and the availability of combustibles. It certainly has a metabolism, expending energy to grow and reproduce.
But I don’t think anyone would argue a fire is alive, so we need to do better. Here is a definition from Wikipedia: Living organisms are generally thought to be open systems that maintain homeostasis, are composed of cells, have a life cycle, undergo metabolism, can grow, adapt to their environment, respond to stimuli, reproduce and evolve.
This definition is definitely more complete and encompasses living things more closely. Homeostasis refers to the need to maintain biological equilibrium and was first described by the French physiologist Claude Bernard in 1849. In 1920, Walter Bradford Cannon coined the term to describe this biological necessity.
The homeostasis requirement probably rules out fire since fire really doesn’t have a moderating feedback loop to maintain a kind of static equilibrium. Nevertheless, it is quite reasonable to think of life, at least life that respires, as controlled burning. One of the surprising aspects of Earth is that there was no free oxygen early on in the history of the planet. This was fortunate, because the process of oxidation releases energy, just as oxygen is needed to fuel most fires. Had oxygen existed early on, many of life’s raw materials would have oxidized early on, releasing valuable stored energy necessary for the life that now covers our planet to begin, evolve, and grow.
Life exists somewhere between oxidation and fire. Unlike either, it moderates the intake of energy to maintain homeostasis, which is so crucial for survival, and ultimately reproduction.
But, speaking of reproduction, is this essential? What about viruses, like SARS-CoV-2, which has controlled all of our lives over the past few years? Viruses like SARS cannot reproduce on their own. They need to hijack the genetic machinery of other living cells to do so.
While they do not fulfill all the requirements to be alive according to the earlier definition, viruses definitely seem alive to me. They have a strategy that requires them to piggyback on other organisms, but they have hardwired the complex biochemical machinery necessary to reproduce in the environs of other living organisms. Moreover, I don’t like the idea that I have to wear masks and get vaccine injections to protect myself against an inanimate object. So, I say viruses may as well be alive. But I also say that Pluto is a planet…
Alive or not, it is quite possible that viruses helped life evolve into its present form. Some viruses do not have a deleterious effect on their hosts, in which case, we can consider them as symbionts. Ultimately their biochemical features may be incorporated in more complex cells to allow living systems to expand their capabilities.
Perhaps the most famous form of such merging is mitochondria. These are the parts of modern living cells that control the intake and processing of oxygen in respiration. As Lynn Margulis and others first postulated, it is quite likely that mitochondria were autonomous organisms that were assimilated into other cells, enhancing their ability to process energy (respiration allows more than 35 times more energy to be released from the processing of electrons than photosynthesis does).
This is not unlike the more sophisticated assimilation of the Borg collective, for Star Trek fans. The Borg are an advanced civilization that conquer other civilizations, adapting and utilizing the best features of those civilizations into their own biology and technology. The first Eukaryotic cell that engulfed a mitochondrion didn’t have the capacity to say, “Resistance is futile,” but it probably was.
Definitions are useful, but they are not the heart of science (although unfortunately that is the impression that is given all too often in elementary science classes). Science is about processes, about understanding dynamics—and that is what I want to focus on. And while the study of the evolution of diverse life on Earth is a rich and exciting field, involving its own puzzles, this is not where the dominant outstanding questions about life really lie. The big unanswered questions remain: How did life first begin? Is life on Earth unique? Is all life like life on Earth?
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How did an inanimate universe become animate? That question has been the cause of wars and the inspiration for artists, painters, writers, and of course, scientists.
More than any other physical observable, life appears akin to a miracle. For many people, perhaps most people alive in the world today, it still is. Yet, at the heart of science is the presumption that natural effects have natural causes. If we accept that life is subject to physical laws, we are obliged to then move from the sacred to the profane. Or at least to the natural.
The conversation, when attempting to address the known unknowns of the universe, would be colossally incomplete if it did not raise what—for most people—are the two most awe-inspiring mysteries of nature: life and consciousness.
While both of these domains are typically in the purview of the biological sciences, nature doesn’t divide itself along the lines of 19th century academic disciplines. The laws of biology are determined by the laws of chemistry, which in turn are determined by the laws of physics. Any fundamental understanding of life will ultimately reflect the workings of these laws as well.
This fact has inspired some outstanding physics minds in the 20th century to ponder the problem of the nature and origin of life, as well as its possible robustness in the universe. Erwin Schrödinger, one of the fathers of quantum mechanics, wrote an influential book in 1946 entitled What is Life?, which inspired a young student, planning to be an ornithologist, to turn instead to genetics. That student, James Watson, later discovered the double helix nature of DNA as the basis for the genetic code of life. (His scientific collaborator, Francis Crick, was trained as a physicist.)
As it turns out, Schrödinger was influenced by Max Delbrück, a physicist who had done seminal work on fundamental physics interactions but later turned his attention to genetics. His work in 1935 on molecular genetics strongly impacted Schrödinger. That work on bacteria and viruses, which won Delbrück the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, was done while he still had a teaching position in physics. He didn’t become a professor of biology until 1947.
In the 21st century, the tools necessary to address the fundamental mysteries associated with the nature and origin of life are likely once again to be found in physics laboratories, and perhaps even astrophysics departments. The questions are too important and too fundamental
|
to be relegated to merely one area of science.
Let’s first consider Schrödinger’s question:
What is life?
While it seems obvious and easy to tell if something is alive, upon more thought, the definition of life becomes particularly slippery. Ultimately, as Justice Steward said when referring to pornography, one seems driven to simply say, “I know it when I see it.”
For example, one might posit the following definition: living systems reproduce faithfully and have an internal metabolism that draws energy from the environment and stores and expends that energy to grow and reproduce.
OK then—is fire alive?
It ticks all these boxes. A forest fire draws energy from the environment. It reproduces, and even somewhat faithfully, depending on the nature of the fire and the availability of combustibles. It certainly has a metabolism, expending energy to grow and reproduce.
But I don’t think anyone would argue a fire is alive, so we need to do better. Here is a definition from Wikipedia: Living organisms are generally thought to be open systems that maintain homeostasis, are composed of cells, have a life cycle, undergo metabolism, can grow, adapt to their environment, respond to stimuli, reproduce and evolve.
This definition is definitely more complete and encompasses living things more closely. Homeostasis refers to the need to maintain biological equilibrium and was first described by the French physiologist Claude Bernard in 1849. In 1920, Walter Bradford Cannon coined the term to describe this biological necessity.
The homeostasis requirement probably rules out fire since fire really doesn’t have a moderating feedback loop to maintain a kind of static equilibrium. Nevertheless, it is quite reasonable to think of life, at least life that respires, as controlled burning. One of the surprising aspects of Earth is that there was no free oxygen early on in the history of the planet. This was fortunate, because the process of oxidation releases energy, just as oxygen is needed to fuel most fires. Had oxygen existed early on, many of life’s raw materials would have oxidized early on, releasing valuable stored energy necessary for the life that now covers our planet to begin, evolve, and grow.
Life exists somewhere between oxidation and fire. Unlike either, it moderates the intake of energy to maintain homeostasis, which is so crucial for survival, and ultimately reproduction.
But, speaking of reproduction, is this essential? What about viruses, like SARS-CoV-2, which has controlled all of our lives over the past few years? Viruses like SARS cannot reproduce on their own. They need to hijack the genetic machinery of other living cells to do so.
While they do not fulfill all the requirements to be alive according to the earlier definition, viruses definitely seem alive to me. They have a strategy that requires them to piggyback on other organisms, but they have hardwired the complex biochemical machinery necessary to reproduce in the environs of other living organisms. Moreover, I don’t like the idea that I have to wear masks and get vaccine injections to protect myself against an inanimate object. So, I say viruses may as well be alive. But I also say that Pluto is a planet…
Alive or not, it is quite possible that viruses helped life evolve into its present form. Some viruses do not have a deleterious effect on their hosts, in which case, we can consider them as symbionts. Ultimately their biochemical features may be incorporated in more complex cells to allow living systems to expand their capabilities.
Perhaps the most famous form of such merging is mitochondria. These are the parts of modern living cells that control the intake and processing of oxygen in respiration. As Lynn Margulis and others first postulated, it is quite likely that mitochondria were autonomous organisms that were assimilated into other cells, enhancing their ability to process energy (respiration allows more than 35 times more energy to be released from the processing of electrons than photosynthesis does).
This is not unlike the more sophisticated assimilation of the Borg collective, for Star Trek fans. The Borg are an advanced civilization that conquer other civilizations, adapting and utilizing the best features of those civilizations into their own biology and technology. The first Eukaryotic cell that engulfed a mitochondrion didn’t have the capacity to say, “Resistance is futile,” but it probably was.
Definitions are useful, but they are not the heart of science (although unfortunately that is the impression that is given all too often in elementary science classes). Science is about processes, about understanding dynamics—and that is what I want to focus on. And while the study of the evolution of diverse life on Earth is a rich and exciting field, involving its own puzzles, this is not where the dominant outstanding questions about life really lie. The big unanswered questions remain: How did life first begin? Is life on Earth unique? Is all life like life on Earth?
|
As Australia prepares for a hot and dry El Niño summer, a stark reminder of the increasing danger posed by heatwaves in Australia's southern cities may lie ahead.
In cities like Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, where the number of very hot days is set to rise over the coming decades, research shows the risk posed by the heat may be more closely tied to its context rather than the temperature itself.
On average, Melbourne experiences an average of 11 days of extreme heat — defined as those above 35 degrees Celsius — each summer.
But climate change will nudge that figure up to an estimated average of 16 days by 2050.
Environmental economist Tom Longden, from Western Sydney University, said the population's ability to acclimatise to heat was the key to gauging how dangerous a heatwave might be.
"How heatwaves impact people across different parts of Australia will be different simply because of what temperature they're used to," he said.
A 2018 study by Dr Longden found residents of Melbourne and Adelaide were at greater risk of death during extreme heatwaves than residents of Australian cities that experienced more consistent, prolonged heat, with people living in those cities having difficulty acclimatising to the jump in temperature.
Between 2001 and 2015, the study found, Melbourne recorded 1,283 heatwave-related deaths — the highest figure in the country. On a per capita basis, Adelaide recorded the most deaths, with Melbourne recording the second-highest figure.Loading...
"For Melbourne and Adelaide, the heatwaves that were sort of peculiar compared to the prevailing conditions were more deadly," he said.
"What the paper found was that if the three-day average is 7 degrees hotter than the 30-day average, that heatwave was probably going to be more dangerous than other heatwaves where there were prevailing hot temperatures, but people had acclimatised for those hot conditions over the previous 30 days."
Dr Longden's more recent work, which analysed temperature-linked deaths in six different climate zones, found in all but the coldest climate zone — which covered Tasmania and some parts of Victoria — heat-related deaths were more prevalent than those related to cold weather.
He said despite the danger it posed, there was some complacency about heat preparedness in Australia, particularly among the populations of southern cities.
"In the north of Australia, there is the concept of ... that sort of build-up conditions where humidity is really strong, the summer's coming, and behavioural change might need to occur," he said.
"I don't think that really has come into the sort of way of thinking of the more southern cities, where, you know, we sort of take it for granted that we can do business as usual, across all times of the year.
"If you haven't had that lead-up, where you've gotten better acclimatised to heat, a lot of people can still get caught out, because if a heatwave is an abrupt difference in the temperature, then even pretty healthy people will get caught out."
In the intergenerational report put out by the federal government in August mapping out the next 40 years, the long-term effect of rising temperatures associated with climate change on workers and labour productivity was a key focus, with estimates that a global temperature rise of 3 or 4C could result in an economic loss of $135 billion.
Cities pivot to treat heat more like other disasters
Melbourne might have a reputation for grey winters and "four-seasons-in-one-day" weather changes, but heatwaves pose a deadly threat in the Victorian capital.
It's one of the reasons why Melbourne is one of just six cities around the world with dedicated chief heat officers.
Krista Milne and Tiffany Crawford have been in their roles for just under a year and are gearing up for "a very hot summer" ahead.
Ms Crawford said despite extreme heat causing more deaths than many other natural hazards like bushfire and floods, the "lack of visual clues" meant people were slow to recognise its danger.
"With the data reporting on heat, there is a lag," she said.
"People die, but we don't actually get that connection with the actual event."
Ms Milne said the prediction about the number of extreme heat days in the city increasing, on average, to 16 by 2050 was a "conservative estimate".
"Given the extremes that we're experiencing in Europe, the Northern Hemisphere experience this summer, the trends are certainly tracking at the higher end of the scenario, so [those figures] will be reached earlier than that," she said.
In Sydney, the city's chief resilience officer Beck Dawson manages a heat strategy in conjunction with dozens of other councils across the greater metropolitan area.
Over the past five years, the City of Sydney has begun applying the same disaster resilience lens that has been well established for floods, drought and fires to heatwaves.
Ms Dawson said plans were underway to introduce heatwave warnings with a rating system.
She said the city's geography, with its west bordered by the Blue Mountains and east dominated by the harbour and beaches, meant the challenges posed during heatwaves were quite different to those Melbourne faced.
"We have a system where the east of the city, and where the main CBD is, can be up to 10 to sometimes 15 degrees cooler than what's happening in the western part of the city," Ms Dawson said.
"But in general, the trend is exactly the same … with an increasing number of days with very extreme heat."
Opening doors to vulnerable people who face 'huge risk'
Beyond the discomfort many face during summer heatwaves, the effects of prolonged high temperatures on vulnerable groups can be acute.
Council to Homeless Persons CEO Deborah Di Natale told the ABC that a hot, dry summer season presented a "huge risk" to tens of thousands of people who lacked a safe, stable home on any given night.
"The risks to someone sleeping rough or in their vehicle during extreme heat for days — including dehydration, difficulty in regulating their body temperature, and developing heat stress or stroke — can be life threatening," she said.
"And it's not just rough sleepers at risk. There are people in overcrowded, uninsulated or poorly ventilated private rentals or rooming houses that are simply ill-equipped to provide any meaningful relief during periods of extended heat."
Having a plan in place to provide vulnerable community members with access to cool, indoor public spaces and public pools is a key part of Melbourne's heatwave response strategy.
"Making sure that everyone in Melbourne has access to a cool place to go in an extreme heat event is one of the really critical things that we want to enhance this summer," co-chief heat officer Krista Milne said.
"It's about making sure that our community centres and libraries are an inviting place during those events.'
Dr Longden said key to the discussion about the danger posed by heatwaves was people's access to affordable energy and homes equipped to cope with high temperatures.
"Some of the people who will be more vulnerable to heatwaves are those people who either don't have air conditioning, or hesitate to turn it on because of the costliness of that energy bill and that fear of getting a really large bill at the end of the summer," he said.
Mapping cool routes and hot spots
The urban heat island effect means that Melbourne's city centre can be between 3C and 8C hotter than areas on the fringe.
Setting up tools such as a cool routes map and nurturing an urban forest are among the strategies Melbourne has turned to in an attempt to mitigate the effects of heat on residents and those making their way through the city.
The Cool Routes website enables people to plan a journey across Melbourne's centre on foot or bicycle on a map which highlights drinking fountains, green spaces as well as areas where heat tends to concentrate in hot weather.
Ms Milne said the Millennium drought experience served as an impetus to develop the city's urban forest — which includes more than 70,000 trees both along streets and in parks like Carlton Gardens and Fitzroy Gardens.
"We're very fortunate to have a wonderful urban forest that we have been vested with since realising the value of that from a cooling and livability perspective ... since the drought," she said.
"[We] have been investing in enhancing and growing that urban forest since then."
Looking forward to the summer ahead, Dr Longden said it was still "a case of wait and see" but examining the Northern Hemisphere's experience may be useful.
"It is a concern that we've had a few moderate summers, which means that maybe people are going to be a bit more complacent," he said.
"We haven't had those hot summers to remind us of how hot we can get."
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As Australia prepares for a hot and dry El Niño summer, a stark reminder of the increasing danger posed by heatwaves in Australia's southern cities may lie ahead.
In cities like Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, where the number of very hot days is set to rise over the coming decades, research shows the risk posed by the heat may be more closely tied to its context rather than the temperature itself.
On average, Melbourne experiences an average of 11 days of extreme heat — defined as those above 35 degrees Celsius — each summer.
But climate change will nudge that figure up to an estimated average of 16 days by 2050.
Environmental economist Tom Longden, from Western Sydney University, said the population's ability to acclimatise to heat was the key to gauging how dangerous a heatwave might be.
"How heatwaves impact people across different parts of Australia will be different simply because of what temperature they're used to," he said.
A 2018 study by Dr Longden found residents of Melbourne and Adelaide were at greater risk of death during extreme heatwaves than residents of Australian cities that experienced more consistent, prolonged heat, with people living in those cities having difficulty acclimatising to the jump in temperature.
Between 2001 and 2015, the study found, Melbourne recorded 1,283 heatwave-related deaths — the highest figure in the country. On a per capita basis, Adelaide recorded the most deaths, with Melbourne recording the second-highest figure.Loading...
"For Melbourne and Adelaide, the heatwaves that were sort of peculiar compared to the prevailing conditions were more deadly," he said.
"What the paper found was that if the three-day average is 7 degrees hotter than the 30-day average, that heatwave was probably going to be more dangerous than other heatwaves where there were prevailing hot temperatures, but people had acclimatised for those hot conditions over the previous 30 days."
Dr Longden's more recent work, which analysed temperature-linked deaths in six different climate zones, found in all but the coldest climate zone — which covered Tasmania and some parts of Victoria — heat-related deaths were more prevalent than those related to cold weather.
He said despite the danger it posed, there was some complacency about heat preparedness in Australia, particularly among the populations of southern cities.
"In the north of Australia, there is the concept of ... that sort of build-up conditions where humidity is really strong
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, the summer's coming, and behavioural change might need to occur," he said.
"I don't think that really has come into the sort of way of thinking of the more southern cities, where, you know, we sort of take it for granted that we can do business as usual, across all times of the year.
"If you haven't had that lead-up, where you've gotten better acclimatised to heat, a lot of people can still get caught out, because if a heatwave is an abrupt difference in the temperature, then even pretty healthy people will get caught out."
In the intergenerational report put out by the federal government in August mapping out the next 40 years, the long-term effect of rising temperatures associated with climate change on workers and labour productivity was a key focus, with estimates that a global temperature rise of 3 or 4C could result in an economic loss of $135 billion.
Cities pivot to treat heat more like other disasters
Melbourne might have a reputation for grey winters and "four-seasons-in-one-day" weather changes, but heatwaves pose a deadly threat in the Victorian capital.
It's one of the reasons why Melbourne is one of just six cities around the world with dedicated chief heat officers.
Krista Milne and Tiffany Crawford have been in their roles for just under a year and are gearing up for "a very hot summer" ahead.
Ms Crawford said despite extreme heat causing more deaths than many other natural hazards like bushfire and floods, the "lack of visual clues" meant people were slow to recognise its danger.
"With the data reporting on heat, there is a lag," she said.
"People die, but we don't actually get that connection with the actual event."
Ms Milne said the prediction about the number of extreme heat days in the city increasing, on average, to 16 by 2050 was a "conservative estimate".
"Given the extremes that we're experiencing in Europe, the Northern Hemisphere experience this summer, the trends are certainly tracking at the higher end of the scenario, so [those figures] will be reached earlier than that," she said.
In Sydney, the city's chief resilience officer Beck Dawson manages a heat strategy in conjunction with dozens of other councils across the greater metropolitan area.
Over the past five years, the City of Sydney has begun applying the same disaster resilience lens that has been well established for floods, drought and fires to heatwaves.
Ms Dawson said plans were underway to introduce heatwave warnings with a rating system.
She said the city's geography, with its west bordered by the Blue Mountains and east dominated by the harbour and beaches, meant the challenges posed during heatwaves were quite different to those Melbourne faced.
"We have a system where the east of the city, and where the main CBD is, can be up to 10 to sometimes 15 degrees cooler than what's happening in the western part of the city," Ms Dawson said.
"But in general, the trend is exactly the same … with an increasing number of days with very extreme heat."
Opening doors to vulnerable people who face 'huge risk'
Beyond the discomfort many face during summer heatwaves, the effects of prolonged high temperatures on vulnerable groups can be acute.
Council to Homeless Persons CEO Deborah Di Natale told the ABC that a hot, dry summer season presented a "huge risk" to tens of thousands of people who lacked a safe, stable home on any given night.
"The risks to someone sleeping rough or in their vehicle during extreme heat for days — including dehydration, difficulty in regulating their body temperature, and developing heat stress or stroke — can be life threatening," she said.
"And it's not just rough sleepers at risk. There are people in overcrowded, uninsulated or poorly ventilated private rentals or rooming houses that are simply ill-equipped to provide any meaningful relief during periods of extended heat."
Having a plan in place to provide vulnerable community members with access to cool, indoor public spaces and public pools is a key part of Melbourne's heatwave response strategy.
"Making sure that everyone in Melbourne has access to a cool place to go in an extreme heat event is one of the really critical things that we want to enhance this summer," co-chief heat officer Krista Milne said.
"It's about making sure that our community centres and libraries are an inviting place during those events.'
Dr Longden said key to the discussion about the danger posed by heatwaves was people's access to affordable energy and homes equipped to cope with high temperatures.
"Some of the people who will be more vulnerable to heatwaves are those people who either don't have air conditioning, or hesitate to turn it on because of the costliness of that energy bill and that fear of getting a really large bill at the end of the summer," he said.
Mapping cool routes and hot spots
The urban heat island effect means that Melbourne's city centre can be between 3C and 8C hotter than areas on the fringe.
Setting up tools such as a cool routes map and nurturing an urban forest are among the strategies Melbourne has turned to in an attempt to mitigate the effects of heat on residents and those making their way through the city.
The Cool Routes website enables people to plan a journey across Melbourne's centre on foot or bicycle on a map which highlights drinking fountains, green spaces as well as areas where heat tends to concentrate in hot weather.
Ms Milne said the Millennium drought experience served as an impetus to develop the city's urban forest — which includes more than 70,000 trees both along streets and in parks like Carlton Gardens and Fitzroy Gardens.
"We're very fortunate to have a wonderful urban forest that we have been vested with since realising the value of that from a cooling and livability perspective ... since the drought," she said.
"[We] have been investing in enhancing and growing that urban forest since then."
Looking forward to the summer ahead, Dr Longden said it was still "a case of wait and see" but examining the Northern Hemisphere's experience may be useful.
"It is a concern that we've had a few moderate summers, which means that maybe people are going to be a bit more complacent," he said.
"We haven't had those hot summers to remind us of how hot we can get."
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How Does The FRL Unit Work?
The FRL unit, also known as the filter-regulator-lubricator unit, is a critical component in pneumatic systems that helps ensure the smooth operation of pneumatic equipment. The unit filters, regulates and lubricates compressed air to power pneumatic tools and equipment.
The filter component of the FRL unit is responsible for removing impurities and contaminants, such as dust, dirt, and oil, from the compressed air before it enters the equipment. This helps prevent damage to the equipment and ensures a longer lifespan for the tools.
The regulator component maintains a consistent air pressure within the system. By controlling the air pressure, the regulator helps prevent equipment damage and ensures that it operates optimally.
Finally, the lubricator component of the FRL unit applies a controlled amount of oil to the compressed air before it enters the equipment. This helps ensure the equipment operates smoothly and prevents wear and tear on the pneumatic components.
Overall, the filter regulator lubricator unit is an essential part of any pneumatic system, as it helps maintain the integrity and longevity of the equipment. The FRL unit plays a critical role in ensuring the efficient operation of pneumatic systems by filtering, regulating, and lubricating the compressed air that powers the tools.
What Are The Benefits of Having An FRL Unit in Your Car?
The FRL unit combines three critical components to ensure the efficient operation of pneumatic systems: the filter, regulator, and lubricator. Each component has a specific function in the system, and they work together to provide clean, regulated, and lubricated compressed air to power the pneumatic equipment.
The first component, the filter, is responsible for removing impurities and contaminants from the compressed air. The filter typically consists of a porous material, such as a fiber or mesh, that traps particles as the compressed air flows through it. This helps prevent dust, dirt, and oil from entering the equipment, which can cause damage and reduce the lifespan of the tools.
The second component, the regulator, controls the air pressure within the system. The regulator is typically a spring-loaded valve that adjusts the pressure to a predetermined level. By maintaining a consistent air pressure, the regulator helps prevent equipment damage and ensures that it operates optimally.
The third component, the lubricator, applies a controlled amount of oil to the compressed air before it enters the equipment. The lubricator typically consists of a reservoir that holds the oil and a metering device that regulates oil flow into the air stream. This helps ensure the equipment operates smoothly and prevents wear and tear on the pneumatic components.
The FRL unit typically has a specific order of operation, with the compressed air passing through the filter, the regulator, and the lubricator. This ensures the air is clean, regulated, and lubricated before entering the equipment.
Overall, the FRL unit is a critical component in pneumatic systems, as it helps ensure the smooth operation of pneumatic equipment. By filtering, regulating, and lubricating the compressed air that powers the tools, the FRL unit plays a vital role in maintaining the integrity and longevity of the equipment. Proper maintenance and replacement of FRL components are essential to ensuring pneumatic systems’ continued efficiency and reliability.
Are There Any Downsides to Having an FRL Unit in Your Car?
While an FRL unit can provide many benefits to pneumatic systems, there may be some downsides to having an FRL unit in your car.
One potential downside is the added weight and space that the FRL unit requires. This can be a concern in cars, where space and weight are often at a premium. Additionally, the added weight can negatively impact the car’s fuel efficiency, as the engine must work harder to move the additional weight.
Another potential downside is the increased maintenance requirements of the FRL unit. The FRL unit’s filter, regulator, and lubricator components must be regularly inspected, cleaned, and replaced as needed to ensure the efficient operation of the pneumatic system. This can add to the car’s maintenance costs and may require specialized tools or knowledge to perform.
Furthermore, FRL units may only be necessary for some pneumatic systems, particularly those in cars that use pneumatic systems only sparingly. In such cases, an FRL unit’s cost and maintenance requirements may outweigh any potential benefits.
Finally, in some cases, an improperly installed or maintained FRL unit can harm the performance of the pneumatic system. For example, a clogged filter or improperly adjusted regulator can reduce the efficiency of the system and cause damage to the equipment.
Overall, while an FRL unit can provide many benefits to pneumatic systems, there may be some downsides to having an FRL unit in your car. It is essential to carefully consider the specific needs of your pneumatic system and weigh the potential benefits and drawbacks of an FRL unit before installing one in your car.
How Often Should You Get Your FRL Unit Serviced?
Regular maintenance of the FRL unit is crucial to ensuring the efficient operation of pneumatic systems. While the specific service interval may vary depending on the system’s usage, environment, and other factors, there are some general guidelines to follow when determining how often to service the FRL unit.
The filter component of the FRL unit should be inspected and replaced as needed, typically every three to six months. If the system operates in a particularly dusty or dirty environment, the filter may need to be replaced more frequently. A clogged filter can restrict airflow and reduce the efficiency of the pneumatic system.
The regulator component of the FRL unit should be inspected for proper operation and adjusted as needed, typically every six to twelve months. The regulator helps maintain consistent air pressure within the system, which can be critical to the efficient operation of the equipment.
The lubricator component of the FRL unit should be inspected and refilled with oil as needed, typically every six to twelve months. The lubricator helps ensure the equipment operates smoothly and prevents wear and tear on the pneumatic components.
In addition to these routine maintenance tasks, it is also essential to periodically inspect the entire FRL unit for signs of wear or damage. Any damaged or worn components should be replaced promptly to prevent equipment damage or failure.
Ultimately, the frequency of FRL unit service will depend on the specific needs of the pneumatic system. Regular inspections and maintenance can identify potential issues early on and prevent costly equipment damage or downtime.
Where Can I Get My FRL Unit Serviced?
If your FRL unit needs servicing, several options are available. One option is to contact the manufacturer or supplier of the FRL unit. They can provide recommendations for service providers or offer services themselves. Many manufacturers and suppliers also offer maintenance and repair services for their products.
Another option is to contact a pneumatic system maintenance or repair service. These service providers specialize in maintaining and repairing pneumatic systems, including FRL units. They often have the tools and expertise to diagnose and repair issues with FRL units quickly and efficiently.
If you are comfortable performing the maintenance, you can purchase replacement parts and perform the necessary maintenance tasks yourself. However, ensuring you have the proper tools and knowledge to perform the maintenance safely and effectively is important.
Before selecting a service provider, it is essential to research their reputation and experience in servicing FRL units. Look for service providers certified by the manufacturer or with experience working with similar systems. You can also read reviews and ask for references from other customers.
Ultimately, the key to maintaining the efficient operation of your pneumatic system is regular maintenance and inspection of the FRL unit. Whether you choose to perform the maintenance yourself or hire a service provider, proper maintenance of the FRL unit is essential to preventing equipment damage and ensuring the reliable operation of your pneumatic system.
How Much Does it Cost to Get an FRL Unit Serviced?
The cost of servicing an FRL unit can vary depending on several factors, such as the system’s size, the extent of the required maintenance, and your chosen service provider.
If you perform the maintenance yourself, the cost of servicing the FRL unit will be limited to replacement parts and any necessary tools. Replacement filters, regulators, and lubricators can be purchased relatively cheaply, ranging from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars, depending on the specific component.
If you hire a pneumatic system maintenance or repair service to perform the maintenance, the cost will depend on the service provider’s hourly rate and the extent of the required maintenance. Some service providers may offer flat-rate pricing for certain maintenance tasks, while others may charge an hourly rate for all services.
The cost of servicing an FRL unit can also vary depending on the system’s location and accessibility. The cost may be higher if the FRL unit is located in a difficult-to-reach location or requires specialized equipment to service.
Overall, the cost of servicing an FRL unit is generally relatively low compared to replacing damaged equipment or experiencing downtime due to equipment failure. Regular maintenance of the FRL unit can prevent costly equipment damage and improve the overall efficiency and reliability of your pneumatic system.
Suppose you are still determining the cost of servicing your FRL unit. In that case, obtaining quotes from multiple service providers and comparing their pricing and services offered before making a decision is recommended.
How Can I Tell If My FRL Unit Needs to Be Serviced?
Several signs may indicate that your FRL unit needs to be serviced:
- Decreased system performance: If your pneumatic system is not operating as efficiently as it used to, it may be a sign that the FRL unit is malfunctioning. Decreased system performance may include slower operation or reduced power output.
- Air leaks: If you notice air leaking from the FRL unit or any other part of the pneumatic system, it may be a sign of a damaged component that requires service or replacement.
- Dirty or Clogged Filter: If the filter component of the FRL unit is dirty or clogged, it can restrict airflow and reduce the efficiency of the pneumatic system. A clogged filter can also cause damage to downstream components, such as valves and cylinders.
- Inconsistent Air Pressure: If the air pressure within the pneumatic system is fluctuating or inconsistent, it may be a sign that the regulator component of the FRL unit is not functioning correctly.
- Visible Damage or Wear: If any part of the FRL unit appears damaged or worn, such as a cracked housing or corroded component, it should be inspected and repaired or replaced as necessary.
If you notice any of these signs, having the FRL unit inspected and serviced as soon as possible is essential to prevent further damage or downtime. Regular inspections and maintenance can identify potential issues early on and prevent costly equipment damage or downtime.
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How Does The FRL Unit Work?
The FRL unit, also known as the filter-regulator-lubricator unit, is a critical component in pneumatic systems that helps ensure the smooth operation of pneumatic equipment. The unit filters, regulates and lubricates compressed air to power pneumatic tools and equipment.
The filter component of the FRL unit is responsible for removing impurities and contaminants, such as dust, dirt, and oil, from the compressed air before it enters the equipment. This helps prevent damage to the equipment and ensures a longer lifespan for the tools.
The regulator component maintains a consistent air pressure within the system. By controlling the air pressure, the regulator helps prevent equipment damage and ensures that it operates optimally.
Finally, the lubricator component of the FRL unit applies a controlled amount of oil to the compressed air before it enters the equipment. This helps ensure the equipment operates smoothly and prevents wear and tear on the pneumatic components.
Overall, the filter regulator lubricator unit is an essential part of any pneumatic system, as it helps maintain the integrity and longevity of the equipment. The FRL unit plays a critical role in ensuring the efficient operation of pneumatic systems by filtering, regulating, and lubricating the compressed air that powers the tools.
What Are The Benefits of Having An FRL Unit in Your Car?
The FRL unit combines three critical components to ensure the efficient operation of pneumatic systems: the filter, regulator, and lubricator. Each component has a specific function in the system, and they work together to provide clean, regulated, and lubricated compressed air to power the pneumatic equipment.
The first component, the filter, is responsible for removing impurities and contaminants from the compressed air. The filter typically consists of a porous material, such as a fiber or mesh, that traps particles as the compressed air flows through it. This helps prevent dust, dirt, and oil from entering the equipment, which can cause damage and reduce the lifespan of the tools.
The second component, the regulator, controls the air pressure within the system. The regulator is typically a spring-loaded valve that adjusts the pressure to a predetermined level. By maintaining a consistent air pressure, the regulator helps prevent equipment damage and ensures that it operates optimally.
The third component, the lubricator, applies a controlled amount of oil to the compressed air before it enters the equipment. The lubricator typically consists of a reservoir that holds the oil and a metering device that regulates oil flow into the air stream. This helps ensure the equipment operates smoothly and prevents wear and tear on the pneumatic components.
|
The FRL unit typically has a specific order of operation, with the compressed air passing through the filter, the regulator, and the lubricator. This ensures the air is clean, regulated, and lubricated before entering the equipment.
Overall, the FRL unit is a critical component in pneumatic systems, as it helps ensure the smooth operation of pneumatic equipment. By filtering, regulating, and lubricating the compressed air that powers the tools, the FRL unit plays a vital role in maintaining the integrity and longevity of the equipment. Proper maintenance and replacement of FRL components are essential to ensuring pneumatic systems’ continued efficiency and reliability.
Are There Any Downsides to Having an FRL Unit in Your Car?
While an FRL unit can provide many benefits to pneumatic systems, there may be some downsides to having an FRL unit in your car.
One potential downside is the added weight and space that the FRL unit requires. This can be a concern in cars, where space and weight are often at a premium. Additionally, the added weight can negatively impact the car’s fuel efficiency, as the engine must work harder to move the additional weight.
Another potential downside is the increased maintenance requirements of the FRL unit. The FRL unit’s filter, regulator, and lubricator components must be regularly inspected, cleaned, and replaced as needed to ensure the efficient operation of the pneumatic system. This can add to the car’s maintenance costs and may require specialized tools or knowledge to perform.
Furthermore, FRL units may only be necessary for some pneumatic systems, particularly those in cars that use pneumatic systems only sparingly. In such cases, an FRL unit’s cost and maintenance requirements may outweigh any potential benefits.
Finally, in some cases, an improperly installed or maintained FRL unit can harm the performance of the pneumatic system. For example, a clogged filter or improperly adjusted regulator can reduce the efficiency of the system and cause damage to the equipment.
Overall, while an FRL unit can provide many benefits to pneumatic systems, there may be some downsides to having an FRL unit in your car. It is essential to carefully consider the specific needs of your pneumatic system and weigh the potential benefits and drawbacks of an FRL unit before installing one in your car.
How Often Should You Get Your FRL Unit Serviced?
Regular maintenance of the FRL unit is crucial to ensuring the efficient operation of pneumatic systems. While the specific service interval may vary depending on the system’s usage, environment, and other factors, there are some general guidelines to follow when determining how often to service the FRL unit.
The filter component of the FRL unit should be inspected and replaced as needed, typically every three to six months. If the system operates in a particularly dusty or dirty environment, the filter may need to be replaced more frequently. A clogged filter can restrict airflow and reduce the efficiency of the pneumatic system.
The regulator component of the FRL unit should be inspected for proper operation and adjusted as needed, typically every six to twelve months. The regulator helps maintain consistent air pressure within the system, which can be critical to the efficient operation of the equipment.
The lubricator component of the FRL unit should be inspected and refilled with oil as needed, typically every six to twelve months. The lubricator helps ensure the equipment operates smoothly and prevents wear and tear on the pneumatic components.
In addition to these routine maintenance tasks, it is also essential to periodically inspect the entire FRL unit for signs of wear or damage. Any damaged or worn components should be replaced promptly to prevent equipment damage or failure.
Ultimately, the frequency of FRL unit service will depend on the specific needs of the pneumatic system. Regular inspections and maintenance can identify potential issues early on and prevent costly equipment damage or downtime.
Where Can I Get My FRL Unit Serviced?
If your FRL unit needs servicing, several options are available. One option is to contact the manufacturer or supplier of the FRL unit. They can provide recommendations for service providers or offer services themselves. Many manufacturers and suppliers also offer maintenance and repair services for their products.
Another option is to contact a pneumatic system maintenance or repair service. These service providers specialize in maintaining and repairing pneumatic systems, including FRL units. They often have the tools and expertise to diagnose and repair issues with FRL units quickly and efficiently.
If you are comfortable performing the maintenance, you can purchase replacement parts and perform the necessary maintenance tasks yourself. However, ensuring you have the proper tools and knowledge to perform the maintenance safely and effectively is important.
Before selecting a service provider, it is essential to research their reputation and experience in servicing FRL units. Look for service providers certified by the manufacturer or with experience working with similar systems. You can also read reviews and ask for references from other customers.
Ultimately, the key to maintaining the efficient operation of your pneumatic system is regular maintenance and inspection of the FRL unit. Whether you choose to perform the maintenance yourself or hire a service provider, proper maintenance of the FRL unit is essential to preventing equipment damage and ensuring the reliable operation of your pneumatic system.
How Much Does it Cost to Get an FRL Unit Serviced?
The cost of servicing an FRL unit can vary depending on several factors, such as the system’s size, the extent of the required maintenance, and your chosen service provider.
If you perform the maintenance yourself, the cost of servicing the FRL unit will be limited to replacement parts and any necessary tools. Replacement filters, regulators, and lubricators can be purchased relatively cheaply, ranging from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars, depending on the specific component.
If you hire a pneumatic system maintenance or repair service to perform the maintenance, the cost will depend on the service provider’s hourly rate and the extent of the required maintenance. Some service providers may offer flat-rate pricing for certain maintenance tasks, while others may charge an hourly rate for all services.
The cost of servicing an FRL unit can also vary depending on the system’s location and accessibility. The cost may be higher if the FRL unit is located in a difficult-to-reach location or requires specialized equipment to service.
Overall, the cost of servicing an FRL unit is generally relatively low compared to replacing damaged equipment or experiencing downtime due to equipment failure. Regular maintenance of the FRL unit can prevent costly equipment damage and improve the overall efficiency and reliability of your pneumatic system.
Suppose you are still determining the cost of servicing your FRL unit. In that case, obtaining quotes from multiple service providers and comparing their pricing and services offered before making a decision is recommended.
How Can I Tell If My FRL Unit Needs to Be Serviced?
Several signs may indicate that your FRL unit needs to be serviced:
- Decreased system performance: If your pneumatic system is not operating as efficiently as it used to, it may be a sign that the FRL unit is malfunctioning. Decreased system performance may include slower operation or reduced power output.
- Air leaks: If you notice air leaking from the FRL unit or any other part of the pneumatic system, it may be a sign of a damaged component that requires service or replacement.
- Dirty or Clogged Filter: If the filter component of the FRL unit is dirty or clogged, it can restrict airflow and reduce the efficiency of the pneumatic system. A clogged filter can also cause damage to downstream components, such as valves and cylinders.
- Inconsistent Air Pressure: If the air pressure within the pneumatic system is fluctuating or inconsistent, it may be a sign that the regulator component of the FRL unit is not functioning correctly.
- Visible Damage or Wear: If any part of the FRL unit appears damaged or worn, such as a cracked housing or corroded component, it should be inspected and repaired or replaced as necessary.
If you notice any of these signs, having the FRL unit inspected and serviced as soon as possible is essential to prevent further damage or downtime. Regular inspections and maintenance can identify potential issues early on and prevent costly equipment damage or downtime.
|
The Sun is defying forecasts
The Sun's activity is defying forecasts and highlighting how difficult it is to predict the machinations of Earth's nearest star.
Why it matters: Space weather, which is largely driven by the Sun, can shorten the lifespans of satellites, cause radio blackouts and, in extreme solar storms, bring down power grids.
- Predicting and understanding the inner workings of the Sun is key to figuring out how it might behave in the short and long term.
Driving the news: Predictions from 2020 suggested the Sun would reach the peak of its 11-year solar cycle in 2025, and its intensity would be on par with the last cycle.
- But current observations show its activity could now peak as early as 2024.
- The current cycle is also on track to be more extreme, with more solar flares, sunspots and activity than the previous one, though not as big as others on record.
How it works: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) is responsible for predicting and forecasting space weather on any given day.
- The SWPC uses instruments in space and on Earth to gather data about the electrically charged solar plasma constantly emitted by the Sun.
- Sunspots — dark areas on the face of the Sun — can spit out major solar flares that sometimes come with coronal mass ejections (CMEs), bursts of electrically charged plasma that can interfere with satellites, electrical grids and supercharge the auroras.
- If coronal holes — cooler spots in the Sun's atmosphere — rotate into the view of Earth, they can send extremely fast solar winds into our part of space, warping Earth's magnetic fields in the process.
Yes, but: The Sun is extremely complicated and even after decades of study, researchers don't understand exactly how it works.
- "When you see a big sunspot, what's the chance that it's going to erupt and give us a big solar flare and coronal mass ejection?" NASA scientist Alex Young tells Axios. "We don't understand the factors that go into what makes it release its energy."
- Last week, a viral story based on a misinterpreted forecast suggested a large number of people would be able to see the northern lights in the U.S. The forecast also changed dramatically, dashing hopes for a good aurora show.
The intrigue: Forecasters also have trouble predicting what the basic impacts of any given solar storm could be.
- Scientists know the magnetic orientation of a CME determines whether it will strongly interact with Earth's magnetic field, causing potential problems. However, when a CME erupts, scientists aren't able to figure out its magnetic orientation immediately.
- It typically takes a day or so for a CME to travel the 93 million miles to Earth, and scientists today don't have the technology to predict a CME's impact until it reaches the satellites stationed about 1 million miles from our planet.
- "It can take somewhere between 20 minutes to an hour" for a CME to reach Earth from 1 million miles away, Young said, adding that it's enough time for power companies to make some adjustments to protect the grid if needed, but it's not ideal.
What to watch: NOAA is planning to fly two new instruments to space that should help them keep an eye on the Sun in the coming years.
- A Sun-focused instrument is slated to launch on the GOES-U weather satellite next year and another instrument will fly in 2025.
- Eventually, private companies could have a role in providing the data needed to forecast space weather.
- "Maybe the private sector can fly the spacecraft and sell the data to the government in a more cost-efficient way to do business," William Murtagh, the program coordinator for the SWPC tells Axios.
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The Sun is defying forecasts
The Sun's activity is defying forecasts and highlighting how difficult it is to predict the machinations of Earth's nearest star.
Why it matters: Space weather, which is largely driven by the Sun, can shorten the lifespans of satellites, cause radio blackouts and, in extreme solar storms, bring down power grids.
- Predicting and understanding the inner workings of the Sun is key to figuring out how it might behave in the short and long term.
Driving the news: Predictions from 2020 suggested the Sun would reach the peak of its 11-year solar cycle in 2025, and its intensity would be on par with the last cycle.
- But current observations show its activity could now peak as early as 2024.
- The current cycle is also on track to be more extreme, with more solar flares, sunspots and activity than the previous one, though not as big as others on record.
How it works: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) is responsible for predicting and forecasting space weather on any given day.
- The SWPC uses instruments in space and on Earth to gather data about the electrically charged solar plasma constantly emitted by the Sun.
- Sunspots — dark areas on the face of the Sun — can spit out major solar flares that sometimes come with coronal mass ejections (CMEs), bursts of electrically charged plasma that can interfere with satellites, electrical grids and supercharge the auroras.
- If coronal holes — cooler spots in the Sun's atmosphere — rotate into the view of Earth, they can send extremely fast solar winds into our part of space, warping Earth's magnetic fields in the process.
Yes, but: The Sun is extremely complicated and even after decades of study, researchers don't understand exactly how it works.
- "When you see a big sunspot, what's the chance that it's going to erupt and give us a big solar flare and coronal mass ejection?" NASA scientist Alex Young tells Axios. "We don't understand the factors that go into what makes it release its energy."
- Last week, a viral story based on a misinterpreted forecast suggested a large number of people would be able to see the northern lights in the U.S. The forecast also changed dramatically, dashing hopes for a good aurora show.
The intrigue: Forecasters also have trouble predicting what the basic impacts of any given solar storm
|
could be.
- Scientists know the magnetic orientation of a CME determines whether it will strongly interact with Earth's magnetic field, causing potential problems. However, when a CME erupts, scientists aren't able to figure out its magnetic orientation immediately.
- It typically takes a day or so for a CME to travel the 93 million miles to Earth, and scientists today don't have the technology to predict a CME's impact until it reaches the satellites stationed about 1 million miles from our planet.
- "It can take somewhere between 20 minutes to an hour" for a CME to reach Earth from 1 million miles away, Young said, adding that it's enough time for power companies to make some adjustments to protect the grid if needed, but it's not ideal.
What to watch: NOAA is planning to fly two new instruments to space that should help them keep an eye on the Sun in the coming years.
- A Sun-focused instrument is slated to launch on the GOES-U weather satellite next year and another instrument will fly in 2025.
- Eventually, private companies could have a role in providing the data needed to forecast space weather.
- "Maybe the private sector can fly the spacecraft and sell the data to the government in a more cost-efficient way to do business," William Murtagh, the program coordinator for the SWPC tells Axios.
|
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.
A formerly unknown relative of the most iconic of all dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex, has been newly identified, according to a study released Thursday. The revelation adds a new clue that could help paleontologists unravel another step in the evolutionary chain that ended with the massive predatory tyrannosaur, T. rex.
Called Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis, the creature likely roamed Earth up to 7 million years before T. rex emerged. The bones have been dated to 72 million to 73 million years old during the late Campanian-early Maastrichtian Period.
But Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis’ bones were discovered decades before the creature officially got its scientific name. About one-quarter of its fossilized skull was found over the course of the 1980s and early ’90s in an area now known as Elephant Butte, New Mexico. Because of the size of the specimens, the bones were originally categorized by the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science as T. rex, which grew up to 39 feet (12 meters) long and 10 tons in weight.
T. rex vs. its relative
There were two big differences between T. rex and T. mcraeensis.
“The lower jaw in a Tyrannosaurus rex is actually quite robust. Our jaw is obviously big and toothy, but it’s more slender than what we normally see in a Tyrannosaurus rex,” said Anthony R. Fiorillo, coauthor of the study published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. The robust jaw of T. rex meant it “could do whatever it wanted. A more slender jaw, even with the big teeth, means that it would have less bite force.”
The other big difference was that, unlike T. rex, T. mcraeensis didn’t have a prominent ridge over its eyes. Scientists believe T. rex’s ridge was used to help attract mates, much like antlers on deer or elk, said Fiorillo, who is executive director of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science in Albuquerque. In T. mcraeensis, the ridge is much more subtle.
Why go large?
Massive tyrannosaurs probably emerged as an evolutionary adaptation to the availability of large herbivores, the authors wrote. However, exactly why giant plant-eating dinosaurs evolved is still an unexplained mystery, according to the study.
Fiorillo emphasized that it’s a “highly speculative” idea for now, but he added that, unlike the pygmy tyrannosaur found in the Arctic — called Nanuqsaurus hoglundi — T. mcraeensis probably didn’t experience dramatic shifts in temperature and light in southern North America so it was able to continue to grow. Arctic conditions may have played a role in N. hoglundi’s distinctly diminutive size, but in general other tyrannosaurids from the same time period were much smaller than T. mcraeensis.
The research team will now return to the rock formation where the specimen was unearthed to see whether they can find more bones.
“Then, because it’s so big, we need to actually shift some of our investigation to try to understand the paleoecology and environment in which this animal lived so we can begin to understand what was it about New Mexico that was so special that this animal’s adaptation to life was to get big,” Fiorillo said.
A tyrannosaur sleuth
When the lower jaw was first found, there weren’t many T. rex specimens out there, Fiorillo said.
The identity of T. mcraeensis was revealed all these decades later thanks to Sebastian G. Dalman, the study’s first author who is an associate researcher at the museum as well as a paleontological consultant with the Springfield Science Museum in Massachusetts.
While studying the bones starting in 2013, Dalman was the first person to suggest that they “might be something different,” Fiorillo said.
As the largest apex predator of its time, T. rex has had near constant attention from the paleontological community, both professional and amateur, for decades. Fascination with the ferocious giant and outsize roles in popular films such as “King Kong” and “Jurassic Park” have upped the enthusiasm of scientists and amateur fossil hunters alike in their search for more T. rex bones, according to Fiorillo.
|
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Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.
A formerly unknown relative of the most iconic of all dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex, has been newly identified, according to a study released Thursday. The revelation adds a new clue that could help paleontologists unravel another step in the evolutionary chain that ended with the massive predatory tyrannosaur, T. rex.
Called Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis, the creature likely roamed Earth up to 7 million years before T. rex emerged. The bones have been dated to 72 million to 73 million years old during the late Campanian-early Maastrichtian Period.
But Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis’ bones were discovered decades before the creature officially got its scientific name. About one-quarter of its fossilized skull was found over the course of the 1980s and early ’90s in an area now known as Elephant Butte, New Mexico. Because of the size of the specimens, the bones were originally categorized by the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science as T. rex, which grew up to 39 feet (12 meters) long and 10 tons in weight.
T. rex vs. its relative
There were two big differences between T. rex and T. mcraeensis.
“The lower jaw in a Tyrannosaurus rex is actually quite robust. Our jaw is obviously big and toothy, but it’s more slender than what we normally see in a Tyrannosaurus rex,” said Anthony R. Fiorillo, coauthor of the study published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. The robust jaw of T. rex meant it “could do whatever it wanted. A more slender jaw, even with the big teeth, means that it would have less bite force.”
The other big difference was that, unlike T. rex, T. mcraeensis didn’t have a prominent ridge over its eyes. Scientists believe T. rex’s ridge was used to help attract mates, much like antlers on deer or elk, said Fiorillo, who is executive director of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science in Albuquerque. In T. mcraeensis, the ridge is much more subtle.
Why go large?
Massive tyrannosaurs probably emerged as an evolutionary adaptation to the availability of large herbivores, the authors wrote. However, exactly why giant plant-eating dinosaurs evolved is still an unexplained
|
mystery, according to the study.
Fiorillo emphasized that it’s a “highly speculative” idea for now, but he added that, unlike the pygmy tyrannosaur found in the Arctic — called Nanuqsaurus hoglundi — T. mcraeensis probably didn’t experience dramatic shifts in temperature and light in southern North America so it was able to continue to grow. Arctic conditions may have played a role in N. hoglundi’s distinctly diminutive size, but in general other tyrannosaurids from the same time period were much smaller than T. mcraeensis.
The research team will now return to the rock formation where the specimen was unearthed to see whether they can find more bones.
“Then, because it’s so big, we need to actually shift some of our investigation to try to understand the paleoecology and environment in which this animal lived so we can begin to understand what was it about New Mexico that was so special that this animal’s adaptation to life was to get big,” Fiorillo said.
A tyrannosaur sleuth
When the lower jaw was first found, there weren’t many T. rex specimens out there, Fiorillo said.
The identity of T. mcraeensis was revealed all these decades later thanks to Sebastian G. Dalman, the study’s first author who is an associate researcher at the museum as well as a paleontological consultant with the Springfield Science Museum in Massachusetts.
While studying the bones starting in 2013, Dalman was the first person to suggest that they “might be something different,” Fiorillo said.
As the largest apex predator of its time, T. rex has had near constant attention from the paleontological community, both professional and amateur, for decades. Fascination with the ferocious giant and outsize roles in popular films such as “King Kong” and “Jurassic Park” have upped the enthusiasm of scientists and amateur fossil hunters alike in their search for more T. rex bones, according to Fiorillo.
|
A stark warning about West and Central Africa's food crisis
A record high number of Africans are facing severe food insecurity this year, and humanitarian organizations leading hunger alleviation efforts aren't prepared to meet the need, a senior staffer at the United Nations World Food Program told Axios.
The big picture: The burdens of the global food crisis aren't equally distributed worldwide. Countries in West and Central Africa are among those facing disproportionate rates of hunger, as climate change, conflict and rising costs collide.
What they're saying: "What keeps me up at night? I think it's just the fact that we have a looming food insecurity crisis already with us, but clearly [it's] going to get even worse," says Chris Nikoi, regional director of West and Central Africa for the WFP.
- His biggest concern is the "nearly 48 million people in West Africa," who are "going to be severely food insecure" during this year's "lean season."
- "We are totally inadequately resourced," says Nikoi, who is based in Dakar, Senegal. "I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel."
Zoom out: The "lean season" is the annual rainy period extending between harvests that usually runs from June to August.
- It's the peak time of the year when food subsistence stocks are depleted, and the cost of food spikes accordingly, per the World Bank.
- In the Sahel — a semi-arid region which includes parts of Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan and Eritrea — prolonged droughts, rising temperatures, heatwaves and floods are diminishing agricultural production, impacting crops, livestock and water availability.
Yes, but: While climate change exacerbates the harsh conditions across the Sahel — where more than 80% of people rely on agriculture "to survive" — chronic hunger there is rooted in continuous conflict.
- "If you go deeper, climate is a large contributor to why these things have now reached the level they have reached," Nikoi tells Axios.
State of play: Last week's World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington, D.C., included events on the state of climate finance for developing countries, as well as the debt dimension of the global food crisis.
- The question at the core of these meetings isn't so much what needs to be done, but what multilateral financial institutions should be doing and when, Nicole Goldin, nonresident senior fellow at the GeoEconomics Center, writes for the Atlantic Council.
Zoom in: The WFP is asking funders for immediate intervention for West and Central Africa, and the goal is $899 million to last through September. But long-term investment to scale existing climate resilience solutions is also needed, according to Nikoi.
Our thought bubble: If there's no further intervention in the region, it's likely the number of those forced to migrate to nearby countries will climb — which would increase pressure on the food supply in those places.
The bottom line: "We have a clear and present danger ahead of us, that will just create huge, negative consequences for everybody, which we need to avoid. We need to put out the fire," says Nikoi. "But we can't just, every year, come and say there's a fire."
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A stark warning about West and Central Africa's food crisis
A record high number of Africans are facing severe food insecurity this year, and humanitarian organizations leading hunger alleviation efforts aren't prepared to meet the need, a senior staffer at the United Nations World Food Program told Axios.
The big picture: The burdens of the global food crisis aren't equally distributed worldwide. Countries in West and Central Africa are among those facing disproportionate rates of hunger, as climate change, conflict and rising costs collide.
What they're saying: "What keeps me up at night? I think it's just the fact that we have a looming food insecurity crisis already with us, but clearly [it's] going to get even worse," says Chris Nikoi, regional director of West and Central Africa for the WFP.
- His biggest concern is the "nearly 48 million people in West Africa," who are "going to be severely food insecure" during this year's "lean season."
- "We are totally inadequately resourced," says Nikoi, who is based in Dakar, Senegal. "I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel."
Zoom out: The "lean season" is the annual rainy period extending between harvests that usually runs from June to August.
- It's the peak time of the year when food subsistence stocks are depleted, and the cost of food spikes accordingly, per the World Bank.
- In the Sahel — a semi-arid region which includes parts of Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan and Eritrea — prolonged droughts, rising temperatures, heatwaves and floods are diminishing agricultural production, impacting crops, livestock and water availability.
Yes, but: While climate change exacerbates the harsh conditions across the Sahel — where more than 80% of people rely on agriculture "to survive" — chronic hunger there is rooted in continuous conflict.
- "If you go deeper, climate is a large contributor to why these things have now reached the level they have reached," Nikoi tells Axios.
State of play: Last week's World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington, D.C., included events on the state of climate finance for developing countries, as well as the debt dimension of the global food crisis.
- The question at the core of these meetings isn't so much what needs to be done, but what multilateral financial institutions should be doing and when, Nicole Goldin, nonresident senior fellow at the GeoE
|
conomics Center, writes for the Atlantic Council.
Zoom in: The WFP is asking funders for immediate intervention for West and Central Africa, and the goal is $899 million to last through September. But long-term investment to scale existing climate resilience solutions is also needed, according to Nikoi.
Our thought bubble: If there's no further intervention in the region, it's likely the number of those forced to migrate to nearby countries will climb — which would increase pressure on the food supply in those places.
The bottom line: "We have a clear and present danger ahead of us, that will just create huge, negative consequences for everybody, which we need to avoid. We need to put out the fire," says Nikoi. "But we can't just, every year, come and say there's a fire."
|
When Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed a bill this month to legally redefine natural gas as a source of “green energy,” supporters characterized it as the culmination of a grass-roots effort to recognize the Buckeye state’s largest energy source.
But Ohio’s new law is anything but homegrown, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. The Empowerment Alliance, a dark money group with ties to the gas industry, helped Ohio lawmakers push the narrative that the fuel is clean, the documents show. The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, another anonymously funded group, assisted in the effort.
ALEC — a network of state lawmakers, businesses and conservative donors — circulated proposed legislation for Ohio lawmakers and has urged other states to follow suit, according to the documents, which were obtained via a public records request by the Energy and Policy Institute, a group that advocates for renewable energy.
“What the emails reveal is just how closely Ohio lawmakers coordinated with a natural gas industry group on the new law that misleadingly defines methane gas as green energy, as the first step of a plan to introduce similar legislation in multiple states,” said Dave Anderson, policy and communications manager for the Energy and Policy Institute.
Although Ohio Republicans say they are trying to promote their state’s energy industry, critics have called the new law misleading and “Orwellian.” Unlike renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, natural gas and other fossil fuels emit significant amounts of greenhouse gases. Leading scientists have said the world must rapidly phase out fossil fuels to avert the worst consequences of unchecked climate change.
The law also adds to a fierce linguistic debate, one amped up by the recent furor over gas stoves and their health impacts. Climate activists have urged politicians and journalists to stop using the term “natural gas” and instead use the phrase “methane gas,” since its primary component is a powerful planet-warming pollutant.
The debate in Ohio comes as President Biden seeks to halve the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade compared with 2005 levels, a move resisted by the fossil fuel industry on the federal, state and local levels.
Last summer, the documents show, a leader of the Empowerment Alliance emailed Ohio state Sens. George Lang (R) and Mark Romanchuk (R) to share a report from Goldman Sachs on the “importance of natural gas” in North America and globally.
“We are on the right track with natural gas is green energy,” wrote Tom Rastin, who leads the Empowerment Alliance with his wife, Karen Buchwald Wright.
As of last fall, Rastin and his wife were listed in Federal Election Commission filings as executives at Ariel Corporation, a manufacturer of natural gas compressors. The couple also are major Republican donors who have dined with former president Donald Trump. Under their leadership, the alliance spent more than $1 million supporting Ohio Republicans in the 2022 election.
Both lawmakers thanked Rastin for sending the report, with Romanchuk remarking that it highlighted “Ohio’s prominent role” in energy production.
A week later, Lang emailed Rastin from the annual ALEC conference in Atlanta, saying he’d be leaving the convention “with some model legislation to define … that natural gas is clean energy.”
ALEC is known for drafting and disseminating “model” state legislation that tends to advance conservative, pro-business priorities. Several high-profile corporate members, however, have cut ties with the group over what they see as its opposition to climate action, including Google, BP and Facebook.
ALEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. After this story published, however, the group disputed its involvement in the new law.
Joe Trotter, director of ALEC’s energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force, said in an email that all model bills go through a “standard legislative process” that includes “member discussion, deliberation and voting.” The Ohio gas bill, he said, “has not gone through any of those steps at ALEC.”
Lang did not respond to a request for comment. Romanchuk declined to comment through a spokesman.
Anthony Conchel, a spokesman for the Empowerment Alliance (TEA), said in an email that “Natural Gas is Green is not an original TEA idea” and noted that natural gas has lower carbon dioxide emissions than coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, helping the nation reduce some emissions.
“In our view, that is the very definition of green energy,” Conchel said.
‘Guess what? They are clean’
The legislative language that defined gas as green took an unusual path through the Ohio Senate, where it was an amendment to a bill focused on poultry purchases. Dubbed the “chicken bill,” the legislation originally sought to lower the minimum purchasing amount of poultry chicks from six to three.
But at the last minute, Republicans tacked on unrelated amendments aimed at assisting the fossil fuel industry, including another amendment that would make it easier to drill for oil and gas in state parks. By the time the bill reached DeWine’s desk, it was “stuffed” like a chicken, its backers acknowledged.
The final version of the gas amendment stated that “'green energy’ includes energy generated by using natural gas as a resource.” It added that an energy source can be considered green if it “is more sustainable and reliable relative to some fossil fuels,” an apparent reference to gas’s lower emissions than coal.
DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said that, for the governor, the gas amendment was not worth vetoing the entire bill.
“We do understand the criticism of that language,” Tierney said. “That was put in by the General Assembly. It was not a bill pushed by the administration.”
Tierney added that the governor’s office had completed a legal review that found the gas amendment did not tie the new definition of “green energy” to any state funding or regulations.
In addition to circulating the model bill, ALEC helped broadcast a talking point for its proponents: The European Parliament had recently voted to move ahead with a plan to label nuclear power and natural gas as “green” in some circumstances, a response to energy challenges created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Europe has now defined nuclear power and natural gas as clean energy sources of energy. And guess what? They are clean energy sources,” Stephen Moore, a conservative commentator, said on a panel at the ALEC conference, drawing loud applause from the audience.
“So what you need to do in your states is change your renewable energy requirements,” Moore added. “If you don’t get rid of them altogether, you should redefine what clean energy is to include yes, clean nuclear power and yes, natural gas.”
Romanchuk, the author of the amendment that defined gas as green, also looked across the Atlantic for inspiration. In a December email, one of his aides acknowledged that his amendment was “inspired by a European Union vote last summer to classify natural gas as green energy.”
It was not immediately clear if the Europe talking point originated with ALEC or Ohio lawmakers, or whether the ALEC model bill exactly mirrored the gas amendment. But in the emails, one aide to Romanchuk, Adam Landefeld, spelled out the possible benefits to Ohio industries.
The language, he said, could help gas companies in Ohio meet environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing standards. The amendment is an “anti ESG move that will help Gas users in our state,” he wrote.
The Empowerment Alliance, meanwhile, has barely paused to celebrate its victory in Ohio. The group is already targeting other energy-rich states, according to a newsletter with the subject line “Ohio is Red, Gas is Blue, and Green too!” sent to supporters on Friday.
“States like Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia are top energy producing states,” the group wrote in the newsletter. “They should follow suit, encouraging their local and state lawmakers to enact similar legislation.”
The Empowerment Alliance is also urging more officials to sign its “Declaration of Energy Independence,” which states that “affordable, clean and abundant energy is the birthright of every American.” So far, nearly 1,200 people have signed, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.).
Sign up for the latest news about climate change, energy and the environment, delivered every Thursday
More on climate change
Understanding our climate: Global warming is a real phenomenon, and weather disasters are undeniably linked to it. As temperatures rise, heat waves are more often sweeping the globe — and parts of the world are becoming too hot to survive.
What can be done? The Post is tracking a variety of climate solutions, as well as the Biden administration’s actions on environmental issues. It can feel overwhelming facing the impacts of climate change, but there are ways to cope with climate anxiety.
Inventive solutions: Some people have built off-the-grid homes from trash to stand up to a changing climate. As seas rise, others are exploring how to harness marine energy.
What about your role in climate change? Our climate coach Michael J. Coren is answering questions about environmental choices in our everyday lives. Submit yours here. You can also sign up for our Climate Coach newsletter.
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When Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed a bill this month to legally redefine natural gas as a source of “green energy,” supporters characterized it as the culmination of a grass-roots effort to recognize the Buckeye state’s largest energy source.
But Ohio’s new law is anything but homegrown, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. The Empowerment Alliance, a dark money group with ties to the gas industry, helped Ohio lawmakers push the narrative that the fuel is clean, the documents show. The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, another anonymously funded group, assisted in the effort.
ALEC — a network of state lawmakers, businesses and conservative donors — circulated proposed legislation for Ohio lawmakers and has urged other states to follow suit, according to the documents, which were obtained via a public records request by the Energy and Policy Institute, a group that advocates for renewable energy.
“What the emails reveal is just how closely Ohio lawmakers coordinated with a natural gas industry group on the new law that misleadingly defines methane gas as green energy, as the first step of a plan to introduce similar legislation in multiple states,” said Dave Anderson, policy and communications manager for the Energy and Policy Institute.
Although Ohio Republicans say they are trying to promote their state’s energy industry, critics have called the new law misleading and “Orwellian.” Unlike renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, natural gas and other fossil fuels emit significant amounts of greenhouse gases. Leading scientists have said the world must rapidly phase out fossil fuels to avert the worst consequences of unchecked climate change.
The law also adds to a fierce linguistic debate, one amped up by the recent furor over gas stoves and their health impacts. Climate activists have urged politicians and journalists to stop using the term “natural gas” and instead use the phrase “methane gas,” since its primary component is a powerful planet-warming pollutant.
The debate in Ohio comes as President Biden seeks to halve the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade compared with 2005 levels, a move resisted by the fossil fuel industry on the federal, state and local levels.
Last summer, the documents show, a leader of the Empowerment Alliance emailed Ohio state Sens. George Lang (R) and Mark Romanchuk (R) to share a report from Goldman Sachs on the “importance of natural gas” in North America and globally.
“We are on the right track with natural gas is green energy
|
,” wrote Tom Rastin, who leads the Empowerment Alliance with his wife, Karen Buchwald Wright.
As of last fall, Rastin and his wife were listed in Federal Election Commission filings as executives at Ariel Corporation, a manufacturer of natural gas compressors. The couple also are major Republican donors who have dined with former president Donald Trump. Under their leadership, the alliance spent more than $1 million supporting Ohio Republicans in the 2022 election.
Both lawmakers thanked Rastin for sending the report, with Romanchuk remarking that it highlighted “Ohio’s prominent role” in energy production.
A week later, Lang emailed Rastin from the annual ALEC conference in Atlanta, saying he’d be leaving the convention “with some model legislation to define … that natural gas is clean energy.”
ALEC is known for drafting and disseminating “model” state legislation that tends to advance conservative, pro-business priorities. Several high-profile corporate members, however, have cut ties with the group over what they see as its opposition to climate action, including Google, BP and Facebook.
ALEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. After this story published, however, the group disputed its involvement in the new law.
Joe Trotter, director of ALEC’s energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force, said in an email that all model bills go through a “standard legislative process” that includes “member discussion, deliberation and voting.” The Ohio gas bill, he said, “has not gone through any of those steps at ALEC.”
Lang did not respond to a request for comment. Romanchuk declined to comment through a spokesman.
Anthony Conchel, a spokesman for the Empowerment Alliance (TEA), said in an email that “Natural Gas is Green is not an original TEA idea” and noted that natural gas has lower carbon dioxide emissions than coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, helping the nation reduce some emissions.
“In our view, that is the very definition of green energy,” Conchel said.
‘Guess what? They are clean’
The legislative language that defined gas as green took an unusual path through the Ohio Senate, where it was an amendment to a bill focused on poultry purchases. Dubbed the “chicken bill,” the legislation originally sought to lower the minimum purchasing amount of poultry chicks from six to three.
But at the last minute, Republicans tacked on unrelated amendments aimed at assisting the fossil fuel industry, including another amendment that would make it easier to drill for oil and gas in state parks. By the time the bill reached DeWine’s desk, it was “stuffed” like a chicken, its backers acknowledged.
The final version of the gas amendment stated that “'green energy’ includes energy generated by using natural gas as a resource.” It added that an energy source can be considered green if it “is more sustainable and reliable relative to some fossil fuels,” an apparent reference to gas’s lower emissions than coal.
DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said that, for the governor, the gas amendment was not worth vetoing the entire bill.
“We do understand the criticism of that language,” Tierney said. “That was put in by the General Assembly. It was not a bill pushed by the administration.”
Tierney added that the governor’s office had completed a legal review that found the gas amendment did not tie the new definition of “green energy” to any state funding or regulations.
In addition to circulating the model bill, ALEC helped broadcast a talking point for its proponents: The European Parliament had recently voted to move ahead with a plan to label nuclear power and natural gas as “green” in some circumstances, a response to energy challenges created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Europe has now defined nuclear power and natural gas as clean energy sources of energy. And guess what? They are clean energy sources,” Stephen Moore, a conservative commentator, said on a panel at the ALEC conference, drawing loud applause from the audience.
“So what you need to do in your states is change your renewable energy requirements,” Moore added. “If you don’t get rid of them altogether, you should redefine what clean energy is to include yes, clean nuclear power and yes, natural gas.”
Romanchuk, the author of the amendment that defined gas as green, also looked across the Atlantic for inspiration. In a December email, one of his aides acknowledged that his amendment was “inspired by a European Union vote last summer to classify natural gas as green energy.”
It was not immediately clear if the Europe talking point originated with ALEC or Ohio lawmakers, or whether the ALEC model bill exactly mirrored the gas amendment. But in the emails, one aide to Romanchuk, Adam Landefeld, spelled out the possible benefits to Ohio industries.
The language, he said, could help gas companies in Ohio meet environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing standards. The amendment is an “anti ESG move that will help Gas users in our state,” he wrote.
The Empowerment Alliance, meanwhile, has barely paused to celebrate its victory in Ohio. The group is already targeting other energy-rich states, according to a newsletter with the subject line “Ohio is Red, Gas is Blue, and Green too!” sent to supporters on Friday.
“States like Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia are top energy producing states,” the group wrote in the newsletter. “They should follow suit, encouraging their local and state lawmakers to enact similar legislation.”
The Empowerment Alliance is also urging more officials to sign its “Declaration of Energy Independence,” which states that “affordable, clean and abundant energy is the birthright of every American.” So far, nearly 1,200 people have signed, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.).
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More on climate change
Understanding our climate: Global warming is a real phenomenon, and weather disasters are undeniably linked to it. As temperatures rise, heat waves are more often sweeping the globe — and parts of the world are becoming too hot to survive.
What can be done? The Post is tracking a variety of climate solutions, as well as the Biden administration’s actions on environmental issues. It can feel overwhelming facing the impacts of climate change, but there are ways to cope with climate anxiety.
Inventive solutions: Some people have built off-the-grid homes from trash to stand up to a changing climate. As seas rise, others are exploring how to harness marine energy.
What about your role in climate change? Our climate coach Michael J. Coren is answering questions about environmental choices in our everyday lives. Submit yours here. You can also sign up for our Climate Coach newsletter.
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#TBT: La Retama Club opened Corpus Christi’s first public library in 1909
The Corpus Christi Public Libraries system started from literal peanuts, thanks to a group of young women known as the La Retama Club.
La Retama was a social and literary club formed by a group of young, unmarried women as an adjunct of the Woman’s Monday Club. The Woman’s Monday Club, for married women, concentrated its efforts on social reform, through issues such as improving literacy, advocating for public sanitation reform and preserving local parks. Most of the La Retama club members were daughters of the Woman’s Monday Club members. The daughters began forming their idea for a club in 1905 and in May 1906 held their first official meeting.
The young women of the La Retama Club decided to focus their efforts on literacy, and around 1908 formed a committee headed by Mary Carroll to begin building a public library for the city. Much of the early history is stored in scrapbooks at the current La Retama Central Library, many put together by Carroll.
The young women’s first successful fundraising event to begin their library venture: a peanut hunt. For 10 cents, children would hunt for peanuts scattered around the school grounds and kept what they found. The hunters also received a glass of lemonade with their ticket and had the chance to bid peanuts on prizes in an auction. The event raised $20 for the library committee.
More:#TBT: The night Corpus Christi's Palace Theatre burned down
Other fundraisers followed, including lemonade stands, chicken dinners and luncheons, concerts and lectures. The women even hosted a Chautauqua — a popular form of entertainment in the early 1900s of traveling lecturers, musicians and performers who put on revues for smaller towns.
In December 1909, the first public library in Corpus Christi opened, the culmination of the La Retama Club’s efforts. The library occupied an upstairs room of the Lovenskiold Building at Peoples and Mesquite streets, owned by dentist Dr. Perry Lovenskiold, who declined to charge the club rent for the use of the room. The library had about 500 books to lend; patrons purchased a library card for $1.50 or a child’s card for $1. Those first years, the library opened twice a week from 2 to 6 p.m., with the club members serving as librarians on a rotation. In 1914, they hired Marie von Blucher as the first paid librarian.
Though they continued the fundraising, the club members also began to rely more heavily on civic groups, private donors and even local government funds to keep the library open. The library closed for a time when a fire broke out in the Lovenskiold Building in 1916 and the books sustained water damage. Then the 1919 hurricane that damaged most of downtown soaked nearly the entire library collection in water, mud and oil. The club saved what books they could by drying them out, then moved the library to the Timon home on Mesquite Street for a time in 1920, then to the State Hotel later in the year.
By 1927, the La Retama Club needed a larger group to run the library, and an agreement was reached with the city government, at the time headed by the club’s old friend and now the mayor, Dr. Lovenskiold. Officials changed the city charter to include funds for a municipal library and paid the La Retama Club $1 for the books and materials. The charter also included the creation of a library advisory board, made up of seven rotating members — two of whom would be La Retama Club members.
The library, which had once more been in the Lovenskiold Building, moved again, this time into a room at City Hall at Peoples and Mesquite streets. As the city grew, space at City Hall grew tight so the decision was made in 1935 to move the library again. The city purchased the W.W. Jones home at 511 S. Upper Broadway, and the La Retama Club lent their support, helping move all the books to the new home.
More:#TBT: Princess Louise Hotel in downtown Corpus Christi sat at water's edge
“It was wonderful — the first time plenty of elbow-room — spacious rooms, plenty of light — many rooms, making it possible to have one for historical items, one for a children’s room, a reference room, etc. — a lovely location. But not yet the dream house, for it was a frame building, and not fireproof, so the idea of a future home was kept alive,” wrote La Retama member Mrs. George Derry in the club’s archives.
The library remained there for 20 years, until once again the growing city moved the library back to the old City Hall building as City Hall relocated to Shoreline Boulevard. In 1956, the Friends of the Library formed, taking on the majority of the fundraising from the La Retama Club, though many of the La Retama members continued to lend their support through the Friends.
Allison Ehrlich writes about things to do in South Texas and has a weekly Throwback Thursday column on local history.
Support local coverage like this by checking out our subscription options and special offers at Caller.com/subscribe.
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#TBT: La Retama Club opened Corpus Christi’s first public library in 1909
The Corpus Christi Public Libraries system started from literal peanuts, thanks to a group of young women known as the La Retama Club.
La Retama was a social and literary club formed by a group of young, unmarried women as an adjunct of the Woman’s Monday Club. The Woman’s Monday Club, for married women, concentrated its efforts on social reform, through issues such as improving literacy, advocating for public sanitation reform and preserving local parks. Most of the La Retama club members were daughters of the Woman’s Monday Club members. The daughters began forming their idea for a club in 1905 and in May 1906 held their first official meeting.
The young women of the La Retama Club decided to focus their efforts on literacy, and around 1908 formed a committee headed by Mary Carroll to begin building a public library for the city. Much of the early history is stored in scrapbooks at the current La Retama Central Library, many put together by Carroll.
The young women’s first successful fundraising event to begin their library venture: a peanut hunt. For 10 cents, children would hunt for peanuts scattered around the school grounds and kept what they found. The hunters also received a glass of lemonade with their ticket and had the chance to bid peanuts on prizes in an auction. The event raised $20 for the library committee.
More:#TBT: The night Corpus Christi's Palace Theatre burned down
Other fundraisers followed, including lemonade stands, chicken dinners and luncheons, concerts and lectures. The women even hosted a Chautauqua — a popular form of entertainment in the early 1900s of traveling lecturers, musicians and performers who put on revues for smaller towns.
In December 1909, the first public library in Corpus Christi opened, the culmination of the La Retama Club’s efforts. The library occupied an upstairs room of the Lovenskiold Building at Peoples and Mesquite streets, owned by dentist Dr. Perry Lovenskiold, who declined to charge the club rent for the use of the room. The library had about 500 books to lend; patrons purchased a library card for $1.50 or a child’s card for $1. Those first years, the library opened twice a week from 2 to 6 p.m., with the club members
|
serving as librarians on a rotation. In 1914, they hired Marie von Blucher as the first paid librarian.
Though they continued the fundraising, the club members also began to rely more heavily on civic groups, private donors and even local government funds to keep the library open. The library closed for a time when a fire broke out in the Lovenskiold Building in 1916 and the books sustained water damage. Then the 1919 hurricane that damaged most of downtown soaked nearly the entire library collection in water, mud and oil. The club saved what books they could by drying them out, then moved the library to the Timon home on Mesquite Street for a time in 1920, then to the State Hotel later in the year.
By 1927, the La Retama Club needed a larger group to run the library, and an agreement was reached with the city government, at the time headed by the club’s old friend and now the mayor, Dr. Lovenskiold. Officials changed the city charter to include funds for a municipal library and paid the La Retama Club $1 for the books and materials. The charter also included the creation of a library advisory board, made up of seven rotating members — two of whom would be La Retama Club members.
The library, which had once more been in the Lovenskiold Building, moved again, this time into a room at City Hall at Peoples and Mesquite streets. As the city grew, space at City Hall grew tight so the decision was made in 1935 to move the library again. The city purchased the W.W. Jones home at 511 S. Upper Broadway, and the La Retama Club lent their support, helping move all the books to the new home.
More:#TBT: Princess Louise Hotel in downtown Corpus Christi sat at water's edge
“It was wonderful — the first time plenty of elbow-room — spacious rooms, plenty of light — many rooms, making it possible to have one for historical items, one for a children’s room, a reference room, etc. — a lovely location. But not yet the dream house, for it was a frame building, and not fireproof, so the idea of a future home was kept alive,” wrote La Retama member Mrs. George Derry in the club’s archives.
The library remained there for 20 years, until once again the growing city moved the library back to the old City Hall building as City Hall relocated to Shoreline Boulevard. In 1956, the Friends of the Library formed, taking on the majority of the fundraising from the La Retama Club, though many of the La Retama members continued to lend their support through the Friends.
Allison Ehrlich writes about things to do in South Texas and has a weekly Throwback Thursday column on local history.
Support local coverage like this by checking out our subscription options and special offers at Caller.com/subscribe.
|
What are the causes of bloating?
As previously stated, bloating is caused by gas buildup in the stomach, resulting in stomach swelling. According to the Cleveland Clinic, certain foods may be more likely to cause bloating. These include the following:
- Salty and processed foods
- Fatty foods, such as fried chicken
- Carbonated drinks
- Foods containing the sweetener high fructose corn syrup
- Dairy products, like milk and ice cream
- High-carb meals
Beyond these specific foods, overeating can cause bloating. This may be especially true of high-carb meals, as excess carbohydrates can cause fluid retention. In some cases, stress and anxiety may lead to bloating, because people may tend to swallow more air when they are anxious. This can cause episodes of bloating.
Symptoms of Bloating
Feeling full is probably the most common symptom of bloating. Other symptoms include:
- Feeling the need to have a bowel movement
- Feeling as if something is stuck inside the stomach
- Discomfort, which may range from mild to intense pain
What are the treatments for bloating?
Most experts agree that bloating typically resolves on its own. You can reduce the occurrence of bloating by eating smaller portions of food and by eating more slowly. It is also helpful to avoid foods that trigger bloating, such as greasy or high-sodium foods.
People who frequently struggle with gassiness and bloating may benefit from giving up habits that increase the amount of air that is swallowed. These include drinking through a straw, sucking on candy, and chewing gum.
While bloating is typically not an indication of a serious problem, if it does not resolve on its own and includes other symptoms, it is time to see a doctor to rule out a medical problem. Some symptoms that may suggest an underlying digestive condition include diarrhea, severe stomach pain, blood in the stool, loss of appetite, unintentional weight loss, or change in the appearance or frequency of bowel movements.
“After having a greasy, salty fast food meal, I feel like my stomach is especially full, and I have a lot of gassiness.”
“Several hours after overeating, my belly sticks out, and I feel as if I have something stuck inside it.”
“Certain foods make my stomach feel uncomfortable, and I have the sensation of needing to have a bowel movement.”
- Q: What can I do to prevent bloating? A: If you experience recurrent episodes of bloating, it may be helpful to track what foods you consume before feeling bloated, so you can eliminate them from your diet. You can also prevent bloating by eating smaller portions and avoiding habits like drinking through a straw or sucking on candy, which may cause you to swallow too much air.
- Q: What is the treatment for bloating? A: Bloating usually goes away on its own and is prevented by eating smaller portions and eliminating trigger foods from the diet. Professional treatment usually is not necessary.
- Q: Is bloating a serious health problem? A: Bloating is usually not a cause for concern, but if it doesn’t go away and is accompanied by symptoms like severe pain, blood in the stool, weight loss, or loss of appetite, it is important to see a doctor to rule out a digestive health problem.
|
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What are the causes of bloating?
As previously stated, bloating is caused by gas buildup in the stomach, resulting in stomach swelling. According to the Cleveland Clinic, certain foods may be more likely to cause bloating. These include the following:
- Salty and processed foods
- Fatty foods, such as fried chicken
- Carbonated drinks
- Foods containing the sweetener high fructose corn syrup
- Dairy products, like milk and ice cream
- High-carb meals
Beyond these specific foods, overeating can cause bloating. This may be especially true of high-carb meals, as excess carbohydrates can cause fluid retention. In some cases, stress and anxiety may lead to bloating, because people may tend to swallow more air when they are anxious. This can cause episodes of bloating.
Symptoms of Bloating
Feeling full is probably the most common symptom of bloating. Other symptoms include:
- Feeling the need to have a bowel movement
- Feeling as if something is stuck inside the stomach
- Discomfort, which may range from mild to intense pain
What are the treatments for bloating?
Most experts agree that bloating typically resolves on its own. You can reduce the occurrence of bloating by eating smaller portions of food and by eating more slowly. It is also helpful to avoid foods that trigger bloating, such as greasy or high-sodium foods.
People who frequently struggle with gassiness and bloating may benefit from giving up habits that increase the amount of air that is swallowed. These include drinking through a straw, sucking on candy, and chewing gum.
While bloating is typically not an indication of a serious problem, if it does not resolve on its own and includes other symptoms, it is time to see a doctor to rule out a medical problem. Some symptoms that may suggest an underlying digestive condition include diarrhea, severe stomach pain, blood in the stool, loss of appetite, unintentional weight loss, or change in the appearance or frequency of bowel movements.
“After having a greasy, salty fast food meal, I feel like my stomach is especially full, and I have a lot of gassiness.”
“Several hours after overeating, my belly sticks out, and I feel as if I have something stuck inside it.”
“Certain foods make my stomach feel uncomfortable, and I have the sensation of needing to have a bowel movement.”
- Q: What can I do to prevent bloating? A: If you experience recurrent episodes of bloating
|
, it may be helpful to track what foods you consume before feeling bloated, so you can eliminate them from your diet. You can also prevent bloating by eating smaller portions and avoiding habits like drinking through a straw or sucking on candy, which may cause you to swallow too much air.
- Q: What is the treatment for bloating? A: Bloating usually goes away on its own and is prevented by eating smaller portions and eliminating trigger foods from the diet. Professional treatment usually is not necessary.
- Q: Is bloating a serious health problem? A: Bloating is usually not a cause for concern, but if it doesn’t go away and is accompanied by symptoms like severe pain, blood in the stool, weight loss, or loss of appetite, it is important to see a doctor to rule out a digestive health problem.
|
Transgender people taking hormone drugs are seven times more likely to suffer a stroke, a study has found.
People taking hormonal treatments while transitioning have also been found to be six times more likely to suffer a heart attack and nearly five times likelier to suffer a pulmonary embolism.
Scientists at Mercy Catholic Medical Center in Darby, Pennsylvania, looked at the health records of more than 21,000 people suffering with gender dysphoria, of whom 1,675 are on hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
The team compared cardiovascular outcomes in people with gender dysphoria who were on HRT with people who have gender dysphoria who were not taking the drugs. There was no increase in the risk of death.
It is thought that the medication people take while transitioning from one gender to another, both for testosterone and oestrogen, increases the risk of developing blood clots - which is likely to be behind the higher risk of strokes and heart attacks.
Men who transition to becoming women take oestrogen during their treatment, known as the female sex hormone. Women transitioning to men take testosterone, the male sex hormone.
These bring about physical changes that make one’s body closer resemble the gender the person identifies with. In transgender men, people who were born biologically female put on more muscle, develop a deeper voice and a more angular face as fat is redistributed.
Transgender women will see breast development, their arms will become less muscular and their strength will diminish, their body hair will thin and grow slower, and their face will become more feminine.
Official census data show there are more than 250,000 transgender people in England and Wales.
Oestrogen is used in some contraceptive pills and also in HRT for women struggling with menopause. The NHS says “HRT tablets can increase your risk of blood clots - but this risk is still small”.
'Risks and benefits'
The NHS also says there is a “small increase in the risk of stroke” if women take HRT tablets before the age of 60.
“It’s all about risks and benefits,” said Dr Ibrahim Ahmed, lead author of the study.
“Starting transitioning is a big part of a person’s life and helping them feel more themselves, but hormone replacement therapy also has a lot of side effects - it’s not a risk-free endeavour.
“Looking at a person’s medical and family history should definitely be part of the screening protocol before they even start hormone replacement therapy.
“It is also important that people considering this therapy are made aware of all the risks.”
Previous studies on the contraceptive pill and HRT in menopause have found the manner in which the medication has been administered affects the risk of blood clots.
For example, the NHS states that HRT patches or gels have no increased blood clot risk, while HRT tablets do increase the risk - but the overall likelihood is still low.
The Pennsylvania study did not examine this issue, however. Dr Ahmed said: “I’m curious to see if the method of administration alters the outcomes.
“Is one way of giving hormone replacement therapy better or associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular outcomes? If so, then that should be the focus for how we give these patients their hormone replacement therapy going forward.”
The results were presented at the American College of Cardiology’s annual conference on Thursday.
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Transgender people taking hormone drugs are seven times more likely to suffer a stroke, a study has found.
People taking hormonal treatments while transitioning have also been found to be six times more likely to suffer a heart attack and nearly five times likelier to suffer a pulmonary embolism.
Scientists at Mercy Catholic Medical Center in Darby, Pennsylvania, looked at the health records of more than 21,000 people suffering with gender dysphoria, of whom 1,675 are on hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
The team compared cardiovascular outcomes in people with gender dysphoria who were on HRT with people who have gender dysphoria who were not taking the drugs. There was no increase in the risk of death.
It is thought that the medication people take while transitioning from one gender to another, both for testosterone and oestrogen, increases the risk of developing blood clots - which is likely to be behind the higher risk of strokes and heart attacks.
Men who transition to becoming women take oestrogen during their treatment, known as the female sex hormone. Women transitioning to men take testosterone, the male sex hormone.
These bring about physical changes that make one’s body closer resemble the gender the person identifies with. In transgender men, people who were born biologically female put on more muscle, develop a deeper voice and a more angular face as fat is redistributed.
Transgender women will see breast development, their arms will become less muscular and their strength will diminish, their body hair will thin and grow slower, and their face will become more feminine.
Official census data show there are more than 250,000 transgender people in England and Wales.
Oestrogen is used in some contraceptive pills and also in HRT for women struggling with menopause. The NHS says “HRT tablets can increase your risk of blood clots - but this risk is still small”.
'Risks and benefits'
The NHS also says there is a “small increase in the risk of stroke” if women take HRT tablets before the age of 60.
“It’s all about risks and benefits,” said Dr Ibrahim Ahmed, lead author of the study.
“Starting transitioning is a big part of a person’s life and helping them feel more themselves, but hormone replacement therapy also has a lot of side effects - it’s not a risk-free endeavour.
“Looking at a person’s medical and family history should definitely be part of the screening protocol before they even start hormone replacement therapy
|
.
“It is also important that people considering this therapy are made aware of all the risks.”
Previous studies on the contraceptive pill and HRT in menopause have found the manner in which the medication has been administered affects the risk of blood clots.
For example, the NHS states that HRT patches or gels have no increased blood clot risk, while HRT tablets do increase the risk - but the overall likelihood is still low.
The Pennsylvania study did not examine this issue, however. Dr Ahmed said: “I’m curious to see if the method of administration alters the outcomes.
“Is one way of giving hormone replacement therapy better or associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular outcomes? If so, then that should be the focus for how we give these patients their hormone replacement therapy going forward.”
The results were presented at the American College of Cardiology’s annual conference on Thursday.
|
It’s a classic meal for any Australian: fish and chips (fries) by the beach, the dual flavors of vinegar and fresh seafood mixing in your mouth as the crashing of the ocean waves provides a soothing background as you catch up with mates.
Sounds lovely, right? It is. Until you realize that the fish you’re eating isn’t fish... it could be an endangered shark species. That puts a damper on the mood! Scientists have rung the alarm bell for sharks for years now, citing overfishing as the biggest threat these animals face - a study in 2021 declared that one-third of chondrichthyans (the sharks, rays, skates, and chimaeras) are threatened with extinction globally. And a new study just recently showed that nearly two-thirds of coral reef shark and ray species worldwide are threatened with extinction. So why is endangered shark meat being sold as ‘flake’ fillets in some fish and chip shops in South Australia, as new research has revealed.
The seafood industry is grappling with an increasing issue of food fraud, which includes a lack of confidence in the authenticity and provenance of seafood products coupled with complex and obscure supply chains. Sharks make up a small percentage of overall seafood trading. Across the globe, they are fished for their meat, fins (e.g. shark fin soup), liver oil, cartilage (for medicinal purposes), and skin (for leather). There are several shark species traded in Australia using the generic name 'flake.' However, this ambiguous nomenclature can also complicate regulatory agencies' understanding of what species are being traded. As the authors of the new study point out, the use of the commercial label flake has been recommended by the Australian Fish Names Standards (AFNS) AS SSA 5300 to only include gummy shark (Mustelus antarcticus) and New Zealand rig (Mustelus lenticulatus), both of which have sustainable populations for fishing.
“However, the use of AFNS is not mandatory in Australia, and this creates the risk of multiple species of shark being sold under the umbrella label of flake,” they explain. “Ultimately, the lack of clear national guidelines or labelling laws that safeguard authenticity and compliance on the sale of shark meat (e.g., show species or origin of catch) potentially opens the door to fraudulent practices.” Since this dish plays an important role in Asustralian beach culture and traditional fish and chip sales, a team of researchers from the University of Adelaide analyzed the DNA of fish fillets from more than 100 retailers in Adelaide and regional South Australia to find out what kind of fish was being sold.
“Only 27 per cent of all samples were identified as gummy shark (Mustelus antarcticus), a species that has a sustainable population, and is one of only two species that is recommended to be labelled as flake in Australia,” first author Ashleigh Sharrad told 9 News. According to the study published in the journal Food Control, at least nine species were identified, including some species that are not found in Australian waters. A total of four species, including the CITES Appendix II listed short-fin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) and smooth hammerhead (Sphyrna zygaena), were listed.
Only 11% of the samples and shops identified the species correctly, another 20% were mislabelled, and the remaining had only ambiguous labels. But are the shop owners to blame? “It is important to note that while a broad variety of species are being sold as flake, smaller retailers can't be accused of mislabelling because they are most likely unaware when they purchase bulk, processed or frozen fish fillets,” Sharrad said. “Our results highlight the need for clearer national guidelines or labelling laws for shark fillets.”
Despite the frustration of scientists who work to protect these animals, the study shows DNA barcoding is an effective means of testing ambiguous labels on shark meat products. By doing so, policy, management, and compliance efforts can mitigate mislabelling, empowering consumers to make informed choices and promote sustainable fishing. In addition to threatening the conservation of species, food fraud also is potentially damaging human health and the economy. Seafood is one of the top food allergens and anaphylactic and systemic immunological reactions can result from accidental allergic exposure to seafood due to mislabeling of species. And according to a study conducted in 2020, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing costs the global economy US$26-50 billion since it accounts for as much as 55% of product sold in some countries. Some companies and countries are turning to blockchain while others have adopted DNA tissue sampling and barcoding to make sure their products are what they’re supposed to be.
“This is the key to building trust across the supply chain, boosting demand for local, sustainable catch and importantly, empowering consumers and retailers to make informed choices,” Sharrad said. Want to make sure your seafood is sustainably caught? Consumers in Australia can download the GoodFish Australia app on their phones while those in the USA can use the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch app.
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It’s a classic meal for any Australian: fish and chips (fries) by the beach, the dual flavors of vinegar and fresh seafood mixing in your mouth as the crashing of the ocean waves provides a soothing background as you catch up with mates.
Sounds lovely, right? It is. Until you realize that the fish you’re eating isn’t fish... it could be an endangered shark species. That puts a damper on the mood! Scientists have rung the alarm bell for sharks for years now, citing overfishing as the biggest threat these animals face - a study in 2021 declared that one-third of chondrichthyans (the sharks, rays, skates, and chimaeras) are threatened with extinction globally. And a new study just recently showed that nearly two-thirds of coral reef shark and ray species worldwide are threatened with extinction. So why is endangered shark meat being sold as ‘flake’ fillets in some fish and chip shops in South Australia, as new research has revealed.
The seafood industry is grappling with an increasing issue of food fraud, which includes a lack of confidence in the authenticity and provenance of seafood products coupled with complex and obscure supply chains. Sharks make up a small percentage of overall seafood trading. Across the globe, they are fished for their meat, fins (e.g. shark fin soup), liver oil, cartilage (for medicinal purposes), and skin (for leather). There are several shark species traded in Australia using the generic name 'flake.' However, this ambiguous nomenclature can also complicate regulatory agencies' understanding of what species are being traded. As the authors of the new study point out, the use of the commercial label flake has been recommended by the Australian Fish Names Standards (AFNS) AS SSA 5300 to only include gummy shark (Mustelus antarcticus) and New Zealand rig (Mustelus lenticulatus), both of which have sustainable populations for fishing.
“However, the use of AFNS is not mandatory in Australia, and this creates the risk of multiple species of shark being sold under the umbrella label of flake,” they explain. “Ultimately, the lack of clear national guidelines or labelling laws that safeguard authenticity and compliance on the sale of shark meat (e.g., show species or origin of catch) potentially opens the door to fraudulent practices.” Since this dish plays an important role in Asustralian beach culture and traditional fish and chip sales, a team of
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researchers from the University of Adelaide analyzed the DNA of fish fillets from more than 100 retailers in Adelaide and regional South Australia to find out what kind of fish was being sold.
“Only 27 per cent of all samples were identified as gummy shark (Mustelus antarcticus), a species that has a sustainable population, and is one of only two species that is recommended to be labelled as flake in Australia,” first author Ashleigh Sharrad told 9 News. According to the study published in the journal Food Control, at least nine species were identified, including some species that are not found in Australian waters. A total of four species, including the CITES Appendix II listed short-fin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) and smooth hammerhead (Sphyrna zygaena), were listed.
Only 11% of the samples and shops identified the species correctly, another 20% were mislabelled, and the remaining had only ambiguous labels. But are the shop owners to blame? “It is important to note that while a broad variety of species are being sold as flake, smaller retailers can't be accused of mislabelling because they are most likely unaware when they purchase bulk, processed or frozen fish fillets,” Sharrad said. “Our results highlight the need for clearer national guidelines or labelling laws for shark fillets.”
Despite the frustration of scientists who work to protect these animals, the study shows DNA barcoding is an effective means of testing ambiguous labels on shark meat products. By doing so, policy, management, and compliance efforts can mitigate mislabelling, empowering consumers to make informed choices and promote sustainable fishing. In addition to threatening the conservation of species, food fraud also is potentially damaging human health and the economy. Seafood is one of the top food allergens and anaphylactic and systemic immunological reactions can result from accidental allergic exposure to seafood due to mislabeling of species. And according to a study conducted in 2020, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing costs the global economy US$26-50 billion since it accounts for as much as 55% of product sold in some countries. Some companies and countries are turning to blockchain while others have adopted DNA tissue sampling and barcoding to make sure their products are what they’re supposed to be.
“This is the key to building trust across the supply chain, boosting demand for local, sustainable catch and importantly, empowering consumers and retailers to make informed choices,” Sharrad said. Want to make sure your seafood is sustainably caught? Consumers in Australia can download the GoodFish Australia app on their phones while those in the USA can use the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch app.
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Rishi Sunak is considering effectively banning smoking for future generations by gradually raising the age at which people can buy cigarettes.
The Prime Minister is looking at steadily increasing the legal smoking age for those born after 2008, meaning they would never be able to purchase a tobacco product in the UK.
It would see Britain follow in the footsteps of New Zealand, which recently introduced similar measures aimed at preventing children from picking up the habit.
Under the new laws, the country’s smoking age of 18 will be raised each year until it applies to the whole population.
Mr Sunak is weighing up a similar set of measures for Britain, The Guardian reported, which would effectively ban anyone born on or after Jan 1 from ever buying cigarettes.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) did not deny that a New Zealand-style policy is on the cards, but it is understood the move is not being actively pursued by Steve Barclay, the Secretary of State.
Labour said earlier this year it would consult on similar measures in order to eradicate smoking by 2030.
‘Curious’ how it will work out
Speaking to the BBC in January, Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said his party would like to see how the New Zealand laws work out.
“I am genuinely curious,” he said. “If we are going to get the NHS back on track, we need to focus on public health.
“I am curious to see where the voters are on this, where the country is and what the appetite is for change. We are going to have to think radically. What the Government has done to the NHS is a disgrace. It is going to take time to fix it and fresh, radical thinking.”
The proposals were floated last year in an independent review commissioned by Sajid Javid, the former health secretary, which called for radical action to reduce smoking rates and make the habit “obsolete” within two decades.
Separately, the Government is looking at adding anti-smoking messages to the inside of cigarette packets to dissuade people from lighting up.
The slips of paper inserted into packs would list benefits from quitting smoking, such as improved breathing and a decreased risk of heart attack.
Still leading cause of death
The idea was included in a new consultation launched last month. Smoking is still the single leading preventable cause of illness and mortality in the UK, resulting in around four per cent of all hospital admissions, according to the DHSC.
A similar approach has been adopted in countries such as Canada, Israel, and Australia.
Ministers are also set to ban disposable vapes, having decided the devices are overwhelmingly targeted at children.
They are often sold in bright colours and with flavours such as “bubble gum”, while in some shops they are positioned by front counters near sweets.
A DHSC spokesman said: “Smoking is a deadly habit – it kills tens of thousands of people each year and places a huge burden on the NHS and the economy.
“We want to encourage more people to quit and meet our ambition to be smoke-free by 2030, which is why we have already taken steps to reduce smoking rates. This includes providing one million smokers in England with free vape kits via our world-first ‘swap to stop’ scheme, launching a voucher scheme to incentivise pregnant women to quit and consulting on mandatory cigarette pack inserts.”
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Rishi Sunak is considering effectively banning smoking for future generations by gradually raising the age at which people can buy cigarettes.
The Prime Minister is looking at steadily increasing the legal smoking age for those born after 2008, meaning they would never be able to purchase a tobacco product in the UK.
It would see Britain follow in the footsteps of New Zealand, which recently introduced similar measures aimed at preventing children from picking up the habit.
Under the new laws, the country’s smoking age of 18 will be raised each year until it applies to the whole population.
Mr Sunak is weighing up a similar set of measures for Britain, The Guardian reported, which would effectively ban anyone born on or after Jan 1 from ever buying cigarettes.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) did not deny that a New Zealand-style policy is on the cards, but it is understood the move is not being actively pursued by Steve Barclay, the Secretary of State.
Labour said earlier this year it would consult on similar measures in order to eradicate smoking by 2030.
‘Curious’ how it will work out
Speaking to the BBC in January, Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said his party would like to see how the New Zealand laws work out.
“I am genuinely curious,” he said. “If we are going to get the NHS back on track, we need to focus on public health.
“I am curious to see where the voters are on this, where the country is and what the appetite is for change. We are going to have to think radically. What the Government has done to the NHS is a disgrace. It is going to take time to fix it and fresh, radical thinking.”
The proposals were floated last year in an independent review commissioned by Sajid Javid, the former health secretary, which called for radical action to reduce smoking rates and make the habit “obsolete” within two decades.
Separately, the Government is looking at adding anti-smoking messages to the inside of cigarette packets to dissuade people from lighting up.
The slips of paper inserted into packs would list benefits from quitting smoking, such as improved breathing and a decreased risk of heart attack.
Still leading cause of death
The idea was included in a new consultation launched last month. Smoking is still the single leading preventable cause of illness and mortality in the UK, resulting in around four per cent of all hospital admissions, according to the DHSC.
A similar approach has been adopted in
|
countries such as Canada, Israel, and Australia.
Ministers are also set to ban disposable vapes, having decided the devices are overwhelmingly targeted at children.
They are often sold in bright colours and with flavours such as “bubble gum”, while in some shops they are positioned by front counters near sweets.
A DHSC spokesman said: “Smoking is a deadly habit – it kills tens of thousands of people each year and places a huge burden on the NHS and the economy.
“We want to encourage more people to quit and meet our ambition to be smoke-free by 2030, which is why we have already taken steps to reduce smoking rates. This includes providing one million smokers in England with free vape kits via our world-first ‘swap to stop’ scheme, launching a voucher scheme to incentivise pregnant women to quit and consulting on mandatory cigarette pack inserts.”
|
How Columbus Zoo is helping Florida's coral reefs
As waters surrounding Florida surge to hot-tub temperatures, animal experts at zoos like ours are playing a key role in saving coral reefs from catastrophic damage.
- Researchers are transporting thousands of corals to tanks on land for protection — and rapid-response facilities are leaning on experts like the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium's Ramon Villaverde to understand corals in captivity.
Why it matters: Reefs provide shelter, food and breeding sites to ocean animals, are integral to tourism and fisheries, and serve as a protective, natural buffer for Florida's coast.
- Keeping corals in tanks is challenging, so practice and research into what works and what doesn't is key to reacting appropriately when a crisis happens.
Flashback: Twenty zoos and aquariums involved with the Florida Reef Tract Rescue Project, including Columbus, have cared for and reproduced Caribbean corals in captivity for years. When conditions are safe, they've also reintroduced some back into the ocean.
- The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and Florida government agencies launched the project in 2018 in response to stony coral tissue loss disease, a lethal threat spreading rapidly throughout the Caribbean.
- AZA members share their knowledge with each other and the wider rescue community, while also preserving a diverse coral gene pool.
- Columbus joined in 2019 and serves as a holding facility for studying the specimens, but Villaverde, the zoo's aquatic projects keeper, says it could help with breeding efforts if needed.
State of play: This year's bleaching due to rising water temperatures illustrates the importance of having a group of experts who understand how to care for corals in captivity to prepare for a variety of threats.
Zoom in: In Columbus, Villaverde tends to 18 coral colonies pulled from Florida years ago, in two 168-gallon fiberglass tubs in a behind-the-scenes area of Discovery Reef.
- Though often mistaken for plants, corals are actually tiny animals related to jellyfish that require specific lighting, food, temperatures and water flow to grow and thrive.
What's next: Villaverde will travel to Florida next week to assist with rescue efforts — he'll be helping facilities set up new coral tanks.
- He has worked in ocean conservation for nearly 30 years and says he's proud to be "a small part of a very big project."
More Columbus stories
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Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Columbus.
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How Columbus Zoo is helping Florida's coral reefs
As waters surrounding Florida surge to hot-tub temperatures, animal experts at zoos like ours are playing a key role in saving coral reefs from catastrophic damage.
- Researchers are transporting thousands of corals to tanks on land for protection — and rapid-response facilities are leaning on experts like the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium's Ramon Villaverde to understand corals in captivity.
Why it matters: Reefs provide shelter, food and breeding sites to ocean animals, are integral to tourism and fisheries, and serve as a protective, natural buffer for Florida's coast.
- Keeping corals in tanks is challenging, so practice and research into what works and what doesn't is key to reacting appropriately when a crisis happens.
Flashback: Twenty zoos and aquariums involved with the Florida Reef Tract Rescue Project, including Columbus, have cared for and reproduced Caribbean corals in captivity for years. When conditions are safe, they've also reintroduced some back into the ocean.
- The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and Florida government agencies launched the project in 2018 in response to stony coral tissue loss disease, a lethal threat spreading rapidly throughout the Caribbean.
- AZA members share their knowledge with each other and the wider rescue community, while also preserving a diverse coral gene pool.
- Columbus joined in 2019 and serves as a holding facility for studying the specimens, but Villaverde, the zoo's aquatic projects keeper, says it could help with breeding efforts if needed.
State of play: This year's bleaching due to rising water temperatures illustrates the importance of having a group of experts who understand how to care for corals in captivity to prepare for a variety of threats.
Zoom in: In Columbus, Villaverde tends to 18 coral colonies pulled from Florida years ago, in two 168-gallon fiberglass tubs in a behind-the-scenes area of Discovery Reef.
- Though often mistaken for plants, corals are actually tiny animals related to jellyfish that require specific lighting, food, temperatures and water flow to grow and thrive.
What's next: Villaverde will travel to Florida next week to assist with rescue efforts — he'll be helping facilities set up new coral tanks.
- He has worked in ocean conservation for nearly 30 years and says he's proud to be "a small part of a very big project."
More Columbus stories
No stories could be found
Get
|
a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Columbus.
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“Do athletes eat too little or too much?”
Many athletes do not fuel their bodies adequately for optimal performance due to the misconception that consuming larger amounts of food will lead to an increase in body weight. While it is true that consuming an excess of calories can result in weight gain, proper nutrition is necessary in order to maximize performance and ensure that the athlete’s body is receiving all the nutrients it needs to properly function. Eating the right foods and in the correct amounts can give an athlete the fuel they need to perform at their best while still maintaining a healthy weight. A balanced diet, along with adequate hydration, is essential for any athlete if they want to reach peak performance and stay fit. By understanding proper nutrition and fueling up sufficiently, athletes can make sure they’re getting the most out of their workouts and maximizing their performance.
It can be difficult to break old habits and work towards a healthier diet, but with dedication and determination an athlete can achieve the results they desire. Consulting a nutritionist or dietician can be helpful in finding new foods that offer the right balance of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. They can also provide guidance in learning portion sizes and meal timing that will help an athlete stay on track with their goals. With the right knowledge and a well-rounded diet, athletes can enjoy optimal performance while still feeling confident about their appearance.
Fueling your body adequately is essential for any athlete who wants to reach their full potential and stay healthy. By understanding proper nutrition and incorporating a balanced diet into their lifestyle, athletes can take advantage of all the benefits that come with giving their body the fuel it needs for peak performance. With dedication and determination, any athlete can be well on their way to reaching their fitness goals. Therefore, if a meal plan is provided to you, follow it and get your workouts done so you can achieve your goals.
• Sports Dietitians Australia (n.d.). Nutrition For Athletes And Active People. Retrieved March 2021, from https://www.sportsdietitians.com.au/factsheets/nutrition-athletes-active-people/
• Mayo Clinic (2021). What Is A Balanced Diet? Retrieved March 2021, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/balanced-diet/art-20045198
• WebMD (2020). Nutrition And Exercise: Eating Right To Perform Your Best. Retrieved March 2021, from https://www.webmd..comcom// ffitnessitness–exexerciseercise//nutritionnutrition–andand–exexerciseercise–eatingeating–rightright–toto–perperformform–youryour–bestbest
• Health Healthlineline ( (20202121).). How How To To Eat Eat For For Athletic Athletic Performance Performance.. Retrieved Retrieved March March 2021 2021,, from from https https://://wwwwww..healthhealthlineline..comcom//nutritionnutrition//howhow–toto–eateat–forfor–athathletleticic–perperformormancencee. .
• United States Department of Agriculture (n.d.). Fueling Your Performance: Eating Right For Sports. Retrieved March 2021, from https://www.choosemyplate.gov/fueling-youricicicic—-performanceperformanceformanceformance
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“Do athletes eat too little or too much?”
Many athletes do not fuel their bodies adequately for optimal performance due to the misconception that consuming larger amounts of food will lead to an increase in body weight. While it is true that consuming an excess of calories can result in weight gain, proper nutrition is necessary in order to maximize performance and ensure that the athlete’s body is receiving all the nutrients it needs to properly function. Eating the right foods and in the correct amounts can give an athlete the fuel they need to perform at their best while still maintaining a healthy weight. A balanced diet, along with adequate hydration, is essential for any athlete if they want to reach peak performance and stay fit. By understanding proper nutrition and fueling up sufficiently, athletes can make sure they’re getting the most out of their workouts and maximizing their performance.
It can be difficult to break old habits and work towards a healthier diet, but with dedication and determination an athlete can achieve the results they desire. Consulting a nutritionist or dietician can be helpful in finding new foods that offer the right balance of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. They can also provide guidance in learning portion sizes and meal timing that will help an athlete stay on track with their goals. With the right knowledge and a well-rounded diet, athletes can enjoy optimal performance while still feeling confident about their appearance.
Fueling your body adequately is essential for any athlete who wants to reach their full potential and stay healthy. By understanding proper nutrition and incorporating a balanced diet into their lifestyle, athletes can take advantage of all the benefits that come with giving their body the fuel it needs for peak performance. With dedication and determination, any athlete can be well on their way to reaching their fitness goals. Therefore, if a meal plan is provided to you, follow it and get your workouts done so you can achieve your goals.
• Sports Dietitians Australia (n.d.). Nutrition For Athletes And Active People. Retrieved March 2021, from https://www.sportsdietitians.com.au/factsheets/nutrition-athletes-active-people/
• Mayo Clinic (2021). What Is A Balanced Diet? Retrieved March 2021, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/balanced-diet/art-20045198
• WebMD (2020). Nutrition And Exercise: Eating Right To Perform Your
|
Best. Retrieved March 2021, from https://www.webmd..comcom// ffitnessitness–exexerciseercise//nutritionnutrition–andand–exexerciseercise–eatingeating–rightright–toto–perperformform–youryour–bestbest
• Health Healthlineline ( (20202121).). How How To To Eat Eat For For Athletic Athletic Performance Performance.. Retrieved Retrieved March March 2021 2021,, from from https https://://wwwwww..healthhealthlineline..comcom//nutritionnutrition//howhow–toto–eateat–forfor–athathletleticic–perperformormancencee. .
• United States Department of Agriculture (n.d.). Fueling Your Performance: Eating Right For Sports. Retrieved March 2021, from https://www.choosemyplate.gov/fueling-youricicicic—-performanceperformanceformanceformance
|
Robert Mauzi, who dedicated a landmark study to the idea of happiness in French literature and philosophy in the 18th century, did not hold back when he talked about the essays and treatises on happiness that flourished at that time: ‘Rien de sincère, rien de neuf, rien de chaleureux, rien où l’on sente l’âme. Toujours la même prédication prudente’ (Nothing sincere, nothing new, nothing heartfelt, nothing soulful. Always the same cautious preaching). Fortunately, there is nothing of the sort in Pietro Verri’s Meditazioni sulla felicità (Meditations on happiness) a short text – no more than 29 pages – inaugurating a season of exceptional vitality in the history of Illuminismo when it was published towards the end of 1763.
Alongside the journal Il Caffè (1764–1766) and above all Beccaria’s On Crimes and Punishments (1764), these meditations constitute one of the manifestoes of what Voltaire termed the ‘École de Milan’. The value of Verri’s work lies in its ability to combine a range of theories and motifs drawn from contemporary debates (Hutcheson, Locke, Helvétius, Maupertuis, La Mettrie, Rousseau, the ‘Preliminary Discourse’ and the early volumes of the Encyclopédie) in an expressive Italian language free of rhetorical flourishes. Verri aimed to integrate the Italian intellectual elite into the European Enlightenment, to guide the action of the Habsburg monarchy and to usher in a new era of reform for the peninsula, or at least for Lombardy under Austrian tutelage.
Verri defined happiness – a concept which had so far been confined, especially in Italy, to the field of moral philosophy or religion – as a political objective, a concrete model of economic development and a regulating principle of social relations. Happiness depends on the capacity of individuals to assimilate the principles of civic virtue: a happy man is an honest man who understands the correlation between the search for individual happiness and the demand for collective felicity, and who tends to satisfy his desires only within the limits imposed by civil and moral laws. Happiness also depends on the capacity of the state to guarantee the rights and freedom of each individual through the establishment of just legislation, and to curb the desire of the strong to dominate the weak, in accordance with the principles of the social contract. In a society that abides by the values of the social contract, the supreme aim of the ‘art of governing’ is therefore to ensure the greatest happiness of the greatest number (‘la maggiore felicità possibile divisa colla maggiore uguaglianza possibile’). Here Verri resorts to Hutcheson’s famous aphorism, which Beccaria in turn took up in On Crimes and Punishments – and whose long European circulation was traced in an important article by Robert Shackleton in 1972.
A strong intellectual kinship and several direct textual echoes united Verri’s Meditations and Beccaria’s treatise, the two writers being close friends and collaborators. It was soon rumoured that both texts were by the same author! One of Beccaria’s most virulent opponents, the Venetian monk Ferdinando Facchinei, was convinced that the Meditations were a new production by that ‘socialist’ (he was the first to use the word in Italian to denigrate a supporter of contractualist theories) and published an annotated reprint of the work to decry it. Facchinei, who also perceived the echoes of utilitarian and materialist thought in both On Crimes and Punishments and the Meditations on happiness, fulminated against ‘the author of these two monstrous twins’, in which he saw ‘the Rousseau of Italy’.
The reception of the Meditations in French-speaking European countries was more benign. In 1765, D’Alembert wrote that he had found the ‘morceau sur Le Bonheur […] plein de raison et de vues philosophiques’ (piece on Happiness […] full of reason and philosophical views). The Vaudois pastor Gabriel Mingard, one of the main contributors of the Yverdon Encyclopédie, published a French translation, Pensées sur le bonheur, in 1766. Pietro Verri’s text, in an elegant edition divided into chapters, enjoyed a second life thanks to this fairly wordy rendition of his spare prose, reaching a wider audience than the one it was initially intended for. But its reception, briefly helped by Beccaria’s growing fame, was soon overshadowed by the triumph of On Crimes and Punishments. Unlike Beccaria’s treatise, which has been widely read and commented on since its publication, from Voltaire to Foucault, Pietro Verri’s text remained little known outside of Italy, and had not been republished in French since Mingard’s original translation. Yet his Meditations on happiness is a valuable document to reconstruct the intellectual genesis of On Crimes and Punishments and to measure Verri’s sensitivity to the words and themes that nourished the intellectual debate of the second half of the century, until the Revolution: humanity, friendship, equality.
To his last legal battles in the Milanese Council, Verri’s political and intellectual career was dedicated to public happiness, which he deemed inseparable from the defence of freedom, rights and the dignity of citizens. However, Verri’s ambition to extend the possibility of happiness to all individuals remained, as it was for many of his contemporaries, counterbalanced by a form of caution as to the possibility for each individual to reach it, in a world deeply marked by inequalities, by the memory or the experience of military devastations, persecutions, massacres, epidemics and natural disasters – let us bear in mind the Lisbon earthquake in 1755. Bronisław Baczko invited us to ‘embrace both the imperative and impatient demand of the Enlightenment to reduce the number and the intensity of the misfortunes suffered by humankind, and its anguished indignation at the persistence of evil, despite the progress of the intellect and the advancement of science and the arts. The irreducible gap between the promises of happiness and the inevitability of evil was measured by the Enlightenment’s obstinate search for the means to reduce it’.
We are the heirs of the Enlightenment’s restlessness. Since the 18th century, our societies have been driven by an ideal of progress based largely on economic growth, industrial development and scientific and technical innovation. That faith is now being shaken by a highly unequal distribution of wealth and access to resources, by the worsening of conflicts, including in Europe, and by the destructive effects of climate change. How can the notion of happiness be founded or rebuilt in this new context? Verri’s Meditations outlined a number of principles for thought and action for us to ponder in order to stem the ‘inevitability of evil’. First of all, if happiness is not to be an empty word but a living constitutional principle, the state must be its custodian for each individual, through its public action; secondly, there is no lasting happiness other than ‘the happiness of the greatest number’, and any unequal society bears the seeds of its own disintegration; finally, there is no other place where we can build happiness than the one that we inhabit, and each one of us is invested with the duty of nurturing it. ‘Le paradis terrestre est où je suis’, wrote Voltaire in Le Mondain (1738 version). This paradise already seemed fragile to Enlightenment thinkers. The challenges of the 21st century invite us to meditate on that lesson from the past: to protect steadfastly both the right to happiness and the place where it can be achieved.
– Pierre Musitelli (École normale supérieure de Paris / ITEM)
R. Mauzi, L’Idée du bonheur dans la littérature et la pensée françaises au XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1965), p.9.
According to Alessandro Verri writing to his brother Pietro from Paris on 13 March 1767, ‘Mons[ieur] Voltaire ha stampato o scritto o detto ad alcuno, non so poi come, che l’École de Milan fait des grands progrès. Così chiama la nostra compagnia’ (P. and A. Verri, Viaggio a Parigi e Londra, 1766-1767: carteggio di Pietro e Alessandro Verri, ed. Gianmarco Gaspari, Milan, 1980, p.361).
P. Verri, Meditazioni sulla felicità (London [Livorno], 1763), p.750 and 751.
‘La massima felicità divisa nel maggior numero’ (Edizione nazionale delle opere di Cesare Beccaria, vol.I, ed. Gianni Francioni, Milan, 1984,p.23).
R. Shackleton, ‘The greatest happiness of the greatest number: the history of Bentham’s phrase’, SVEC, vol.90 (1972), p.1461–82.
‘Mi sembra che l’autore di cotesti due mostruosi gemelli, si sforzi di addivenire, e che sia realmente, il Rousseau dell’Italia’ ([F. Facchinei], Lettera di N. N. al riveritissimo signor A. Z. S. V., in Meditazioni sulla felicità. Con un avviso e con note critiche, [Venice], 1765, p.4).
D’Alembert to Paolo Frisi, 9 July 1765, in C. Beccaria, Dei delitti e delle pene, ed. Franco Venturi (Turin, 1994), p.313.
And has been the object of two recent important translations into French: C. Beccaria, Des délits et des peines, transl. Philippe Audegean (Lyon, 2009); Des délits et des peines, transl. Xavier Tabet and Alessandro Fontana (Paris, 2015).
‘Il nous faut, pour ce faire, embrasser conjointement, dans les Lumières, tant leur exigence, impérative et impatiente, de réduire dans leur nombre comme dans leur intensité les malheurs dont souffre le genre humain, que leur indignation angoissée devant la persistance du mal, malgré l’essor de l’esprit et les progrès des sciences et des arts. L’écart irréductible entre les promesses du bonheur et la fatalité du mal, les Lumières le mesurent à l’aune de leur quête obstinée des moyens censés le réduire’ (B. Baczko, Job, mon ami : promesses du bonheur et fatalité du mal, Paris, 1997, p.12–13).
Reblogged this on fabiosulpizioblog.
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Robert Mauzi, who dedicated a landmark study to the idea of happiness in French literature and philosophy in the 18th century, did not hold back when he talked about the essays and treatises on happiness that flourished at that time: ‘Rien de sincère, rien de neuf, rien de chaleureux, rien où l’on sente l’âme. Toujours la même prédication prudente’ (Nothing sincere, nothing new, nothing heartfelt, nothing soulful. Always the same cautious preaching). Fortunately, there is nothing of the sort in Pietro Verri’s Meditazioni sulla felicità (Meditations on happiness) a short text – no more than 29 pages – inaugurating a season of exceptional vitality in the history of Illuminismo when it was published towards the end of 1763.
Alongside the journal Il Caffè (1764–1766) and above all Beccaria’s On Crimes and Punishments (1764), these meditations constitute one of the manifestoes of what Voltaire termed the ‘École de Milan’. The value of Verri’s work lies in its ability to combine a range of theories and motifs drawn from contemporary debates (Hutcheson, Locke, Helvétius, Maupertuis, La Mettrie, Rousseau, the ‘Preliminary Discourse’ and the early volumes of the Encyclopédie) in an expressive Italian language free of rhetorical flourishes. Verri aimed to integrate the Italian intellectual elite into the European Enlightenment, to guide the action of the Habsburg monarchy and to usher in a new era of reform for the peninsula, or at least for Lombardy under Austrian tutelage.
Verri defined happiness – a concept which had so far been confined, especially in Italy, to the field of moral philosophy or religion – as a political objective, a concrete model of economic development and a regulating principle of social relations. Happiness depends on the capacity of individuals to assimilate the principles of civic virtue: a happy man is an honest man who understands the correlation between the search for individual happiness and the demand for collective felicity, and who tends to satisfy his desires only within the limits imposed by civil and moral laws. Happiness also depends on the capacity of the state to guarantee the rights and freedom of each individual through the establishment of just legislation, and to curb the desire of the strong to dominate the weak, in accordance with the principles of the social contract. In a society that abides by
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the values of the social contract, the supreme aim of the ‘art of governing’ is therefore to ensure the greatest happiness of the greatest number (‘la maggiore felicità possibile divisa colla maggiore uguaglianza possibile’). Here Verri resorts to Hutcheson’s famous aphorism, which Beccaria in turn took up in On Crimes and Punishments – and whose long European circulation was traced in an important article by Robert Shackleton in 1972.
A strong intellectual kinship and several direct textual echoes united Verri’s Meditations and Beccaria’s treatise, the two writers being close friends and collaborators. It was soon rumoured that both texts were by the same author! One of Beccaria’s most virulent opponents, the Venetian monk Ferdinando Facchinei, was convinced that the Meditations were a new production by that ‘socialist’ (he was the first to use the word in Italian to denigrate a supporter of contractualist theories) and published an annotated reprint of the work to decry it. Facchinei, who also perceived the echoes of utilitarian and materialist thought in both On Crimes and Punishments and the Meditations on happiness, fulminated against ‘the author of these two monstrous twins’, in which he saw ‘the Rousseau of Italy’.
The reception of the Meditations in French-speaking European countries was more benign. In 1765, D’Alembert wrote that he had found the ‘morceau sur Le Bonheur […] plein de raison et de vues philosophiques’ (piece on Happiness […] full of reason and philosophical views). The Vaudois pastor Gabriel Mingard, one of the main contributors of the Yverdon Encyclopédie, published a French translation, Pensées sur le bonheur, in 1766. Pietro Verri’s text, in an elegant edition divided into chapters, enjoyed a second life thanks to this fairly wordy rendition of his spare prose, reaching a wider audience than the one it was initially intended for. But its reception, briefly helped by Beccaria’s growing fame, was soon overshadowed by the triumph of On Crimes and Punishments. Unlike Beccaria’s treatise, which has been widely read and commented on since its publication, from Voltaire to Foucault, Pietro Verri’s text remained little known outside of Italy, and had not been republished in French since Mingard’s original translation. Yet his Meditations on happiness is a valuable document to reconstruct the intellectual genesis of On Crimes and Punishments and to measure Verri’s sensitivity to the words and themes that nourished the intellectual debate of the second half of the century, until the Revolution: humanity, friendship, equality.
To his last legal battles in the Milanese Council, Verri’s political and intellectual career was dedicated to public happiness, which he deemed inseparable from the defence of freedom, rights and the dignity of citizens. However, Verri’s ambition to extend the possibility of happiness to all individuals remained, as it was for many of his contemporaries, counterbalanced by a form of caution as to the possibility for each individual to reach it, in a world deeply marked by inequalities, by the memory or the experience of military devastations, persecutions, massacres, epidemics and natural disasters – let us bear in mind the Lisbon earthquake in 1755. Bronisław Baczko invited us to ‘embrace both the imperative and impatient demand of the Enlightenment to reduce the number and the intensity of the misfortunes suffered by humankind, and its anguished indignation at the persistence of evil, despite the progress of the intellect and the advancement of science and the arts. The irreducible gap between the promises of happiness and the inevitability of evil was measured by the Enlightenment’s obstinate search for the means to reduce it’.
We are the heirs of the Enlightenment’s restlessness. Since the 18th century, our societies have been driven by an ideal of progress based largely on economic growth, industrial development and scientific and technical innovation. That faith is now being shaken by a highly unequal distribution of wealth and access to resources, by the worsening of conflicts, including in Europe, and by the destructive effects of climate change. How can the notion of happiness be founded or rebuilt in this new context? Verri’s Meditations outlined a number of principles for thought and action for us to ponder in order to stem the ‘inevitability of evil’. First of all, if happiness is not to be an empty word but a living constitutional principle, the state must be its custodian for each individual, through its public action; secondly, there is no lasting happiness other than ‘the happiness of the greatest number’, and any unequal society bears the seeds of its own disintegration; finally, there is no other place where we can build happiness than the one that we inhabit, and each one of us is invested with the duty of nurturing it. ‘Le paradis terrestre est où je suis’, wrote Voltaire in Le Mondain (1738 version). This paradise already seemed fragile to Enlightenment thinkers. The challenges of the 21st century invite us to meditate on that lesson from the past: to protect steadfastly both the right to happiness and the place where it can be achieved.
– Pierre Musitelli (École normale supérieure de Paris / ITEM)
R. Mauzi, L’Idée du bonheur dans la littérature et la pensée françaises au XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1965), p.9.
According to Alessandro Verri writing to his brother Pietro from Paris on 13 March 1767, ‘Mons[ieur] Voltaire ha stampato o scritto o detto ad alcuno, non so poi come, che l’École de Milan fait des grands progrès. Così chiama la nostra compagnia’ (P. and A. Verri, Viaggio a Parigi e Londra, 1766-1767: carteggio di Pietro e Alessandro Verri, ed. Gianmarco Gaspari, Milan, 1980, p.361).
P. Verri, Meditazioni sulla felicità (London [Livorno], 1763), p.750 and 751.
‘La massima felicità divisa nel maggior numero’ (Edizione nazionale delle opere di Cesare Beccaria, vol.I, ed. Gianni Francioni, Milan, 1984,p.23).
R. Shackleton, ‘The greatest happiness of the greatest number: the history of Bentham’s phrase’, SVEC, vol.90 (1972), p.1461–82.
‘Mi sembra che l’autore di cotesti due mostruosi gemelli, si sforzi di addivenire, e che sia realmente, il Rousseau dell’Italia’ ([F. Facchinei], Lettera di N. N. al riveritissimo signor A. Z. S. V., in Meditazioni sulla felicità. Con un avviso e con note critiche, [Venice], 1765, p.4).
D’Alembert to Paolo Frisi, 9 July 1765, in C. Beccaria, Dei delitti e delle pene, ed. Franco Venturi (Turin, 1994), p.313.
And has been the object of two recent important translations into French: C. Beccaria, Des délits et des peines, transl. Philippe Audegean (Lyon, 2009); Des délits et des peines, transl. Xavier Tabet and Alessandro Fontana (Paris, 2015).
‘Il nous faut, pour ce faire, embrasser conjointement, dans les Lumières, tant leur exigence, impérative et impatiente, de réduire dans leur nombre comme dans leur intensité les malheurs dont souffre le genre humain, que leur indignation angoissée devant la persistance du mal, malgré l’essor de l’esprit et les progrès des sciences et des arts. L’écart irréductible entre les promesses du bonheur et la fatalité du mal, les Lumières le mesurent à l’aune de leur quête obstinée des moyens censés le réduire’ (B. Baczko, Job, mon ami : promesses du bonheur et fatalité du mal, Paris, 1997, p.12–13).
Reblogged this on fabiosulpizioblog.
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"The greatest duty of America today is to build up our educational system." That sentiment probably seems anodyne, like something you might have heard on the campaign trail in the recently concluded midterms. A century ago, it represented the top priority of the Ku Klux Klan.
"Throughout the boom years of the early 1920s," the historian Adam Laats notes in a 2012 History of Education Quarterly article, "every local Klan group made education reform a leading goal of its public activism." Eventually, Laats writes, a push for compulsory public schooling overseen by a federal cabinet agency became the "linchpin" of the organization's agenda.
Why the Klan's sudden interest in education policy? First and foremost, because of the KKK's virulent nativism and anti-Catholicism. Most private schools at the time were associated with the Catholic Church, while most public schools were openly, if unofficially, Protestant. By requiring all children to attend the latter institutions, Klan members thought they could strip Catholic parishes of an income source, reduce the Catholic hierarchy's ability to indoctrinate the next generation, and secure their own right to inculcate values instead.
The effort to shutter parochial institutions altogether would soon be halted. In 1922, Oregon passed a law requiring every child to attend a local public school. Supporters including the KKK admitted the aim was to drive all private schools in the state out of business. But before the law went into effect, the U.S. Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional.
Undeterred, the Klan continued pursuing its education agenda in the public sphere. Members bullied Catholic teachers and principals into vacating public school jobs. They made donations of (Protestant) Bibles and agitated for mandatory (Protestant) prayer and religion classes. And they lined up behind the National Education Association (NEA), the country's largest teachers union, as it lobbied over more than a decade for the establishment of a federal Department of Education.
The groups wanted an Education Department that would provide funding to schools across the country, thereby promoting literacy and patriotism. An influx of immigrants had raised concerns that pockets of the country were not being assimilated into the American way of life. Compulsory education was meant to build national unity, ensuring the country's future workers could speak the same language and preparing them to be productive members of society.
Supporters of this effort often portrayed it as a grand humanitarian crusade. "We must have a compulsory education system to reach and uplift every future citizen," national Ku Klux Klan leader Hiram Evans said in 1924. If the campaign was successful, "all our humanity might live in harmony."
The cruelly coercive nature of the proposals nevertheless was apparent. "We will be a homogeneous people," Evans told a friendly audience in 1923. "We will grind out Americans like meat out of a grinder." Or as an early Progressive education reformer chillingly put it in 1902, "The nation has a right to demand intelligence and virtue of every citizen, and to obtain these by force if necessary."
As the NEA and KKK pushed to federalize education funding, they met opposition from Catholic institutions. The National Catholic Welfare Council, a U.S. body of Catholic bishops and staff, worked diligently to oppose bills that would have elevated an Interior Department bureau collecting education statistics into its own cabinet agency. America, a Jesuit magazine, editorialized against the legislative proposals as well. Fearing that federal funding of education would lead to federal control of education, Catholic leaders argued that parents must be allowed to determine what kind of schooling was right for their kids.
History was on the Catholics' side. Education in America had always been a state and local issue. Although the Founders "wanted a nation of virtuous, informed citizens," wrote Kevin Kosar, then of the R Street Institute, in 2015, "almost nobody saw educating them as the federal government's job. The Constitution didn't authorize the federal government to make schools policy."
In the 1920s and '30s, opponents were successful at preventing the establishment of a standalone cabinet agency. But the push for a centralized education authority didn't go away even when the Klan did. Lawmakers in Washington began appropriating school funding in the decades that followed, and a federal Department of Education was officially created in 1979.
This article originally appeared in print under the headline "The KKK's Push for a Federal Education Department".
Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.
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"The greatest duty of America today is to build up our educational system." That sentiment probably seems anodyne, like something you might have heard on the campaign trail in the recently concluded midterms. A century ago, it represented the top priority of the Ku Klux Klan.
"Throughout the boom years of the early 1920s," the historian Adam Laats notes in a 2012 History of Education Quarterly article, "every local Klan group made education reform a leading goal of its public activism." Eventually, Laats writes, a push for compulsory public schooling overseen by a federal cabinet agency became the "linchpin" of the organization's agenda.
Why the Klan's sudden interest in education policy? First and foremost, because of the KKK's virulent nativism and anti-Catholicism. Most private schools at the time were associated with the Catholic Church, while most public schools were openly, if unofficially, Protestant. By requiring all children to attend the latter institutions, Klan members thought they could strip Catholic parishes of an income source, reduce the Catholic hierarchy's ability to indoctrinate the next generation, and secure their own right to inculcate values instead.
The effort to shutter parochial institutions altogether would soon be halted. In 1922, Oregon passed a law requiring every child to attend a local public school. Supporters including the KKK admitted the aim was to drive all private schools in the state out of business. But before the law went into effect, the U.S. Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional.
Undeterred, the Klan continued pursuing its education agenda in the public sphere. Members bullied Catholic teachers and principals into vacating public school jobs. They made donations of (Protestant) Bibles and agitated for mandatory (Protestant) prayer and religion classes. And they lined up behind the National Education Association (NEA), the country's largest teachers union, as it lobbied over more than a decade for the establishment of a federal Department of Education.
The groups wanted an Education Department that would provide funding to schools across the country, thereby promoting literacy and patriotism. An influx of immigrants had raised concerns that pockets of the country were not being assimilated into the American way of life. Compulsory education was meant to build national unity, ensuring the country's future workers could speak the same language and preparing them to be productive members of society.
Supporters of this effort often portrayed it as
|
a grand humanitarian crusade. "We must have a compulsory education system to reach and uplift every future citizen," national Ku Klux Klan leader Hiram Evans said in 1924. If the campaign was successful, "all our humanity might live in harmony."
The cruelly coercive nature of the proposals nevertheless was apparent. "We will be a homogeneous people," Evans told a friendly audience in 1923. "We will grind out Americans like meat out of a grinder." Or as an early Progressive education reformer chillingly put it in 1902, "The nation has a right to demand intelligence and virtue of every citizen, and to obtain these by force if necessary."
As the NEA and KKK pushed to federalize education funding, they met opposition from Catholic institutions. The National Catholic Welfare Council, a U.S. body of Catholic bishops and staff, worked diligently to oppose bills that would have elevated an Interior Department bureau collecting education statistics into its own cabinet agency. America, a Jesuit magazine, editorialized against the legislative proposals as well. Fearing that federal funding of education would lead to federal control of education, Catholic leaders argued that parents must be allowed to determine what kind of schooling was right for their kids.
History was on the Catholics' side. Education in America had always been a state and local issue. Although the Founders "wanted a nation of virtuous, informed citizens," wrote Kevin Kosar, then of the R Street Institute, in 2015, "almost nobody saw educating them as the federal government's job. The Constitution didn't authorize the federal government to make schools policy."
In the 1920s and '30s, opponents were successful at preventing the establishment of a standalone cabinet agency. But the push for a centralized education authority didn't go away even when the Klan did. Lawmakers in Washington began appropriating school funding in the decades that followed, and a federal Department of Education was officially created in 1979.
This article originally appeared in print under the headline "The KKK's Push for a Federal Education Department".
Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.
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A planet parade will appear in the night sky next week. Here's how to see it 🪐
Have you ever wanted to see a planet? Well, next week you will get the chance to see not one but five of them.
Five planets, Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Mars, will be visible in the night sky Tuesday, March 28, according to Star Walk, an astronomy app and website. They will appear in an arc shape just above the horizon near the quarter-moon, WKYC reports.
For those interested in seeing this planetary parade, you are encouraged to start your observations soon after sunset. March 28 will be the best day for observation, but you can also see this cosmic event a few days before and after the date.
'Is that a UFO?':Top 5 brightest objects in the night sky
Spring 2023:It's mulching season, but don't get caught up in 'Mulch Madness' this spring
Business Insider says timing, dark skies and a clear view of the horizon are essential to seeing all five planets in one night.
While most of them should be visible to the naked eye, you may need binoculars or a telescope depending on the weather forecast. Venus, however, will be the easiest planet to spot because it's the brightest planet in our solar system.
What is a planetary alignment, or a planetary parade?
Starwalk reports that planetary alignments are "when several planets gather closely on one side of the Sun at the same time." A planetary parade is a colloquial term that refers to when several planets are visible in the sky at once.
Travel:CVG ranks in top 10 for 2 regional airport awards. Here are the winners
Several smaller planetary alignments are also slated to appear in 2023.
- April 11: A small evening alignment of Mercury, Uranus, Venus and Mars.
- April 24: A small evening alignment of Mercury, Uranus, Venus and Mars.
- May 29: A small morning alignment of Uranus, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn.
- June 17: A large morning alignment of Mercury, Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn.
- July 26: A mini-evening alignment of Mercury, Venus and Mars.
- Aug. 24: Two small planetary alignments will occur at sunset and at night. Mercury, Mars and Saturn will be visible in the morning and Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn will be visible at night.
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A planet parade will appear in the night sky next week. Here's how to see it 🪐
Have you ever wanted to see a planet? Well, next week you will get the chance to see not one but five of them.
Five planets, Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Mars, will be visible in the night sky Tuesday, March 28, according to Star Walk, an astronomy app and website. They will appear in an arc shape just above the horizon near the quarter-moon, WKYC reports.
For those interested in seeing this planetary parade, you are encouraged to start your observations soon after sunset. March 28 will be the best day for observation, but you can also see this cosmic event a few days before and after the date.
'Is that a UFO?':Top 5 brightest objects in the night sky
Spring 2023:It's mulching season, but don't get caught up in 'Mulch Madness' this spring
Business Insider says timing, dark skies and a clear view of the horizon are essential to seeing all five planets in one night.
While most of them should be visible to the naked eye, you may need binoculars or a telescope depending on the weather forecast. Venus, however, will be the easiest planet to spot because it's the brightest planet in our solar system.
What is a planetary alignment, or a planetary parade?
Starwalk reports that planetary alignments are "when several planets gather closely on one side of the Sun at the same time." A planetary parade is a colloquial term that refers to when several planets are visible in the sky at once.
Travel:CVG ranks in top 10 for 2 regional airport awards. Here are the winners
Several smaller planetary alignments are also slated to appear in 2023.
- April 11: A small evening alignment of Mercury, Uranus, Venus and Mars.
- April 24: A small evening alignment of Mercury, Uranus, Venus and Mars.
- May 29: A small morning alignment of Uranus, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn.
- June 17: A large morning alignment of Mercury, Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn.
- July 26: A mini-evening alignment of Mercury, Venus and Mars.
- Aug. 24: Two small planetary alignments will occur at sunset and at night. Mercury, Mars and Saturn will be visible in the morning and Uranus
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, Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn will be visible at night.
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PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) certification is a type of training program that teaches healthcare professionals how to manage pediatric medical emergencies in a hospital or clinical setting. PALS Online is an option for obtaining certification that allows individuals to complete the course online at their own pace.
The PALS Online course covers the following:
1. Assessment and treatment of pediatric patients with respiratory distress and failure
2. Assessment and treatment of pediatric patients with shock
3. Recognition and treatment of pediatric cardiac arrest
4. Management of arrhythmias in pediatric patients
5. Effective communication and team dynamics during pediatric emergencies
PALS Online courses are offered by a variety of organizations, including the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, and private training companies. The length of the course can vary, but typically takes several hours to complete. The online course is followed by a skills session where participants demonstrate the skills learned online and receive their certification.
PALS certification is required for healthcare professionals who work with pediatric patients in a hospital or clinical setting, such as pediatricians, nurses, and emergency medical personnel. PALS Online provides a convenient option for individuals to complete the course on their own time while still obtaining the necessary certification to provide effective pediatric emergency care.
PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) is a specialized training program designed for healthcare professionals who work with critically ill or injured children in a hospital or clinical setting. Here are some reasons why PALS is important:
Pediatric-Specific Care: Pediatric patients have unique physiological differences compared to adults, and require specialized care. PALS training provides healthcare professionals with the skills and knowledge needed to provide effective pediatric care, including assessment and treatment of respiratory and cardiac emergencies in children.
Lifesaving Techniques: PALS provides training in lifesaving techniques, including advanced airway management, pharmacology, and defibrillation, that are specific to the needs of pediatric patients. These techniques can be crucial in managing pediatric emergencies and improving patient outcomes.
Standardization of Care: PALS provides a standardized approach to pediatric emergency care, ensuring that all healthcare professionals are trained to the same high standard. This can help improve communication and coordination among healthcare teams, leading to better patient outcomes.
Regulatory Requirements: PALS certification is often required for healthcare professionals who work with pediatric patients in a hospital or clinical setting, such as pediatricians, nurses, and emergency medical personnel. Obtaining PALS certification can ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and maintain licensure.
Overall, PALS is important because it provides healthcare professionals with the specialized training and skills needed to manage critically ill or injured pediatric patients. This can make a significant difference in the outcome of a pediatric emergency and increase the likelihood of a positive patient outcome.
PALM DESERT – Main Office
73700 Dinah Shore Drive, Suite 107,
Palm Desert, CA 92211
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PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) certification is a type of training program that teaches healthcare professionals how to manage pediatric medical emergencies in a hospital or clinical setting. PALS Online is an option for obtaining certification that allows individuals to complete the course online at their own pace.
The PALS Online course covers the following:
1. Assessment and treatment of pediatric patients with respiratory distress and failure
2. Assessment and treatment of pediatric patients with shock
3. Recognition and treatment of pediatric cardiac arrest
4. Management of arrhythmias in pediatric patients
5. Effective communication and team dynamics during pediatric emergencies
PALS Online courses are offered by a variety of organizations, including the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, and private training companies. The length of the course can vary, but typically takes several hours to complete. The online course is followed by a skills session where participants demonstrate the skills learned online and receive their certification.
PALS certification is required for healthcare professionals who work with pediatric patients in a hospital or clinical setting, such as pediatricians, nurses, and emergency medical personnel. PALS Online provides a convenient option for individuals to complete the course on their own time while still obtaining the necessary certification to provide effective pediatric emergency care.
PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) is a specialized training program designed for healthcare professionals who work with critically ill or injured children in a hospital or clinical setting. Here are some reasons why PALS is important:
Pediatric-Specific Care: Pediatric patients have unique physiological differences compared to adults, and require specialized care. PALS training provides healthcare professionals with the skills and knowledge needed to provide effective pediatric care, including assessment and treatment of respiratory and cardiac emergencies in children.
Lifesaving Techniques: PALS provides training in lifesaving techniques, including advanced airway management, pharmacology, and defibrillation, that are specific to the needs of pediatric patients. These techniques can be crucial in managing pediatric emergencies and improving patient outcomes.
Standardization of Care: PALS provides a standardized approach to pediatric emergency care, ensuring that all healthcare professionals are trained to the same high standard. This can help improve communication and coordination among healthcare teams, leading to better patient outcomes.
Regulatory Requirements: PALS certification is often required for healthcare professionals who work with pediatric patients in a hospital or clinical setting, such as pediatricians, nurses, and emergency medical personnel. Obtaining PALS certification can ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and maintain licensure.
Overall, PALS is important because it provides healthcare professionals with the specialized
|
training and skills needed to manage critically ill or injured pediatric patients. This can make a significant difference in the outcome of a pediatric emergency and increase the likelihood of a positive patient outcome.
PALM DESERT – Main Office
73700 Dinah Shore Drive, Suite 107,
Palm Desert, CA 92211
|
By Julia Harte
(Reuters) -Millions of residents could be affected by Hurricane Idalia as it hurtles toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, where it is expected to slam ashore on Wednesday morning with winds of at least 111 miles per hour (179 kph).
Evacuations have been ordered in parts of Florida. Most of the state and parts of Georgia and South Carolina are under storm warnings or advisories.
Here are the most important things to know about Idalia’s projected impact.
PATH AND LANDFALL
Idalia grew from a tropical storm into a hurricane early on Tuesday, whirling northward over the Gulf of Mexico after causing floods in western Cuba that forced residents of coastal towns to seek higher ground.
It is expected to reach Category 3 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson wind scale, qualifying it as a major hurricane, before reaching Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Three major hurricanes have struck Florida in the past seven years: Irma in 2017, Michael in 2018 and Ian last September.
Idalia’s center will likely cross Florida’s coastline somewhere in the Big Bend region, where the state’s northern panhandle meets the Gulf side of the Florida peninsula, the NHC projected.
‘STORM SURGES’ and ‘KING TIDES’
The deadliest threat Idalia poses is a surging wall of seawater 10 to 15 feet (3.0 to 4.6 m) high that could flood low-lying areas along Florida’s coast, according to authorities.
“Storm surges” occur when high winds and atmospheric pressure from an oncoming hurricane force ocean water onto land. The resulting floodwaters may take a couple of days to subside.
A “king tide” – the highest type of high tide, caused by the extra gravitational pull that occurs when the sun and moon align with Earth – is also expected on Wednesday, which will likely exacerbate the surges from Idalia.
Hundreds of miles of Florida shoreline are under storm surge warnings as Idalia approaches, from Apalachicola Bay in the panhandle through Tampa, the state’s third-largest city, and down to Sarasota in the south.
Authorities are scrambling to move thousands of Florida residents out of danger before nightfall.
The Florida emergency management agency listed 28 counties with evacuation orders.
Sixteen counties issued mandatory evacuation orders for certain residents, especially those living in coastal and flood-prone areas or in mobile homes, recreational vehicles or structurally unsound housing.
Local authorities opened dozens of shelters for evacuees. They urged residents to take the evacuation orders seriously. “Please do not become complacent – take action now if you have not done so already,” wrote the sheriff’s office of Citrus County, north of Tampa, in a Facebook post.
Even Floridians not under evacuation orders should expect disruptions as a result of Idalia, from power outages to shuttered schools and businesses.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency for 46 Florida counties. About 5,500 National Guard troops have been mobilized and thousands of electricity workers are standing by to help restore power quickly after the hurricane passes.
School districts around the region canceled classes starting on Monday afternoon. Tampa International Airport closed commercial operations and did not expect to resume until Thursday.
(Reporting by Julia Harte; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Cynthia Osterman)
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By Julia Harte
(Reuters) -Millions of residents could be affected by Hurricane Idalia as it hurtles toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, where it is expected to slam ashore on Wednesday morning with winds of at least 111 miles per hour (179 kph).
Evacuations have been ordered in parts of Florida. Most of the state and parts of Georgia and South Carolina are under storm warnings or advisories.
Here are the most important things to know about Idalia’s projected impact.
PATH AND LANDFALL
Idalia grew from a tropical storm into a hurricane early on Tuesday, whirling northward over the Gulf of Mexico after causing floods in western Cuba that forced residents of coastal towns to seek higher ground.
It is expected to reach Category 3 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson wind scale, qualifying it as a major hurricane, before reaching Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Three major hurricanes have struck Florida in the past seven years: Irma in 2017, Michael in 2018 and Ian last September.
Idalia’s center will likely cross Florida’s coastline somewhere in the Big Bend region, where the state’s northern panhandle meets the Gulf side of the Florida peninsula, the NHC projected.
‘STORM SURGES’ and ‘KING TIDES’
The deadliest threat Idalia poses is a surging wall of seawater 10 to 15 feet (3.0 to 4.6 m) high that could flood low-lying areas along Florida’s coast, according to authorities.
“Storm surges” occur when high winds and atmospheric pressure from an oncoming hurricane force ocean water onto land. The resulting floodwaters may take a couple of days to subside.
A “king tide” – the highest type of high tide, caused by the extra gravitational pull that occurs when the sun and moon align with Earth – is also expected on Wednesday, which will likely exacerbate the surges from Idalia.
Hundreds of miles of Florida shoreline are under storm surge warnings as Idalia approaches, from Apalachicola Bay in the panhandle through Tampa, the state’s third-largest city, and down to Sarasota in the south.
Authorities are scrambling to move thousands of Florida residents out of danger before nightfall.
The Florida emergency management agency listed 28 counties with evacuation orders.
Sixteen counties issued
|
mandatory evacuation orders for certain residents, especially those living in coastal and flood-prone areas or in mobile homes, recreational vehicles or structurally unsound housing.
Local authorities opened dozens of shelters for evacuees. They urged residents to take the evacuation orders seriously. “Please do not become complacent – take action now if you have not done so already,” wrote the sheriff’s office of Citrus County, north of Tampa, in a Facebook post.
Even Floridians not under evacuation orders should expect disruptions as a result of Idalia, from power outages to shuttered schools and businesses.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency for 46 Florida counties. About 5,500 National Guard troops have been mobilized and thousands of electricity workers are standing by to help restore power quickly after the hurricane passes.
School districts around the region canceled classes starting on Monday afternoon. Tampa International Airport closed commercial operations and did not expect to resume until Thursday.
(Reporting by Julia Harte; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Cynthia Osterman)
|
We begin this week’s installment of our look at the nationwide retreat of confederate heritage with this article from Alabama. “A set of bills pre-filed for the Alabama Legislature’s upcoming session would end two holidays honoring Confederate leaders and add holidays for Juneteenth and Election Day. The four bills were all pre-filed by Rep. Chris England (D-Tuscaloosa), a former chair of the Alabama Democratic Party. f approved by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Kay Ivey, here’s what would happen:
• “The state holiday commemorating Confederate President Jefferson Davis’s birthday would be removed and replaced with a ‘State Employee Appreciation Day.’
• “The state holiday recognizing Confederate leader Robert E. Lee’s birthday would be removed.
• “Add Juneteenth, which was recognized federally last year, as a state holiday on June 19.
• “Add Election Day as a state holiday in place of Confederate Memorial Day.
“Alabama is one of the few states to still recognize holidays related to the Confederacy. The Yellowhammer State currently recognizes Robert E. Lee Day on the third Monday of January at the same time as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Confederate Memorial Day in April, and Jefferson Davis’s Birthday in May.”
We stay in Alabama for this article. “An Alabama judge has paved the way for officials to remove a Confederate monument placed a century ago at the center of a historic, majority-Black city as part of a ‘park for white people.’ Since 1909, the Confederate monument has stood in the center of Tuskegee, a city famous for Tuskegee University and known as the training ground for Black pilots in World War II. The city’s population is now more than 93% Black. The monument has been a target of recent protests and vandalism attempts. The Macon County Commission filed a lawsuit to regain control of the land, which is the first step toward removing the statue. The monument was erected at a time when white supremacy reigned and pro-Confederate groups across the South erected Civil War memorials to honor rebel troops and portray the cause of the slave-holding South as noble. Hundreds of rebel monuments were taken down in recent years as they came to be seen as symbols of racial oppression against Black people. Circuit Judge Steven Perryman on Thursday ruled that the site should revert to the Macon County Commission under the terms of a 1906 deed that gave the space to the Tuskegee Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy for the purpose of ‘maintaining a park for white people and maintaining a monument to the memory of the Confederate soldiers.’ Perryman said there was no evidence the space had been maintained as a segregated park so the land should revert to the county under deed terms that said the county would get the land back if it wasn’t used for those purposes. The judge gave the Tuskegee Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy 60 days to retrieve and remove the monument. The group could appeal the ruling. A 2017 Alabama law meant to protect Confederate monuments imposes a $25,000 penalty for removing or altering any monument that’s been in place for 40 or more years. However, a number of local governments have opted to take down Confederate structures and pay the law’s fine.”
The article concludes, “Macon County Commission Chairman Louis Maxwell praised the decision. He said they needed to answer the question of who owns the property before taking any action about the monument. Maxwell said he hopes the statue will be gone by the spring festival that celebrates George Washington Carver, the famed 19th century scientist and Tuskegee professor. ‘We will celebrate the removal of this statue. We will celebrate this decision,’ Maxwell said in a press conference. He asked county residents to be patient over the next 60 days. ‘Don’t tear it down,’ Maxwell said. ‘Don’t deface it. Give them a chance to move it.’ “
We next look at this article from Santa Fe, Texas. “Tensions bubbled Friday at a news conference hosted by a Santa Fe woman accusing police there of arresting her on trumped up charges after she removed a Confederate flag that allegedly extended onto her parents’ property, when her supporters briefly got into a shouting match with the neighbors. What once, years ago, might have been a small dispute between neighbors, has now morphed into a public scuffle involving attorneys, who had previously sent out news releases about the drama. Family members of those hosting the flag asserted the dispute goes back years, and wasn’t just about the flag, said Ronny Turrentine, whose brother owns the property next to Rosie Yanas’ parents. ‘If she just leaves us alone, this problem will go away,’ he said. But attorneys and community representatives accused Turrentine’s family of intimidating Yanas’ 90- and 80-year-old parents by flying the Confederate flag partially over their property. And for too many years, Santa Fe authorities have turned a blind eye toward racist behavior, said Mike Matranga, a former Texas City Independent School District trustee and security expert, who befriended Yanas after the Santa Fe High School shooting. Yanas, 45, is the mother of Christopher Stone, one of the 10 people killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Santa Fe High School. Attorneys for Yanas are accusing police of arresting her on trumped up charges after she removed a Confederate flag that allegedly extended onto her parents’ property during a months-long dispute with neighbors. ‘I’ve tried to avoid this,’ Yanas said through tears Friday. ‘I do everything I can to keep the peace.’ Officers around 10:30 a.m. Jan. 28 responded to a report of criminal trespass in the 5500 block of East Bellaire Street in Santa Fe, according to Lt. Greg Boody, spokesperson for the Santa Fe Police Department.”
The article tells us, “Police have been frequent visitors to the location in recent years because of an ongoing dispute over a Confederate flag that her parents’ neighbors keep putting up, Houston attorney Randall Kallinen said. The flag extends from their property over onto either public property or her parents’ property, Kallinen asserts, and says Yanas removed it without stepping on her neighbor’s property. He compared it to having a neighbor with a tree whose branches come onto your property, and argued she didn’t do anything illegal by removing it. ‘Before this, not a single officer had told her this was a crime,’ he said. Police officials, however, asserted that Yanas had been issued a criminal trespass warning in the past. She is accused of violating that warning by removing the flag and tossing it in the yard, Boody said. Yanas was arrested and placed in jail on resisting arrest and trespassing charges, Boody said. Representatives for the city did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Yanas’ accusations, or requests made at Friday’s news conference. Kallinen and community leaders, such as Matranga, called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the police department over the arrest, and asked for the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office not to pursue charges against Yanas. As of Friday afternoon, the charges did not appear in online court records. In Galveston County, law enforcement officers can make arrests on misdemeanor charges that are later reviewed by prosecutors, said Kevin Petroff, first assistant district attorney with the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors were still reviewing the facts of the case and had not yet made a decision on whether to bring charges against Yanas, Petroff said.”
Finally, we have this opinion piece from Manatee County, Florida. “Too often – in fact, far too often – you get the feeling that the Manatee County commissioners devote as much energy to obnoxious trolling as they do to actual governing. Sometimes that trolling borders on silliness, such as when the commissioners approved naming a new park after Gov. Ron DeSantis, who: a) is still an active, elected official; b) wasn’t born in Manatee County and didn’t grow up there, and c) threatened to withhold doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Manatee after people complained that he’d allowed residents in the affluent Lakewood Ranch community to get early access to the still-scarce shots. Sometimes the trolling borders on duplicity, such as when the commissioners passed a law in August 2021 banning the retail sale of cats and dogs in Manatee County – only to blatantly defy the will of citizens and repeal the ban last month. But there’s one current example where the trolling by the Manatee County commissioners hasn’t been merely foolish or underhanded – it’s been utterly and truly offensive. And, yes, that is the only fitting way to describe the commissioners’ ongoing interest in reviving a Confederate monument that was removed in 2017 – and finding a prominent spot to re-erect it in the county. The commissioners know it is needlessly provocative to breathe poisonous life back into the monument, which was originally erected in 1924 by a chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and honors Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis – all of whom championed slavery and committed treason with equally horrific zeal. The commissioners know it is totally divisive. The commissioners know it is deeply insensitive. And yet we all know that while the commissioners know all of the above, they still don’t care – regardless of their recent token move to delay a decision on relocating an artifact that is both old and odious. On the issue of the Confederate monument, the Manatee County commissioners have shown a greater resemblance to toxic trolls than thoughtful leaders. And if there is a bright side to that, it is this: We’ve already been spared any future debates on where to erect the monuments honoring their courage as public servants.”
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We begin this week’s installment of our look at the nationwide retreat of confederate heritage with this article from Alabama. “A set of bills pre-filed for the Alabama Legislature’s upcoming session would end two holidays honoring Confederate leaders and add holidays for Juneteenth and Election Day. The four bills were all pre-filed by Rep. Chris England (D-Tuscaloosa), a former chair of the Alabama Democratic Party. f approved by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Kay Ivey, here’s what would happen:
• “The state holiday commemorating Confederate President Jefferson Davis’s birthday would be removed and replaced with a ‘State Employee Appreciation Day.’
• “The state holiday recognizing Confederate leader Robert E. Lee’s birthday would be removed.
• “Add Juneteenth, which was recognized federally last year, as a state holiday on June 19.
• “Add Election Day as a state holiday in place of Confederate Memorial Day.
“Alabama is one of the few states to still recognize holidays related to the Confederacy. The Yellowhammer State currently recognizes Robert E. Lee Day on the third Monday of January at the same time as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Confederate Memorial Day in April, and Jefferson Davis’s Birthday in May.”
We stay in Alabama for this article. “An Alabama judge has paved the way for officials to remove a Confederate monument placed a century ago at the center of a historic, majority-Black city as part of a ‘park for white people.’ Since 1909, the Confederate monument has stood in the center of Tuskegee, a city famous for Tuskegee University and known as the training ground for Black pilots in World War II. The city’s population is now more than 93% Black. The monument has been a target of recent protests and vandalism attempts. The Macon County Commission filed a lawsuit to regain control of the land, which is the first step toward removing the statue. The monument was erected at a time when white supremacy reigned and pro-Confederate groups across the South erected Civil War memorials to honor rebel troops and portray the cause of the slave-holding South as noble. Hundreds of rebel monuments were taken down in recent years as they came to be seen as symbols of racial oppression against Black people. Circuit Judge Steven Perryman on Thursday ruled that the site should revert to the Macon County Commission under the terms of a 1906 deed that gave the space to the Tuske
|
gee Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy for the purpose of ‘maintaining a park for white people and maintaining a monument to the memory of the Confederate soldiers.’ Perryman said there was no evidence the space had been maintained as a segregated park so the land should revert to the county under deed terms that said the county would get the land back if it wasn’t used for those purposes. The judge gave the Tuskegee Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy 60 days to retrieve and remove the monument. The group could appeal the ruling. A 2017 Alabama law meant to protect Confederate monuments imposes a $25,000 penalty for removing or altering any monument that’s been in place for 40 or more years. However, a number of local governments have opted to take down Confederate structures and pay the law’s fine.”
The article concludes, “Macon County Commission Chairman Louis Maxwell praised the decision. He said they needed to answer the question of who owns the property before taking any action about the monument. Maxwell said he hopes the statue will be gone by the spring festival that celebrates George Washington Carver, the famed 19th century scientist and Tuskegee professor. ‘We will celebrate the removal of this statue. We will celebrate this decision,’ Maxwell said in a press conference. He asked county residents to be patient over the next 60 days. ‘Don’t tear it down,’ Maxwell said. ‘Don’t deface it. Give them a chance to move it.’ “
We next look at this article from Santa Fe, Texas. “Tensions bubbled Friday at a news conference hosted by a Santa Fe woman accusing police there of arresting her on trumped up charges after she removed a Confederate flag that allegedly extended onto her parents’ property, when her supporters briefly got into a shouting match with the neighbors. What once, years ago, might have been a small dispute between neighbors, has now morphed into a public scuffle involving attorneys, who had previously sent out news releases about the drama. Family members of those hosting the flag asserted the dispute goes back years, and wasn’t just about the flag, said Ronny Turrentine, whose brother owns the property next to Rosie Yanas’ parents. ‘If she just leaves us alone, this problem will go away,’ he said. But attorneys and community representatives accused Turrentine’s family of intimidating Yanas’ 90- and 80-year-old parents by flying the Confederate flag partially over their property. And for too many years, Santa Fe authorities have turned a blind eye toward racist behavior, said Mike Matranga, a former Texas City Independent School District trustee and security expert, who befriended Yanas after the Santa Fe High School shooting. Yanas, 45, is the mother of Christopher Stone, one of the 10 people killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Santa Fe High School. Attorneys for Yanas are accusing police of arresting her on trumped up charges after she removed a Confederate flag that allegedly extended onto her parents’ property during a months-long dispute with neighbors. ‘I’ve tried to avoid this,’ Yanas said through tears Friday. ‘I do everything I can to keep the peace.’ Officers around 10:30 a.m. Jan. 28 responded to a report of criminal trespass in the 5500 block of East Bellaire Street in Santa Fe, according to Lt. Greg Boody, spokesperson for the Santa Fe Police Department.”
The article tells us, “Police have been frequent visitors to the location in recent years because of an ongoing dispute over a Confederate flag that her parents’ neighbors keep putting up, Houston attorney Randall Kallinen said. The flag extends from their property over onto either public property or her parents’ property, Kallinen asserts, and says Yanas removed it without stepping on her neighbor’s property. He compared it to having a neighbor with a tree whose branches come onto your property, and argued she didn’t do anything illegal by removing it. ‘Before this, not a single officer had told her this was a crime,’ he said. Police officials, however, asserted that Yanas had been issued a criminal trespass warning in the past. She is accused of violating that warning by removing the flag and tossing it in the yard, Boody said. Yanas was arrested and placed in jail on resisting arrest and trespassing charges, Boody said. Representatives for the city did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Yanas’ accusations, or requests made at Friday’s news conference. Kallinen and community leaders, such as Matranga, called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the police department over the arrest, and asked for the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office not to pursue charges against Yanas. As of Friday afternoon, the charges did not appear in online court records. In Galveston County, law enforcement officers can make arrests on misdemeanor charges that are later reviewed by prosecutors, said Kevin Petroff, first assistant district attorney with the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors were still reviewing the facts of the case and had not yet made a decision on whether to bring charges against Yanas, Petroff said.”
Finally, we have this opinion piece from Manatee County, Florida. “Too often – in fact, far too often – you get the feeling that the Manatee County commissioners devote as much energy to obnoxious trolling as they do to actual governing. Sometimes that trolling borders on silliness, such as when the commissioners approved naming a new park after Gov. Ron DeSantis, who: a) is still an active, elected official; b) wasn’t born in Manatee County and didn’t grow up there, and c) threatened to withhold doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Manatee after people complained that he’d allowed residents in the affluent Lakewood Ranch community to get early access to the still-scarce shots. Sometimes the trolling borders on duplicity, such as when the commissioners passed a law in August 2021 banning the retail sale of cats and dogs in Manatee County – only to blatantly defy the will of citizens and repeal the ban last month. But there’s one current example where the trolling by the Manatee County commissioners hasn’t been merely foolish or underhanded – it’s been utterly and truly offensive. And, yes, that is the only fitting way to describe the commissioners’ ongoing interest in reviving a Confederate monument that was removed in 2017 – and finding a prominent spot to re-erect it in the county. The commissioners know it is needlessly provocative to breathe poisonous life back into the monument, which was originally erected in 1924 by a chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and honors Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis – all of whom championed slavery and committed treason with equally horrific zeal. The commissioners know it is totally divisive. The commissioners know it is deeply insensitive. And yet we all know that while the commissioners know all of the above, they still don’t care – regardless of their recent token move to delay a decision on relocating an artifact that is both old and odious. On the issue of the Confederate monument, the Manatee County commissioners have shown a greater resemblance to toxic trolls than thoughtful leaders. And if there is a bright side to that, it is this: We’ve already been spared any future debates on where to erect the monuments honoring their courage as public servants.”
|
(Voice of the Persecuted) You’re invited to join us on Friday, April 21, 2023, in a prayer conference call for the persecuted church hosted by Persecution Watch.
WHAT IS EID AL-FITR?
Muslims around the world celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan with Eid al-Fitr. Translated literally, Eid al-Fitr yields something like: “The Celebration of Breaking the Fast.”
Traditionally, it is a three-day holiday, but in some Muslim majority countries they extend it to a week or longer. It is a very festive occasion, as people wear new clothes and eat all kinds of special foods that they have not been able to eat during the month of fasting.
Communal prayers are a significant part of the Eid, with thousands of people meeting in mosques, large public squares, or fields on the morning of the first day of Eid al-Fitr. Sunni and Shia traditions have developed distinct forms of special Eid prayers for these occasions. After the prayers, the feasting and celebrating begins.
WHY IS EID AL-FITR SIGNIFICANT?
There are two main Islamic holidays celebrated by Muslims of all sects and affiliations. The first in the Islamic calendar is Eid al-Fitr. It is also known as Eid al-Saghir (“The Small Feast”) in contrast to Eid al-Kabeer (“The Large Feast”) which is Eid al-Adha, the second major Islamic holiday. Despite being “The Small Feast,” many consider Eid al-Fitr to be the most important.
Muslims often view Eid al-Fitr as something purely spiritual. It is the day when Muslims thank Allah for having given them the strength and endurance to observe the fast and obey his commandment throughout the month of Ramadan. This sense of having successfully completed an important task demanded by Allah brings happiness across the Muslim world.
Muslims all over the world eagerly await Eid al-Fitr and consider it a holy and happy occasion. It helps Muslims feel close to each other and spreads joy and love to all people who come into contact with a Muslim.
WHAT DOES EID AL-FITR LOOK LIKE IN PRACTICE?
Following the large gathering for Eid prayers in the mornings, the rest of the Festival is usually spent visiting family and friends and reminding each other of Allah’s abundant blessings upon everyone. In many traditions, people take time to visit the tombs of their relatives and friends to remember them.
Throughout the three days of the Eid, everyone greets each other with their language’s equivalent of Eid Mubarak! – “Have a blessed feast!” This festival is celebrated in a huge variety of ways around the world that often remind Christians of Christmas celebrations. There is a lot of gift giving, time spent with family and friends, and a sense that one is full of gratitude to Allah throughout the holiday.
Each Muslim culture has its own special Eid al-Fitr food. Many spend hours shopping and buying new things. Muslims clearly know how to celebrate – thousands of people throng the shopping districts, fill the parks, and visit each other in their homes. Everyone stops working (except for the women who prepare all the special food!) and there is a sense of joy and celebration.
Together let us watch and pray along with the Prayercast Team.
- Muslims will see that their righteous acts will never attain God’s favor.
- they accept the finished work of Christ as their only means of salvation.
- they will courageously share stories of dreams, visions, and Christ’s love during family visits.
The Lord’s servant,
Nadia Dybvik, Persecution Watch Prayer Conference Call Leader
Prayer Conference Call Details
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
From any location on your phone
USA Time Zone:
9:00 PM Eastern
8:00 PM Central
7:00 PM Mountain
6:00 PM Pacific
Call in number: (667) 770-1476
Access Code: 281207#
MOBILE APP: Free Conference Call HD also provides a quick and easy way for you to dial into conference calls without having to remember the dial-in credentials. Save all of your conference call dial-in numbers and access codes using this free app. With the Free Conference Call HD you can instantly dial into a conference call via 3G/4G data network and or regular mobile carrier. Google Play link or App Store – iTunes
If you are experiencing any difficulties joining the call, please let us know.
What is Persecution Watch?
moved by the Holy Spirit to pray, we too must continue to serve those suffering persecution by lifting them up to the Lord through prayer.
On occasion, persecuted brothers and sisters have been invited on the conference call to share the trials they are facing. The team serves to encourage them by washing their feet in Spirit led prayer. Time is often reserved for those on the call to ask questions. We believe this helps to gain a better understanding of the situation that persecuted Christians endure in their specific nations. Q&A also helps us to focus our prayers based on their current needs.
Persecution Watch also hosts callers who want to pray united from other nations. If your heart is perplexed by the sufferings of our persecuted brothers and sisters, you no longer need to pray alone.
We welcome all who desire to pray for the persecuted church and consider it a joy to pray together with you. If you are new to the call and cannot find your voice, listen in and pray silently or on mute. We are grateful and thank the Lord for bringing us all together to pray in agreement for our persecuted family in Christ. We can all be prayer warriors on this call!
God bless and protect you in your faithfulness to serve.
Lois Kanalos, Founder, Voice of the Persecuted, Nadia Dybvik, Persecution Watch Prayer Call Leader and the Persecution Watch Prayer Team
NOTE: Please fill out the form in the sign-up link below to be included in our distribution list to receive urgent prayer requests, prayer points, notification of special prayer events and special guest speakers.
Note to Voice of the Persecuted (VOP) readers: The Persecution Watch prayer team is also the prayer team of Voice of the Persecuted. SIGN UP today.
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(Voice of the Persecuted) You’re invited to join us on Friday, April 21, 2023, in a prayer conference call for the persecuted church hosted by Persecution Watch.
WHAT IS EID AL-FITR?
Muslims around the world celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan with Eid al-Fitr. Translated literally, Eid al-Fitr yields something like: “The Celebration of Breaking the Fast.”
Traditionally, it is a three-day holiday, but in some Muslim majority countries they extend it to a week or longer. It is a very festive occasion, as people wear new clothes and eat all kinds of special foods that they have not been able to eat during the month of fasting.
Communal prayers are a significant part of the Eid, with thousands of people meeting in mosques, large public squares, or fields on the morning of the first day of Eid al-Fitr. Sunni and Shia traditions have developed distinct forms of special Eid prayers for these occasions. After the prayers, the feasting and celebrating begins.
WHY IS EID AL-FITR SIGNIFICANT?
There are two main Islamic holidays celebrated by Muslims of all sects and affiliations. The first in the Islamic calendar is Eid al-Fitr. It is also known as Eid al-Saghir (“The Small Feast”) in contrast to Eid al-Kabeer (“The Large Feast”) which is Eid al-Adha, the second major Islamic holiday. Despite being “The Small Feast,” many consider Eid al-Fitr to be the most important.
Muslims often view Eid al-Fitr as something purely spiritual. It is the day when Muslims thank Allah for having given them the strength and endurance to observe the fast and obey his commandment throughout the month of Ramadan. This sense of having successfully completed an important task demanded by Allah brings happiness across the Muslim world.
Muslims all over the world eagerly await Eid al-Fitr and consider it a holy and happy occasion. It helps Muslims feel close to each other and spreads joy and love to all people who come into contact with a Muslim.
WHAT DOES EID AL-FITR LOOK LIKE IN PRACTICE?
Following the large gathering for Eid prayers in the mornings, the rest of the Festival is usually spent visiting family and friends and reminding each other of Allah’s abundant blessings upon everyone. In
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many traditions, people take time to visit the tombs of their relatives and friends to remember them.
Throughout the three days of the Eid, everyone greets each other with their language’s equivalent of Eid Mubarak! – “Have a blessed feast!” This festival is celebrated in a huge variety of ways around the world that often remind Christians of Christmas celebrations. There is a lot of gift giving, time spent with family and friends, and a sense that one is full of gratitude to Allah throughout the holiday.
Each Muslim culture has its own special Eid al-Fitr food. Many spend hours shopping and buying new things. Muslims clearly know how to celebrate – thousands of people throng the shopping districts, fill the parks, and visit each other in their homes. Everyone stops working (except for the women who prepare all the special food!) and there is a sense of joy and celebration.
Together let us watch and pray along with the Prayercast Team.
- Muslims will see that their righteous acts will never attain God’s favor.
- they accept the finished work of Christ as their only means of salvation.
- they will courageously share stories of dreams, visions, and Christ’s love during family visits.
The Lord’s servant,
Nadia Dybvik, Persecution Watch Prayer Conference Call Leader
Prayer Conference Call Details
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
From any location on your phone
USA Time Zone:
9:00 PM Eastern
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6:00 PM Pacific
Call in number: (667) 770-1476
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If you are experiencing any difficulties joining the call, please let us know.
What is Persecution Watch?
moved by the Holy Spirit to pray, we too must continue to serve those suffering persecution by lifting them up to the Lord through prayer.
On occasion, persecuted brothers and sisters have been invited on the conference call to share the trials they are facing. The team serves to encourage them by washing their feet in Spirit led prayer. Time is often reserved for those on the call to ask questions. We believe this helps to gain a better understanding of the situation that persecuted Christians endure in their specific nations. Q&A also helps us to focus our prayers based on their current needs.
Persecution Watch also hosts callers who want to pray united from other nations. If your heart is perplexed by the sufferings of our persecuted brothers and sisters, you no longer need to pray alone.
We welcome all who desire to pray for the persecuted church and consider it a joy to pray together with you. If you are new to the call and cannot find your voice, listen in and pray silently or on mute. We are grateful and thank the Lord for bringing us all together to pray in agreement for our persecuted family in Christ. We can all be prayer warriors on this call!
God bless and protect you in your faithfulness to serve.
Lois Kanalos, Founder, Voice of the Persecuted, Nadia Dybvik, Persecution Watch Prayer Call Leader and the Persecution Watch Prayer Team
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Note to Voice of the Persecuted (VOP) readers: The Persecution Watch prayer team is also the prayer team of Voice of the Persecuted. SIGN UP today.
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While driving Alaska’s graveled highways, people sometimes wonder how an unpaved road can turn into a bed of corduroy.
Keith Mather had the same question about roads in his home country of Australia and then later in his adopted home of Alaska. He wrote a paper about washboard roads in 1963, the same year he became director of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Mather pointed out that many people, particularly in Alaska, see washboard roads as “a welcome assurance of privacy in the outer reaches of suburbia.” He also wrote that corrugated road surfaces were a literal pain in the neck in many developing countries, where major highways featured hundreds of miles of milkshake motorways.
He wasn’t satisfied with the theories of the time: that “peculiar soil,” wind from passing vehicles, car exhaust, or impulses from car engines caused washboard roads. He doubted all these possible causes because he noticed that many different surfaces, such as train tracks and snow trails, can also be afflicted with a roller coaster pattern.
Mather set up an experiment at his lab in Melbourne that cost him $25 in materials. He assembled a contraption in which a tire connected to a central arm moved in a circle. He covered the floor with sand and sent the wheel, which was about the size of a lawnmower wheel, circling around the track.
He described the homespun project: “We moved the wheel around the track by putting a finger behind the shaft and pushing it around the (track) to the beat of the family metronome. Greatly to my surprise this produced fairly regular little corrugations several inches apart in the sand.”
Mather found that washboard road developed not only in sand, but also on “roads” of rice grains, sugar, and split peas. The key, he found, was that the surface was dry.
The faster he spun the wheel, the faster washboard appeared. With repeated passes of the wheel, he watched the road ripples multiply.
He noticed several keys to the formation of washboard roads: the road surface had to be non-rigid, it had to be dry, and washboard forms immediately after an irregularity in the road surface, such as a bump, dip or small rock.
Bumps in the road surface cause the tire to hop in the air. Where the tire crashes down, it forms valleys by spraying sand and gravel forward and sideways. The moving tire ramps out of the valley and hops again. Thus, the washboarding process repeats itself.
Washboard spreads across the road as other cars repeat the action of the car that initiated it. Mather pointed out that bumps cause cars to react the same way even though some are heavier than others and have different suspension systems.
He concluded that other than slowing to about 5 miles per hour or using balloon tires that would cushion the road, there wasn’t much drivers could do to prevent washboard roads from forming.
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While driving Alaska’s graveled highways, people sometimes wonder how an unpaved road can turn into a bed of corduroy.
Keith Mather had the same question about roads in his home country of Australia and then later in his adopted home of Alaska. He wrote a paper about washboard roads in 1963, the same year he became director of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Mather pointed out that many people, particularly in Alaska, see washboard roads as “a welcome assurance of privacy in the outer reaches of suburbia.” He also wrote that corrugated road surfaces were a literal pain in the neck in many developing countries, where major highways featured hundreds of miles of milkshake motorways.
He wasn’t satisfied with the theories of the time: that “peculiar soil,” wind from passing vehicles, car exhaust, or impulses from car engines caused washboard roads. He doubted all these possible causes because he noticed that many different surfaces, such as train tracks and snow trails, can also be afflicted with a roller coaster pattern.
Mather set up an experiment at his lab in Melbourne that cost him $25 in materials. He assembled a contraption in which a tire connected to a central arm moved in a circle. He covered the floor with sand and sent the wheel, which was about the size of a lawnmower wheel, circling around the track.
He described the homespun project: “We moved the wheel around the track by putting a finger behind the shaft and pushing it around the (track) to the beat of the family metronome. Greatly to my surprise this produced fairly regular little corrugations several inches apart in the sand.”
Mather found that washboard road developed not only in sand, but also on “roads” of rice grains, sugar, and split peas. The key, he found, was that the surface was dry.
The faster he spun the wheel, the faster washboard appeared. With repeated passes of the wheel, he watched the road ripples multiply.
He noticed several keys to the formation of washboard roads: the road surface had to be non-rigid, it had to be dry, and washboard forms immediately after an irregularity in the road surface, such as a bump, dip or small rock.
Bumps in the road surface cause the tire to hop in the air. Where the tire crashes down, it forms valleys by spraying sand and gravel forward and sideways. The moving tire ramps out of the valley
|
and hops again. Thus, the washboarding process repeats itself.
Washboard spreads across the road as other cars repeat the action of the car that initiated it. Mather pointed out that bumps cause cars to react the same way even though some are heavier than others and have different suspension systems.
He concluded that other than slowing to about 5 miles per hour or using balloon tires that would cushion the road, there wasn’t much drivers could do to prevent washboard roads from forming.
|
In December, delegates from more than 180 countries met in Switzerland to discuss the International Treaty for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response, which had initially been proposed in December 2021. Support for it gained traction as the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted concerns about global vaccine inequity, genomic data-sharing, and more. The December talks productively focused on these issues and concluded with delegates agreeing to another round of negotiation in February.
Despite its seemingly blasé and technocratic focus, the pandemic treaty has come under fire in the United States. Conservative commentators have attacked the treaty as an attempt by a biased World Health Organization to impose endless lockdowns and curtail Americans’ rights. In Congress, any future pandemic accord will likely face stiff resistance in the Senate, as right-wing analysts have expressed concerns that a treaty could constrain American national sovereignty. Such opposition has derailed a number of treaties, ranging from the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
We find much of the opposition to the treaty hard to fathom. It is not an attempt to restrict America’s national sovereignty or curtail citizens’ rights. Instead, it could provide an important avenue for the U.S. to strengthen global health — which has direct effects on Americans’ health — as well as resolve concerns over WHO bias and bolster the influence of America’s values worldwide.
Based on the current draft, the new pandemic treaty would greatly aid health around the globe. In 2020, poor data-sharing between countries at the onset of the pandemic allowed Covid-19 to spread rapidly, including in the U.S. Later on, shortages of vaccines in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America fueled the rise of the Omicron variant that eventually surged in the U.S. and greatly prolonged the pandemic. Together, these costly mistakes cost more than 1 million American lives and trillions of dollars of damage to the economy.
This pandemic treaty, however, could help avoid such calamities. Provisions to facilitate data-sharing between countries could help U.S. scientists and public health officials make quicker and more informed decisions to limit the spread of a disease, while clauses on ensuring an equitable global distribution of vaccines could prevent the rise of dangerous variants of a pathogen.
Beyond these benefits, this treaty could resolve many complaints that conservative critics have about the WHO in the first place. For example, some have argued that a pandemic treaty would empower the organization that many see as being anti-American and influenced by foreign governments.
If the WHO was biased against the U.S., a pandemic treaty would be a useful way to rectify the issue. It would give the U.S. a powerful seat at the table, allowing it to use its diplomatic and economic weight to support the promotion of American and allied civil servants at the WHO. These personnel often greatly influence international institutions — one study found that international personnel at the United Nations often exercise significant discretionary authority on everything from arms control negotiations to financing post-civil war reconstruction efforts. America’s influence on personnel appointments via the pandemic treaty could ensure that WHO officials remain friendly to American values and assuage concerns about anti-American bias.
Many of the arguments proliferating against the pandemic treaty have little merit. A pandemic treaty would not turn over final decision-making power on public health or lockdowns to the WHO — such authority would remain in the hands of the American people and their representatives. Also, concerns about a treaty limiting America’s national sovereignty are misleading, as it is unlikely that restrictions on national sovereignty would find their way into a treaty given the number of countries expressing similar hesitations and desiring a more moderate approach.
Signing onto the pandemic treaty would be a valuable opportunity to bolster American influence in the developing world. For decades, the U.S. has systematically undervalued diplomatic and economic engagement with sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and other developing regions. The result has allowed other nations to make substantial inroads, whether that means China’s rapid investments in Latin America or Russia’s massive arms sales to nations in sub-Saharan Africa. As projections show that some of these countries are likely to have double-digit economic growth and exert serious clout in the future, the U.S. can no longer afford to ignore these countries if it is serious about upholding its global leadership.
Good-faith participation in the pandemic treaty represents a salient way to increase U.S. influence in these regions. Gross global inequities in the distribution of vaccines and therapeutics have left many low-income countries and their citizens distrustful towards Western institutions and more eager to look elsewhere, giving countries like China and Russia valuable opportunities to build support. But if the U.S. effectively used a pandemic accord to support the development of health care systems in low-income countries, the result could greatly improve regional public opinion about the U.S. and foster closer bilateral relations.
Closer relations could help American investors and security planners build new partnerships in these regions, while improved public opinion of the U.S. could fuel the rise of pro-American leaders in the long term. A pandemic treaty is key to reaping these benefits. The long-lasting, society-wide nature of the Covid-19 pandemic made health care a uniquely salient issue to many in low-income countries, so U.S. support on this vital issue would exceptionally benefit its diplomatic reputation worldwide.
U.S. support for the International Treaty for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response is good for both global health equity and promoting America’s values abroad. Rather than reject a treaty under vague national sovereignty concerns and conspiratorial fears, American policymakers should embrace good-faith participation in this new pandemic treaty. The world — and the U.S. — will be healthier and wealthier for it.
Sergio Imparato is a lecturer on government at Harvard University and author of “The Sovereign President” (Pisa University Press, 2015). Sarosh Nagar is a researcher in the Department of Economics at Harvard University.
First Opinion newsletter: If you enjoy reading opinion and perspective essays, get a roundup of each week’s First Opinions delivered to your inbox every Sunday. Sign up here.
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This name will appear with your comment
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In December, delegates from more than 180 countries met in Switzerland to discuss the International Treaty for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response, which had initially been proposed in December 2021. Support for it gained traction as the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted concerns about global vaccine inequity, genomic data-sharing, and more. The December talks productively focused on these issues and concluded with delegates agreeing to another round of negotiation in February.
Despite its seemingly blasé and technocratic focus, the pandemic treaty has come under fire in the United States. Conservative commentators have attacked the treaty as an attempt by a biased World Health Organization to impose endless lockdowns and curtail Americans’ rights. In Congress, any future pandemic accord will likely face stiff resistance in the Senate, as right-wing analysts have expressed concerns that a treaty could constrain American national sovereignty. Such opposition has derailed a number of treaties, ranging from the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
We find much of the opposition to the treaty hard to fathom. It is not an attempt to restrict America’s national sovereignty or curtail citizens’ rights. Instead, it could provide an important avenue for the U.S. to strengthen global health — which has direct effects on Americans’ health — as well as resolve concerns over WHO bias and bolster the influence of America’s values worldwide.
Based on the current draft, the new pandemic treaty would greatly aid health around the globe. In 2020, poor data-sharing between countries at the onset of the pandemic allowed Covid-19 to spread rapidly, including in the U.S. Later on, shortages of vaccines in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America fueled the rise of the Omicron variant that eventually surged in the U.S. and greatly prolonged the pandemic. Together, these costly mistakes cost more than 1 million American lives and trillions of dollars of damage to the economy.
This pandemic treaty, however, could help avoid such calamities. Provisions to facilitate data-sharing between countries could help U.S. scientists and public health officials make quicker and more informed decisions to limit the spread of a disease, while clauses on ensuring an equitable global distribution of vaccines could prevent the rise of dangerous variants of a pathogen.
Beyond these benefits, this treaty could resolve many complaints that conservative critics have about the WHO in the first place. For example, some have argued that a pandemic treaty would empower the organization that many see as being
|
anti-American and influenced by foreign governments.
If the WHO was biased against the U.S., a pandemic treaty would be a useful way to rectify the issue. It would give the U.S. a powerful seat at the table, allowing it to use its diplomatic and economic weight to support the promotion of American and allied civil servants at the WHO. These personnel often greatly influence international institutions — one study found that international personnel at the United Nations often exercise significant discretionary authority on everything from arms control negotiations to financing post-civil war reconstruction efforts. America’s influence on personnel appointments via the pandemic treaty could ensure that WHO officials remain friendly to American values and assuage concerns about anti-American bias.
Many of the arguments proliferating against the pandemic treaty have little merit. A pandemic treaty would not turn over final decision-making power on public health or lockdowns to the WHO — such authority would remain in the hands of the American people and their representatives. Also, concerns about a treaty limiting America’s national sovereignty are misleading, as it is unlikely that restrictions on national sovereignty would find their way into a treaty given the number of countries expressing similar hesitations and desiring a more moderate approach.
Signing onto the pandemic treaty would be a valuable opportunity to bolster American influence in the developing world. For decades, the U.S. has systematically undervalued diplomatic and economic engagement with sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and other developing regions. The result has allowed other nations to make substantial inroads, whether that means China’s rapid investments in Latin America or Russia’s massive arms sales to nations in sub-Saharan Africa. As projections show that some of these countries are likely to have double-digit economic growth and exert serious clout in the future, the U.S. can no longer afford to ignore these countries if it is serious about upholding its global leadership.
Good-faith participation in the pandemic treaty represents a salient way to increase U.S. influence in these regions. Gross global inequities in the distribution of vaccines and therapeutics have left many low-income countries and their citizens distrustful towards Western institutions and more eager to look elsewhere, giving countries like China and Russia valuable opportunities to build support. But if the U.S. effectively used a pandemic accord to support the development of health care systems in low-income countries, the result could greatly improve regional public opinion about the U.S. and foster closer bilateral relations.
Closer relations could help American investors and security planners build new partnerships in these regions, while improved public opinion of the U.S. could fuel the rise of pro-American leaders in the long term. A pandemic treaty is key to reaping these benefits. The long-lasting, society-wide nature of the Covid-19 pandemic made health care a uniquely salient issue to many in low-income countries, so U.S. support on this vital issue would exceptionally benefit its diplomatic reputation worldwide.
U.S. support for the International Treaty for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response is good for both global health equity and promoting America’s values abroad. Rather than reject a treaty under vague national sovereignty concerns and conspiratorial fears, American policymakers should embrace good-faith participation in this new pandemic treaty. The world — and the U.S. — will be healthier and wealthier for it.
Sergio Imparato is a lecturer on government at Harvard University and author of “The Sovereign President” (Pisa University Press, 2015). Sarosh Nagar is a researcher in the Department of Economics at Harvard University.
First Opinion newsletter: If you enjoy reading opinion and perspective essays, get a roundup of each week’s First Opinions delivered to your inbox every Sunday. Sign up here.
Create a display name to comment
This name will appear with your comment
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The waters off Florida and across the Caribbean are reaching record-breaking temperatures. As high as 100-plus degrees Fahrenheit.
If warm seawater is here to stay, what will it mean for all that lives in the ocean and on land?
"This year is unprecedented in terms of how early the bleaching started and the absolute temperature of the ocean that we're recording, and that is well backed up by what I see every single day that I'm on the reefs this summer," Katey Lesneski, geo-biologist, says.
Today, On Point: Our planet in hot water.
Katey Lesneski, marine biologist and Monitoring Coordinator for NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Mission: Iconic Reefs.
Peter de Menocal, oceanographer and paleoclimatologist and director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Ted Firkins, chief of Interpretation and Education at Biscayne National Park.
MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI: On land in many parts of the world now, heat is shimmering off the pavement and forest fires are burning. So are the world’s oceans. More than 40% of the oceans are registering surface temperatures never seen in recorded history, and that figure is expected to pass 50% by September. One weather buoy in Florida’s shallow and enclosed Manatee Bay recently measured water temperatures at an astonishing 101.1% Fahrenheit.
Riley Kaminer, an On Point listener from Miami, says it’s not just a reading on a marine thermometer. You can feel the difference in the water.
RILEY KAMINER: I spent the day at the beach with my partner a couple weeks ago. The ocean is always a bit warmer in the summer, but for the first time this felt really quite different, that temperature plus the rampant sargassum made for an uncomfortable beach day. I'm no climate scientist, but it seems to me that that doesn't bode very well for our planet.
CHAKRABARTI: Ted Firkins is the Chief of Interpretation and Education at Florida’s Biscayne National Park. He says Florida’s fate cannot be separated from the fate of the waters that surround it.
TED FIRKINS: So many livelihoods here in the state of Florida are based on the ocean, in one way or another. That could be that they're in commercial fishing. That could be that they're in the restaurant industry and that they serve fresh Florida seafood. There is a huge recreational fishing industry here. There's a very big boat industry, and boat manufacturers and the sale of boats has really risen in the last couple of years.
We've got big ports that have billions of dollars’ worth of goods and merchandise coming through. Each year. We've got a big cruise industry that departs from Florida, that brings in lots and lots of visitors. We've got these amazing beaches where people plan their vacations to come to. So just so much of the Florida economy is based on our proximity to the ocean and use of the ocean.
CHAKRABARTI: Firkins says where he works, Biscayne National Park, is home to some of the most famous sea-based residents in all of Florida – its coral reefs.
FIRKINS: Biscayne National Park is 173,000 acres. 95% of that is ocean. So we do have some of the northernmost Florida Keys as land mass, and we do have some of the shoreline, but the vast majority of the acreage of Biscayne National Park is the ocean.
We've got the Florida Keys Coral reef track, which is the third largest living reef in the world, and it runs about 350 miles along part of the east coast of Florida and down the Florida Keys. You know, I would add that to another part of our economy. The Florida Keys like to call themselves the dive capital of the United States for people to come down and dive the wrecks and the reefs here.
CHAKRABARTI: Well, listener Manny Gilbert called us to sound the alarm about those same reefs.
MANNY GILBERT: I live in the middle of the Florida Keys. I've been a resident there for over 30 years, and I've never seen the watercolors change into a pea green as I have this last year. And now with the high temperatures of the water, I can just look out in the water and see the coral turning pink. And then white. We have a serious, beyond serious, issue now with this global warming.
CHAKRABARTI: As with any surprising environmental event, there’s always debate – are the measurements wrong? Is this an outlier year? Or is it another data point in the trend towards a hotter, less hospitable planet?
Listener Brian in Fort Lauderdale believes there’s no reason to worry.
BRIAN: We recorded a hundred-degree surface temperature, but if you go down maybe one foot or more, you're going to see normal temperatures throughout the coast of Florida. It does not affect the reefs. It is at the surface, and we are avid fishermen and divers, and we don't see how this can play into destruction of reefs when it is only at the surface.
CHAKRABARTI: The surface temperatures are recording freakishly high numbers, and yes, the water cools as you go deeper. But our guests today say the relative difference in the thermocline isn’t what matters – the real numbers to focus on are the absolute increases we are seeing in ocean temperatures at every depth, year after year.
Park ranger Ted Firkins, at Biscayne National Park says not only should we try to understand what’s happening to the world’s oceans … we must. Warming waters are about more than commerce and recreation. It’s about understanding the marine ecosystems that support all life on Earth, ecosystems that humans are reliant on and drawn to, whether we realize it or not.
FIRKINS: We are a land-dwelling species, human beings, we don't live in the ocean, yet we're drawn to it, and we just have to go there. 50% of the U.S. population, half of us live within 50 miles of the ocean. That's a small portion of the actual land mass of the United States. Yet that's where we concentrate. So we're just drawn to the ocean.
This is On Point. I’m Meghna Chakrabarti. And today, we’re going to try to better understand why so much of the world is, right now, literally, in hot water.
Joining me first from Key Largo, Florida is Katey Lesneski. She’s a marine biologist and Monitoring Coordinator for the so-called Mission: Iconic Reefs. That's at NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Katey, welcome to On Point.
KATEY LESNESKI: Hello Meghna. Thank you so much for having me on your show today.
CHAKRABARTI: So do you get to dive frequently in the waters that we're talking about?
LESNESKI: I do, yes, I dive on a weekly basis as part of my position as a scientist here, but I'm also an avid recreational diver. I like to go out on the reefs here just to look at the beautiful ecosystem, as well as assist in things like debris removal, marine debris removal, to help protect these important ecosystems.
CHAKRABARTI: So then over the past, let's say four to six weeks or so, what have you been seeing on your dives?
LESNESKI: So unfortunately, over this very short timeframe, myself, my colleagues, other recreational divers in the Florida Keys have seen a steep decline in the health of corals that are the actual organisms that make up the coral reefs here.
So in late June, we were starting to see corals undergoing paling, which is a precursor to coral bleaching. And since then, the bleaching has become more widespread, not only in very shallow reef areas where the water tends to be warmer, but as well as some of the deeper reef areas where we're seeing that warm water essentially slowly creep into those areas.
CHAKRABARTI: What kind of depths are you talking about?
LESNESKI: So the very shallow reefs that have the most bleaching, so many different species are bleaching, many individuals are bleaching. Those are anywhere from about 20 feet to corals that get within a couple feet of the surface. The deeper reefs, 60 plus feet.
There's definitely, at this point, some bleaching occurring in some of those areas, and we'll be continuing to track this event at as many reefs as possible in the coming weeks.
CHAKRABARTI: Have you ever seen the kind of bleaching that you're witnessing now occur at such a rapid pace in the waters around the Florida Keys or elsewhere near the Florida coastline?
LESNESKI: I have personally not witnessed this and many of the colleagues that I work with and others in this field who have spent more time than myself on reefs, have also never seen anything quite like this, where so early on in the season, we were already seeing such high-water temperatures, even water temperatures taken from data recorders that are at the bottom of the reef.
And that has been directly linked to a spike in widespread bleaching and unfortunately, the mortality of corals in reefs all across the Florida Keys. And it is now, we're nearing mid-August and typically during warm years, we would see this level of bleaching later in August and into September.
But this has been something that we have been witnessing since July in some areas. So it is clearly coming into focus as an unprecedented event here.
CHAKRABARTI: Can you tell me a little bit more about the numbers that can describe how anomalous this year is. So for example, for those recordings that are taking place at the bottom of the reefs, what would you expect to be in the normal temperature around this time of year versus what you're actually seeing?
LESNESKI: Yeah, so I'll give you an example of Sombrero Reef, which is in the middle keys, and it's one of the mission iconic reefs that we are actively restoring.
And typically, during July, at the bottom of the reef area, we would see temperatures of maybe around 87 degrees Fahrenheit. Back in July, we had recordings of 93, 94 degrees Fahrenheit over several days, which is a high enough temperature that it can actually affect the health of the coral. And shortly after that pulse of warm water, we had teams go out and do an assessment and saw that corals absolutely were affected by that, undergoing bleaching.
And unfortunately, we've recorded that a number of corals have died.
CHAKRABARTI: Wow. And so those high temperatures, again, were at 20, 30, 40, 50 feet even.
LESNESKI: Sombrero Reef the temperatures that were taken there are 15 to 20 feet.
CHAKRABARTI: 15 to 20, okay.
LESNESKI: Yes. Yeah, it really has been so far these very shallow reefs that have hit the hardest, but we're expecting continually elevated.
Not only air temperatures, but ocean temperatures, which over the course of time, until late August and September, could very much affect those deeper regions more.
CHAKRABARTI: Okay, so when we come back from the break, Katey, I want to hear a little bit more about the health and prospect of the reefs that you're studying, trying to preserve and dive in.
CHAKRABARTI: This is On Point. I'm Magna Chakrabarti, and today we're trying to understand what's driving the unusually high-water temperatures that we're seeing in 40% and soon to be 50% of the world's oceans. I'm joined today by Katey Lesneski. She is a marine biologist and monitoring coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's project called Mission Iconic Reefs.
Now Katey, actually, could you just help us take a step back and describe as vividly as you can, the reefs that you dive in, what do they look like? How much life is on them, what colors do you see when they're in a healthy state?
LESNESKI: Yeah, so healthy reefs that are very important, not only ecologically, but also economically to Florida are, as you said, very vibrant, full of life and actually very noisy.
So earlier this year, working on these reefs throughout the Florida Keys region, any reef that you pop onto, you put your scuba gear on and you descend through the water, and as you get closer to the reef, you're seeing all of these colors pop out. So the corals themselves, these rich greens and browns and oranges, and the sea fans bright purple.
With colorful fish, blues, greens, and yellows. Essentially every color of the rainbow you can find on reefs. There's sea turtles here, there's sharks, there are all sorts of different game fish that swim through the reefs that people love to come here to fish. It's very noisy. You can hear fish eating, you can hear groupers grunting.
You can sometimes hear sharks sifting through rocks, especially the nurse sharks who are trying to get around. So it's really a lively place that awakens all your senses when we have a healthy reef.
CHAKRABARTI: Wow. Groupers grunting. What does that sound like?
LESNESKI: It sounds a low boom, other people describe it as a barking noise.
CHAKRABARTI: Okay, fantastic. So it, it awakens all your senses. So then when we start seeing these temperature driven bleaching events happen in those same reefs, does it have an immediate, so first of all, the bleaching is actually the loss of what the bacteria that create the color on the coral, is that right?
LESNESKI: Yeah, so this is a very important concept to understand how bleaching occurs. So corals themselves are actually an animal, and within their tissues, they host a single cell algae. They also have bacteria, fungi, viruses, that are all part of a healthy coral in the rest of their tissue and their mucus.
But during coral bleaching, which is a stress response, and it can be caused by warm temperatures, among other things, that single cell algae that provides the coral with its color as well as most of its food, will actually leave the tissue. And what's left behind is the clear coral tissue and that white limestone skeleton underneath.
So the coral essentially looks like it has been bleached.
CHAKRABARTI: I see. Okay. But importantly, as you said, the algae is providing the coral with its food. So how long can the coral survive then in this bleach state? So during periods of mild bleaching or a mild increase in temperature, corals can survive in that state for several weeks.
Unfortunately, at some of the reefs that we have seen here, that period of death is occurring within a matter of days, just because the water is so hot. But it is definitely important to remember that just because a coral bleaches doesn't automatically mean it will die. If environmental conditions do improve, they can indeed recover.
CHAKRABARTI: So that's hopeful and good news. On the other hand though, I'm seeing some predictions that ocean temperatures may continue to rise, or at the very least, stay high through September. So that's a total of many weeks of potential bleaching in some of these reefs.
LESNESKI: Yes, exactly. So the NOAA Coral Reef Watch program generates predictions about bleaching based on satellite data collected on sea surface temperatures, as well as real-time data transmitted from buoys or other instrumentation.
And right now, the forecast shows that we can expect to see ongoing widespread bleaching and subsequent mortality for the next nine to 12 weeks. So we are continually bracing to continue to witness that. And we will be collecting as much data as possible about the effects on the reef here.
I will say that there are corals that we have seen on these deeply affected reefs that are still healthy. It's very few, but that does provide us hope and those are the individuals that we will absolutely be tracking, and studying and trying to understand why they are resilient in the face of this bleaching event.
CHAKRABARTI: Okay. Coral though are, they're not just these beautiful reef dwelling organisms that sparkle the eyes of divers. The reefs themselves are what, I think you've said in the past they're less than 1% of the ocean, but 25% of all marine life rely on coral reefs at some point in time. And also, they provide a physical barrier for wave energy as well.
So what impact would losing these reefs have on the broader ecosystem that rely on them?
LESNESKI: Yeah. So you did a great job of summing up some of those ecological benefits that reefs provide. Recently down here in Florida, we had lobster season, and now lobster season is open. And coral reefs provide essential habitat for lobsters that people enjoy fishing, enjoy eating.
Folks come down here to scuba dive on these reefs. And really healthy reefs definitely could draw more people who want to learn how to scuba dive and enjoy these reefs. And so that is directly tied into the economy, as well. You mentioned the fact that they provide a natural barrier during storms for wave energy, so they're reducing coastal erosion and flooding during storms.
Which directly, in turn, benefits the taxpayer in providing that extra protection. So with the loss of corals from bleaching, what essentially happens is if they do die, they will start to disintegrate over time and the reef framework and the habitat itself will essentially crumble.
And so all the different animals that rely on that habitat will have to find somewhere else, if they can. But that collapse in the framework is also directly tied to potential economic losses. So it's really important to consider it from both sides, both the ecology and the economic impact.
CHAKRABARTI: Okay. I've just got a couple more questions about the coral reefs specifically, and then we're going to broaden our analysis to oceans around the world.
But you heard a bit earlier at the top of the show, Katey, a caller, an On Point listener who called in and said he's not noticing any differences in deeper waters and is also a diver. What do you, what's your response to that? How can you explain what he's seeing versus what you're seeing in the places you dive?
LESNESKI: My understanding is that caller was diving and fishing off of Fort Lauderdale. Is about 50 miles north of any of the reefs that we work on here. And while that might not seem very far, it is a different offshore reef structure system. There are different currents and water exchanges that come into play.
That lead to different environmental conditions, off Fort Lauderdale versus the Keys. And those different environmental conditions will drive differences in ecology and the ecological response. So we, as I mentioned, we have temperature loggers and other environmental loggers that are deployed at the bottom of these reefs, all throughout the Keys.
And we're pulling that data and those temperatures. And that data we have, very, a lot of confidence in how accurate and precise they are. The reefs here, there's, on almost every shallow reef, you will absolutely see bleaching that is undeniable. Folks around here who I know in the community who are not scientists, they're able to see it with their own eyes.
And I would take it as a sign of hope that off of Fort Lauderdale, there isn't this significant amount of impact right now. And hopefully those reefs continue to stay healthy and continue to escape the heat and the effects that are happening down here.
CHAKRABARTI: I appreciate your very clear explanation of the difference that 50 miles can make, because I think it's really important to emphasize that we also at the top of the show, played a little bit of tape from another caller in Key West who was speaking with the sound of shock in his voice, almost.
CHAKRABARTI: What he was seeing where around where he is. So one of the goals that we hope to achieve with this hour is to really have people think beyond sort of their immediate realm of experience into the broader global systems, the broader global changes we're seeing in marine environments around the world, and how that's all going to impact us.
So Katey Lesneski in Key Largo. Just hang on for one minute, because I want to hear from some more listeners and then bring in again, a global Marine expert. So first of all, we got a call from Tallahassee, Florida, On Point listener Melissa told us that she is not feeling any changes in the waters where she swims.
MELISSA: I was in Panama City Beach literally this morning and did get in the Gulf, and I did not notice that the temperature was too warm. It was quite refreshing, and the water was beautiful. However, I don't know what it's like in any other part of the state. I have been traveling to this particular timeshare since 1980, the same week every year.
So to me it is definitely comfortable. So I didn't notice any warming.
CHAKRABARTI: On the other hand, we got a call from Tom who lives in Seattle, Washington. He left us a VoxPop to say warm is a relative term when it comes to the world's oceans. It depends on where you're getting your feet wet. But still, he thinks the problems of increasing water temperature is real and getting worse.
TOM: As a former Floridian who lived in Florida in the 1990s, I do want to make folks aware that the ocean water in Miami where I lived got very warm every summer. So it is maybe not as alarming as it may sound if you are consistently used to ocean water in Washington State, or Massachusetts, where it will always be colder.
It's just clearly getting worse.
CHAKRABARTI: Tom, I have to say I appreciate your call. As a native Pacific North Westerner, I know how cold the Pacific is off the coast of Oregon and Washington. It's way colder than it is off the coast of Massachusetts, but down in Florida, as we've been talking about, 101-degree temperature recorded in at least one weather buoy.
CHAKRABARTI: Joining us now is Peter de Menocal. He's an oceanographer and paleoclimatologist, and also director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Peter, welcome to On Point.
PETER DE MENOCAL: Thank you very much for having me on your show, Meghna.
CHAKRABARTI: Now. I understand you're in Nantucket today, so surrounded by water as well. When you first saw the data coming in from the waters, around Florida, Southern Florida especially.
And let's just focus on that 101-degree temperature mark that that buoy recorded in Manatee Bay. What was your first response?
DE MENOCAL: It was alarming to many of us indeed. Indeed, the people living there and also those of us who are climate scientists. But it's important to recognize, too, that it is an enclosed bay.
It's not an entire section of the ocean. So I think understanding it within the context of a limited embayment area, it's understandable that it can get warmer like that, but it is, 101 degrees is exceptional.
CHAKRABARTI: We heard Katey though just now say that in the places that she's trying to preserve and study, that there's unusually, been unusually high-water temperatures even at 20, 30, 40, 50 feet below the surface.
So how pervasive right now is this high-water temperature problem? Where else in the world are we seeing it?
DE MENOCAL: We're seeing it almost all over the world, but certainly in specific parts of the world. For example, the region in the Gulf of Mexico and off of Florida has warmed up a great deal.
One of the most concerning trends is actually the North Atlantic. The North Atlantic is now the warmest it has ever been in recorded history. We've been measuring ocean temperatures for about 100 years, actually going to be extended back for 150 years. This is the warmest we've ever seen the entire North Atlantic basin.
CHAKRABARTI: How much warmer than usual.
DE MENOCAL: Right. So it's about one and a half degrees centigrade warmer than the historical period. And that's more than twice as warm as it has been in the past. And just to give our listeners some context. It's over 15 degrees centigrade warmer off of Nova Scotia and off of Newfoundland right now.
CHAKRABARTI: More than 15 degrees C. Wow.
DE MENOCAL: No, 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Warmer.
CHAKRABARTI: Oh, I thought you said degrees centigrade.
DE MENOCAL: No. 15 degrees Fahrenheit.
CHAKRABARTI: Okay. That's a lot. Either way. Now I want to get right to something that I know a lot of people may be wondering. Because there's some claims or analysis out there that are saying that this is simply maybe an outlier year.
It's not necessarily due to overall and continuous warming of the world's oceans, driven by human caused climate change. But rather what we're seeing is just a really vigorous El Nino, right now. Peter, what do you think about that?
DE MENOCAL: Yeah, no, I'm happy to take that on. So the warming of the global oceans is in fact the single best indicator of global warming that we have for the planet.
The oceans have absorbed more than 93% of the excess heating that we get from the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. And so the oceans are doing us a big favor right now by absorbing all that heat. Remember the ocean or water has 3,000 times the heat capacity of air. And so as the ocean's warm, they can take up this heat that would otherwise be in the atmosphere.
So we can thank the oceans for really protecting us from really extreme heat. But tell me a little bit more then about how you would scientifically differentiate the global warming caused effects on ocean warming versus what's driven by El Nino.
DE MENOCAL: So that's a great question. So we have 4,000 autonomous robots in the ocean that are basically pogo sticking up and down in the ocean, from the surface, to a depth of about a half a mile, and then they surface again. And as they go up and down in the ocean, remember these are all over in all the world's oceans right now.
They measure temperature and salinity and pressure, and they basically show that the oceans are warming, not only at the surface, but at depth, as well.
CHAKRABARTI: Peter, before the break, you were describing how we can tell the difference between global warming caused ocean temperature rises, versus El Nino caused temperature rises.
Keep describing that to me because I'm still not quite clear how we can differentiate the two.
DE MENOCAL: So I'm happy to clarify that. So from these robots and basically ship measurements in the ocean, we can document that the oceans are indeed warming all around the world. In fact, they reached the warmest ocean temperatures ever measured globally.
Just this year. In fact, July was an absolute record of the oceans having warmed up about one degree centigrade around the world. Now that's just the average planetary warming. Now, El Nino is this four-to-six-year natural oscillation of waters in the tropical Pacific, and basically it oscillates between two extremes.
One is called La Nina, and that is an amplification of the current situation in the Equatorial Pacific where the waters are warmer off of Australia and they're colder off of Peru. Now what we're experiencing this year is called El Nino, and I think many of our listeners are probably familiar with that.
That is a warming in the tropical Eastern Pacific and a relative cooling off of Australia. So it's the opposite pattern. What happens during El Nino, it's a release of tremendous ocean heat back to the atmosphere. Now, remember we said that the ocean has about 3,000 times the heat content of the atmosphere.
In past years, the ocean has been accumulating all that heat and now's it's a time for that to burp itself out, if you will, or release that heat back to the atmosphere. So if we look back over really the last century or so of temperature changes, we find that the warmest years in any decade, were in fact El Nino years, and we are headed right now into a strong El Nino period, which will develop in the wintertime later this year and into 2024.
CHAKRABARTI: I see. So what you're saying is that baseline water temperatures have been rising and now what we have is an inline effect on top of that. So that's why you're saying it's undeniable that human caused climate change is the baseline driver here.
DE MENOCAL: And then, one of the other sort of indicators of the fact that the whole planet is warming is that when you actually measure ocean warming. It's not just the skin of the ocean, it's not just in one place. It actually extends all the way through the water column as far as we can measure. And we can measure now down to a mile or two miles into the ocean, so we can actually trace this warming to the bottom of the sea floor.
CHAKRABARTI: Meaning that your paleoclimatologists expertise is coming in here, are there patterns of similar warming in the deep past?
DE MENOCAL: (LAUGHS) Well, we have to go back quite far in time to find a time when the earth has been as warm as it is today. It's certainly the warmest that it's been throughout what's called the Holocene, which is the time of human civilization spending the last 10,000 or 12,000 years.
But we believe we have to actually reach back further in time. Back to at least a hundred thousand years, perhaps even earlier than that, to get to a time that was as warm as today. And then where it's headed in the decades ahead is basically, we haven't seen this for many millions, even tens of millions of years.
CHAKRABARTI: Oh gosh. Okay. Katey, I really appreciate your patience in listening to the analysis that Peter's offering there. I want to tie your two areas of research together here, because it suddenly occurred to me that the bleaching of the coral reefs are devastating. It's terrible, and part of the reason why is because the coral can't move.
But are you seeing other evidence of long-term impact regard when it comes to these warmer waters on other forms of marine life? Are they moving, are they changing their location? What's happening sort of year by year in terms of marine life around where you are, as the waters get warmer?
LESNESKI: That's a great question and it's definitely important for us to consider how other marine life is affected just because these ecosystems are so diverse. Here in the Florida Keys, we have what we call the oceanside, which is out towards the east where the coral reefs are. And then we have the bay side, which is to the west of the Florida Keys where Florida Bay is.
And Florida Bay is a very shallow environment and it's full of sea grass and sponges and many different types of fish that people come here to fish for, like game fish. And those fish will, some of them migrate between both sides. So the ocean side and the bay side. Unfortunately, we're already hearing reports of large areas of sea grass die off, as well as sponges that are dying.
From the unusually high-water temperatures. Sponges are critical for water filtration. And we also have been hearing reports of fish kills. A number of fish that are floating on the surface or washing up onto the shoreline, and those are all indicators of a decreasing, a decrease in health of the environment here.
Exactly as you mentioned, corals can't move. Once they choose a place to settle and they grow, that's where they are. And corals are very constrained by not only the water temperature that they live in, they can't live in cold waters and still continue to build their skeletons. They also require an adequate amount of sunlight.
So that's why we don't see corals growing, much far north beyond Port St. Lucie in Florida, which is a couple hundred miles north of where I am today. And that sort of migration, if it ever were to happen, would take hundreds if not thousands of years.
CHAKRABARTI: Wow. And the coral may not have that much time.
Sadly ahead of them. We are going to talk in a few minutes about what we can do about this, but Peter, where you are, much farther north in the waters of New England, I think I've read that there are certain fish and species and lobster that are every year moving north, what, how many miles? Three or four miles every year?
DE MENOCAL: Yeah. That's right, Meghna. The fisheries here, the fishing men and women of the East Coast know very well that their fisheries are moving both northward at a rate of several miles per year. They're positively sprinting to Canada, and they also move deeper. They move deeper by about 10 feet a decade.
CHAKRABARTI: Wow. Okay. I would presume that both of you, perhaps early on in your careers first started becoming acquainted with the models that were predicting what might happen to the world's oceans as climate change continues apace. Katey, is what you're seeing now, does it match the models from, I don't know, five, 10 years ago?
Or is it exceeding what the models had predicted?
LESNESKI: So when we think about how reefs perform over time, we absolutely do understand that they go through cycles. Bleaching, as I mentioned earlier, is a natural stress response. But the amount of bleaching and how early on in the year it started here and how widespread it is was definitely unexpected for myself and many of my colleagues.
And I don't specifically, myself work on modeling these trends over a long period of time. But in speaking with colleagues who do engage in that sort of work, this event is actually going to be a time of gathering data to essentially refine those models. And we expect that many of the things that the models predict, like ongoing coral bleaching events, or sea surface temperature or at depth surface temperature will essentially have to be refined to include the anomalies that we're recording right now.
CHAKRABARTI: Oh, the models themselves will have to be changed. Okay. Peter, just briefly, same question to you. Is what you're seeing now, what was predicted then, or is it better or worse?
DE MENOCAL: In terms of the planet warming and the ocean warming, it's exactly spot on with what we understood, even decades ago. In fact, the irony here is not lost on me.
There was a study done by Exxon scientists who had extremely good climate scientists back in the '70s and '80s, and their predictions of future warming into the decades match our that we have today with most sophisticated models and having had decades of learning on top of that, are right on top of each other.
So the warming that we're seeing now is exactly what we expect. Now, 2023 is unusual because it's El Nino year and also because we expect it to be a big El Nino year. And actually, the warming that we're going to get this year is a little bit of a spike above that nominal trend of increased warming us been going on for now, six or seven decades.
CHAKRABARTI: The reason why I ask that is because we're living in a world now where the best tools that scientists have to predict the future, and that always comes with an asterisk, right? But the best tools are the models that are being generated by data that's currently coming in. To hear that the models have been pretty darn accurate is quite a bracing fact.
It makes us want to listen more and pay attention more to what the models might predict in the future. One of the predictions that I'm seeing, Peter, is regarding something called the Atlantic Meridian Overturning Circulation, or this big group of currents that work like what, a giant heat or water and heat conveyor belt all around the planet.
What might happen to the AMOCC.
DE MENOCAL: Right, the AMOC or AMOC, it's a much more less painful abbreviation for such a multi mouthful of syllables. The AMOC is really the single most important cog of the global climate engine. And it basically, the surface expression of it is the Gulf Stream, which is this surface river of warm water that comes from the Gulf of Mexico all the way up into the subpolar regions north of Iceland.
There, that warm water loses its heat, and it becomes cold. And cold, salty water is denser, so it sinks. That loss of buoyancy that sinking, brings it to the bottom of the sea floor, where then it returns south and it looks just like a conveyor belt, just as you mentioned. Now, what drives that conveyor belt is this cool, the cool temperatures, cold temperatures indeed, that we get in the sub polar regions.
South of Greenland, for example, or around Greenland as the arctic warms. And remember, the Arctic is warming at a rate that's two or three times the global average. That's something we've been knowing for a long time. So the fact that the Arctic is warming and sadly Greenland and the larger ice sheets are melting, warmer, fresher water makes it so the surface water can't sink.
Now I want to just pause there for a moment to say that we have actual observations here at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where we're actually able to monitor the speed and the flow and the volume of these deep waters associated with AMOC. And it's important that your listeners know that we see no observational evidence for a decrease in the AMOC circulation.
That said we are seeing fingerprints, other indicators on the surface that are consistent with the slowing down of the AMOC. And indeed, there was a study just a week or so ago, actually a couple of weeks now, that actually put a date on the time when the AMOC circulation may shut down. In fact, they even went as far as to say it will shut down as early as 2025.
CHAKRABARTI: Stop, really?
DE MENOCAL: Yep. The median date --
CHAKRABARTI: Sorry, I didn't mean to have that, I didn't mean to have that outburst, but that is so soon. Okay. In worst case scenario --
DE MENOCAL: The astonishment in your voice is the astonishment of climate sciences voices as well.
CHAKRABARTI: Okay. So in that worst case scenario, if we have this shutdown of this critical complex of ocean currents, just briefly, what could the potential impacts be?
DE MENOCAL: I was quoted as saying there's not a single person on the planet who wouldn't know this didn't happen.
CHAKRABARTI: Meaning what? Meaning that if you are a farmer in the Central United States, you'll see this as a change in the growing patterns and the rainfall that you depend upon to grow your crops.
If you're living in tropical Africa, the rainfall shifts further south. If you live in Brazil, the rainfall patterns shift. If you live in Europe, the temperatures change dramatically. The last time this happened was a long time ago, about 12,000 years ago. It was associated with a melting of the ice sheets, strangely enough.
And when that happened, Northern Europe was plunged into a brief ice age for about a thousand years. But that transition happened in the time it takes to finish a college degree. About four to five years, certainly less than a decade. And the temperature change was 15 degrees centigrade in less than a decade.
CHAKRABARTI: Okay. Katey, I'm going to give the last minute and a half or so to you, because I deeply appreciate the sort of objective scientific rigor that both of you have brought to this conversation. It's alarming, but also I think we need to seek reasons to, even though we might feel that sense of alarm, to be courageous about things that we can do even in the face of this broad spectrum of possibilities for our future regarding the ocean.
So coming back to coral, help us close out with what are the things that you're doing right now to preserve and save the coral from this immediate high temperature stress they're undergoing.
LESNESKI: Yeah. So right now, us here at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary have been supporting many of our partners in this region that actually grow coral and take care of coral for the effort of reef restoration.
These partners, they do that in land-based facilities as well as actually in these structures in the ocean that we call coral nurseries. So over the last several weeks, many partners have mobilized very quickly to actually bring corals that are, that were or are still healthy. into these on land facilities where they can be taken care of until this heat event dies down.
And this past week we were actually helping to build out the infrastructure of one of our partners to move corals from a shallow area to a deeper area. And those corals are being moved every single day throughout this week. as well. So we have hope that they will indeed make it through the end of the summer.
This program aired on August 9, 2023.
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The waters off Florida and across the Caribbean are reaching record-breaking temperatures. As high as 100-plus degrees Fahrenheit.
If warm seawater is here to stay, what will it mean for all that lives in the ocean and on land?
"This year is unprecedented in terms of how early the bleaching started and the absolute temperature of the ocean that we're recording, and that is well backed up by what I see every single day that I'm on the reefs this summer," Katey Lesneski, geo-biologist, says.
Today, On Point: Our planet in hot water.
Katey Lesneski, marine biologist and Monitoring Coordinator for NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Mission: Iconic Reefs.
Peter de Menocal, oceanographer and paleoclimatologist and director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Ted Firkins, chief of Interpretation and Education at Biscayne National Park.
MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI: On land in many parts of the world now, heat is shimmering off the pavement and forest fires are burning. So are the world’s oceans. More than 40% of the oceans are registering surface temperatures never seen in recorded history, and that figure is expected to pass 50% by September. One weather buoy in Florida’s shallow and enclosed Manatee Bay recently measured water temperatures at an astonishing 101.1% Fahrenheit.
Riley Kaminer, an On Point listener from Miami, says it’s not just a reading on a marine thermometer. You can feel the difference in the water.
RILEY KAMINER: I spent the day at the beach with my partner a couple weeks ago. The ocean is always a bit warmer in the summer, but for the first time this felt really quite different, that temperature plus the rampant sargassum made for an uncomfortable beach day. I'm no climate scientist, but it seems to me that that doesn't bode very well for our planet.
CHAKRABARTI: Ted Firkins is the Chief of Interpretation and Education at Florida’s Biscayne National Park. He says Florida’s fate cannot be separated from the fate of the waters that surround it.
TED FIRKINS: So many livelihoods here in the state of Florida are based on the ocean, in one way or another. That could be that they're in commercial fishing. That could be that they
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're in the restaurant industry and that they serve fresh Florida seafood. There is a huge recreational fishing industry here. There's a very big boat industry, and boat manufacturers and the sale of boats has really risen in the last couple of years.
We've got big ports that have billions of dollars’ worth of goods and merchandise coming through. Each year. We've got a big cruise industry that departs from Florida, that brings in lots and lots of visitors. We've got these amazing beaches where people plan their vacations to come to. So just so much of the Florida economy is based on our proximity to the ocean and use of the ocean.
CHAKRABARTI: Firkins says where he works, Biscayne National Park, is home to some of the most famous sea-based residents in all of Florida – its coral reefs.
FIRKINS: Biscayne National Park is 173,000 acres. 95% of that is ocean. So we do have some of the northernmost Florida Keys as land mass, and we do have some of the shoreline, but the vast majority of the acreage of Biscayne National Park is the ocean.
We've got the Florida Keys Coral reef track, which is the third largest living reef in the world, and it runs about 350 miles along part of the east coast of Florida and down the Florida Keys. You know, I would add that to another part of our economy. The Florida Keys like to call themselves the dive capital of the United States for people to come down and dive the wrecks and the reefs here.
CHAKRABARTI: Well, listener Manny Gilbert called us to sound the alarm about those same reefs.
MANNY GILBERT: I live in the middle of the Florida Keys. I've been a resident there for over 30 years, and I've never seen the watercolors change into a pea green as I have this last year. And now with the high temperatures of the water, I can just look out in the water and see the coral turning pink. And then white. We have a serious, beyond serious, issue now with this global warming.
CHAKRABARTI: As with any surprising environmental event, there’s always debate – are the measurements wrong? Is this an outlier year? Or is it another data point in the trend towards a hotter, less hospitable planet?
Listener Brian in Fort Lauderdale believes there’s no reason to worry.
BRIAN: We recorded a hundred-degree surface temperature, but if you go down maybe one foot or more, you're going to see normal temperatures throughout the coast of Florida. It does not affect the reefs. It is at the surface, and we are avid fishermen and divers, and we don't see how this can play into destruction of reefs when it is only at the surface.
CHAKRABARTI: The surface temperatures are recording freakishly high numbers, and yes, the water cools as you go deeper. But our guests today say the relative difference in the thermocline isn’t what matters – the real numbers to focus on are the absolute increases we are seeing in ocean temperatures at every depth, year after year.
Park ranger Ted Firkins, at Biscayne National Park says not only should we try to understand what’s happening to the world’s oceans … we must. Warming waters are about more than commerce and recreation. It’s about understanding the marine ecosystems that support all life on Earth, ecosystems that humans are reliant on and drawn to, whether we realize it or not.
FIRKINS: We are a land-dwelling species, human beings, we don't live in the ocean, yet we're drawn to it, and we just have to go there. 50% of the U.S. population, half of us live within 50 miles of the ocean. That's a small portion of the actual land mass of the United States. Yet that's where we concentrate. So we're just drawn to the ocean.
This is On Point. I’m Meghna Chakrabarti. And today, we’re going to try to better understand why so much of the world is, right now, literally, in hot water.
Joining me first from Key Largo, Florida is Katey Lesneski. She’s a marine biologist and Monitoring Coordinator for the so-called Mission: Iconic Reefs. That's at NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Katey, welcome to On Point.
KATEY LESNESKI: Hello Meghna. Thank you so much for having me on your show today.
CHAKRABARTI: So do you get to dive frequently in the waters that we're talking about?
LESNESKI: I do, yes, I dive on a weekly basis as part of my position as a scientist here, but I'm also an avid recreational diver. I like to go out on the reefs here just to look at the beautiful ecosystem, as well as assist in things like debris removal, marine debris removal, to help protect these important ecosystems.
CHAKRABARTI: So then over the past, let's say four to six weeks or so, what have you been seeing on your dives?
LESNESKI: So unfortunately, over this very short timeframe, myself, my colleagues, other recreational divers in the Florida Keys have seen a steep decline in the health of corals that are the actual organisms that make up the coral reefs here.
So in late June, we were starting to see corals undergoing paling, which is a precursor to coral bleaching. And since then, the bleaching has become more widespread, not only in very shallow reef areas where the water tends to be warmer, but as well as some of the deeper reef areas where we're seeing that warm water essentially slowly creep into those areas.
CHAKRABARTI: What kind of depths are you talking about?
LESNESKI: So the very shallow reefs that have the most bleaching, so many different species are bleaching, many individuals are bleaching. Those are anywhere from about 20 feet to corals that get within a couple feet of the surface. The deeper reefs, 60 plus feet.
There's definitely, at this point, some bleaching occurring in some of those areas, and we'll be continuing to track this event at as many reefs as possible in the coming weeks.
CHAKRABARTI: Have you ever seen the kind of bleaching that you're witnessing now occur at such a rapid pace in the waters around the Florida Keys or elsewhere near the Florida coastline?
LESNESKI: I have personally not witnessed this and many of the colleagues that I work with and others in this field who have spent more time than myself on reefs, have also never seen anything quite like this, where so early on in the season, we were already seeing such high-water temperatures, even water temperatures taken from data recorders that are at the bottom of the reef.
And that has been directly linked to a spike in widespread bleaching and unfortunately, the mortality of corals in reefs all across the Florida Keys. And it is now, we're nearing mid-August and typically during warm years, we would see this level of bleaching later in August and into September.
But this has been something that we have been witnessing since July in some areas. So it is clearly coming into focus as an unprecedented event here.
CHAKRABARTI: Can you tell me a little bit more about the numbers that can describe how anomalous this year is. So for example, for those recordings that are taking place at the bottom of the reefs, what would you expect to be in the normal temperature around this time of year versus what you're actually seeing?
LESNESKI: Yeah, so I'll give you an example of Sombrero Reef, which is in the middle keys, and it's one of the mission iconic reefs that we are actively restoring.
And typically, during July, at the bottom of the reef area, we would see temperatures of maybe around 87 degrees Fahrenheit. Back in July, we had recordings of 93, 94 degrees Fahrenheit over several days, which is a high enough temperature that it can actually affect the health of the coral. And shortly after that pulse of warm water, we had teams go out and do an assessment and saw that corals absolutely were affected by that, undergoing bleaching.
And unfortunately, we've recorded that a number of corals have died.
CHAKRABARTI: Wow. And so those high temperatures, again, were at 20, 30, 40, 50 feet even.
LESNESKI: Sombrero Reef the temperatures that were taken there are 15 to 20 feet.
CHAKRABARTI: 15 to 20, okay.
LESNESKI: Yes. Yeah, it really has been so far these very shallow reefs that have hit the hardest, but we're expecting continually elevated.
Not only air temperatures, but ocean temperatures, which over the course of time, until late August and September, could very much affect those deeper regions more.
CHAKRABARTI: Okay, so when we come back from the break, Katey, I want to hear a little bit more about the health and prospect of the reefs that you're studying, trying to preserve and dive in.
CHAKRABARTI: This is On Point. I'm Magna Chakrabarti, and today we're trying to understand what's driving the unusually high-water temperatures that we're seeing in 40% and soon to be 50% of the world's oceans. I'm joined today by Katey Lesneski. She is a marine biologist and monitoring coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's project called Mission Iconic Reefs.
Now Katey, actually, could you just help us take a step back and describe as vividly as you can, the reefs that you dive in, what do they look like? How much life is on them, what colors do you see when they're in a healthy state?
LESNESKI: Yeah, so healthy reefs that are very important, not only ecologically, but also economically to Florida are, as you said, very vibrant, full of life and actually very noisy.
So earlier this year, working on these reefs throughout the Florida Keys region, any reef that you pop onto, you put your scuba gear on and you descend through the water, and as you get closer to the reef, you're seeing all of these colors pop out. So the corals themselves, these rich greens and browns and oranges, and the sea fans bright purple.
With colorful fish, blues, greens, and yellows. Essentially every color of the rainbow you can find on reefs. There's sea turtles here, there's sharks, there are all sorts of different game fish that swim through the reefs that people love to come here to fish. It's very noisy. You can hear fish eating, you can hear groupers grunting.
You can sometimes hear sharks sifting through rocks, especially the nurse sharks who are trying to get around. So it's really a lively place that awakens all your senses when we have a healthy reef.
CHAKRABARTI: Wow. Groupers grunting. What does that sound like?
LESNESKI: It sounds a low boom, other people describe it as a barking noise.
CHAKRABARTI: Okay, fantastic. So it, it awakens all your senses. So then when we start seeing these temperature driven bleaching events happen in those same reefs, does it have an immediate, so first of all, the bleaching is actually the loss of what the bacteria that create the color on the coral, is that right?
LESNESKI: Yeah, so this is a very important concept to understand how bleaching occurs. So corals themselves are actually an animal, and within their tissues, they host a single cell algae. They also have bacteria, fungi, viruses, that are all part of a healthy coral in the rest of their tissue and their mucus.
But during coral bleaching, which is a stress response, and it can be caused by warm temperatures, among other things, that single cell algae that provides the coral with its color as well as most of its food, will actually leave the tissue. And what's left behind is the clear coral tissue and that white limestone skeleton underneath.
So the coral essentially looks like it has been bleached.
CHAKRABARTI: I see. Okay. But importantly, as you said, the algae is providing the coral with its food. So how long can the coral survive then in this bleach state? So during periods of mild bleaching or a mild increase in temperature, corals can survive in that state for several weeks.
Unfortunately, at some of the reefs that we have seen here, that period of death is occurring within a matter of days, just because the water is so hot. But it is definitely important to remember that just because a coral bleaches doesn't automatically mean it will die. If environmental conditions do improve, they can indeed recover.
CHAKRABARTI: So that's hopeful and good news. On the other hand though, I'm seeing some predictions that ocean temperatures may continue to rise, or at the very least, stay high through September. So that's a total of many weeks of potential bleaching in some of these reefs.
LESNESKI: Yes, exactly. So the NOAA Coral Reef Watch program generates predictions about bleaching based on satellite data collected on sea surface temperatures, as well as real-time data transmitted from buoys or other instrumentation.
And right now, the forecast shows that we can expect to see ongoing widespread bleaching and subsequent mortality for the next nine to 12 weeks. So we are continually bracing to continue to witness that. And we will be collecting as much data as possible about the effects on the reef here.
I will say that there are corals that we have seen on these deeply affected reefs that are still healthy. It's very few, but that does provide us hope and those are the individuals that we will absolutely be tracking, and studying and trying to understand why they are resilient in the face of this bleaching event.
CHAKRABARTI: Okay. Coral though are, they're not just these beautiful reef dwelling organisms that sparkle the eyes of divers. The reefs themselves are what, I think you've said in the past they're less than 1% of the ocean, but 25% of all marine life rely on coral reefs at some point in time. And also, they provide a physical barrier for wave energy as well.
So what impact would losing these reefs have on the broader ecosystem that rely on them?
LESNESKI: Yeah. So you did a great job of summing up some of those ecological benefits that reefs provide. Recently down here in Florida, we had lobster season, and now lobster season is open. And coral reefs provide essential habitat for lobsters that people enjoy fishing, enjoy eating.
Folks come down here to scuba dive on these reefs. And really healthy reefs definitely could draw more people who want to learn how to scuba dive and enjoy these reefs. And so that is directly tied into the economy, as well. You mentioned the fact that they provide a natural barrier during storms for wave energy, so they're reducing coastal erosion and flooding during storms.
Which directly, in turn, benefits the taxpayer in providing that extra protection. So with the loss of corals from bleaching, what essentially happens is if they do die, they will start to disintegrate over time and the reef framework and the habitat itself will essentially crumble.
And so all the different animals that rely on that habitat will have to find somewhere else, if they can. But that collapse in the framework is also directly tied to potential economic losses. So it's really important to consider it from both sides, both the ecology and the economic impact.
CHAKRABARTI: Okay. I've just got a couple more questions about the coral reefs specifically, and then we're going to broaden our analysis to oceans around the world.
But you heard a bit earlier at the top of the show, Katey, a caller, an On Point listener who called in and said he's not noticing any differences in deeper waters and is also a diver. What do you, what's your response to that? How can you explain what he's seeing versus what you're seeing in the places you dive?
LESNESKI: My understanding is that caller was diving and fishing off of Fort Lauderdale. Is about 50 miles north of any of the reefs that we work on here. And while that might not seem very far, it is a different offshore reef structure system. There are different
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Santa Cruz Water Director Rosemary Menard is worried about our memory, specifically about what she calls our “weather memory whiplash.” That’s when we think our water crisis is over because of a few storms, like the ones we had in January. It’s not, she tells us here. In fact, ongoing climate change means our water crisis will likely get worse. “Future water rationing will allot only half as much water to families as water rationing of the past, and future rationing will include businesses,” she says. “That might be easier for an accountant, but not so much for a restaurant, brewery or hotel.”
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.
During the recent series of storms and atmospheric rivers, a neighbor who knows what my day job is mentioned, “California seems to be either parched or drowning.”
As director of the City of Santa Cruz Water Department, that statement hit home.
If you’ve been watching the news the past few weeks, you know California has gone from “extreme” and “exceptional” drought to historic floods. Meteorologists refer to this phenomenon as “weather whiplash,” where conditions go from one extreme to another, and California is the poster child for it.
As someone responsible for providing 98,000 people with a safe, clean, reliable water supply, I can tell you that both extremes are challenging for operating water systems. Particularly for communities like Santa Cruz, where 100% of our water supply comes from local rainfall.
Santa Cruz has experienced dry periods for decades, but the increase in and duration of droughts has jumped significantly during the past 15 years. Drought is a challenge not just from a water-supply perspective, but because it increases the threat of wildfire in our watersheds.
A fire in the Newell Creek watershed could have catastrophic effects on Santa Cruz’s water supply, with impacts on water quality and potential landslides and debris flows into the city’s only drinking-water reservoir, Loch Lomond.
Extreme storms present different challenges — in treating the turbid water that occurs naturally from these storms, as well as for maintaining the system’s pipes, pumps and tanks located in areas prone to flooding and landslides. (Watch this video to learn more about the impact of climate change on operating the water system.)
The direct challenges of managing a water system in extreme weather conditions aside, another challenge of deep concern to me is community “weather memory whiplash.”
This is a phenomenon where a community that suffers from ongoing water-supply shortages suddenly thinks the crisis is over after a few big storms.
Santa Cruz County builds back, prepares for an uncertain future
As a community pulls together, from Boulder Creek to Capitola to Rio Del Mar to the Pajaro Valley, Lookout brings you stories of recovery and resiliency. Send us your story, or one you know about that should be told, at <email-pii>.
Take Santa Cruz, for example — though Loch Lomond Reservoir is now full and spilling, we are not, by any means, out of the woods regarding the long-term reliability of Santa Cruz’s water supply.
When full, Loch Lomond holds only about one year’s worth of water supply, and in the past decade it’s filled only four times. It takes only a few back-to-back dry years to put us in real jeopardy of running out of water.
One of the reasons weather memory whiplash worries me is because memories of past impacts of water shortages won’t be comparable to future impacts from unreliable water supply. To borrow from an old Oldsmobile commercial, “it won’t be your father’s water shortage.”
Future water rationing will allot only half as much water to families as water rationing of the past, and future rationing will include businesses. That might be easier for an accountant, but not so much for a restaurant, brewery or hotel.
Given that Santa Cruz’s economy is tourism-based, rationing water for commercial uses could have economic consequences comparable to those of the pandemic.
This is why the City of Santa Cruz Water Department has spent the past several years working to secure the future of the community’s water supply.
The fundamentals of that work include learning how climate change will continue to affect water supply and production, modernizing the city’s water system to respond to those impacts, studying the most feasible ways to add water to our supply, and creating city policy to support the path to water security.
So far, we’ve invested about $200 million during the past five years in new infrastructure and in modernizing old infrastructure to improve its resiliency to the kind of extreme weather events that are becoming routine. For example, shoring up and replacing crucial pipelines in areas that are prone to landslides, like the pipeline from the reservoir to the treatment plant that broke in a landslide during the El Niño storms of 2017.
We are replacing the pipelines, intake structures and valves at Loch Lomond to ensure we will be able to fill and release water as efficiently as possible. We are replacing outdated equipment at the Graham Hill water treatment plant. We’re revising the city’s centuries-old water rights to give us flexibility in how we use and store water. And we are replacing broken and inefficient home water meters with conservation-friendly equipment that allows customers to monitor their water use.
We’ve studied several new ways to add water to the city’s supply, including storing excess winter water in local groundwater basins (when it’s available, like this year), and/or considering using purified, recycled water. A desalination project was shelved in 2013, but desalination remains on the table.
City councilmembers adopted a new policy in November that will ensure that the city can get on with the work to secure the community’s future water supply. The policy basically acknowledges the city’s long history of looking for solutions to water shortages and codifies steps to move forward, including some of what I have outlined. We are working on a website to explain this.
Our community has a history of using water efficiently, and this practice saved us during dry summers of the past. However, it isn’t enough to save us from many dry summers in a row.
The weather patterns we’ve seen over the past decade — back-to-back extremely dry years punctuated with a year or two of extreme storms here and there — are projected to increase over time. This means that we’re likely to experience different weather patterns than were in effect when much of the Santa Cruz water system was designed and constructed.
The city’s latest policy recognizes that in the months and years to come, Santa Cruz must add to its water supply.
We need to add supply not because of growth, and not because of frivolous use of water, but because the increasing variability of our water supply due to climate change exacerbates the system’s basic problem, which is inadequate storage.
The water system’s lack of storage was identified by the 2014 city council-appointed Water Supply Advisory Committee as the key challenge driving the need for supply augmentation. Weather conditions since the committee disbanded in 2015 have only further reinforced the reality of our vulnerability and the urgency of our need to act.
I hope Santa Cruz Municipal Utilities customers will follow the work the water department is doing to ensure that the future reliability of their drinking water is secure. A good way to stay informed is to join monthly city water commission meetings, which are held virtually. Progress on infrastructure projects underway can be found on our Projects in your Neighborhood webpage, and a list of all the projects completed and still to come can be found on our Capital Improvement Program webpage.
We want our community to know that we have a plan to respond to impacts of climate change, and to secure our water future.
Rosemary Menard is the water director for the City of Santa Cruz. She has over 40 years’ experience as a water utility executive, working in four states — California, Oregon (Portland), Nevada (Reno) and Washington (Seattle). She has a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Washington. She has been Santa Cruz’s water director for nine years.
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Santa Cruz Water Director Rosemary Menard is worried about our memory, specifically about what she calls our “weather memory whiplash.” That’s when we think our water crisis is over because of a few storms, like the ones we had in January. It’s not, she tells us here. In fact, ongoing climate change means our water crisis will likely get worse. “Future water rationing will allot only half as much water to families as water rationing of the past, and future rationing will include businesses,” she says. “That might be easier for an accountant, but not so much for a restaurant, brewery or hotel.”
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.
During the recent series of storms and atmospheric rivers, a neighbor who knows what my day job is mentioned, “California seems to be either parched or drowning.”
As director of the City of Santa Cruz Water Department, that statement hit home.
If you’ve been watching the news the past few weeks, you know California has gone from “extreme” and “exceptional” drought to historic floods. Meteorologists refer to this phenomenon as “weather whiplash,” where conditions go from one extreme to another, and California is the poster child for it.
As someone responsible for providing 98,000 people with a safe, clean, reliable water supply, I can tell you that both extremes are challenging for operating water systems. Particularly for communities like Santa Cruz, where 100% of our water supply comes from local rainfall.
Santa Cruz has experienced dry periods for decades, but the increase in and duration of droughts has jumped significantly during the past 15 years. Drought is a challenge not just from a water-supply perspective, but because it increases the threat of wildfire in our watersheds.
A fire in the Newell Creek watershed could have catastrophic effects on Santa Cruz’s water supply, with impacts on water quality and potential landslides and debris flows into the city’s only drinking-water reservoir, Loch Lomond.
Extreme storms present different challenges — in treating the turbid water that occurs naturally from these storms, as well as for maintaining the system’s pipes, pumps and tanks located in areas prone to flooding and landslides. (Watch this video to learn more about the impact of climate change on operating the water system.)
The direct challenges of managing a water system in extreme weather conditions aside, another challenge of deep concern to me is community
|
“weather memory whiplash.”
This is a phenomenon where a community that suffers from ongoing water-supply shortages suddenly thinks the crisis is over after a few big storms.
Santa Cruz County builds back, prepares for an uncertain future
As a community pulls together, from Boulder Creek to Capitola to Rio Del Mar to the Pajaro Valley, Lookout brings you stories of recovery and resiliency. Send us your story, or one you know about that should be told, at <email-pii>.
Take Santa Cruz, for example — though Loch Lomond Reservoir is now full and spilling, we are not, by any means, out of the woods regarding the long-term reliability of Santa Cruz’s water supply.
When full, Loch Lomond holds only about one year’s worth of water supply, and in the past decade it’s filled only four times. It takes only a few back-to-back dry years to put us in real jeopardy of running out of water.
One of the reasons weather memory whiplash worries me is because memories of past impacts of water shortages won’t be comparable to future impacts from unreliable water supply. To borrow from an old Oldsmobile commercial, “it won’t be your father’s water shortage.”
Future water rationing will allot only half as much water to families as water rationing of the past, and future rationing will include businesses. That might be easier for an accountant, but not so much for a restaurant, brewery or hotel.
Given that Santa Cruz’s economy is tourism-based, rationing water for commercial uses could have economic consequences comparable to those of the pandemic.
This is why the City of Santa Cruz Water Department has spent the past several years working to secure the future of the community’s water supply.
The fundamentals of that work include learning how climate change will continue to affect water supply and production, modernizing the city’s water system to respond to those impacts, studying the most feasible ways to add water to our supply, and creating city policy to support the path to water security.
So far, we’ve invested about $200 million during the past five years in new infrastructure and in modernizing old infrastructure to improve its resiliency to the kind of extreme weather events that are becoming routine. For example, shoring up and replacing crucial pipelines in areas that are prone to landslides, like the pipeline from the reservoir to the treatment plant that broke in a landslide during the El Niño storms of 2017.
We are replacing the pipelines, intake structures and valves at Loch Lomond to ensure we will be able to fill and release water as efficiently as possible. We are replacing outdated equipment at the Graham Hill water treatment plant. We’re revising the city’s centuries-old water rights to give us flexibility in how we use and store water. And we are replacing broken and inefficient home water meters with conservation-friendly equipment that allows customers to monitor their water use.
We’ve studied several new ways to add water to the city’s supply, including storing excess winter water in local groundwater basins (when it’s available, like this year), and/or considering using purified, recycled water. A desalination project was shelved in 2013, but desalination remains on the table.
City councilmembers adopted a new policy in November that will ensure that the city can get on with the work to secure the community’s future water supply. The policy basically acknowledges the city’s long history of looking for solutions to water shortages and codifies steps to move forward, including some of what I have outlined. We are working on a website to explain this.
Our community has a history of using water efficiently, and this practice saved us during dry summers of the past. However, it isn’t enough to save us from many dry summers in a row.
The weather patterns we’ve seen over the past decade — back-to-back extremely dry years punctuated with a year or two of extreme storms here and there — are projected to increase over time. This means that we’re likely to experience different weather patterns than were in effect when much of the Santa Cruz water system was designed and constructed.
The city’s latest policy recognizes that in the months and years to come, Santa Cruz must add to its water supply.
We need to add supply not because of growth, and not because of frivolous use of water, but because the increasing variability of our water supply due to climate change exacerbates the system’s basic problem, which is inadequate storage.
The water system’s lack of storage was identified by the 2014 city council-appointed Water Supply Advisory Committee as the key challenge driving the need for supply augmentation. Weather conditions since the committee disbanded in 2015 have only further reinforced the reality of our vulnerability and the urgency of our need to act.
I hope Santa Cruz Municipal Utilities customers will follow the work the water department is doing to ensure that the future reliability of their drinking water is secure. A good way to stay informed is to join monthly city water commission meetings, which are held virtually. Progress on infrastructure projects underway can be found on our Projects in your Neighborhood webpage, and a list of all the projects completed and still to come can be found on our Capital Improvement Program webpage.
We want our community to know that we have a plan to respond to impacts of climate change, and to secure our water future.
Rosemary Menard is the water director for the City of Santa Cruz. She has over 40 years’ experience as a water utility executive, working in four states — California, Oregon (Portland), Nevada (Reno) and Washington (Seattle). She has a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Washington. She has been Santa Cruz’s water director for nine years.
|
Relevance of 5G in Education;
5G is the fifth generation of cellular networks. Up to 100 times faster than 4G.
In addition,5G is creating never-before-seen opportunities for people and businesses.
Furthermore, Faster connectivity speeds, ultra-low latency and greater bandwidth is advancing societies, transforming industries and dramatically enhancing day-to-day experiences.
However, Services that we used to see as futuristic, such as e-health, connected vehicles and traffic systems and advanced mobile cloud gaming have arrived.
With 5G technology, we can help create a smarter, safer and more sustainable future.
5G runs on the same radio frequencies that are currently being used for your smartphone, on Wi-Fi networks and in satellite communications, but it enables technology to go a lot further.
Beyond being able to download a full-length HD movie to your phone in seconds (even from a crowded stadium), 5G is really about connecting things everywhere – reliably, without lag – so people can measure, understand and manage things in real time.
5G will do much more than significantly improve your network connection.
In addition, It provides new opportunities, enabling us to deliver groundbreaking solutions that reach across society.
Also, Imagine billions of connected devices gathering and sharing information in real time to reduce road accidents; or life-saving applications that can take flight thanks to lag-free guaranteed connections; or production lines so predictive they can prevent interruptions well before they occur.
In this article, you will learn some of the relevance of 5G in Education;
1. It aids remote learning:
The advent of 5G has brought about several innovations that helps to make remote learning easier. Certain inventions like AR & VR (augmented and virtual reality) has made learning more interesting and fun. In addition students can now learn any course from any part of the world without having to worry about a slow internet connection. Since 5G makes it easier for anyone to easily connect and access the internet from anywhere in the world.
2. It improves communication:
The ability of students to communicate easily and effectively with their teachers and peers has been enhanced through the use of the 5G network. Students can now use some artificial intelligence applications that helps to identify their strengths and weaknesses. This will allow them to communicate better and also improve their performance and productivity.
3. It saves time:
One of the major problems students and teachers face before the advent of 5G was slow internet connection. This can sometimes have a negative effect on their workflow and lead to a waste of time. The 5G network works in a very fast and rapid manner. Moreover, certain Applications like AR and VR create several options and avenues for learners both in and outside of the classroom. This will allow them to get their work done within a short period of time.
Are you a school owner and you need a web solution to automate your school work click here to signup for free.
Author: Semira Ayeni.
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Relevance of 5G in Education;
5G is the fifth generation of cellular networks. Up to 100 times faster than 4G.
In addition,5G is creating never-before-seen opportunities for people and businesses.
Furthermore, Faster connectivity speeds, ultra-low latency and greater bandwidth is advancing societies, transforming industries and dramatically enhancing day-to-day experiences.
However, Services that we used to see as futuristic, such as e-health, connected vehicles and traffic systems and advanced mobile cloud gaming have arrived.
With 5G technology, we can help create a smarter, safer and more sustainable future.
5G runs on the same radio frequencies that are currently being used for your smartphone, on Wi-Fi networks and in satellite communications, but it enables technology to go a lot further.
Beyond being able to download a full-length HD movie to your phone in seconds (even from a crowded stadium), 5G is really about connecting things everywhere – reliably, without lag – so people can measure, understand and manage things in real time.
5G will do much more than significantly improve your network connection.
In addition, It provides new opportunities, enabling us to deliver groundbreaking solutions that reach across society.
Also, Imagine billions of connected devices gathering and sharing information in real time to reduce road accidents; or life-saving applications that can take flight thanks to lag-free guaranteed connections; or production lines so predictive they can prevent interruptions well before they occur.
In this article, you will learn some of the relevance of 5G in Education;
1. It aids remote learning:
The advent of 5G has brought about several innovations that helps to make remote learning easier. Certain inventions like AR & VR (augmented and virtual reality) has made learning more interesting and fun. In addition students can now learn any course from any part of the world without having to worry about a slow internet connection. Since 5G makes it easier for anyone to easily connect and access the internet from anywhere in the world.
2. It improves communication:
The ability of students to communicate easily and effectively with their teachers and peers has been enhanced through the use of the 5G network. Students can now use some artificial intelligence applications that helps to identify their strengths and weaknesses. This will allow them to communicate better and also improve their performance and productivity.
3. It saves time:
One of the major problems students and teachers face before the advent of 5G was slow internet connection. This can sometimes have a negative effect on their workflow and
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lead to a waste of time. The 5G network works in a very fast and rapid manner. Moreover, certain Applications like AR and VR create several options and avenues for learners both in and outside of the classroom. This will allow them to get their work done within a short period of time.
Are you a school owner and you need a web solution to automate your school work click here to signup for free.
Author: Semira Ayeni.
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What does Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse mean for the financial system?
A big lender to American startups goes under
| Washington, DC
Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly. That is how Silicon Valley Bank (svb), the 16th-largest lender in America, with about $200bn in assets, went bust. Its financial position deteriorated over several years. But just two days elapsed between the San Francisco-based bank’s announcement on March 8th that it was seeking to raise $2.5bn to plug a hole in its balance-sheet, and the declaration by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which regulates American bank deposits, that svb had failed.
svb’s share price plunged by 60% after the capital raise was revealed. Greg Becker, its chief executive, urged clients to “support us as we have supported you”. Unpersuaded, some venture capitalists told portfolio companies to run. Bill Ackman, a hedge-fund manager, suggested that the government should bail out the bank. By the morning of March 10th its shares had slid another 70% or so in pre-market trading, before a halt was called. cnbc, a television network, reported that svb’s capital-raising efforts had failed and that the bank was seeking to sell itself to a larger institution. Then came the announcement from the regulators.
These events raise two questions. The first is how svb got into this position. The second is whether its troubles are simply an anomaly, or a harbinger of doom for financial institutions writ large.
Start with the first. svb is a bank for startups. It opened accounts for them, often before larger lenders would bother. It also lent to them, which other banks are reluctant to do because few startups have assets for collateral. As Silicon Valley boomed over the past five years, so did svb. Its clients were flush with cash. They needed to store money more than to borrow.
Thus svb’s deposits more than quadrupled—from $44bn at the end of 2017 to $189bn at the end of 2021—while its loan book grew only from $23bn to $66bn. Since banks make money on the spread between the interest rate they pay on deposits (often nothing) and the rate they are paid by borrowers, having a far larger deposit base than loan book is a problem. svb needed to acquire other interest-bearing assets. By the end of 2021, the bank had made $128bn of investments, mostly into mortgage bonds and Treasuries.
Then the world changed. Interest rates soared as inflation became entrenched. This killed off the bonanza in venture capital and caused bond prices to plummet, leaving svb uniquely exposed. Its deposits had swollen when interest rates were low and its clients were flush with cash. Since the bank made investments during this time, it purchased bonds at their peak price. As venture-capital fundraising dried up, svb’s clients ran down their deposits: they fell from $189bn at the end of 2021 to $173bn at the end of 2022. svb was forced to sell off its entire liquid bond portfolio at lower prices than it paid. The losses it took on these sales, some $1.8bn, left a hole it tried to plug with the capital raise. When it went under the bank held some $91bn of investments, valued at their cost at the end of last year.
Were svb’s troubles an anomaly? The bank appears to have been uniquely susceptible to a run. Federal insurance, put in place after a series of panics that felled the American economy in the 1930s, covers deposits up to $250,000. This protects all the cash that most individuals would stash in a bank account. But it is unlikely to cover the funds a company would keep. svb is a bank not just for companies, but a narrow subsection of them that have suffered tougher times than most. Some 93% of its deposits were uninsured. Its customers, unlike those at most banks, had a real incentive to run—and they responded to it.
That said, nearly all banks are sitting on unrealised losses in their bond portfolios. If svb is the bank most likely to have been put in the position of having to stock up on bonds at their peak price, it is probably not the only one struggling with the whiplash in prices. Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary, says she is monitoring several banks in light of the events in Silicon Valley. Thankfully, loan books make up a much larger share of assets at most other institutions. And with rates rising, they are earning more.
The question now is whether there will be a bail-out and, if so, how big it would need to be to make depositors whole. svb “is the lifeblood of the tech ecosystem,” notes Ro Khanna, a congressman from California’s 17th district, which includes some of the valley. “They can’t let the bank fail. Whether that means that it should be acquired by another company…or get assistance from or even a statement from the Treasury department so that the depositors feel secure—I will leave that to the experts.”
Intervention would be unpopular. But short of stiffing depositors it may be the only option, since svb clearly did not hold enough to cover the losses it was being forced to take on assets. Larry Summers, a former treasury secretary, has said that so long as the state steps in, there is no reason to worry that svb will harm other parts of the financial system. Lots of people will be hoping that it does, and that he is right. ■
|
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What does Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse mean for the financial system?
A big lender to American startups goes under
| Washington, DC
Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly. That is how Silicon Valley Bank (svb), the 16th-largest lender in America, with about $200bn in assets, went bust. Its financial position deteriorated over several years. But just two days elapsed between the San Francisco-based bank’s announcement on March 8th that it was seeking to raise $2.5bn to plug a hole in its balance-sheet, and the declaration by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which regulates American bank deposits, that svb had failed.
svb’s share price plunged by 60% after the capital raise was revealed. Greg Becker, its chief executive, urged clients to “support us as we have supported you”. Unpersuaded, some venture capitalists told portfolio companies to run. Bill Ackman, a hedge-fund manager, suggested that the government should bail out the bank. By the morning of March 10th its shares had slid another 70% or so in pre-market trading, before a halt was called. cnbc, a television network, reported that svb’s capital-raising efforts had failed and that the bank was seeking to sell itself to a larger institution. Then came the announcement from the regulators.
These events raise two questions. The first is how svb got into this position. The second is whether its troubles are simply an anomaly, or a harbinger of doom for financial institutions writ large.
Start with the first. svb is a bank for startups. It opened accounts for them, often before larger lenders would bother. It also lent to them, which other banks are reluctant to do because few startups have assets for collateral. As Silicon Valley boomed over the past five years, so did svb. Its clients were flush with cash. They needed to store money more than to borrow.
Thus svb’s deposits more than quadrupled—from $44bn at the end of 2017 to $189bn at the end of 2021—while its loan book grew only from $23bn to $66bn. Since banks make money on the spread between the interest rate they pay on deposits (often nothing) and the rate they are paid by borrowers, having a far larger deposit base than loan book is a problem. svb
|
needed to acquire other interest-bearing assets. By the end of 2021, the bank had made $128bn of investments, mostly into mortgage bonds and Treasuries.
Then the world changed. Interest rates soared as inflation became entrenched. This killed off the bonanza in venture capital and caused bond prices to plummet, leaving svb uniquely exposed. Its deposits had swollen when interest rates were low and its clients were flush with cash. Since the bank made investments during this time, it purchased bonds at their peak price. As venture-capital fundraising dried up, svb’s clients ran down their deposits: they fell from $189bn at the end of 2021 to $173bn at the end of 2022. svb was forced to sell off its entire liquid bond portfolio at lower prices than it paid. The losses it took on these sales, some $1.8bn, left a hole it tried to plug with the capital raise. When it went under the bank held some $91bn of investments, valued at their cost at the end of last year.
Were svb’s troubles an anomaly? The bank appears to have been uniquely susceptible to a run. Federal insurance, put in place after a series of panics that felled the American economy in the 1930s, covers deposits up to $250,000. This protects all the cash that most individuals would stash in a bank account. But it is unlikely to cover the funds a company would keep. svb is a bank not just for companies, but a narrow subsection of them that have suffered tougher times than most. Some 93% of its deposits were uninsured. Its customers, unlike those at most banks, had a real incentive to run—and they responded to it.
That said, nearly all banks are sitting on unrealised losses in their bond portfolios. If svb is the bank most likely to have been put in the position of having to stock up on bonds at their peak price, it is probably not the only one struggling with the whiplash in prices. Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary, says she is monitoring several banks in light of the events in Silicon Valley. Thankfully, loan books make up a much larger share of assets at most other institutions. And with rates rising, they are earning more.
The question now is whether there will be a bail-out and, if so, how big it would need to be to make depositors whole. svb “is the lifeblood of the tech ecosystem,” notes Ro Khanna, a congressman from California’s 17th district, which includes some of the valley. “They can’t let the bank fail. Whether that means that it should be acquired by another company…or get assistance from or even a statement from the Treasury department so that the depositors feel secure—I will leave that to the experts.”
Intervention would be unpopular. But short of stiffing depositors it may be the only option, since svb clearly did not hold enough to cover the losses it was being forced to take on assets. Larry Summers, a former treasury secretary, has said that so long as the state steps in, there is no reason to worry that svb will harm other parts of the financial system. Lots of people will be hoping that it does, and that he is right. ■
|
The crew of the MV Blythe Star had no reason to suspect the 44-metre freighter would join the hundreds of other ships that had disappeared into the depths off Australia's treacherous south-east coast.
It was a fine day, just under 50 years ago, and the water was calm. Then the Blythe Star suddenly listed to starboard and keeled over just off Tasmania's south-west cape.
The 10 crew members made it onto an inflatable raft.
But after nine days on the raft and a subsequent three-day, cross-country trek, only seven survived.
The resting place of the Blythe Star itself remained a mystery until this year — when the cargo ship was found 10 kilometres off Tasmania's south-west coast.
Maritime archaeologists had a hunch about its location; then the CSIRO's Research Vessel (RV) Investigator, en route to study an underwater landslide, confirmed its location.
There are 660 documented shipwrecks along the Victorian coastline, but fewer than half have been found and identified.
The successful rediscovery of the MV Blythe Star has given Victorian archaeologists and historians renewed hope for the more than 300 vessels that remain lost.
Searching the depths
Heritage Victoria senior maritime archaeologist Danielle Wilkinson said historic records proved the ships existed, albeit hidden in the depths.
But the Investigator's suite of scientific wizardry allows historians to find those in the deepest waters.
"Beforehand most of our discoveries were undertaken by divers, and that's limited by depth," Ms Wilkinson said.
"Recreational diving lets you dive to about 30 metres, technical diving to 70 to 80m. Any deeper and you are getting to the limit of what's safe.
"The Investigator can search — using technology — much, much deeper environments … where divers cannot safely access.
"That's why they were able to find one of our shipwrecks, the SS Iron Crown, in 700m of water in Bass Strait."
The Iron Crown was a freighter sunk by a Japanese submarine during World War II.
The Investigator confirmed its location in 2017.
"Sometimes we have a rough idea where these ships go down based on historic record," Ms Wilkinson said.
"What you can then do is provide the CSIRO with rough coordinates and they go to those areas and run their surveying equipment.
"If they see an anomaly — something on the seabed that doesn't look natural — they can then send a camera or ROV [remote operated vehicle] down for a visual, which is what we call ground truthing, to see if it is indeed a shipwreck."
Mapping the ocean floor
The main purpose of RV Investigator's sonar sensors is to map the floor of the ocean, which in turn allows the CSIRO to find bathymetric features such as underwater mountains (sea mounts) and continental shelf slopes. These features are habitats for a rich array of marine life which can be studied by scientists on board.
Ben Arthur is a marine ecologist with the CSIRO but discovering shipwrecks has become an exciting "side hustle".
"My role on Investigator is largely to deliver marine science. Part of that is to understand the sea floor," Dr Arthur explained.
"There's sophisticated technology on board and as well as revealing natural features it can also uncover man-made objects including shipwrecks."
Dr Arthur said the equipment used to map the ocean floor had some similarities to what anglers would call a "fish finder", centring on acoustic systems.
"It sends down beams of sound from the vessel, which travel through the water and hit the sea floor, and what is on the floor bounces back," he said.
"In essence, it's a more powerful version of the systems anglers might have on their 'tinny'.
"It sounds simple but you can imagine what that's like in waters that are many thousands of metres deep. It's quite complicated."
The past preserved under water
If they find something of interest with the sonar, the scientists can deploy a camera system for video identification.
"That's critical in the case of shipwrecks because we can see what it looks like and do things like read the name of the vessel on the side of the hull if it's still there, which is really the best way of confirming what we have found," Dr Arthur said.
Ms Wilkinson said, once wrecks were discovered, a lot could be learned without disturbing them, including details of their construction and even well-preserved artefacts on board.
"Material on board shipwrecks actually preserves quite well under water, particularly underneath the sediment compared with on land," she said.
"[That includes] a lot of fragile materials such as fabrics, lace or leather — so we get a much richer artefact assemblage on shipwreck sites than we do on land sites.
"It's also our role at Heritage Victoria to protect these shipwrecks for the future."
Ghosts of the deep
The 330 missing ships, compiled as part of Heritage Victoria's shipwreck recovery program, covers the breadth of the state's nautical history.
It ranges from tall sailing ships constructed from timber to relatively modern steamships.
One of the smallest is the long boat that was used by survivors of a larger ship, the Sydney Cove, which sank off Tasmania in 1797.
They sailed to Victoria and then walked 800 miles (1,287km) all they way to Sydney.
At the other end of the spectrum is the HMS Sappho, a much larger vessel, which was tasked with relocating Commander Moresby and his entire family (and possessions) to Australia.
Ms Wilkinson said, while many of Victoria's lost shipwrecks would be too deep to find for all but the most powerful scanning equipment, much could still be discovered closer to the shore.
"We only have two maritime archaeologists so Heritage Victoria relies heavily on marine industries such as fishing and the public for discoveries," she said.
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The crew of the MV Blythe Star had no reason to suspect the 44-metre freighter would join the hundreds of other ships that had disappeared into the depths off Australia's treacherous south-east coast.
It was a fine day, just under 50 years ago, and the water was calm. Then the Blythe Star suddenly listed to starboard and keeled over just off Tasmania's south-west cape.
The 10 crew members made it onto an inflatable raft.
But after nine days on the raft and a subsequent three-day, cross-country trek, only seven survived.
The resting place of the Blythe Star itself remained a mystery until this year — when the cargo ship was found 10 kilometres off Tasmania's south-west coast.
Maritime archaeologists had a hunch about its location; then the CSIRO's Research Vessel (RV) Investigator, en route to study an underwater landslide, confirmed its location.
There are 660 documented shipwrecks along the Victorian coastline, but fewer than half have been found and identified.
The successful rediscovery of the MV Blythe Star has given Victorian archaeologists and historians renewed hope for the more than 300 vessels that remain lost.
Searching the depths
Heritage Victoria senior maritime archaeologist Danielle Wilkinson said historic records proved the ships existed, albeit hidden in the depths.
But the Investigator's suite of scientific wizardry allows historians to find those in the deepest waters.
"Beforehand most of our discoveries were undertaken by divers, and that's limited by depth," Ms Wilkinson said.
"Recreational diving lets you dive to about 30 metres, technical diving to 70 to 80m. Any deeper and you are getting to the limit of what's safe.
"The Investigator can search — using technology — much, much deeper environments … where divers cannot safely access.
"That's why they were able to find one of our shipwrecks, the SS Iron Crown, in 700m of water in Bass Strait."
The Iron Crown was a freighter sunk by a Japanese submarine during World War II.
The Investigator confirmed its location in 2017.
"Sometimes we have a rough idea where these ships go down based on historic record," Ms Wilkinson said.
"What you can then do is provide the CSIRO with rough coordinates and they go to those areas and run their surveying equipment.
"If they see an anomaly — something on the seabed that doesn't
|
look natural — they can then send a camera or ROV [remote operated vehicle] down for a visual, which is what we call ground truthing, to see if it is indeed a shipwreck."
Mapping the ocean floor
The main purpose of RV Investigator's sonar sensors is to map the floor of the ocean, which in turn allows the CSIRO to find bathymetric features such as underwater mountains (sea mounts) and continental shelf slopes. These features are habitats for a rich array of marine life which can be studied by scientists on board.
Ben Arthur is a marine ecologist with the CSIRO but discovering shipwrecks has become an exciting "side hustle".
"My role on Investigator is largely to deliver marine science. Part of that is to understand the sea floor," Dr Arthur explained.
"There's sophisticated technology on board and as well as revealing natural features it can also uncover man-made objects including shipwrecks."
Dr Arthur said the equipment used to map the ocean floor had some similarities to what anglers would call a "fish finder", centring on acoustic systems.
"It sends down beams of sound from the vessel, which travel through the water and hit the sea floor, and what is on the floor bounces back," he said.
"In essence, it's a more powerful version of the systems anglers might have on their 'tinny'.
"It sounds simple but you can imagine what that's like in waters that are many thousands of metres deep. It's quite complicated."
The past preserved under water
If they find something of interest with the sonar, the scientists can deploy a camera system for video identification.
"That's critical in the case of shipwrecks because we can see what it looks like and do things like read the name of the vessel on the side of the hull if it's still there, which is really the best way of confirming what we have found," Dr Arthur said.
Ms Wilkinson said, once wrecks were discovered, a lot could be learned without disturbing them, including details of their construction and even well-preserved artefacts on board.
"Material on board shipwrecks actually preserves quite well under water, particularly underneath the sediment compared with on land," she said.
"[That includes] a lot of fragile materials such as fabrics, lace or leather — so we get a much richer artefact assemblage on shipwreck sites than we do on land sites.
"It's also our role at Heritage Victoria to protect these shipwrecks for the future."
Ghosts of the deep
The 330 missing ships, compiled as part of Heritage Victoria's shipwreck recovery program, covers the breadth of the state's nautical history.
It ranges from tall sailing ships constructed from timber to relatively modern steamships.
One of the smallest is the long boat that was used by survivors of a larger ship, the Sydney Cove, which sank off Tasmania in 1797.
They sailed to Victoria and then walked 800 miles (1,287km) all they way to Sydney.
At the other end of the spectrum is the HMS Sappho, a much larger vessel, which was tasked with relocating Commander Moresby and his entire family (and possessions) to Australia.
Ms Wilkinson said, while many of Victoria's lost shipwrecks would be too deep to find for all but the most powerful scanning equipment, much could still be discovered closer to the shore.
"We only have two maritime archaeologists so Heritage Victoria relies heavily on marine industries such as fishing and the public for discoveries," she said.
|
Wasatch County’s runoff overflow is the Great Salt Lake’s gain
As the largest snowpack ever recorded in Utah threatens to overflow reservoirs in Wasatch County, the Great Salt Lake needs more water to survive. That has local water managers thinking outside the box.
In normal times, most water that flows through the Jordanelle and Deer Creek reservoirs moves on to Utah Lake, then to consumers on the Wasatch Front.
But these are not normal times according to Jared Hansen. He’s the manager of the Central Utah Project, which oversees water flow at those reservoirs.
“It’s been an epic winter,” Hansen said.
For Central Utah Project staff, this means there’s far more water flowing in and far fewer options for where to store it than usual.
As snow melts and gushes into Heber Valley waterways, Hansen said the runoff would quickly overflow reservoirs if water managers took no action. That’s the main reason they expelled 50 million gallons of water out of Deer Creek Reservoir Tuesday and will continue to do so daily for the foreseeable future.
“The worst thing that can ever happen is to have the reservoir full when the water hits, and so then you just end up passing that entire flood as the water comes down,” Hansen said. “So, that's the last thing I ever want to have, is we end up with losing control of the river.”
He added that amount of water flowing out of Heber Valley reservoirs each day — 50 million gallons — is enough to supply 150 homes in Utah County for a year.
There’s more to the mass discharge than flood prevention.
Down river, Hansen said he believes Utah Lake will “come very close to filling, if not filling” up this spring. That’s unlike the Great Salt Lake, which reached a record-low level in 2022.
So, the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, river masters and other officials from the Salt Lake Valley, state and federal offices decided to try something new with those 50 million gallons a day from Wasatch County.
They’re sending it straight to the Great Salt Lake. That path includes the Provo River in Provo Canyon, then an overflow drainage facility that dumps into the Jordan River. It’s not what that facility is designed for, but it’s working.
“With the Great Salt Lake being as low as it was, we knew with the record-breaking snowpack we can deliver this water through some pipes around Utah Lake and get that water to the Great Salt Lake a little sooner and a little more efficiently," Hansen said.
Central Utah Water plans to stop releasing water precisely when the runoff ends and simultaneously leave the reservoirs full.
The snowpack will also benefit Strawberry Reservoir, which dropped to low levels last year. Hansen expects it to fill more than 90%, a recovery that is rare for one single year.
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Wasatch County’s runoff overflow is the Great Salt Lake’s gain
As the largest snowpack ever recorded in Utah threatens to overflow reservoirs in Wasatch County, the Great Salt Lake needs more water to survive. That has local water managers thinking outside the box.
In normal times, most water that flows through the Jordanelle and Deer Creek reservoirs moves on to Utah Lake, then to consumers on the Wasatch Front.
But these are not normal times according to Jared Hansen. He’s the manager of the Central Utah Project, which oversees water flow at those reservoirs.
“It’s been an epic winter,” Hansen said.
For Central Utah Project staff, this means there’s far more water flowing in and far fewer options for where to store it than usual.
As snow melts and gushes into Heber Valley waterways, Hansen said the runoff would quickly overflow reservoirs if water managers took no action. That’s the main reason they expelled 50 million gallons of water out of Deer Creek Reservoir Tuesday and will continue to do so daily for the foreseeable future.
“The worst thing that can ever happen is to have the reservoir full when the water hits, and so then you just end up passing that entire flood as the water comes down,” Hansen said. “So, that's the last thing I ever want to have, is we end up with losing control of the river.”
He added that amount of water flowing out of Heber Valley reservoirs each day — 50 million gallons — is enough to supply 150 homes in Utah County for a year.
There’s more to the mass discharge than flood prevention.
Down river, Hansen said he believes Utah Lake will “come very close to filling, if not filling” up this spring. That’s unlike the Great Salt Lake, which reached a record-low level in 2022.
So, the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, river masters and other officials from the Salt Lake Valley, state and federal offices decided to try something new with those 50 million gallons a day from Wasatch County.
They’re sending it straight to the Great Salt Lake. That path includes the Provo River in Provo Canyon, then an overflow drainage facility that dumps into the Jordan River. It’s not what that facility is designed for, but it’s working.
“With the Great Salt Lake being as low as it was, we knew with the record-breaking snowpack we can deliver this water through some pipes around Utah Lake and get that water to the Great Salt Lake a little
|
sooner and a little more efficiently," Hansen said.
Central Utah Water plans to stop releasing water precisely when the runoff ends and simultaneously leave the reservoirs full.
The snowpack will also benefit Strawberry Reservoir, which dropped to low levels last year. Hansen expects it to fill more than 90%, a recovery that is rare for one single year.
|
Editorial: The science of reading works. California should require it
Strange that it took a lawsuit to show California a better way to teach students to read. And now that a Stanford University study has confirmed the value of the so-called science of reading in a handful of schools, it’s time for the state to get serious about making this the required standard for literacy instruction.
The lawsuit, filed in 2017 by the pro bono law firm Public Counsel, claimed that California schools were failing in their constitutional duty to children by promoting them without the basic reading skills. It pointed to a Los Angeles school where only 10% of the students were at grade level in literacy. And it noted that there was a well-evidenced method of teaching reading that most schools weren’t following. It’s based on building multiple skills, but most notably adding more phonics instruction.
We need legislation to require that every school — or at least all schools with low and stagnant grades — bring the science of reading to its classrooms.
The state settled the suit in 2020, agreeing to provide 75 low-performing elementary schools with about $642,000 over three years, with that money to be devoted to improving to improve reading outcomes. Schools had leeway about how they spent the money, but all turned to the science of reading in literacy instruction, according to Mark Rosenbaum of Public Counsel.
Stanford’s independent examination of that change found considerably improved scores, with significantly higher numbers of third-graders reading at grade level. Science of reading also is the literacy curriculum used by the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Primary Promise program, which has shown measurable improvements in reading proficiency. Sadly, the program is being cut back.
Mathematics scores improved a little, too, in the schools using science of reading. That shouldn’t be a big surprise: Most subjects are taught at least partly through reading.
Giving residents censorship rights over librarians and the public crosses a clear line that should never be breached.
It’s an impressive-sounding moniker, the science of reading. But many successful teachers call it common sense and have been using it informally for years. It involves more direct instruction by the teacher, a significant dose of phonics, or sounding out words from letters, as well as building vocabulary, encouraging students to read aloud and helping them comprehend what they’re reading.
In contrast, the two other principal methods of literacy education followed the theory that reading comes naturally to children, who just need to be exposed to engaging literature and figure out words by guessing them from the pictures and other context. While this actually does work for 30% of students, it leaves the futures of the other 70% in peril.
Opponents of science of reading complain that phonics is too mechanical. But it doesn’t have to be if combined with vocabulary and enjoyable literature. Besides, what’s worse, a couple of years of sounding out words to build fluency and comprehension, or a lifetime of illiteracy?
Consider La Salle Avenue Elementary in Los Angeles. Its most recent scores show only a quarter of students reading at or above grade level. That’s awful, far lower than the 46.7% of LAUSD students who read proficiently, which also isn’t an acceptable number. But in 2017, when the lawsuit was filed, only 10% of La Salle third-grade students read at grade level. And this improvement after several years of using science of reading has occurred despite the pandemic and remote learning, which has hurt reading scores across the nation.
Of course, it’s not enough just to change the curriculum, the Stanford researchers concluded. Teachers need training; hiring reading coaches helps, too. Some schools used part of their funding from the settlement to engage parents in their children’s reading. These changes also appear to have helped.
Aside from promoting and protecting students’ physical and mental well-being, there is nothing more important than to help them learn to read. Perhaps the Local Control Funding Formula, which hands a tremendous amount of spending authority to school districts, should be rejiggered to put more of the money meant to help struggling students toward reading.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond says the evidence supports science of reading, and he favors training teachers in it. But he is skittish about requiring schools to adopt it.
That’s too bad. Schools need a sense of urgency to ensure that California students are improving academically right now, especially those in marginalized groups and from low-income families.
A cure for the common opinion
Get thought-provoking perspectives with our weekly newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
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Editorial: The science of reading works. California should require it
Strange that it took a lawsuit to show California a better way to teach students to read. And now that a Stanford University study has confirmed the value of the so-called science of reading in a handful of schools, it’s time for the state to get serious about making this the required standard for literacy instruction.
The lawsuit, filed in 2017 by the pro bono law firm Public Counsel, claimed that California schools were failing in their constitutional duty to children by promoting them without the basic reading skills. It pointed to a Los Angeles school where only 10% of the students were at grade level in literacy. And it noted that there was a well-evidenced method of teaching reading that most schools weren’t following. It’s based on building multiple skills, but most notably adding more phonics instruction.
We need legislation to require that every school — or at least all schools with low and stagnant grades — bring the science of reading to its classrooms.
The state settled the suit in 2020, agreeing to provide 75 low-performing elementary schools with about $642,000 over three years, with that money to be devoted to improving to improve reading outcomes. Schools had leeway about how they spent the money, but all turned to the science of reading in literacy instruction, according to Mark Rosenbaum of Public Counsel.
Stanford’s independent examination of that change found considerably improved scores, with significantly higher numbers of third-graders reading at grade level. Science of reading also is the literacy curriculum used by the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Primary Promise program, which has shown measurable improvements in reading proficiency. Sadly, the program is being cut back.
Mathematics scores improved a little, too, in the schools using science of reading. That shouldn’t be a big surprise: Most subjects are taught at least partly through reading.
Giving residents censorship rights over librarians and the public crosses a clear line that should never be breached.
It’s an impressive-sounding moniker, the science of reading. But many successful teachers call it common sense and have been using it informally for years. It involves more direct instruction by the teacher, a significant dose of phonics, or sounding out words from letters, as well as building vocabulary, encouraging students to read aloud and helping them comprehend what they’re reading.
In contrast, the two other principal methods of literacy education followed the theory that reading comes naturally to children,
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who just need to be exposed to engaging literature and figure out words by guessing them from the pictures and other context. While this actually does work for 30% of students, it leaves the futures of the other 70% in peril.
Opponents of science of reading complain that phonics is too mechanical. But it doesn’t have to be if combined with vocabulary and enjoyable literature. Besides, what’s worse, a couple of years of sounding out words to build fluency and comprehension, or a lifetime of illiteracy?
Consider La Salle Avenue Elementary in Los Angeles. Its most recent scores show only a quarter of students reading at or above grade level. That’s awful, far lower than the 46.7% of LAUSD students who read proficiently, which also isn’t an acceptable number. But in 2017, when the lawsuit was filed, only 10% of La Salle third-grade students read at grade level. And this improvement after several years of using science of reading has occurred despite the pandemic and remote learning, which has hurt reading scores across the nation.
Of course, it’s not enough just to change the curriculum, the Stanford researchers concluded. Teachers need training; hiring reading coaches helps, too. Some schools used part of their funding from the settlement to engage parents in their children’s reading. These changes also appear to have helped.
Aside from promoting and protecting students’ physical and mental well-being, there is nothing more important than to help them learn to read. Perhaps the Local Control Funding Formula, which hands a tremendous amount of spending authority to school districts, should be rejiggered to put more of the money meant to help struggling students toward reading.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond says the evidence supports science of reading, and he favors training teachers in it. But he is skittish about requiring schools to adopt it.
That’s too bad. Schools need a sense of urgency to ensure that California students are improving academically right now, especially those in marginalized groups and from low-income families.
A cure for the common opinion
Get thought-provoking perspectives with our weekly newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
|
The coldest air in the Northern Hemisphere is invading New England
A potent cold snap descending on New England Friday morning that's expected to last into early Sunday threatens to bring wind chills approaching record low levels.
Threat level: With wind chills forecast to reach -10°F in New York City, -33°F in Boston, and as low as -60°F in northern Maine on Saturday morning, the cold could be deadly for anyone caught outside for extended periods.
The big picture: The air mass across northern New England Friday night through the weekend will be the coldest in the Northern Hemisphere, with the possible exception of a portion of Siberia.
- Wind chill warnings are in effect for parts of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
- As of 2:14pm, a wind chill of minus-50°F had already been observed at Frenchville Airport in northern Maine. By around 8pm, it had hit -60°F, per the National Weather Service.
- The frigid winds blowing across the relatively mild waters of Lake Champlain has led to "steam devils" swirling above the lake.
- This is the coldest air to affect the region in decades.
The latest: The NWS office in Caribou, Maine, said it has received reports of "Quakes" in the area, which it said were "Frostquakes" or "Cryoseisms."
- "Just like Earthquakes, [they] generate tremors, thundering sensations," the NWS said in a tweet Friday evening. "These are caused by sudden cracks in frozen soil or underground water when [it's] very cold."
Zoom in: The NWS warns that in such cold conditions, frostbite can occur on exposed skin in 10 minutes or less.
- Strong winds are accompanying the Arctic front, particularly in southern New England, where gusts up to 50 mph are anticipated into Friday afternoon and Friday night. At the same time, temperatures will be dropping all day, down into the single digits in Boston by evening, and below zero in northern New England.
- Any power outages could knock out heat during frigid conditions. According to the NWS forecast office in Boston, temperatures there are likely to be comparable to a cold snap in February of 2016, when the city hit -9°F. But areas to the north will be far colder.
- In northern New England, winds may also howl out of the Northwest into Saturday, particularly in northern Maine.
The cold outbreak comes courtesy of a lobe of the tropospheric polar vortex, which is distinct from the polar vortex that is present at higher altitudes in the stratosphere.
- This region of extreme cold will rotate south from Hudson Bay, accompanied by a powerful cold front with snow squalls and strong winds beginning late Thursday night and Friday morning.
- New York City will miss the core of the cold but will still see low temperatures dip to 9°F on Saturday, with a high struggling to rise into the mid-20s. Wind chills will be below zero, however.
- Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. will also see unusually cold conditions Friday and Saturday.
- Blizzard warnings have been issued in northern Maine due to blowing snow on Friday and Saturday, as winds gusting to 40 miles per hour create what are known as "ground blizzard" conditions.
- The NWS reports that unofficial records of the coldest air temperatures aloft, as measured by weather balloons, could be broken.
- "Most stations are forecast to see their lowest wind chills in decades or, in some cases, the lowest ever recorded," the NWS office in Caribou stated Thursday.
Of note: Mount Washington in New Hampshire hit a wind chill of -107°F on Friday evening — its coldest on record and likely the coldest on record for any station in the U.S.
- Forecasters had sought to discourage wintertime adventurers from attempting to hike in these conditions, warning of the "exponential" risk of hypothermia and frostbite.
What's next: Fortunately, the frigid air intrusion into New England will be short-lived as temperatures are forecast to moderate by Monday.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with additional details throughout.
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The coldest air in the Northern Hemisphere is invading New England
A potent cold snap descending on New England Friday morning that's expected to last into early Sunday threatens to bring wind chills approaching record low levels.
Threat level: With wind chills forecast to reach -10°F in New York City, -33°F in Boston, and as low as -60°F in northern Maine on Saturday morning, the cold could be deadly for anyone caught outside for extended periods.
The big picture: The air mass across northern New England Friday night through the weekend will be the coldest in the Northern Hemisphere, with the possible exception of a portion of Siberia.
- Wind chill warnings are in effect for parts of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
- As of 2:14pm, a wind chill of minus-50°F had already been observed at Frenchville Airport in northern Maine. By around 8pm, it had hit -60°F, per the National Weather Service.
- The frigid winds blowing across the relatively mild waters of Lake Champlain has led to "steam devils" swirling above the lake.
- This is the coldest air to affect the region in decades.
The latest: The NWS office in Caribou, Maine, said it has received reports of "Quakes" in the area, which it said were "Frostquakes" or "Cryoseisms."
- "Just like Earthquakes, [they] generate tremors, thundering sensations," the NWS said in a tweet Friday evening. "These are caused by sudden cracks in frozen soil or underground water when [it's] very cold."
Zoom in: The NWS warns that in such cold conditions, frostbite can occur on exposed skin in 10 minutes or less.
- Strong winds are accompanying the Arctic front, particularly in southern New England, where gusts up to 50 mph are anticipated into Friday afternoon and Friday night. At the same time, temperatures will be dropping all day, down into the single digits in Boston by evening, and below zero in northern New England.
- Any power outages could knock out heat during frigid conditions. According to the NWS forecast office in Boston, temperatures there are likely to be comparable to a cold snap in February of 2016, when the city hit -9°F. But areas to the north will be far colder
|
.
- In northern New England, winds may also howl out of the Northwest into Saturday, particularly in northern Maine.
The cold outbreak comes courtesy of a lobe of the tropospheric polar vortex, which is distinct from the polar vortex that is present at higher altitudes in the stratosphere.
- This region of extreme cold will rotate south from Hudson Bay, accompanied by a powerful cold front with snow squalls and strong winds beginning late Thursday night and Friday morning.
- New York City will miss the core of the cold but will still see low temperatures dip to 9°F on Saturday, with a high struggling to rise into the mid-20s. Wind chills will be below zero, however.
- Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. will also see unusually cold conditions Friday and Saturday.
- Blizzard warnings have been issued in northern Maine due to blowing snow on Friday and Saturday, as winds gusting to 40 miles per hour create what are known as "ground blizzard" conditions.
- The NWS reports that unofficial records of the coldest air temperatures aloft, as measured by weather balloons, could be broken.
- "Most stations are forecast to see their lowest wind chills in decades or, in some cases, the lowest ever recorded," the NWS office in Caribou stated Thursday.
Of note: Mount Washington in New Hampshire hit a wind chill of -107°F on Friday evening — its coldest on record and likely the coldest on record for any station in the U.S.
- Forecasters had sought to discourage wintertime adventurers from attempting to hike in these conditions, warning of the "exponential" risk of hypothermia and frostbite.
What's next: Fortunately, the frigid air intrusion into New England will be short-lived as temperatures are forecast to moderate by Monday.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with additional details throughout.
|
Karl Pomeroy, CEO, Motili.
Maintaining a building environment that is healthy and comfortable is imperative for building managers. Especially in office buildings, occupants tend to have less control of their indoor environment, which can lead to negative health effects, make their environment less comfortable and cause decreased productivity. I believe current issues such as the prevalence of airborne viruses and worsening air pollution will likely further fuel the awareness of indoor air quality and increase demand for more air quality solutions.
How To Tell If Your Building Has Poor Air Quality
A major sign of poor air quality is if occupants are complaining about symptoms such as sneezing, headaches, stuffy or runny noses, discomfort, coughing or forgetfulness. If you hear this feedback, it may be time to evaluate the building’s air quality.
There are many aspects that could contribute to poor air quality in a building. Mold is one of the most well-known, but issues could also be present if you have recently remodeled part of the building, are managing an older building or frequently use air fresheners and cleaning agents. Does any part of your building frequently print or use paints? The chemicals from new furnishings, deodorizing sprays, cleaning agents and paints release volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are gases that can affect your air quality and health.
If enough air pollutant issues are present, it can lead to sick building syndrome (SMB), which is when workers have “acute symptoms, such as eye and nose irritation and headache, associated with occupancy in a specific building but not indicating a specific disease.” Other possible symptoms include fatigue, lack of focus and irritation of the throat and even the lungs. SMB remains a common (and expensive) issue that I feel doesn’t get its deserved attention; it often goes unrecognized because the symptoms can be attributed to other ailments. However, a study reported that 23% of office workers in the United States frequently experience two or more sick building syndrome symptoms at work, which causes an estimated productivity decrement of 2%, with an annual cost of $60 billion.
Air Quality Solutions For Buildings
Start by evaluating the environment of your building and identifying any areas that could cause indoor air pollutants. It’s important to take note of where occupants are experiencing negative health effects. Do they feel worse when they are in a specific room? Do they feel better once they leave the building? Doing an analysis of your current environment and listing out any potential sources of pollutants will help you determine the correct solution.
After you have a list of potential sources of irritants, it’s best to start by implementing solutions that are quick and easy. Sometimes, occupants can experience symptoms that are similar to those of poor air quality but are unrelated. If there is a specific region of your building experiencing symptoms of poor air quality, but there is no evident source of air pollutants, the problem may be the environment at the surface. Consider upgrading poor lighting to brighter, blue-enriched light, adding sound panels for areas with a lot of noise, and ensuring the HVAC system is running properly and maintaining a comfortable temperature.
If these solutions do not improve the symptoms of occupants, or if you have recognized symptoms of sick building syndrome, consider implementing a maintenance routine that includes replacing HVAC filters and increasing ventilation regularly, especially in any areas that produce VOCs.
The more occupants you have in a building, the more likely viruses will spread—especially during cold and flu season. Installing UV-C light can inactivate bacteria and viruses to help keep occupants healthy.
You may also want to consider investing in an air purifier. Air purifiers are effective at removing bacteria and viruses as well as pollutants that can cause odors and trigger asthma. Note that air purifiers work best when they are fit for the correct space. You can determine how many systems you need by looking at the Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR), which measures the air purifier speed and is measured in cubic feet per minute (CFM). For example, air purifiers with CADR 300 to 400 are usually a good fit for average-sized rooms.
If you are still experiencing complaints, you have a few options, such as hiring a professional company to perform a building investigation. You can also call your local health department or the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The NIOSH can perform a free Health Hazard Evaluation to identify whether any health hazards are present. Then, they will recommend methods for reducing and preventing hazards.
Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
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Karl Pomeroy, CEO, Motili.
Maintaining a building environment that is healthy and comfortable is imperative for building managers. Especially in office buildings, occupants tend to have less control of their indoor environment, which can lead to negative health effects, make their environment less comfortable and cause decreased productivity. I believe current issues such as the prevalence of airborne viruses and worsening air pollution will likely further fuel the awareness of indoor air quality and increase demand for more air quality solutions.
How To Tell If Your Building Has Poor Air Quality
A major sign of poor air quality is if occupants are complaining about symptoms such as sneezing, headaches, stuffy or runny noses, discomfort, coughing or forgetfulness. If you hear this feedback, it may be time to evaluate the building’s air quality.
There are many aspects that could contribute to poor air quality in a building. Mold is one of the most well-known, but issues could also be present if you have recently remodeled part of the building, are managing an older building or frequently use air fresheners and cleaning agents. Does any part of your building frequently print or use paints? The chemicals from new furnishings, deodorizing sprays, cleaning agents and paints release volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are gases that can affect your air quality and health.
If enough air pollutant issues are present, it can lead to sick building syndrome (SMB), which is when workers have “acute symptoms, such as eye and nose irritation and headache, associated with occupancy in a specific building but not indicating a specific disease.” Other possible symptoms include fatigue, lack of focus and irritation of the throat and even the lungs. SMB remains a common (and expensive) issue that I feel doesn’t get its deserved attention; it often goes unrecognized because the symptoms can be attributed to other ailments. However, a study reported that 23% of office workers in the United States frequently experience two or more sick building syndrome symptoms at work, which causes an estimated productivity decrement of 2%, with an annual cost of $60 billion.
Air Quality Solutions For Buildings
Start by evaluating the environment of your building and identifying any areas that could cause indoor air pollutants. It’s important to take note of where occupants are experiencing negative health effects. Do they feel worse when they are in a specific room? Do they feel better once they leave the building? Doing an analysis of your current environment and listing out any potential sources of pollutants will help you determine the correct solution.
After
|
you have a list of potential sources of irritants, it’s best to start by implementing solutions that are quick and easy. Sometimes, occupants can experience symptoms that are similar to those of poor air quality but are unrelated. If there is a specific region of your building experiencing symptoms of poor air quality, but there is no evident source of air pollutants, the problem may be the environment at the surface. Consider upgrading poor lighting to brighter, blue-enriched light, adding sound panels for areas with a lot of noise, and ensuring the HVAC system is running properly and maintaining a comfortable temperature.
If these solutions do not improve the symptoms of occupants, or if you have recognized symptoms of sick building syndrome, consider implementing a maintenance routine that includes replacing HVAC filters and increasing ventilation regularly, especially in any areas that produce VOCs.
The more occupants you have in a building, the more likely viruses will spread—especially during cold and flu season. Installing UV-C light can inactivate bacteria and viruses to help keep occupants healthy.
You may also want to consider investing in an air purifier. Air purifiers are effective at removing bacteria and viruses as well as pollutants that can cause odors and trigger asthma. Note that air purifiers work best when they are fit for the correct space. You can determine how many systems you need by looking at the Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR), which measures the air purifier speed and is measured in cubic feet per minute (CFM). For example, air purifiers with CADR 300 to 400 are usually a good fit for average-sized rooms.
If you are still experiencing complaints, you have a few options, such as hiring a professional company to perform a building investigation. You can also call your local health department or the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The NIOSH can perform a free Health Hazard Evaluation to identify whether any health hazards are present. Then, they will recommend methods for reducing and preventing hazards.
Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
|
The Prairie Forest Guide app is an incredible resource for sharing knowledge about the ancient history of the Yorath Island Glacial Spillway, now known as the West Swale. By utilizing archaeological, geological, and ecological concepts and theories, the app offers an interactive, detailed interpretation of the area’s past.
The Yorath Island Glacial Spillway was formed by the retreat of the last ice age glaciers, and it is estimated to have been in existence for more than 10,000 years. The app explains how the spillway changed over time and how its features formed, such as the intermittent wetland, the meandering channel, and the sands and gravels that fill the area.
Not only does the app provide a comprehensive overview of the geology and archaeology of the Yorath Island Glacial Spillway, it also tells the story of how the glacial spillway affected the lifestyle of the Paleoindian people who lived in the area. Through the app, users are able to learn about the tools and technology the Paleoindians developed to live in the area and how their lifestyle and activities changed due to the glacial spillway.
The app also offers a detailed look at the life of the Ice Age mammals that resided in the area. Through the app, users are able to learn about the different species of animals that lived in the area, as well as the changes in their behavior and habitat due to the glacial spillway.
The Prairie Forest Guide app is an invaluable resource for understanding the ancient history and geology of the Yorath Island Glacial Spillway. By utilizing archaeological, geological, and ecological concepts and theories, the app offers users an interactive and detailed journey through the area’s past. Through its interactive interpretation, the app provides a comprehensive look at the glacial spillway’s effects on the Paleoindian lifestyle and Ice Age mammals, offering a unique and insightful glimpse into the area’s history.
If you think you have what it takes to become part of this project writing stories, and editing existing interpretive app stories, please get in touch with us with your CV and a writing sample to <email-pii>. We look forward to hearing from you!
More Information is at KIJIJI on this position
More about this Contract position is posted at Sask Culture
This is STAGE ONE of the Call for Tender.
Please email <email-pii> for clarification or for further details
For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park
For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
For more information:
Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits
NEW P4G District Official Community Plan
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)?with map
Tumblr friendsafforestation.tumblr.comFacebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park
Facebook: StBarbeBaker Afforestation Area
Facebook for the non profit Charity Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. FriendsAreas
Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Facebook: South West OLRA
Twitter: St Barbe Baker Charity Twitter:FriendsAreas
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers )Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!
Donations can be made through Paypal, Canada Helps, Contact Donate A Car Canada, SARCAN Drop & Go 106100594 for the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.
United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
Use the UN Decade’s Visual Identity
Make it your own
Spread the word about the UN Decade
Let’s Bring Back Forests
Let’s Green Our Cities
“Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward. Bend to the winds of heaven..”
Richard St. Barbe Baker
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The Prairie Forest Guide app is an incredible resource for sharing knowledge about the ancient history of the Yorath Island Glacial Spillway, now known as the West Swale. By utilizing archaeological, geological, and ecological concepts and theories, the app offers an interactive, detailed interpretation of the area’s past.
The Yorath Island Glacial Spillway was formed by the retreat of the last ice age glaciers, and it is estimated to have been in existence for more than 10,000 years. The app explains how the spillway changed over time and how its features formed, such as the intermittent wetland, the meandering channel, and the sands and gravels that fill the area.
Not only does the app provide a comprehensive overview of the geology and archaeology of the Yorath Island Glacial Spillway, it also tells the story of how the glacial spillway affected the lifestyle of the Paleoindian people who lived in the area. Through the app, users are able to learn about the tools and technology the Paleoindians developed to live in the area and how their lifestyle and activities changed due to the glacial spillway.
The app also offers a detailed look at the life of the Ice Age mammals that resided in the area. Through the app, users are able to learn about the different species of animals that lived in the area, as well as the changes in their behavior and habitat due to the glacial spillway.
The Prairie Forest Guide app is an invaluable resource for understanding the ancient history and geology of the Yorath Island Glacial Spillway. By utilizing archaeological, geological, and ecological concepts and theories, the app offers users an interactive and detailed journey through the area’s past. Through its interactive interpretation, the app provides a comprehensive look at the glacial spillway’s effects on the Paleoindian lifestyle and Ice Age mammals, offering a unique and insightful glimpse into the area’s history.
If you think you have what it takes to become part of this project writing stories, and editing existing interpretive app stories, please get in touch with us with your CV and a writing sample to <email-pii>. We look forward to hearing from you!
More Information is at KIJIJI on this position
More about this Contract position is posted at Sask Culture
This is STAGE ONE of the Call for Tender.
Please email <email-pii> for clarification or for further details
For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park
|
For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
For more information:
Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits
NEW P4G District Official Community Plan
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)?with map
Tumblr friendsafforestation.tumblr.comFacebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park
Facebook: StBarbeBaker Afforestation Area
Facebook for the non profit Charity Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. FriendsAreas
Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Facebook: South West OLRA
Twitter: St Barbe Baker Charity Twitter:FriendsAreas
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers )Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!
Donations can be made through Paypal, Canada Helps, Contact Donate A Car Canada, SARCAN Drop & Go 106100594 for the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.
United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
Use the UN Decade’s Visual Identity
Make it your own
Spread the word about the UN Decade
Let’s Bring Back Forests
Let’s Green Our Cities
“Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward. Bend to the winds of heaven..”
Richard St. Barbe Baker
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A new school year started in South Africa this week. Thousands of learners commenced their schooling and others returned in continued pursuit of their dreams. This glorious event should be celebrated and we must pull out all the stops to ensure that every learner of schoolgoing age enjoys the constitutional entitlement to basic education.
Unfortunately, circumstances arise where the enjoyment of the right to basic education is undermined and learners run the risk of being denied access to education. For example, Gayton McKenzie, mayor of the Central Karoo District and president of the Patriotic Alliance, has repeatedly expressed on Twitter that undocumented children “should not be allowed at all in schools in South Africa”.
McKenzie’s views, which are misinformed, xenophobic and contrary to the law, were well received and supported by his tweeps and other antiforeigner Twitter users. This shows that not only is there a lack of understanding of what the right to basic education entails, but also that the xenophobic sentiment that dominates South Africa’s social discourse severely threatens the livelihood of undocumented children.
The right to basic education is a fundamental human right, recognised in a number of international and regional legal instruments. The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights regards education as “the primary vehicle by which economically and socially marginalised adults and children can lift themselves out of poverty and obtain the means to participate fully in their communities”.
Former President Nelson Mandela described it as “the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”.
The right to basic education of every learner in South Africa is entrenched in section 29(1)(a) of the Constitution. On the face of it, the eight-word provision might seem nugatory, but when you delve into the true meaning of it, you find an empowerment right that plays an integral role in realising all other human rights.
In the landmark Juma Musjid judgment, the Constitutional Court affirmed that the right to basic education is unqualified and immediately realisable in nature. This means that every learner within the confines of the country enjoys an entitlement to this unfettered right, and that obstacles which unjustifiably limit or hinder its immediate enjoyment must be removed.
South Africa’s rich education jurisprudence that has developed since the Juma Musjid judgment informs us that this right must be enjoyed by every learner free from discrimination and on equal footing, regardless of race, language, religion, disability and status.
In December 2019, the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court delivered judgment in Centre for Child Law and Others v Minister of Basic Education and Others, a case concerning undocumented learners who were precluded from unconditionally attending public schools on the basis of their status.
Visit Daily Maverick’s home page for more news, analysis and investigations
The court upheld the challenge to the policy that precluded the unconditional admission of undocumented learners to public schools, and re-emphasised that the right to basic education is “unqualified, unconditional and applies to everyone” and can never be limited to “everyone upon the production of a birth certificate or provided they are in the country legally”.
The constitutional guarantee of an unfettered right to basic education must be realised to ensure that the self-esteem, self-worth and potential for human fulfilment of every learner, especially the most vulnerable and marginalised among them, are protected.
Gayton McKenzie’s expressions come at a time when xenophobic sentiments and associated violence are drastically increasing in South Africa. The worsening state of xenophobia and South Africa’s lack of reproach to it was recently criticised by Human Rights Watch in its World Report of 2023.
The report, which analyses human rights conditions across the globe, notes that despite efforts to curb xenophobia, there has been little tangible improvement in protecting the rights of all migrants who reside in South Africa.
Most alarming is the fact that xenophobic sentiments and violence, fuelled predominantly by members of anti-foreigner groups and politicians, is often based on misinformed and inaccurate views and opinions — such as those expressed by McKenzie.
When society blindly follows these misinformed and inaccurate views and opinions, especially when it disregards human rights, we run the risk of devaluing fundamental rights that have long been fought for.
Threats aimed specifically at denying the fundamental rights of the most marginalised and vulnerable human beings — which include undocumented migrants and their children — should not be taken lightly.
It is our duty to uphold the constitutional promise of a society based on equality, human dignity, social justice and the advancement of human rights of everyone who lives in our beautiful country. DM
|
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A new school year started in South Africa this week. Thousands of learners commenced their schooling and others returned in continued pursuit of their dreams. This glorious event should be celebrated and we must pull out all the stops to ensure that every learner of schoolgoing age enjoys the constitutional entitlement to basic education.
Unfortunately, circumstances arise where the enjoyment of the right to basic education is undermined and learners run the risk of being denied access to education. For example, Gayton McKenzie, mayor of the Central Karoo District and president of the Patriotic Alliance, has repeatedly expressed on Twitter that undocumented children “should not be allowed at all in schools in South Africa”.
McKenzie’s views, which are misinformed, xenophobic and contrary to the law, were well received and supported by his tweeps and other antiforeigner Twitter users. This shows that not only is there a lack of understanding of what the right to basic education entails, but also that the xenophobic sentiment that dominates South Africa’s social discourse severely threatens the livelihood of undocumented children.
The right to basic education is a fundamental human right, recognised in a number of international and regional legal instruments. The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights regards education as “the primary vehicle by which economically and socially marginalised adults and children can lift themselves out of poverty and obtain the means to participate fully in their communities”.
Former President Nelson Mandela described it as “the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”.
The right to basic education of every learner in South Africa is entrenched in section 29(1)(a) of the Constitution. On the face of it, the eight-word provision might seem nugatory, but when you delve into the true meaning of it, you find an empowerment right that plays an integral role in realising all other human rights.
In the landmark Juma Musjid judgment, the Constitutional Court affirmed that the right to basic education is unqualified and immediately realisable in nature. This means that every learner within the confines of the country enjoys an entitlement to this unfettered right, and that obstacles which unjustifiably limit or hinder its immediate enjoyment must be removed.
South Africa’s rich education jurisprudence that has developed since the Juma Musjid judgment informs us that this right must be enjoyed by every learner free from discrimination and on equal footing, regardless of race, language, religion, disability and status.
In December 2019, the Eastern Cape Division of the
|
High Court delivered judgment in Centre for Child Law and Others v Minister of Basic Education and Others, a case concerning undocumented learners who were precluded from unconditionally attending public schools on the basis of their status.
Visit Daily Maverick’s home page for more news, analysis and investigations
The court upheld the challenge to the policy that precluded the unconditional admission of undocumented learners to public schools, and re-emphasised that the right to basic education is “unqualified, unconditional and applies to everyone” and can never be limited to “everyone upon the production of a birth certificate or provided they are in the country legally”.
The constitutional guarantee of an unfettered right to basic education must be realised to ensure that the self-esteem, self-worth and potential for human fulfilment of every learner, especially the most vulnerable and marginalised among them, are protected.
Gayton McKenzie’s expressions come at a time when xenophobic sentiments and associated violence are drastically increasing in South Africa. The worsening state of xenophobia and South Africa’s lack of reproach to it was recently criticised by Human Rights Watch in its World Report of 2023.
The report, which analyses human rights conditions across the globe, notes that despite efforts to curb xenophobia, there has been little tangible improvement in protecting the rights of all migrants who reside in South Africa.
Most alarming is the fact that xenophobic sentiments and violence, fuelled predominantly by members of anti-foreigner groups and politicians, is often based on misinformed and inaccurate views and opinions — such as those expressed by McKenzie.
When society blindly follows these misinformed and inaccurate views and opinions, especially when it disregards human rights, we run the risk of devaluing fundamental rights that have long been fought for.
Threats aimed specifically at denying the fundamental rights of the most marginalised and vulnerable human beings — which include undocumented migrants and their children — should not be taken lightly.
It is our duty to uphold the constitutional promise of a society based on equality, human dignity, social justice and the advancement of human rights of everyone who lives in our beautiful country. DM
|
You should know the story by now. In 1863, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and it took over two years for the word to reach the last enslaved people in the US — June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas. Although Juneteenth has been celebrated in various fashions since then, it took over 150 years for the day to become a nationally recognized holiday. President Biden signed it into law following a year of racial reckoning in 2021.
It’s a day of celebration that also takes place during Black Music Month, and Boston has put together a variety of ways to mark the occasion. Here are a few of the many events to celebrate the holiday and reflect on what it means in 2023 this weekend.
Saturday, June 17
Although the Boston Public Library will be closed on Monday for the holiday, they have a series of events for Juneteenth leading up to the day. On Friday, an event titled “Celebrate Juneteenth with Little Uprisings,” at the Mattapan branch will discuss racial justice in a workshop for 6 to 11-year-olds in order to help teach about the concepts of empowerment and change-making. There are many other book readings and workshops at different branches throughout the city this weekend.
On Saturday, the Honan-Allston branch will offer a drumming workshop for children ages 4 to 10. Cornell Coley has been teaching drumming for over 25 years, and he says (while keeping a steady beat on drums, I might add), “I think this is an important art form because it brings together a lot of ways people can get stronger inside. The way they can bond with other people. The way they can find peace.” Both workshops mentioned here are free and don’t require registration. Visit the BPL website for a complete list of events.
Sunday, June 18
The Boston Lyric Opera commissioned the operetta "The Wanderer's Tethering," which dives into the experiences of people with both African and Black American roots. Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola and composer Mason Bynes created this work which blends spoken word performance with Negro spirituals and Igbo folkloric music. The program also includes music by composers Jessie Montgomery, Trevor Weston and Florence Price. The performance also features BLO soprano Brianna J. Robinson and Castle of Our Skins musicians. This event will be held at Hibernian Hall and a community reception will follow.
Sunday, June 18
First, a little history. Long before Juneteenth, a group of seven people were enslaved and living in what is now known as the Longfellow House in Cambridge. In 1774, when their enslavers suddenly fled their home, this group had the unexpected opportunity to seize their freedom. Despite the odds, Cuba Vassall, one of the freed slaves, became an activist for Black freedom.
This weekend, the mansion will host Juneteenth celebrations with music and poetry performances as well as presentations from Vassal’s living relatives. Across the street, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy will screen “Descendant,” a documentary about the descendants of the last known ship carrying enslaved people to the U.S.
Sunday, June 18
Before we get into the performance for this evening, it has to be noted that the venue, Groton Hill Music Center, stands out among modern arts complexes in New England. Located in north-central Massachusetts, the center is home to two world-class stages designed with modern acoustic science and the aesthetics of a lantern-lit barn. If that alone isn’t enough of a draw, consider the programming this weekend. New England Conservatory of Music alumni Kevin Harris will present “Roots, Water and Sunlight,” which features recordings of James Baldwin.
As Harris phrases it, “Baldwin is also a part, an extra instrument throughout the piece itself,” intertwined with the musical compositions of the evening. Harris hopes that by including these samples, he can revive some of the themes of change and resistance to change that Baldwin often discussed.
Juneteenth at Boston museums
Monday, June 19
For years now, Boston area museums have offered free admission and special programming on Juneteenth, and many of them are taking the opportunity to highlight Black artists who already have exhibits underway. The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston currently has an exhibit featuring Simone Leigh, whose works focus on the experience of Black women. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is marking their 11th Juneteenth open house, and this year they have a couple of exhibits to pair with the celebration. Most notably“Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina,” which centers Black potters of the 19th century, many of whom were enslaved. The exhibit pairs these older works with modern responses to them. Admission to the MFA is on a first-come, first-served basis for Massachusetts residents. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is hosting a free day of activities conversations and performances, including poetry from Amanda Shea (a WBUR's 2021 ARTery 25 artist), a screening of the film "A Reckoning in Boston" and music from DJ KNSZWRTH. Across the river in Cambridge, the MIT List Visual Arts Center is also opening its doors on Monday, but this museum is always free! So if you can't make it Monday, be sure to visit at a future date.
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You should know the story by now. In 1863, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and it took over two years for the word to reach the last enslaved people in the US — June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas. Although Juneteenth has been celebrated in various fashions since then, it took over 150 years for the day to become a nationally recognized holiday. President Biden signed it into law following a year of racial reckoning in 2021.
It’s a day of celebration that also takes place during Black Music Month, and Boston has put together a variety of ways to mark the occasion. Here are a few of the many events to celebrate the holiday and reflect on what it means in 2023 this weekend.
Saturday, June 17
Although the Boston Public Library will be closed on Monday for the holiday, they have a series of events for Juneteenth leading up to the day. On Friday, an event titled “Celebrate Juneteenth with Little Uprisings,” at the Mattapan branch will discuss racial justice in a workshop for 6 to 11-year-olds in order to help teach about the concepts of empowerment and change-making. There are many other book readings and workshops at different branches throughout the city this weekend.
On Saturday, the Honan-Allston branch will offer a drumming workshop for children ages 4 to 10. Cornell Coley has been teaching drumming for over 25 years, and he says (while keeping a steady beat on drums, I might add), “I think this is an important art form because it brings together a lot of ways people can get stronger inside. The way they can bond with other people. The way they can find peace.” Both workshops mentioned here are free and don’t require registration. Visit the BPL website for a complete list of events.
Sunday, June 18
The Boston Lyric Opera commissioned the operetta "The Wanderer's Tethering," which dives into the experiences of people with both African and Black American roots. Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola and composer Mason Bynes created this work which blends spoken word performance with Negro spirituals and Igbo folkloric music. The program also includes music by composers Jessie Montgomery, Trevor Weston and Florence Price. The performance also features BLO soprano Brianna J. Robinson and Castle of Our Skins musicians
|
. This event will be held at Hibernian Hall and a community reception will follow.
Sunday, June 18
First, a little history. Long before Juneteenth, a group of seven people were enslaved and living in what is now known as the Longfellow House in Cambridge. In 1774, when their enslavers suddenly fled their home, this group had the unexpected opportunity to seize their freedom. Despite the odds, Cuba Vassall, one of the freed slaves, became an activist for Black freedom.
This weekend, the mansion will host Juneteenth celebrations with music and poetry performances as well as presentations from Vassal’s living relatives. Across the street, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy will screen “Descendant,” a documentary about the descendants of the last known ship carrying enslaved people to the U.S.
Sunday, June 18
Before we get into the performance for this evening, it has to be noted that the venue, Groton Hill Music Center, stands out among modern arts complexes in New England. Located in north-central Massachusetts, the center is home to two world-class stages designed with modern acoustic science and the aesthetics of a lantern-lit barn. If that alone isn’t enough of a draw, consider the programming this weekend. New England Conservatory of Music alumni Kevin Harris will present “Roots, Water and Sunlight,” which features recordings of James Baldwin.
As Harris phrases it, “Baldwin is also a part, an extra instrument throughout the piece itself,” intertwined with the musical compositions of the evening. Harris hopes that by including these samples, he can revive some of the themes of change and resistance to change that Baldwin often discussed.
Juneteenth at Boston museums
Monday, June 19
For years now, Boston area museums have offered free admission and special programming on Juneteenth, and many of them are taking the opportunity to highlight Black artists who already have exhibits underway. The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston currently has an exhibit featuring Simone Leigh, whose works focus on the experience of Black women. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is marking their 11th Juneteenth open house, and this year they have a couple of exhibits to pair with the celebration. Most notably“Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina,” which centers Black potters of the 19th century, many of whom were enslaved. The exhibit pairs these older works with modern responses to them. Admission to the MFA is on a first-come, first-served basis for Massachusetts residents. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is hosting a free day of activities conversations and performances, including poetry from Amanda Shea (a WBUR's 2021 ARTery 25 artist), a screening of the film "A Reckoning in Boston" and music from DJ KNSZWRTH. Across the river in Cambridge, the MIT List Visual Arts Center is also opening its doors on Monday, but this museum is always free! So if you can't make it Monday, be sure to visit at a future date.
|
How elementary and high school students teamed up to send pieces of Silver Lake around the country
SILVER LAKE — What could Ella Day, Brooklyn Rupp and Colter Beam tell the world about Silver Lake, Kansas?
The Silver Lake Jr./Sr. High School juniors had been students in the district since kindergarten, and they understood the small, rural community well.
So when elementary school librarian Carrie Podlena asked high school art teacher Michaela Conley for help with a project to tell the story of Silver Lake Grade School, the art teacher knew exactly who could help.
Podlena had entered the elementary school into a national “traveling mural” project, in which 10 schools around the country would design a 10-foot-long mural that would be cut up into just as many sections and sent to each school in the project.
The goal, Podlena said, would be for Silver Lake USD 372 students to learn about and make connections to students in other states. But if the students were to learn about other schools, then they’d also need to teach others about what Silver Lake and the people who live there.
That’s where the older students could help.
How students fit Silver Lake and Kansas onto 10-foot mural on butcher paper
The three students — who each contributed either a keen eye for visualizing designs, bringing them to life or putting them to paper, Conley said — had a challenge ahead of them, though.
How could they put Silver Lake, Kansas, on 10 feet of butcher paper?
“We picked out things from our community that really stood out, or things you might think of when you think about our town,” Day said.
Coloring of the mural was left to the elementary school students, though, and the three high school students said the younger artists added just as much character to the mural in their bold, vibrant choices for colors.
At the center of the mural, the students put a big, strong buffalo, bordered on one end with block letters spelling KANSAS. On the ends, they put a windmill (which Rupp said reminded her of the country around the town) and the town’s recently repainted water tower.
“The kids could have done natural colors, but they went with bright, and it’s just so much fun,” Rupp said. “They put their own personality into it.”
And although the mural was split into 10 pieces, the high school students still think the individual pieces can help other students around the country understand their district, using their imaginations to fill in any missing pieces.
“I hope the kids got to work together to create a piece that they’d be proud of as well, and know that they’re going to get to send this to someone who might not know too much about Kansas and show our heart to them,” Rupp said.
Traveling mural project can help students understand Silver Lake better
As of this month, Podlena has eight of 10 pieces of Silver Lake Grade School’s version of the piecework mural. Those pieces are now in display in the school gym, but not before Podlena talked with her students about the pieces and any accompanying information each participating school sent.
One school’s mascot was the giraffe, so all of its students drew and colored giraffes for their poster. Another school — Sippican Elementary School in Marion, Massachusetts —drew a big boat called the S.S. Sippican as a reference to the school’s location less than a mile from the coast of Buzzard Bay in New England. Podlena said she hopes to partner with Sippican to continue connecting students in a pen pal program.
More than anything, though, Podlena said she and her students appreciate the help that the high school students gave in designing a mural for them.
“It’s just such a cool way for the students to see the opportunities they have at the high school, as far as classes like art and all that, but they can also learn about other students around the country, and what they’re doing,” Podlena said.
It’s all a part of how art can not only tell the world the story of a community, but it can allow the community to better understand itself, Conley said.
“Art has historically helped people tell the story of their culture,” the art teacher said. “It can be hard to see when you live in your town, but when you see it drawn out, it becomes part of who you are.”
Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at <email-pii> or by phone at 785-289-5325. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.
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How elementary and high school students teamed up to send pieces of Silver Lake around the country
SILVER LAKE — What could Ella Day, Brooklyn Rupp and Colter Beam tell the world about Silver Lake, Kansas?
The Silver Lake Jr./Sr. High School juniors had been students in the district since kindergarten, and they understood the small, rural community well.
So when elementary school librarian Carrie Podlena asked high school art teacher Michaela Conley for help with a project to tell the story of Silver Lake Grade School, the art teacher knew exactly who could help.
Podlena had entered the elementary school into a national “traveling mural” project, in which 10 schools around the country would design a 10-foot-long mural that would be cut up into just as many sections and sent to each school in the project.
The goal, Podlena said, would be for Silver Lake USD 372 students to learn about and make connections to students in other states. But if the students were to learn about other schools, then they’d also need to teach others about what Silver Lake and the people who live there.
That’s where the older students could help.
How students fit Silver Lake and Kansas onto 10-foot mural on butcher paper
The three students — who each contributed either a keen eye for visualizing designs, bringing them to life or putting them to paper, Conley said — had a challenge ahead of them, though.
How could they put Silver Lake, Kansas, on 10 feet of butcher paper?
“We picked out things from our community that really stood out, or things you might think of when you think about our town,” Day said.
Coloring of the mural was left to the elementary school students, though, and the three high school students said the younger artists added just as much character to the mural in their bold, vibrant choices for colors.
At the center of the mural, the students put a big, strong buffalo, bordered on one end with block letters spelling KANSAS. On the ends, they put a windmill (which Rupp said reminded her of the country around the town) and the town’s recently repainted water tower.
“The kids could have done natural colors, but they went with bright, and it’s just so much fun,” Rupp said. “They put their own personality into it.”
And although the mural was split into 10 pieces, the high school students still think the individual pieces can help other
|
students around the country understand their district, using their imaginations to fill in any missing pieces.
“I hope the kids got to work together to create a piece that they’d be proud of as well, and know that they’re going to get to send this to someone who might not know too much about Kansas and show our heart to them,” Rupp said.
Traveling mural project can help students understand Silver Lake better
As of this month, Podlena has eight of 10 pieces of Silver Lake Grade School’s version of the piecework mural. Those pieces are now in display in the school gym, but not before Podlena talked with her students about the pieces and any accompanying information each participating school sent.
One school’s mascot was the giraffe, so all of its students drew and colored giraffes for their poster. Another school — Sippican Elementary School in Marion, Massachusetts —drew a big boat called the S.S. Sippican as a reference to the school’s location less than a mile from the coast of Buzzard Bay in New England. Podlena said she hopes to partner with Sippican to continue connecting students in a pen pal program.
More than anything, though, Podlena said she and her students appreciate the help that the high school students gave in designing a mural for them.
“It’s just such a cool way for the students to see the opportunities they have at the high school, as far as classes like art and all that, but they can also learn about other students around the country, and what they’re doing,” Podlena said.
It’s all a part of how art can not only tell the world the story of a community, but it can allow the community to better understand itself, Conley said.
“Art has historically helped people tell the story of their culture,” the art teacher said. “It can be hard to see when you live in your town, but when you see it drawn out, it becomes part of who you are.”
Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at <email-pii> or by phone at 785-289-5325. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.
|
The feature image you see above was generated by an AI text-to-image rendering model called Stable Diffusion. Stable Diffusion typically runs in the cloud via a web browser, and is driven by data center servers with big power budgets and a ton of silicon horsepower. However, the image above was generated by Stable Diffusion running on a smartphone, without a connection to that cloud data center and running in airplane mode, with no connectivity whatsoever. And the AI model rendering it was powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile chip on a device that operates at under 7 watts or so.
It took Stable Diffusion only a few short phrases and 14.47 seconds to render this image. In the example above, a text description of “man holding a smartphone surrounded by AI with images representing AI in the background” was provided to Stable Diffusion for rendering. Granted it’s more of a Van Gogh style of impressionism (and a little stoic), but in the palm of your hand and at under 15 seconds, you could easily keep refining your AI-generated masterpiece.
Overcoming Model Size And Complexity Is Key To On-Device AI
Quantization is a generalized term that speaks to the different techniques of converting parameters of a machine learning model to lower-precision values. Or put another way, it’s approximating a high-precision neural network model with lower bit-width mathematics for power, bandwidth, and storage savings, as well as application speedup.
In this case, the Qualcomm AI Research team, utilizing its AIMET tool (AI Model Efficiency Toolkit), quantized the 32-bit floating point Stable Diffusion AI model down to a much smaller 8-bit integer footprint, while maintaining nearly the same level of accuracy.
Qualcomm was able to get Stable Diffusion running on a hand-held device without internet connectivity, by optimizing and scaling the AI model down to run on more efficient INT8 (8-bit integer) precision operations, rather than the larger, more complex FP32 (32-bit floating point) operations that were used to train the model. The result is that for inference (running the model to accurately create the image and inferring details from text), the Stable Diffusion model was shrunk dramatically, or quantized, to a fraction of its size with little to no degradation in accuracy, but with significantly better performance on a low-power Snapdragon AI accelerator (Qualcomm Hexagon Processor) with much less storage and memory bandwidth required.
The other potential logical school of thought here would be to just quantize the trained model down to FP8 (8-bit floating point) precision. However, Qualcomm has already determined that FP8 is no substitute for INT8 quantization for low power inferencing, in terms of power efficiency and silicon area, nor does it offer significantly higher accuracy in most workloads. Integer quantization simply results in more efficient inferencing performance, which is critical for low power devices.
Quantization And The Quest For More Efficient AI Modeling
That said, the next frontier for further reducing the computational resource requirements of on-device machine learning is being pioneered by Qualcomm, and it drives that math down to even less complex 4-bit integer operations (INT4), while maintaining a similar level of accuracy as the original floating point-derived model.
Above, you can see examples of various machine learning models, like ResNet50 for image classification or PoseNet for human pose detection, and their resulting accuracy when using INT4 versus a source FP32-based model, when the model is optimized with either PTQ (Post Training Quantization) or QAT (Quantization Aware Training). INT4 offers tremendous benefits in this example, such as up to 64 times improvement in inference performance-per-watt, compared to FP32.
INT4 Quantization Benefits And A Real-World Demo
As you can see, the results are impressive, in terms of accuracy percentages, but what does this look like in a real-world application? Let’s take a look at AI-based game rendering upscaling, known as super resolution, for a performance uplift and image quality improvements on smartphones. A demo is worth a thousand words as they say…
This is an example of a 540p pixel input resolution image being scaled up to 4K resolution, which results in much cleaner lines, sharper textures, and a better overall experience. Though Qualcomm has a non-algorithmic version of this available today, called Snapdragon GSR, someday in the future, mobile enthusiast gamers are going to be treated to even better levels of image quality without sacrificing battery life and with even higher frame rates.
This is just one example of gaming and media enhancement with pre-trained and quantized machine learning models, but you can quickly think of a myriad of applications that could benefit greatly, from recommendation engines to location-aware guidance, to computational photography techniques and more.
We just needed a new math for all this AI heavy lifting on smartphones and other lower power edge devices, and it appears Qualcomm is leading that charge.
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The feature image you see above was generated by an AI text-to-image rendering model called Stable Diffusion. Stable Diffusion typically runs in the cloud via a web browser, and is driven by data center servers with big power budgets and a ton of silicon horsepower. However, the image above was generated by Stable Diffusion running on a smartphone, without a connection to that cloud data center and running in airplane mode, with no connectivity whatsoever. And the AI model rendering it was powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile chip on a device that operates at under 7 watts or so.
It took Stable Diffusion only a few short phrases and 14.47 seconds to render this image. In the example above, a text description of “man holding a smartphone surrounded by AI with images representing AI in the background” was provided to Stable Diffusion for rendering. Granted it’s more of a Van Gogh style of impressionism (and a little stoic), but in the palm of your hand and at under 15 seconds, you could easily keep refining your AI-generated masterpiece.
Overcoming Model Size And Complexity Is Key To On-Device AI
Quantization is a generalized term that speaks to the different techniques of converting parameters of a machine learning model to lower-precision values. Or put another way, it’s approximating a high-precision neural network model with lower bit-width mathematics for power, bandwidth, and storage savings, as well as application speedup.
In this case, the Qualcomm AI Research team, utilizing its AIMET tool (AI Model Efficiency Toolkit), quantized the 32-bit floating point Stable Diffusion AI model down to a much smaller 8-bit integer footprint, while maintaining nearly the same level of accuracy.
Qualcomm was able to get Stable Diffusion running on a hand-held device without internet connectivity, by optimizing and scaling the AI model down to run on more efficient INT8 (8-bit integer) precision operations, rather than the larger, more complex FP32 (32-bit floating point) operations that were used to train the model. The result is that for inference (running the model to accurately create the image and inferring details from text), the Stable Diffusion model was shrunk dramatically, or quantized, to a fraction of its size with little to no degradation in accuracy, but with significantly better performance on a low-power Snapdragon AI accelerator (Qualcomm Hexagon Processor) with much less storage and memory bandwidth required.
The other
|
potential logical school of thought here would be to just quantize the trained model down to FP8 (8-bit floating point) precision. However, Qualcomm has already determined that FP8 is no substitute for INT8 quantization for low power inferencing, in terms of power efficiency and silicon area, nor does it offer significantly higher accuracy in most workloads. Integer quantization simply results in more efficient inferencing performance, which is critical for low power devices.
Quantization And The Quest For More Efficient AI Modeling
That said, the next frontier for further reducing the computational resource requirements of on-device machine learning is being pioneered by Qualcomm, and it drives that math down to even less complex 4-bit integer operations (INT4), while maintaining a similar level of accuracy as the original floating point-derived model.
Above, you can see examples of various machine learning models, like ResNet50 for image classification or PoseNet for human pose detection, and their resulting accuracy when using INT4 versus a source FP32-based model, when the model is optimized with either PTQ (Post Training Quantization) or QAT (Quantization Aware Training). INT4 offers tremendous benefits in this example, such as up to 64 times improvement in inference performance-per-watt, compared to FP32.
INT4 Quantization Benefits And A Real-World Demo
As you can see, the results are impressive, in terms of accuracy percentages, but what does this look like in a real-world application? Let’s take a look at AI-based game rendering upscaling, known as super resolution, for a performance uplift and image quality improvements on smartphones. A demo is worth a thousand words as they say…
This is an example of a 540p pixel input resolution image being scaled up to 4K resolution, which results in much cleaner lines, sharper textures, and a better overall experience. Though Qualcomm has a non-algorithmic version of this available today, called Snapdragon GSR, someday in the future, mobile enthusiast gamers are going to be treated to even better levels of image quality without sacrificing battery life and with even higher frame rates.
This is just one example of gaming and media enhancement with pre-trained and quantized machine learning models, but you can quickly think of a myriad of applications that could benefit greatly, from recommendation engines to location-aware guidance, to computational photography techniques and more.
We just needed a new math for all this AI heavy lifting on smartphones and other lower power edge devices, and it appears Qualcomm is leading that charge.
|
The rate of children diagnosed with autism in the United States has been growing steadily since 2000, but two new reports from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlight disparities in the types of children identified to have autism spectrum disorder and setbacks in early detection.
In 2020, about 1 in 36 children had been diagnosed with autism by age 8, according to the CDC – about 2.8%. That’s up from a prevalence of 1 in 44 children in 2018 and 1 in 150 children in 2000.
But according to the CDC, this long-term trend has “largely been interpreted as improvements in more equitable identification of (autism spectrum disorder), particularly for children in groups that have less access or face greater barriers in obtaining services.”
For the first time, diagnosis was more common among Asian, Black and Hispanic children than it was among White children. The CDC researchers note that this shift “may reflect improved screening, awareness, and access to services among historically underserved groups.” In fact, between 2018 and 2020, autism prevalence rose more than twice as fast among Asian, Black and Hispanic children than it did among White children.
These findings are based on surveillance data from 11 communities that participate in the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network. The data are not nationally representative and vary widely by location – from a prevalence of 1 in 22 children in California to about half as many in Maryland. The CDC says more research is needed to understand this variation, which could be related to differences in the strategies used to identify and diagnose the condition.
Still, some trends have stayed consistent.
Autism prevalence is significantly higher among boys than girls – in 2020, there was about a four-fold difference. But it was the first year that more than 1% of 8-year-old girls had been diagnosed with autism.
Also, disparities persist in identifying autism in children who also have an intellectual disability. In 2020, more than half of Black children diagnosed with autism also had an intellectual disability, compared with less than a third of White children. According to the researchers, this finding suggests a need to better detect and evaluate developmental concerns beyond cognitive ability.
Generally, children who have intellectual disabilities are more likely to be diagnosed with autism earlier. But early detection is important for all children with autism, as it helps connect them with helpful resources and interventions.
In recent years, good progress had been made in early detection of autism – an earlier CDC report found that children born in 2014 were 50% more likely to receive an autism diagnosis or special education by age 4 than those born in 2010.
Get CNN Health's weekly newsletter
Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.
Another new report published by the CDC on Thursday shows that there was evidence of continued improvement in these trends through February 2020, but the trends reversed as the Covid-19 pandemic hit with “sustained lower levels” of evaluations and identification of autism across most of the surveillance network.
In first six months of the pandemic, there were 217 fewer evaluations for every 1,000 children at age 4 than there were four years earlier. There were also nearly three fewer identifications for every 10,000 children, according to the CDC report.
“Disruptions due to the pandemic in the timely evaluation of children and delays in connecting children to the services and support they need could have long-lasting effects,” said Dr. Karen Remley, director of CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. “The data in this report can help communities better understand how the pandemic impacted early identification of autism in young children and anticipate future needs as these children get older.”
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The rate of children diagnosed with autism in the United States has been growing steadily since 2000, but two new reports from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlight disparities in the types of children identified to have autism spectrum disorder and setbacks in early detection.
In 2020, about 1 in 36 children had been diagnosed with autism by age 8, according to the CDC – about 2.8%. That’s up from a prevalence of 1 in 44 children in 2018 and 1 in 150 children in 2000.
But according to the CDC, this long-term trend has “largely been interpreted as improvements in more equitable identification of (autism spectrum disorder), particularly for children in groups that have less access or face greater barriers in obtaining services.”
For the first time, diagnosis was more common among Asian, Black and Hispanic children than it was among White children. The CDC researchers note that this shift “may reflect improved screening, awareness, and access to services among historically underserved groups.” In fact, between 2018 and 2020, autism prevalence rose more than twice as fast among Asian, Black and Hispanic children than it did among White children.
These findings are based on surveillance data from 11 communities that participate in the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network. The data are not nationally representative and vary widely by location – from a prevalence of 1 in 22 children in California to about half as many in Maryland. The CDC says more research is needed to understand this variation, which could be related to differences in the strategies used to identify and diagnose the condition.
Still, some trends have stayed consistent.
Autism prevalence is significantly higher among boys than girls – in 2020, there was about a four-fold difference. But it was the first year that more than 1% of 8-year-old girls had been diagnosed with autism.
Also, disparities persist in identifying autism in children who also have an intellectual disability. In 2020, more than half of Black children diagnosed with autism also had an intellectual disability, compared with less than a third of White children. According to the researchers, this finding suggests a need to better detect and evaluate developmental concerns beyond cognitive ability.
Generally, children who have intellectual disabilities are more likely to be diagnosed with autism earlier. But early detection is important for all children with autism, as it helps connect them with
|
helpful resources and interventions.
In recent years, good progress had been made in early detection of autism – an earlier CDC report found that children born in 2014 were 50% more likely to receive an autism diagnosis or special education by age 4 than those born in 2010.
Get CNN Health's weekly newsletter
Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.
Another new report published by the CDC on Thursday shows that there was evidence of continued improvement in these trends through February 2020, but the trends reversed as the Covid-19 pandemic hit with “sustained lower levels” of evaluations and identification of autism across most of the surveillance network.
In first six months of the pandemic, there were 217 fewer evaluations for every 1,000 children at age 4 than there were four years earlier. There were also nearly three fewer identifications for every 10,000 children, according to the CDC report.
“Disruptions due to the pandemic in the timely evaluation of children and delays in connecting children to the services and support they need could have long-lasting effects,” said Dr. Karen Remley, director of CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. “The data in this report can help communities better understand how the pandemic impacted early identification of autism in young children and anticipate future needs as these children get older.”
|
The descriptive panel below, from the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC was posted on Twitter by the historian of Chinese astrology, Jeffrey Kotyk, who posed the question, “I wonder whether Ptolemy would have considered himself “pagan”?”
Reading through the text I have several other comments and queries, but first I will address Jeffrey’s question. Ptolemy lived in the second century CE and was an Alexandrian Greek. At that point in time the Latin word pagan from pāgānus meant “villager, rustic; civilian, non-combatant”. Only in the fourth century did early Christians begin to refer to people who practiced polytheism, or ethic religions other than Judaism as pagans. The word pagan meaning “person of non-Christian or non-Jewish faith” first entered the English language around 1400 CE, so Ptolemy would definitely not have considered himself pagan.
Also referring to Ptolemy, one of the greatest mathematical polymaths of antiquity, as “scholar of the stars” is somewhat limited, not to say strange. The text then attributes a “passion for mathematics, geography, and astronomy” to him but leaves out optics, music theory, and, of course, astrology. Strangely the opening paragraph seems to attribute those things that developed out of astronomy all to Ptolemy alone. What about all the other astronomers, geographers, mathematicians, who existed before Ptolemy, contemporaneously with him, and after him, didn’t they contribute anything?
Of the things listed, “the ability to navigate the earth, determine agricultural seasons, and organise time into days, months, and years,” only the first, navigation, can really be said to have grown out of astronomy. Systematic agriculture and with it, knowledge of the agricultural seasons predates mathematical astronomy by about six thousand years. Days are a natural phenomenon of which homo sapiens would have been aware since they first evolved, although I assume that animals are also aware of days.
The same of course applies to the year of which every sentient creature that lives long enough becomes aware without any help from astronomers. Astronomers, of course, determined how many days there are in a solar year, but they took long enough to get it right.
Months are a completely different problem. If we are referring to lunar months, and after all the word month derives from the word for moon, then the same applies, as to days and years. Although the astronomers had the problem of how to align lunar months with solar years, they don’t fit at all, as became obvious fairly early on and you don’t really want to know about the history of early calendrics. Trust me you don’t, that way lies madness! If, however, we are referring to our current system of twelve irregular months fitted into the solar year, then, although the astronomers played a role, they are largely the result of political decisions.
As a result, the Church was able to use scripture and science to identify and commemorate holy days such as Easter.
Knowing something about the history of the determination of the so-called movable Christian holy days, I cringed when I read this very short paragraph. I will pass over it with the simple comment that these holy days are determined not identified and that determination was a very complex religio-political process stretching over several centuries and astronomers had very little to do with it, other than providing the date of the vernal equinox, which in early days was falsely considered to be the 25 March and providing lunar tables.
I developed the most advanced geocentric model of the universe, at which I believed Earth was the center.
This sentence is, of course, wonderfully tautological, geocentric meaning the earth is at the centre. The sentence is also, as Blake Stacey pointed out on Mastodon after I posted this, “not only redundant, it’s not even grammatical.”
My geocentric model of the universe was accepted until Copernicus, Galileo, and others introduced a heliocentric model.
Ptolemy’s model was extensively modified by a succession of Arabic astronomers and “the most advanced geocentric model of the universe” before Copernicus was that of the Austrian, Renaissance astronomer, Georg von Peuerbach (1423–1461), whose system Copernicus studied as a student.
Galileo, who in reality contributed very little to the heliocentric model or to its acceptance, in fact by rejecting supralunar comets, which orbited the sun, and ignoring Kepler’s laws of planetary motions, he explicitly hindered that acceptance, gets a name check with Copernicus, whereas, Kepler, whose heliocentric model was the one that actually became accepted gets dumped under others!
This is a more than questionable piece of museum signage and I wish I could blame it on the religious nature of the museum but such ill researched signage is unfortunately too common.
5 responses to “Ptolemy the pagan”
On the other hand, I’ll bet you that the occurrence of the word “pagan” is due very much to the “religious nature of the museum”. Any other museum would have called him “Ancient Greek”, or perhaps (and better) “Hellenistic”.
Strictly speaking Ptolemy is post Hellenistic. The Hellenistic Period ended in 31 BCE with the Roman conquest of Egypt
It sounds odd to me ear to call him Roman, though I see Wikipedia does. Maybe Alexandrian?
As you can read above I have called him an Alexandrian Greek; Alexandria was very much a multicultural city. He may have been a Roman citizen, I’m not aware of any source for this claim. Alexandria was part of the Roman Empire but being born there didn’t automatically make one a Roman citizen.
The other problem with this bit is that the “paganism” of late antiquity, at least among educated men, was a lot more like Christianity than like the beliefs and practices of the times of Homer or Plato. Ptolemy came earlier than Julian the Apostate or most of the Neoplatonists—I don’t know if he paid any attention to the Christians himself—but his religiosity probably had very little similarity to the cults of the city states or the folk practices of rural folk.
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The descriptive panel below, from the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC was posted on Twitter by the historian of Chinese astrology, Jeffrey Kotyk, who posed the question, “I wonder whether Ptolemy would have considered himself “pagan”?”
Reading through the text I have several other comments and queries, but first I will address Jeffrey’s question. Ptolemy lived in the second century CE and was an Alexandrian Greek. At that point in time the Latin word pagan from pāgānus meant “villager, rustic; civilian, non-combatant”. Only in the fourth century did early Christians begin to refer to people who practiced polytheism, or ethic religions other than Judaism as pagans. The word pagan meaning “person of non-Christian or non-Jewish faith” first entered the English language around 1400 CE, so Ptolemy would definitely not have considered himself pagan.
Also referring to Ptolemy, one of the greatest mathematical polymaths of antiquity, as “scholar of the stars” is somewhat limited, not to say strange. The text then attributes a “passion for mathematics, geography, and astronomy” to him but leaves out optics, music theory, and, of course, astrology. Strangely the opening paragraph seems to attribute those things that developed out of astronomy all to Ptolemy alone. What about all the other astronomers, geographers, mathematicians, who existed before Ptolemy, contemporaneously with him, and after him, didn’t they contribute anything?
Of the things listed, “the ability to navigate the earth, determine agricultural seasons, and organise time into days, months, and years,” only the first, navigation, can really be said to have grown out of astronomy. Systematic agriculture and with it, knowledge of the agricultural seasons predates mathematical astronomy by about six thousand years. Days are a natural phenomenon of which homo sapiens would have been aware since they first evolved, although I assume that animals are also aware of days.
The same of course applies to the year of which every sentient creature that lives long enough becomes aware without any help from astronomers. Astronomers, of course, determined how many days there are in a solar year, but they took long enough to get it right.
Months are a completely different problem. If we are referring to lunar months, and after all the word month derives from the word for moon, then the same applies, as to days and years. Although the astronomers had the
|
problem of how to align lunar months with solar years, they don’t fit at all, as became obvious fairly early on and you don’t really want to know about the history of early calendrics. Trust me you don’t, that way lies madness! If, however, we are referring to our current system of twelve irregular months fitted into the solar year, then, although the astronomers played a role, they are largely the result of political decisions.
As a result, the Church was able to use scripture and science to identify and commemorate holy days such as Easter.
Knowing something about the history of the determination of the so-called movable Christian holy days, I cringed when I read this very short paragraph. I will pass over it with the simple comment that these holy days are determined not identified and that determination was a very complex religio-political process stretching over several centuries and astronomers had very little to do with it, other than providing the date of the vernal equinox, which in early days was falsely considered to be the 25 March and providing lunar tables.
I developed the most advanced geocentric model of the universe, at which I believed Earth was the center.
This sentence is, of course, wonderfully tautological, geocentric meaning the earth is at the centre. The sentence is also, as Blake Stacey pointed out on Mastodon after I posted this, “not only redundant, it’s not even grammatical.”
My geocentric model of the universe was accepted until Copernicus, Galileo, and others introduced a heliocentric model.
Ptolemy’s model was extensively modified by a succession of Arabic astronomers and “the most advanced geocentric model of the universe” before Copernicus was that of the Austrian, Renaissance astronomer, Georg von Peuerbach (1423–1461), whose system Copernicus studied as a student.
Galileo, who in reality contributed very little to the heliocentric model or to its acceptance, in fact by rejecting supralunar comets, which orbited the sun, and ignoring Kepler’s laws of planetary motions, he explicitly hindered that acceptance, gets a name check with Copernicus, whereas, Kepler, whose heliocentric model was the one that actually became accepted gets dumped under others!
This is a more than questionable piece of museum signage and I wish I could blame it on the religious nature of the museum but such ill researched signage is unfortunately too common.
5 responses to “Ptolemy the pagan”
On the other hand, I’ll bet you that the occurrence of the word “pagan” is due very much to the “religious nature of the museum”. Any other museum would have called him “Ancient Greek”, or perhaps (and better) “Hellenistic”.
Strictly speaking Ptolemy is post Hellenistic. The Hellenistic Period ended in 31 BCE with the Roman conquest of Egypt
It sounds odd to me ear to call him Roman, though I see Wikipedia does. Maybe Alexandrian?
As you can read above I have called him an Alexandrian Greek; Alexandria was very much a multicultural city. He may have been a Roman citizen, I’m not aware of any source for this claim. Alexandria was part of the Roman Empire but being born there didn’t automatically make one a Roman citizen.
The other problem with this bit is that the “paganism” of late antiquity, at least among educated men, was a lot more like Christianity than like the beliefs and practices of the times of Homer or Plato. Ptolemy came earlier than Julian the Apostate or most of the Neoplatonists—I don’t know if he paid any attention to the Christians himself—but his religiosity probably had very little similarity to the cults of the city states or the folk practices of rural folk.
|
'Aber-clam Lincoln', a 214-year-old clam born same year as Abraham Lincoln, found in Florida
- A 2.6-pound quahog clam believed to be 214 years old was found in Florida's Alligator Point last month.
- The clam was likely born in 1809 – the same year as Abraham Lincoln – and is named "Aber-clam Lincoln." He may be the fourth oldest clam on record.
- The clam's caretakers released him into the Gulf of Mexico.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Aber-clam Lincoln, a quahog clam believed to be 214 years old, was released into the Gulf of Mexico last week by his caretakers at the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab.
Americorps member Blaine Parker dug up the 2-century-old mollusk at Florida's Alligator Point, while collecting shellfish to make chowder.
Parker said the clam is hefty enough to make two servings – and has shells large enough to use as bowls to serve it in.
“We were just going to eat it, but we thought about it a while and figured it was probably pretty special. So, we didn’t want to kill it,” Parker said.
Instead, he took it to the aquarium at the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab, where he works as a specimen collector.
While most Ocean quahogs are 2.8 to 4.3 inches long and weigh up to a half pound, Lincoln checks in at 6 inches and weighs 2.6 pounds.
Parker said a clam, like a tree, lays down annual growth bands, alternating bands of light on its shell, which scientists used to estimate its age.
There are 214 layers on the shell of the clam he found, which would mean it was probably born in 1809 – the same year as Abraham Lincoln. It was also discovered on Presidents Day weekend. So, Parker named his find Aber-clam Lincoln.
What are Quahog clams?
Quahogs are found in the Atlantic from Greenland south to North Carolina.
They move about by being tossed in the surf and crawl along the sand by expanding and contracting their muscle.
With Lincoln being so old, it is possible that circumstances moved him south, – making him one of the oldest known Florida transplants.
Quahogs are known to live 200 or more years. A 507-year-old clam, found in the Icelandic seabed and named Ming, broke the Guinness World Record for oldest animal when it was discovered in 2007.
Scientists believe incredible low metabolic rates of Lincoln and other quahogs are responsible for their long lives. A 2018 University of Kansas study on the energy needs of 299 species of extinct and living bivalves found those with minimal energy requirements escaped extinction.
“The lower the metabolic rate, the more likely the species you belong to will survive,” Bruce Lieberman, the study’s co-leader, said in a statement at the time.
“Instead of survival of the fittest, maybe a better metaphor for the history of life is survival of the laziest, or at least survival of the sluggish,” Lieberman said.
'Survival of the sluggish':Laziness an effective survival skill, study suggests
Lincoln appears to have been born before the start of the Industrial Revolution, which triggered a massive burning of fossil fuels.
Researchers have used centuries-old clam shells to identify changes in the North Atlantic climate system. Analysis of oxygen and carbon isotopes revealed a dramatic shift in the interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere, when a regional cooling period ended about 1850.
Lincoln may be the fourth-oldest clam on record.
A look at the oldest known clams
- 507-year-old Ming the Mollusk was found off the coast of Iceland in 2006.
- A 374-year-old mollusk was collected off Iceland in 1968.
- A 220-year-old quahog was pulled from American waters in 1982.
A more accurate age of a clam can be determined with an autopsy-like exam. Ming's estimated age was increased 104 years when scientists studied his insides.
So it’s quite possible Aber-clam Lincoln is older than what the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab estimates.
And unlike the others, Lincoln is still living. Ming and the others are not aging anymore.
Lincoln will be hitting the waves back in the surf along the Gulf Coast as of Feb. 24.
“We just figured he won’t live very well in captivity," Parker said. "And I think he’s earned the right to stay out there.”
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'Aber-clam Lincoln', a 214-year-old clam born same year as Abraham Lincoln, found in Florida
- A 2.6-pound quahog clam believed to be 214 years old was found in Florida's Alligator Point last month.
- The clam was likely born in 1809 – the same year as Abraham Lincoln – and is named "Aber-clam Lincoln." He may be the fourth oldest clam on record.
- The clam's caretakers released him into the Gulf of Mexico.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Aber-clam Lincoln, a quahog clam believed to be 214 years old, was released into the Gulf of Mexico last week by his caretakers at the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab.
Americorps member Blaine Parker dug up the 2-century-old mollusk at Florida's Alligator Point, while collecting shellfish to make chowder.
Parker said the clam is hefty enough to make two servings – and has shells large enough to use as bowls to serve it in.
“We were just going to eat it, but we thought about it a while and figured it was probably pretty special. So, we didn’t want to kill it,” Parker said.
Instead, he took it to the aquarium at the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab, where he works as a specimen collector.
While most Ocean quahogs are 2.8 to 4.3 inches long and weigh up to a half pound, Lincoln checks in at 6 inches and weighs 2.6 pounds.
Parker said a clam, like a tree, lays down annual growth bands, alternating bands of light on its shell, which scientists used to estimate its age.
There are 214 layers on the shell of the clam he found, which would mean it was probably born in 1809 – the same year as Abraham Lincoln. It was also discovered on Presidents Day weekend. So, Parker named his find Aber-clam Lincoln.
What are Quahog clams?
Quahogs are found in the Atlantic from Greenland south to North Carolina.
They move about by being tossed in the surf and crawl along the sand by expanding and contracting their muscle.
With Lincoln being so old, it is possible that circumstances moved him south, – making him one of the oldest known Florida transplants.
Quahogs are known to live 200 or more years.
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A 507-year-old clam, found in the Icelandic seabed and named Ming, broke the Guinness World Record for oldest animal when it was discovered in 2007.
Scientists believe incredible low metabolic rates of Lincoln and other quahogs are responsible for their long lives. A 2018 University of Kansas study on the energy needs of 299 species of extinct and living bivalves found those with minimal energy requirements escaped extinction.
“The lower the metabolic rate, the more likely the species you belong to will survive,” Bruce Lieberman, the study’s co-leader, said in a statement at the time.
“Instead of survival of the fittest, maybe a better metaphor for the history of life is survival of the laziest, or at least survival of the sluggish,” Lieberman said.
'Survival of the sluggish':Laziness an effective survival skill, study suggests
Lincoln appears to have been born before the start of the Industrial Revolution, which triggered a massive burning of fossil fuels.
Researchers have used centuries-old clam shells to identify changes in the North Atlantic climate system. Analysis of oxygen and carbon isotopes revealed a dramatic shift in the interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere, when a regional cooling period ended about 1850.
Lincoln may be the fourth-oldest clam on record.
A look at the oldest known clams
- 507-year-old Ming the Mollusk was found off the coast of Iceland in 2006.
- A 374-year-old mollusk was collected off Iceland in 1968.
- A 220-year-old quahog was pulled from American waters in 1982.
A more accurate age of a clam can be determined with an autopsy-like exam. Ming's estimated age was increased 104 years when scientists studied his insides.
So it’s quite possible Aber-clam Lincoln is older than what the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab estimates.
And unlike the others, Lincoln is still living. Ming and the others are not aging anymore.
Lincoln will be hitting the waves back in the surf along the Gulf Coast as of Feb. 24.
“We just figured he won’t live very well in captivity," Parker said. "And I think he’s earned the right to stay out there.”
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There are a few times you are obliged to do something or perform an action, for example, I have to keep this blog running (but I seem to be terrible at it). Maybe, you have to attend someone’s wedding or someone needs to go to the dentist. These things are called ‘obligations’ where you ‘have to’ perform some action. Now, the real outcome might waver (such as the person might not ultimately go to the dentist) but when you have to do something, you are showing obligation to perform an action.
भोक (bhok) = Hunger
खानेकुरा (khanekura) = Foodstuff
अस्पताल (aspataal) = Hospital
अवस्था (awastha) = Condition/Status/State
Take these sentences for example:
- John has to go to the hospital.
- The ball has to roll to this road.
The bolded part shows the obligation of a subject to do something, hence he/she/they etc. has to ‘do’ something. In Nepali, we express this using a compound verb. The verb construction is very simple:
-nu form of Verb + पर्नु (parnu)
= Have to do X
So, we use the basic form (the infinite form) of the verb and just join ‘parnu’ in the end. All conjugations apply to parnu and not the other one. Also, we use 3rd person conjugation for all subjects. For example,
खानु (khanu /to eat/) + पर्नु (parnu)
= खानुपर्नु (khanuparnu /to have to eat/)
Positive conjugations display the need to do something. However, it is not uncommon for people to often use simple past tense for the present and use past perfect tense for simple past. ‘Simple past’ for ‘simple past’ is seldom used. For example:
भोक लागेको बेला खानेकुरा खानुपर्छ (bhok lageko bela khanekura khanuparcha)
= When hungry (we) have to eat food.
आज अस्पताल जानुपर्यो (aaja aspataal jaanuparyo)
= (I) have to go to the hospital.
घरको अवस्था हेर्न जानुपर्यो (ghar`ko awastha herna jaanuparyo)
= (I) have to go see the status of my house.
Negative conjugations on the other hand display the need to not do something:
भोक लागेको बेला खानेकुरा खानुपर्दैन (bhok lageko bela khanekura khanupardaina)
= When hungry (we) do not have to eat food.
आज अस्पताल जानुपरेन (aaja aspataal jaanuparena)
= Do not have to go to the hospital.
घरको अवस्था हेर्न जानुपरेन (ghar`ko awastha herna jaanuparena)
= (I) do not have to go see the status of my house.
More sentence examples:
यो काम गर्नुपर्छ ? (yo kaam garnuparcha)
= (Do I) need to do this work?
तिमीलाई पैसा चाहिन्छ भने कमाउनुपर्छ (timi`lai paisa chahincha bhane kamaaunuparcha)
= If you need money then (you) have to earn it.
हामी एक भएर देश बनाउनुपर्छ (hami ek bhaera desh banaunuparcha)
= By being one, (we) have to build the country.
PERMISSION AND APPROVAL
When you ask for permission, you are asking an approval to do or perform an action. When you receive the ‘okay’ signal, then you have received an approval.
By the very nature, when you ask for permission, it is in the form of a question. As such, all question are in ‘interrogative mood’. Similarly, when you give an approval, it is in the form of an answer. As such, it is a response and as such is never in an interrogative mood. Interchanging permission and approval is easy as such, you just change the question mark into a full stop and vice versa.
In speech, questions usually have a rising intonation.
पियानो (piyano) = Piano
बजाउँदा (bajauda) = Stems from the verb बजाउनु (bajaaunu) which means ‘To play (an instrument)’
There will be a special mandate here, we will be exploring whether an action is ‘permissible’ or not, that is whether it is okay or not okay to perform the said action. For example, these are the type of sentences that we will be exploring:
- Is it okay for me to play the piano?
- Isn’t it okay for him to go?
- It isn’t okay for you to play the piano.
- It is okay for him to go.
The basic format is:
-da form of verb + हुन्छ (huncha)
-nu form of verb + मिल्छ (milcha)
Both forms are equivalent in meaning.
Here are some example sentences of asking permission. Negative conjugation of ‘huncha’ [which is हुँदैन (hudaina)] or ‘milcha’ [which is मिल्दैन (mildaina)] is kind of like using ‘isn’t it okay…’ :
म पियानो बजाउँदा हुन्छ? (ma piyano bajauda huncha)
= Is it okay for me to play the piano?
ऊ घर जाँदा हुन्छ? (u ghar jada huncha)
= Is it okay for him to go home?
तिम्रो किताब लग्नु मिल्छ ? (timro kitab lagnu milcha)
= Is it okay to take your book?
म पियानो बजाउँदा हुँदैन? (ma piyano bajauda hudaina)
= Isn’t it okay for me to play the piano?
Since you need to answer the approval, you need to make necessary changes in some sentences. For example, you cannot say ‘Can I take your book?’ and its equivalent approval be ‘I can take your book.’ Also it isn’t necessary for the approvals to be exactly ‘confirmative’:
तिमीले पियानो बजाउँदा हुँदैन (timi`le piyano bajauda hudaina)
= It isn’t okay for you to play the piano.
ऊ घर जाँदा हुन्छ (u ghar jada huncha)
= Is it okay for him to go home.
मेरो किताब लग्नु मिल्छ (mero kitab lagnu milcha)
= Is it okay (for you) to take my book.
तिमीले पियानो बजाउँदा हुन्छ (timi`le piyano bajauda huncha)
= It is okay for you to play the piano.
A. TRANSLATE THE SENTENCES FROM NEPALI INTO ENGLISH
1. किताब खोल्नुपर्दैन (kitab kholnupardaina)
2. आज मन्दिर जानुपर्छ (aaja mandir jaanuparcha)
3. गरीबलाई दान दिँदा हुन्छ? (garib`lai daan dida huncha)
4. स्वयंसेवक कार्य गर्नु मिल्छ (swamyasewak kaarya garnu milcha)
B. TRANSLATE THE SENTENCES FROM ENGLISH INTO NEPALI
1. You do not need to come today.
2. Is it okay to not open our books?
ANSWER(illustrative purposes only)
A.1. No need to open the book.
A.2. Have to go to the temple today.
A.3. Is it okay to give donation to the poor?
A.4. It is okay to do volunteer work.
B.1. तिमी आज आउनुपर्दैन (timi aaja aaunupardaina)
B.2. किताब नखोल्दा हुन्छ ? (kitab nakholda huncha)
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There are a few times you are obliged to do something or perform an action, for example, I have to keep this blog running (but I seem to be terrible at it). Maybe, you have to attend someone’s wedding or someone needs to go to the dentist. These things are called ‘obligations’ where you ‘have to’ perform some action. Now, the real outcome might waver (such as the person might not ultimately go to the dentist) but when you have to do something, you are showing obligation to perform an action.
भोक (bhok) = Hunger
खानेकुरा (khanekura) = Foodstuff
अस्पताल (aspataal) = Hospital
अवस्था (awastha) = Condition/Status/State
Take these sentences for example:
- John has to go to the hospital.
- The ball has to roll to this road.
The bolded part shows the obligation of a subject to do something, hence he/she/they etc. has to ‘do’ something. In Nepali, we express this using a compound verb. The verb construction is very simple:
-nu form of Verb + पर्नु (parnu)
= Have to do X
So, we use the basic form (the infinite form) of the verb and just join ‘parnu’ in the end. All conjugations apply to parnu and not the other one. Also, we use 3rd person conjugation for all subjects. For example,
खानु (khanu /to eat/) + पर्नु (parnu)
= खानुपर्नु (khanuparnu /to have to eat/)
Positive conjugations display the need to do something. However, it is not uncommon for people to often use simple past tense for the present and use past perfect tense for simple past. ‘Simple past’ for ‘simple past’ is seldom used. For example:
भोक लागेको बेला खानेकुरा खानुपर्छ (bhok lageko bela khanekura khanuparcha)
= When hungry (we) have to eat food.
आज अस्पताल जानुपर्यो (aaja aspataal jaanuparyo)
= (I) have to go to the hospital.
घरको अवस्था हेर्न जानुपर्यो (ghar`ko awastha herna jaanuparyo)
= (I) have to
|
go see the status of my house.
Negative conjugations on the other hand display the need to not do something:
भोक लागेको बेला खानेकुरा खानुपर्दैन (bhok lageko bela khanekura khanupardaina)
= When hungry (we) do not have to eat food.
आज अस्पताल जानुपरेन (aaja aspataal jaanuparena)
= Do not have to go to the hospital.
घरको अवस्था हेर्न जानुपरेन (ghar`ko awastha herna jaanuparena)
= (I) do not have to go see the status of my house.
More sentence examples:
यो काम गर्नुपर्छ ? (yo kaam garnuparcha)
= (Do I) need to do this work?
तिमीलाई पैसा चाहिन्छ भने कमाउनुपर्छ (timi`lai paisa chahincha bhane kamaaunuparcha)
= If you need money then (you) have to earn it.
हामी एक भएर देश बनाउनुपर्छ (hami ek bhaera desh banaunuparcha)
= By being one, (we) have to build the country.
PERMISSION AND APPROVAL
When you ask for permission, you are asking an approval to do or perform an action. When you receive the ‘okay’ signal, then you have received an approval.
By the very nature, when you ask for permission, it is in the form of a question. As such, all question are in ‘interrogative mood’. Similarly, when you give an approval, it is in the form of an answer. As such, it is a response and as such is never in an interrogative mood. Interchanging permission and approval is easy as such, you just change the question mark into a full stop and vice versa.
In speech, questions usually have a rising intonation.
पियानो (piyano) = Piano
बजाउँदा (bajauda) = Stems from the verb बजाउनु (bajaaunu) which means ‘To play (an instrument)’
There will be a special mandate here, we will be exploring whether an action is ‘permissible’ or not, that is whether it is okay or not okay to perform the said action. For example, these are the type of sentences that we will be exploring:
- Is it okay for me to play the piano?
- Isn’t it okay for him to go?
- It isn’t okay for you to play the piano.
- It is okay for him to go.
The basic format is:
-da form of verb + हुन्छ (huncha)
-nu form of verb + मिल्छ (milcha)
Both forms are equivalent in meaning.
Here are some example sentences of asking permission. Negative conjugation of ‘huncha’ [which is हुँदैन (hudaina)] or ‘milcha’ [which is मिल्दैन (mildaina)] is kind of like using ‘isn’t it okay…’ :
म पियानो बजाउँदा हुन्छ? (ma piyano bajauda huncha)
= Is it okay for me to play the piano?
ऊ घर जाँदा हुन्छ? (u ghar jada huncha)
= Is it okay for him to go home?
तिम्रो किताब लग्नु मिल्छ ? (timro kitab lagnu milcha)
= Is it okay to take your book?
म पियानो बजाउँदा हुँदैन? (ma piyano bajauda hudaina)
= Isn’t it okay for me to play the piano?
Since you need to answer the approval, you need to make necessary changes in some sentences. For example, you cannot say ‘Can I take your book?’ and its equivalent approval be ‘I can take your book.’ Also it isn’t necessary for the approvals to be exactly ‘confirmative’:
तिमीले पियानो बजाउँदा हुँदैन (timi`le piyano bajauda hudaina)
= It isn’t okay for you to play the piano.
ऊ घर जाँदा हुन्छ (u ghar jada huncha)
= Is it okay for him to go home.
मेरो किताब लग्नु मिल्छ (mero kitab lagnu milcha)
= Is it okay (for you) to take my book.
तिमीले पियानो बजाउँदा हुन्छ (timi`le piyano bajauda huncha)
= It is okay for you to play the piano.
A. TRANSLATE THE SENTENCES FROM NEPALI INTO ENGLISH
1. किताब खोल्नुपर्दैन (kitab kholnupardaina)
2. आज मन्दिर जानुपर्छ (aaja mandir jaanuparcha)
3. गरीबलाई दान दिँदा हुन्छ? (garib`lai daan dida huncha)
4. स्वयंसेवक कार्य गर्नु मिल्छ (swamyasewak kaarya garnu milcha)
B. TRANSLATE THE SENTENCES FROM ENGLISH INTO NEPALI
1. You do not need to come today.
2. Is it okay to not open our books?
ANSWER(illustrative purposes only)
A.1. No need to open the book.
A.2. Have to go to the temple today.
A.3. Is it okay to give donation to the poor?
A.4. It is okay to do volunteer work.
B.1. तिमी आज आउनुपर्दैन (timi aaja aaunupardaina)
B.2. किताब नखोल्दा हुन्छ ? (kitab nakholda huncha)
|
The permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto contains a bronze sculpture entitled The Crucified Christ (Corpus) and attributed to the seventeenth-century Roman artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The piece was donated to the art gallery by the late Murray Frum in 2006. What isn't well known is that the bronze was lost to history for centuries, and even after decades on the art market, the campaign to attribute the work to Bernini only began about twenty years ago. Visitors to the Toronto gallery are given no reason to think that the attribution is controversial. But there is good evidence to suspect that the $50 million bronze is not what it is claimed to be.
I stumbled upon this controversy during a recent exchange with Professor Franco Mormando—a world-class Bernini scholar and the author of the 2011 biography Bernini: His Life and His Rome. In a discussion about Bernini’s politics, Mormando let slip that “there is a great debate among Bernini scholars about the attribution of the AGO bronze crucifix.” I was shocked to hear this at first. I had casually followed the story of the Frum donation in the local newspapers, and I visit the AGO several times a year, but I had never caught even a whiff of the controversy. I imagine most of the public are unaware of this.
How the bronze crucifix in the Art Gallery of Ontario got from seventeenth-century Rome to twenty-first century Toronto is an intriguing tale, but it is a narrative filled with gaps. Fortunately, there is a lot that we do know. Bernini was first commissioned to produce a bronze crucifix for the king of Spain in 1653–54. That work, still extant, looks very much like the AGO bronze, especially to the untrained eye.
A year or so later, a second crucifix was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Barberini for his Parisian residence and donated to King Louis XIV after the Cardinal’s death. It is recorded in the 1684 royal inventory but seems to have gone missing just before the French Revolution. Was it melted down in an anti-clerical frenzy, or did it manage to survive the Terror, having been smuggled away to somewhere safe? We don’t know. In addition, yet another bronze is mentioned in the historical record. According to an early biographer, this was a sculpture that Bernini initially “made for himself” and which the sculptor then gave to Cardinal Francesco Maria Sforza Pallavicino when Bernini visited Paris in 1665. Unfortunately, the historical trail goes cold here, until the early twentieth century.
In 1908, in Venice, a Parisian art dealer sold a large, bronze crucifix to an American financier. At this point, there was no suggestion that the work could be a Bernini. A few decades later, the bronze was sold to Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, in whose private collection it remained until 1975, when it was part of an estate sale at Sotheby’s. At the auction, the bronze, which was described as “French late 17th century,” failed to fetch its meagre $200 asking price. Eventually, the work was purchased by an antique dealer in London, after which it bounced between private collectors in Spain and Monte Carlo.
This is when the attributions to Bernini began. In 2002, the Italian art critic Maurizio Fagiolo dell’Arco declared that the bronze was, in fact, the sculpture that had passed from Cardinal Barberini to Louis XIV centuries earlier. Then, in 2005, another highly regarded Italian art historian, Tomaso Montanari, argued that the bronze was in fact the other missing sculpture—the one Bernini gifted to Cardinal Pallavicino back in 1665. Art historian and dealer Andrew Butterfield also endorsed the Bernini attribution on behalf of the (now defunct) Salander–O’Reilly gallery in New York, run by disgraced gallerist Larry Salander. In a breathless 2016 profile of Butterfield for the Financial Times, Dalya Alberge claims that the art dealer “was able to prove … that a bronze statue of the crucifixion that had failed to sell at auction in 1975 for $200 was in fact a lost Bernini now worth a staggering $50 million.” The major American art museums did not seem to share this conviction. None of them agreed to purchase the supposed Bernini.
Enter Murray Frum. Frum was a public-spirited Toronto businessman and art collector who, to his credit, believed that the apparently long-lost Bernini should be enjoyed by everyone. Frum purchased the bronze for $25 million and donated it to the AGO. Its appraised value quickly swelled to double the purchasing price.
As noted, there are critics who are sceptical that the piece is a genuine Bernini. Art historian and specialist in the Baroque period Charles Scribner III is among those who have challenged the claim. Scribner does not contend that the AGO bronze is a forgery or fake. Instead, he believes that the sculpture is a pastiche: the result of a “joint project” by Bernini himself and other sculptors (“non-Bernini,” as he puts it). According to Scribner, it is neither the bronze commissioned by Cardinal Barberini (as Fagiolo dell’Arco claimed) nor the one that Bernini supposedly “made for himself,” before gifting it to Cardinal Pallavicino (as Montanari believes). Scribner thinks that some parts of the AGO bronze were probably made from Bernini’s original moulds, but other parts were cast from moulds made by other people. There are compelling reasons to believe that Bernini himself was not involved in the completion of the work.
So, what is so “non-Bernini” about the AGO bronze? For Scribner, the most compelling piece of evidence is the lack of a “side wound.” The gospels relate that, when Christ died, a Roman centurion (a man named Longinus according to later, extra-Biblical texts) “pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood [invoking the Eucharist] and water [Baptism].” Tradition has it that, as a result of witnessing this miraculous event, Longinus converted from paganism to Christianity. The side wound is clearly present on the Spanish bronze—and on every single sculptureof the dead Christ that we can confidently attribute to Bernini. Dozens of these smaller works populate the Vatican. The first reason to be sceptical, then, is this evident inconsistency.
Of course, oversights happen. Perhaps Bernini was on a tight deadline and, in his hurry, omitted a detail that would have been added late in the “construction” process—at the stage of final chasing. But if the AGO bronze was originally designed for Bernini himself, for his own private devotions (and he was devout), then the omission seems inexplicable. If Montanari is correct, this was not a commissioned work that Bernini was desperate to get out the door quickly. It seems odd that Bernini would have omitted this theologically crucial detail—especially since, in 1638, he had spent months in the Vatican carving a massive sculpture of the centurion in question.
Bernini had spent significant time and energy, then, toiling away at a sculpture of Longinus—a work whose creation would have required both physical exertion and intellectual focus—trying to depict the complex psychology of his subject and the religious significance of his actions. It is hard to imagine that he would have deliberately omitted include the side wound in a subsequent work made purely for himself.
For Scribner, the second problem is the drapery. If we look carefully, we can see that the drapery of the earlier, Spanish bronze is flatter and more compact and lacks what the AGO curators describe as “the dynamic movement of the loincloth.” This constraint is appropriate, given that this is a depiction of the dead Christ. It invites the viewer to focus on the lifeless body on the cross. By contrast, the drapery on the AGO bronze looks as if it has been captured mid-movement. It seems to be almost whooshing upwards—a dynamism more appropriate for depictions of a still-living Christ. Montanari explains this inconsistency by speculating that the AGO bronze is neither a true Cristo morto nor a Cristo vivo, but depicts a comatose Jesus, caught in the moment between life and death. The loincloth’s upward flourish thus prefigures Christ’s ascension to heaven. But it seems unlikely that Bernini—artist and impresario of the Counter-Reformation—would have taken such liberties with representational tradition or theological orthodoxy. It seems much more likely that the drapery was cast by someone other than Bernini and without his oversight.
In fact, as Scribner argues, the levitating drapery on the AGO bronze is more stylistically akin to the drapery cast by Bernini’s Roman rival, Alessandro Algardi. If we accept Montanari’s thesis that the AGO bronze was a work Bernini made for his own personal use, why would he have copied the signature flourish that characterised Algardi’s depiction of Christ’s loincloth?
Of course, this similarity does not definitively prove the sceptics’ case, but art attribution is often a matter of interpreting subtle clues and patiently accumulating evidence.
When we look at the two bronzes side by side, we can spot other differences, too. While the heads and upper bodies are very similar (and possibly cast from the same mould), the legs and feet are clearly not the same. The AGO’s Christ has thinner, almost sinewy legs, and his feet are longer. His lean lower body contrasts strikingly with his muscular arms and torso—a tension that is absent from the Spanish bronze. As a result, AGO’s Christ is not as harmonious a composition as the earlier work, upon which it was modelled.
When the two bronzes were displayed side by side at a Bernini exhibition at Rome’s Borghese Gallery in 2017–18, Bernini scholar Anna Coliva, former director of the Borghese, found their discrepancies striking:
The placement of the marvellous gilded bronze crucifix from the Escorial [the Spanish bronze] executed by Bernini between 1654 and 56, next to the bronze crucifix acquired by the Toronto Museum in 2006, revealed that a direct execution by Bernini [of the latter] was untenable ... The details, observable so close together, revealed the relative lack of skill in the casting technique of the Toronto version compared to the very high level of the one in the Escorial; just as the compactness of the proportions of the latter reveals the incongruous attenuation of the limbs which give the Canadian crucifix a “slithery” shape. [All translations from the Italian are by Charles Scribner III.]
In his 1955 book Bernini: The Sculptor of the Roman Baroque, Rudolf Wittkower includes a comprehensive list of all the works then known to be by Bernini. Obviously, this “catalogue raisonnée”—which was considered the authoritative source of Bernini attributions for generations—did not include the AGO bronze, which, as noted above, was still being described as a “late French 17th century” work at auction twenty years later. Recently, however, Maria Grazia Bernardini has published a massive, updated catalogue that meticulously documents both Bernini’s certified worksand those with contested attributions. In her entry on the AGO bronze she writes:
In juxtaposition, the two [the Escorial bronze and the AGO bronze] appear similar yet with profound differences: they derive from the same prototype but with substantial differences in details that render Montanari’s hypothesis untenable that the AGO version came from the model, even if revisited, for the Escorial [Spanish] corpus … the legs are longer and thinner … the prominent abdomen is completely altered in its connection with the upper torso … Pending further findings by critics, the Toronto bronze must therefore be assigned to an artist in the circle of Bernini, based on a prototype by Bernini, but without his intervention.
Some art historians do support the attribution to Bernini, however. Evonne Levy, a world-class Bernini scholar from the University of Toronto, agreed with the AGO's attribution. But some scholars clearly remain sceptical. Given the lack of scholarly consensus, why is a Toronto art museum claiming to possess a Bernini? Perhaps because of the incentive structures that operate throughout the art world. Rescuing a long-lost work from obscurity and restoring it to its rightful place in the canon is surely the dream of many art historians. Commercial galleries and auction houses are likewise motivated to upgrade works, as owning and displaying famous works brings them money and prestige. Wealthy donors and philanthropists want to purchase and donate big-name works in order to increase their social capital and burnish their legacies. Prestigious museums and galleries aggressively pursue works by canonical figures, as they attract visitors and enhance their institutional reputations. Local academics, who need to work closely with those museums and galleries, also have a vested interest in flattering museum directors by ignoring potential attribution controversies. Government agencies are more likely to dole out grants to people working on projects featuring well-known artists. And the thousands of visitors who pour through the doors of galleries like the AGO are clamouring to see works fashioned by those luminaries whose names they remember from their art history survey courses and their high school textbooks.
So, how should the AGO handle this? I think they should let the public know about the controversy. The curators could mount a photograph of the Spanish bronze next to the supposed Bernini and invite viewers to spot the differences. They might include a brief summary of its attribution history in the label next to their sculpture. There’s a compelling story here, and AGO visitors are surely mature enough to understand that it is not always possible to be certain about the provenance and authorship of a centuries-old artwork. We could all learn something important from this—but only if the museum curators and gallery directors are willing to engage with the sceptics.
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The permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto contains a bronze sculpture entitled The Crucified Christ (Corpus) and attributed to the seventeenth-century Roman artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The piece was donated to the art gallery by the late Murray Frum in 2006. What isn't well known is that the bronze was lost to history for centuries, and even after decades on the art market, the campaign to attribute the work to Bernini only began about twenty years ago. Visitors to the Toronto gallery are given no reason to think that the attribution is controversial. But there is good evidence to suspect that the $50 million bronze is not what it is claimed to be.
I stumbled upon this controversy during a recent exchange with Professor Franco Mormando—a world-class Bernini scholar and the author of the 2011 biography Bernini: His Life and His Rome. In a discussion about Bernini’s politics, Mormando let slip that “there is a great debate among Bernini scholars about the attribution of the AGO bronze crucifix.” I was shocked to hear this at first. I had casually followed the story of the Frum donation in the local newspapers, and I visit the AGO several times a year, but I had never caught even a whiff of the controversy. I imagine most of the public are unaware of this.
How the bronze crucifix in the Art Gallery of Ontario got from seventeenth-century Rome to twenty-first century Toronto is an intriguing tale, but it is a narrative filled with gaps. Fortunately, there is a lot that we do know. Bernini was first commissioned to produce a bronze crucifix for the king of Spain in 1653–54. That work, still extant, looks very much like the AGO bronze, especially to the untrained eye.
A year or so later, a second crucifix was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Barberini for his Parisian residence and donated to King Louis XIV after the Cardinal’s death. It is recorded in the 1684 royal inventory but seems to have gone missing just before the French Revolution. Was it melted down in an anti-clerical frenzy, or did it manage to survive the Terror, having been smuggled away to somewhere safe? We don’t know. In addition, yet another bronze is mentioned in the historical record. According to an early biographer, this was a sculpture that Bernini initially “made for himself” and which the sculptor then gave to Cardinal Francesco Maria S
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forza Pallavicino when Bernini visited Paris in 1665. Unfortunately, the historical trail goes cold here, until the early twentieth century.
In 1908, in Venice, a Parisian art dealer sold a large, bronze crucifix to an American financier. At this point, there was no suggestion that the work could be a Bernini. A few decades later, the bronze was sold to Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, in whose private collection it remained until 1975, when it was part of an estate sale at Sotheby’s. At the auction, the bronze, which was described as “French late 17th century,” failed to fetch its meagre $200 asking price. Eventually, the work was purchased by an antique dealer in London, after which it bounced between private collectors in Spain and Monte Carlo.
This is when the attributions to Bernini began. In 2002, the Italian art critic Maurizio Fagiolo dell’Arco declared that the bronze was, in fact, the sculpture that had passed from Cardinal Barberini to Louis XIV centuries earlier. Then, in 2005, another highly regarded Italian art historian, Tomaso Montanari, argued that the bronze was in fact the other missing sculpture—the one Bernini gifted to Cardinal Pallavicino back in 1665. Art historian and dealer Andrew Butterfield also endorsed the Bernini attribution on behalf of the (now defunct) Salander–O’Reilly gallery in New York, run by disgraced gallerist Larry Salander. In a breathless 2016 profile of Butterfield for the Financial Times, Dalya Alberge claims that the art dealer “was able to prove … that a bronze statue of the crucifixion that had failed to sell at auction in 1975 for $200 was in fact a lost Bernini now worth a staggering $50 million.” The major American art museums did not seem to share this conviction. None of them agreed to purchase the supposed Bernini.
Enter Murray Frum. Frum was a public-spirited Toronto businessman and art collector who, to his credit, believed that the apparently long-lost Bernini should be enjoyed by everyone. Frum purchased the bronze for $25 million and donated it to the AGO. Its appraised value quickly swelled to double the purchasing price.
As noted, there are critics who are sceptical that the piece is a genuine Bernini. Art historian and specialist in the Baroque period Charles Scribner III is among those who have challenged the claim. Scribner does not contend that the AGO bronze is a forgery or fake. Instead, he believes that the sculpture is a pastiche: the result of a “joint project” by Bernini himself and other sculptors (“non-Bernini,” as he puts it). According to Scribner, it is neither the bronze commissioned by Cardinal Barberini (as Fagiolo dell’Arco claimed) nor the one that Bernini supposedly “made for himself,” before gifting it to Cardinal Pallavicino (as Montanari believes). Scribner thinks that some parts of the AGO bronze were probably made from Bernini’s original moulds, but other parts were cast from moulds made by other people. There are compelling reasons to believe that Bernini himself was not involved in the completion of the work.
So, what is so “non-Bernini” about the AGO bronze? For Scribner, the most compelling piece of evidence is the lack of a “side wound.” The gospels relate that, when Christ died, a Roman centurion (a man named Longinus according to later, extra-Biblical texts) “pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood [invoking the Eucharist] and water [Baptism].” Tradition has it that, as a result of witnessing this miraculous event, Longinus converted from paganism to Christianity. The side wound is clearly present on the Spanish bronze—and on every single sculptureof the dead Christ that we can confidently attribute to Bernini. Dozens of these smaller works populate the Vatican. The first reason to be sceptical, then, is this evident inconsistency.
Of course, oversights happen. Perhaps Bernini was on a tight deadline and, in his hurry, omitted a detail that would have been added late in the “construction” process—at the stage of final chasing. But if the AGO bronze was originally designed for Bernini himself, for his own private devotions (and he was devout), then the omission seems inexplicable. If Montanari is correct, this was not a commissioned work that Bernini was desperate to get out the door quickly. It seems odd that Bernini would have omitted this theologically crucial detail—especially since, in 1638, he had spent months in the Vatican carving a massive sculpture of the centurion in question.
Bernini had spent significant time and energy, then, toiling away at a sculpture of Longinus—a work whose creation would have required both physical exertion and intellectual focus—trying to depict the complex psychology of his subject and the religious significance of his actions. It is hard to imagine that he would have deliberately omitted include the side wound in a subsequent work made purely for himself.
For Scribner, the second problem is the drapery. If we look carefully, we can see that the drapery of the earlier, Spanish bronze is flatter and more compact and lacks what the AGO curators describe as “the dynamic movement of the loincloth.” This constraint is appropriate, given that this is a depiction of the dead Christ. It invites the viewer to focus on the lifeless body on the cross. By contrast, the drapery on the AGO bronze looks as if it has been captured mid-movement. It seems to be almost whooshing upwards—a dynamism more appropriate for depictions of a still-living Christ. Montanari explains this inconsistency by speculating that the AGO bronze is neither a true Cristo morto nor a Cristo vivo, but depicts a comatose Jesus, caught in the moment between life and death. The loincloth’s upward flourish thus prefigures Christ’s ascension to heaven. But it seems unlikely that Bernini—artist and impresario of the Counter-Reformation—would have taken such liberties with representational tradition or theological orthodoxy. It seems much more likely that the drapery was cast by someone other than Bernini and without his oversight.
In fact, as Scribner argues, the levitating drapery on the AGO bronze is more stylistically akin to the drapery cast by Bernini’s Roman rival, Alessandro Algardi. If we accept Montanari’s thesis that the AGO bronze was a work Bernini made for his own personal use, why would he have copied the signature flourish that characterised Algardi’s depiction of Christ’s loincloth?
Of course, this similarity does not definitively prove the sceptics’ case, but art attribution is often a matter of interpreting subtle clues and patiently accumulating evidence.
When we look at the two bronzes side by side, we can spot other differences, too. While the heads and upper bodies are very similar (and possibly cast from the same mould), the legs and feet are clearly not the same. The AGO’s Christ has thinner, almost sinewy legs, and his feet are longer. His lean lower body contrasts strikingly with his muscular arms and torso—a tension that is absent from the Spanish bronze. As a result, AGO’s Christ is not as harmonious a composition as the earlier work, upon which it was modelled.
When the two bronzes were displayed side by side at a Bernini exhibition at Rome’s Borghese Gallery in 2017–18, Bernini scholar Anna Coliva, former director of the Borghese, found their discrepancies striking:
The placement of the marvellous gilded bronze crucifix from the Escorial [the Spanish bronze] executed by Bernini between 1654 and 56, next to the bronze crucifix acquired by the Toronto Museum in 2006, revealed that a direct execution by Bernini [of the latter] was untenable ... The details, observable so close together, revealed the relative lack of skill in the casting technique of the Toronto version compared to the very high level of the one in the Escorial; just as the compactness of the proportions of the latter reveals the incongruous attenuation of the limbs which give the Canadian crucifix a “slithery” shape. [All translations from the Italian are by Charles Scribner III.]
In his 1955 book Bernini: The Sculptor of the Roman Baroque, Rudolf Wittkower includes a comprehensive list of all the works then known to be by Bernini. Obviously, this “catalogue raisonnée”—which was considered the authoritative source of Bernini attributions for generations—did not include the AGO bronze, which, as noted above, was still being described as a “late French 17th century” work at auction twenty years later. Recently, however, Maria Grazia Bernardini has published a massive, updated catalogue that meticulously documents both Bernini’s certified worksand those with contested attributions. In her entry on the AGO bronze she writes:
In juxtaposition, the two [the Escorial bronze and the AGO bronze] appear similar yet with profound differences: they derive from the same prototype but with substantial differences in details that render Montanari’s hypothesis untenable that the AGO version came from the model, even if revisited, for the Escorial [Spanish] corpus … the legs are longer and thinner … the prominent abdomen is completely altered in its connection with the upper torso … Pending further findings by critics, the Toronto bronze must therefore be assigned to an artist in the circle of Bernini, based on a prototype by Bernini, but without his intervention.
Some art historians do support the attribution to Bernini, however. Evonne Levy, a world-class Bernini scholar from the University of Toronto, agreed with the AGO's attribution. But some scholars clearly remain sceptical. Given the lack of scholarly consensus, why is a Toronto art museum claiming to possess a Bernini? Perhaps because of the incentive structures that operate throughout the art world. Rescuing a long-lost work from obscurity and restoring it to its rightful place in the canon is surely the dream of many art historians. Commercial galleries and auction houses are likewise motivated to upgrade works, as owning and displaying famous works brings them money and prestige. Wealthy donors and philanthropists want to purchase and donate big-name works in order to increase their social capital and burnish their legacies. Prestigious museums and galleries aggressively pursue works by canonical figures, as they attract visitors and enhance their institutional reputations. Local academics, who need to work closely with those museums and galleries, also have a vested interest in flattering museum directors by ignoring potential attribution controversies. Government agencies are more likely to dole out grants to people working on projects featuring well-known artists. And the thousands of visitors who pour through the doors of galleries like the AGO are clamouring to see works fashioned by those luminaries whose names they remember from their art history survey courses and their high school textbooks.
So, how should the AGO handle this? I think they should let the public know about the controversy. The curators could mount a photograph of the Spanish bronze next to the supposed Bernini and invite viewers to spot the differences. They might include a brief summary of its attribution history in the label next to their sculpture. There’s a compelling story here, and AGO visitors are surely mature enough to understand that it is not always possible to be certain about the provenance and authorship of a centuries-old artwork. We could all learn something important from this—but only if the museum curators and gallery directors are willing to engage with the sceptics.
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Africa’s new online foreign exchange system will enable cross-border payments in local currencies
The high cost of making cross-border payments on the African continent has driven governments to seek options to settle trade and other transactions in local currencies. This has given birth to the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, scheduled to go live in 2024 under Kenya’s leadership.
Development economist Christopher Adam, who has studied the exchange rate policies of African countries, answers key questions.
Why are African countries exposed in the international currency market?
Three main reasons. African economies are small and as such are highly dependent on trade with the rest of the world. Their exports are dominated by primary commodities including oil and gas, minerals and cash crop agriculture. On the import side, they purchase a whole range of goods, from essential commodities not produced at home such as food, drugs and medicines to capital goods and energy. A large proportion of these are sourced from China and other major economies of the global north. But because African countries are small relative to their trading partners they rarely have the power to determine the prices of imports and exports. They are “price takers” in world markets. With world prices set in the major reserve currencies of the world (the US dollar, euro, yen and renminbi), African countries are exposed to movements in these world prices.
“Intra-African” trade is still a relatively small proportion of the total trade of African countries.
Since African countries’ currencies mostly can’t be directly exchanged in international transactions, the dollar remains the most widely used currency in trade, even between African countries.
What’s required for the system to get off the ground?
The basic idea of the system is to be able to settle trade between African countries without having to use the US dollar.
There are two major challenges with that.
Intra-African trade accounts for less than 15% of Africa’s exports at present, though supporters of the African Continental Free Trade Area expect this to grow significantly over the coming decades. The African payment system therefore does not eliminate the role of the dollar, or other foreign currencies, in trade settlement entirely.
The second issue is that trade is not balanced between African countries. For example, Kenya exports goods of higher total value to Ethiopia than it imports from Ethiopia. If Ethiopia paid in its own currency, Kenya would end up with Ethiopian currency it didn’t need. Some form of settlement currency that is acceptable to all is required, most likely the US dollar.
What are the challenges and potential risks?
Since trade rarely occurs instantaneously, some institution in the trade financing chain carries the exchange rate risk. Because of the gap between placing an order for imports and receiving them to sell in the local economy, there is a risk the value of local currency will change relative to the currency in which the import is denominated.
In the “old” system, this risk is borne by the trader because everything is priced in dollars. The local currency value of the income from exports or the local currency cost of imports will change with movements between the local currency and the dollar, but the banks and those counterparts pricing in the dollar are protected.
Under the new system the same allocation of risk will remain in “external trade”. This currency risk is also present for intra-African trade.
An important question for the new African payment system is: who bears the exchange risk if one African currency depreciates relative to another? Should the importer carry the risk or the exporter? Can and should the African payment system bear this risk of exchange rate movements itself? Where both currencies are volatile, traders might prefer the relative stability of settlement through the US dollar.
The success of this system also depends on scale. The more trade settlement is routed through it, the easier it will be to settle in local currencies. Large currency imbalances will be less common. But until the system achieves this scale, the African payment system will need a strong balance sheet so traders and participants can have confidence that settlement will be swift and risk-free. It is unclear at the moment how this is to be achieved.
What is the best case scenario?
If the system can address the trade imbalance problem, provide clarity on risk management and reach scale, it could be very successful. But this is all going to be driven by underlying economic performance. Improved settlement will help but what is really driving this is the structure of trade. The more the economies of Africa can develop intra-African trade and the less dependent they are on extra-African trade, the less will be dollar dependence in trade. This growth in trade depends to some degree on trade settlement and trade financing but much more on production, consumption, trade policy and fiscal policy.
— Christopher Adam is professor of development economics, University of Oxford
- This article was first published by The Conversation
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Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
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Africa’s new online foreign exchange system will enable cross-border payments in local currencies
The high cost of making cross-border payments on the African continent has driven governments to seek options to settle trade and other transactions in local currencies. This has given birth to the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, scheduled to go live in 2024 under Kenya’s leadership.
Development economist Christopher Adam, who has studied the exchange rate policies of African countries, answers key questions.
Why are African countries exposed in the international currency market?
Three main reasons. African economies are small and as such are highly dependent on trade with the rest of the world. Their exports are dominated by primary commodities including oil and gas, minerals and cash crop agriculture. On the import side, they purchase a whole range of goods, from essential commodities not produced at home such as food, drugs and medicines to capital goods and energy. A large proportion of these are sourced from China and other major economies of the global north. But because African countries are small relative to their trading partners they rarely have the power to determine the prices of imports and exports. They are “price takers” in world markets. With world prices set in the major reserve currencies of the world (the US dollar, euro, yen and renminbi), African countries are exposed to movements in these world prices.
“Intra-African” trade is still a relatively small proportion of the total trade of African countries.
Since African countries’ currencies mostly can’t be directly exchanged in international transactions, the dollar remains the most widely used currency in trade, even between African countries.
What’s required for the system to get off the ground?
The basic idea of the system is to be able to settle trade between African countries without having to use the US dollar.
There are two major challenges with that.
Intra-African trade accounts for less than 15% of Africa’s exports at present, though supporters of the African Continental Free Trade Area expect this to grow significantly over the coming decades. The African payment system therefore does not eliminate the role of the dollar, or other foreign currencies, in trade settlement entirely.
The second issue is that trade is not balanced between African countries. For example, Kenya exports goods of higher total value to Ethiopia than it imports from Ethiopia. If Ethiopia paid in its own currency, Kenya would end up with Ethiopian currency it didn’t need. Some form of settlement currency that is acceptable to all is required, most likely the US dollar.
What are the challenges and potential risks?
Since trade rarely occurs instantaneously
|
, some institution in the trade financing chain carries the exchange rate risk. Because of the gap between placing an order for imports and receiving them to sell in the local economy, there is a risk the value of local currency will change relative to the currency in which the import is denominated.
In the “old” system, this risk is borne by the trader because everything is priced in dollars. The local currency value of the income from exports or the local currency cost of imports will change with movements between the local currency and the dollar, but the banks and those counterparts pricing in the dollar are protected.
Under the new system the same allocation of risk will remain in “external trade”. This currency risk is also present for intra-African trade.
An important question for the new African payment system is: who bears the exchange risk if one African currency depreciates relative to another? Should the importer carry the risk or the exporter? Can and should the African payment system bear this risk of exchange rate movements itself? Where both currencies are volatile, traders might prefer the relative stability of settlement through the US dollar.
The success of this system also depends on scale. The more trade settlement is routed through it, the easier it will be to settle in local currencies. Large currency imbalances will be less common. But until the system achieves this scale, the African payment system will need a strong balance sheet so traders and participants can have confidence that settlement will be swift and risk-free. It is unclear at the moment how this is to be achieved.
What is the best case scenario?
If the system can address the trade imbalance problem, provide clarity on risk management and reach scale, it could be very successful. But this is all going to be driven by underlying economic performance. Improved settlement will help but what is really driving this is the structure of trade. The more the economies of Africa can develop intra-African trade and the less dependent they are on extra-African trade, the less will be dollar dependence in trade. This growth in trade depends to some degree on trade settlement and trade financing but much more on production, consumption, trade policy and fiscal policy.
— Christopher Adam is professor of development economics, University of Oxford
- This article was first published by The Conversation
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
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En Garde! At JCPS summer camp kids sharpen reading skills and learn to fence
JCPS has made a concerted effort to get more students into summer learning since the pandemic. This year, students in one camp get to read and learn swordplay (with child-friendly sabers).
In a classroom at Goldsmith Elementary School in east Louisville, two lines of students faced off, sabers in hand.
“En garde!” their fencing instructor Dawn Wilson shouted — the command for fencers to raise their weapons and step forward into a ready position.
These 15 students are in the “Literacy &” program in Jefferson County Public Schools, a program designed to focus on reading skills “&” a fun engaging new activity. For two weeks the class is learning to fence. They have an hour-and-a-half lesson each day from Wilson, a coach at the Louisville Fencing Center. Wilson competed on the U.S. National Team for the Women’s Veterans World Fencing Championship in 2017 and 2018.
Wilson circled the room and checked each student’s hand position to make sure it was correct, with the thumb on top.
You’re supposed to “squeeze it like a ketchup packet,” rising third-grader Albri explained from inside her fencing mask.
Thursday’s lesson included instruction on how to parry, or defend, an attack to the head and right flank or arm. Louisville Fencing Center lent the students protective masks, uniforms and practice sabers. Practice sabers are not sharp, and have circular stops on the point.
The students also worked on footwork, which was the hardest part for most of them.
“That’s not an advance, that’s a shuffle!” Wilson admonished the students after they practiced an attack.
“This ain’t the Harlem shuffle, this ain’t somebody’s granny shuffling because they can’t move — this is fencing!”
Wilson showed them again the precise dance-like steps.
The Literacy & program is free, and the district provides transportation and meals. The other half of instruction time is spent reading. In keeping with the fencing theme, the class is reading the book “The Proudest Blue,” by Ibtihaj Muhammad, an Olympic fencer and the first Muslim American woman to go to the Olympics to represent the U.S.
Their reading teacher Taylor Darst-Kleffner said she’s enjoying her time with the students, who come from schools across the district.
“It’s diverse, so you have students with all these different backgrounds coming,” she said. Many students were able to relate to Muhammad’s book, which is about a Muslim American girl who supports her older sister as she wears a hijab to school for the first time.
Darst-Kleffner said none of her students are Muslim, but they come from many different cultural backgrounds.
“I like it,” Albri said of the book. She said she learned “that if somebody says something mean about you, then don’t listen to them.”
After two weeks learning to fence, the students will swap out with another class learning to DJ.
In addition to Literacy &, JCPS is also running Backpack League, a larger program that’s less specialized. The day includes instruction in core subjects like reading and math, along with a hands-on activity that varies day to day.
There are also a number of camps designed for specific student populations, like teen girls, young men, immigrant students learning English, and students with disabilities.
Since 2019 district leaders have wanted to increase the number of students involved in summer learning programs. JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio said he believes summer learning gives extra instruction to students who may need more support. Leaders also believe it helps to make up for instructional time students missed out on during the year, either because they were absent or due to challenges accessing remote instruction during the early pandemic.
Pollio has a goal of eventually enrolling 10,000 JCPS students in summer learning — about a tenth of the 96,000 student district.
The district says they’ve “nearly” reached that goal this summer.
Support for this story was provided in part by the Jewish Heritage Fund.
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En Garde! At JCPS summer camp kids sharpen reading skills and learn to fence
JCPS has made a concerted effort to get more students into summer learning since the pandemic. This year, students in one camp get to read and learn swordplay (with child-friendly sabers).
In a classroom at Goldsmith Elementary School in east Louisville, two lines of students faced off, sabers in hand.
“En garde!” their fencing instructor Dawn Wilson shouted — the command for fencers to raise their weapons and step forward into a ready position.
These 15 students are in the “Literacy &” program in Jefferson County Public Schools, a program designed to focus on reading skills “&” a fun engaging new activity. For two weeks the class is learning to fence. They have an hour-and-a-half lesson each day from Wilson, a coach at the Louisville Fencing Center. Wilson competed on the U.S. National Team for the Women’s Veterans World Fencing Championship in 2017 and 2018.
Wilson circled the room and checked each student’s hand position to make sure it was correct, with the thumb on top.
You’re supposed to “squeeze it like a ketchup packet,” rising third-grader Albri explained from inside her fencing mask.
Thursday’s lesson included instruction on how to parry, or defend, an attack to the head and right flank or arm. Louisville Fencing Center lent the students protective masks, uniforms and practice sabers. Practice sabers are not sharp, and have circular stops on the point.
The students also worked on footwork, which was the hardest part for most of them.
“That’s not an advance, that’s a shuffle!” Wilson admonished the students after they practiced an attack.
“This ain’t the Harlem shuffle, this ain’t somebody’s granny shuffling because they can’t move — this is fencing!”
Wilson showed them again the precise dance-like steps.
The Literacy & program is free, and the district provides transportation and meals. The other half of instruction time is spent reading. In keeping with the fencing theme, the class is reading the book “The Proudest Blue,” by Ibtihaj Muhammad, an Olympic fencer and the first Muslim American woman to go to the Olympics to represent the U.S.
Their reading teacher Taylor Darst-Kleffner said she’s enjoying her time with the students, who come from schools across the district.
“It’s diverse, so you
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have students with all these different backgrounds coming,” she said. Many students were able to relate to Muhammad’s book, which is about a Muslim American girl who supports her older sister as she wears a hijab to school for the first time.
Darst-Kleffner said none of her students are Muslim, but they come from many different cultural backgrounds.
“I like it,” Albri said of the book. She said she learned “that if somebody says something mean about you, then don’t listen to them.”
After two weeks learning to fence, the students will swap out with another class learning to DJ.
In addition to Literacy &, JCPS is also running Backpack League, a larger program that’s less specialized. The day includes instruction in core subjects like reading and math, along with a hands-on activity that varies day to day.
There are also a number of camps designed for specific student populations, like teen girls, young men, immigrant students learning English, and students with disabilities.
Since 2019 district leaders have wanted to increase the number of students involved in summer learning programs. JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio said he believes summer learning gives extra instruction to students who may need more support. Leaders also believe it helps to make up for instructional time students missed out on during the year, either because they were absent or due to challenges accessing remote instruction during the early pandemic.
Pollio has a goal of eventually enrolling 10,000 JCPS students in summer learning — about a tenth of the 96,000 student district.
The district says they’ve “nearly” reached that goal this summer.
Support for this story was provided in part by the Jewish Heritage Fund.
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Of fangs and feces: Unearthing a venomous mystery in a prehistoric latrine
The rock shelters of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands are an archeological treasure trove. Here, where the Pecos and Devils rivers join the Rio Grande, shallow caves preserved what would otherwise have been lost to time and the elements. Four-thousand-year-old murals, immense and colorful. Tools, textiles, the bones of butchered game. Then, there are archeological treasures that, quite literally, were another man's waste.
Hundreds of coprolites — fossilized human poops — have been recovered from these West Texas canyonlands. In 2018, three Texas A&M PhD students analyzed one such coprolite, more than 1,500 years old. They discovered a “unique gastrological event” — what the researchers identified as “the potential ritual consumption of a viperous snake.”
Dr. Crystal Dozier, now of Wichita State University, was one of three students, along with Elanor Sonderman and Morgan Smith, who undertook the coprolite analysis.
“Imagine this: It's 1969, and you're like, 'Who's going to want all this crap?'” Dozier said. “Which is what it is. It's a totally innocuous cow patty when it's dry. But once you start the rehydration process, it gets back all the properties of being fresh.”
The coprolite was from a site known as Conejo Shelter, near the confluence of the Pecos and Rio Grande. The construction of Amistad Reservoir here, in the late 60s, inundated many rock shelters, and there was a flurry of excavation before the sites were lost. At Conejo, archeologist Robert Alexander unearthed an extensive prehistoric latrine. There were few tools for coprolite analysis at the time, but he trusted future archeologists to make use of what he'd found.
And he was right — coprolites can now yield vivid insights into prehistoric diets.
The students rehydrated the coprolite for two weeks – during which time it recovered the olfactory qualities of a fresh sample. Then they filtered and analyzed it.
Dozier looked for microscopic pollen grains.
“I was surprised and elated that pollen preservation was beautiful,” she said. “We had really excellent data. Even just glancing at it you could see it was dominated by one particular pollen type.”
The pollen was from a yucca flower — the coprolite's “author” had dined on these crunchy blossoms. Other plants were on the menu. The ancient canyonlands resident had eaten desert succulents — lechuguilla, sotol and prickly pear — which had likely been slow-roasted in earth ovens.
There was protein, too. The researchers found the bones and hair of a rodent — perhaps a pocket gopher. The animal had apparently been eaten whole, with little or no preparation.
The findings aligned with previous studies.
“You know, a ton of these coprolites had been analyzed before,” Dozier said, “so we had an idea of what to expect. And most of what we found in that coprolite was expected, until we got to the one thing that was not.”
The team found the scales first, and then the vertebrae — clearly those of a reptile. Then came the surprise: a fang, with the unmistakable venom channel. Its dimensions narrowed the viperous candidates — these were the remains of a rattlesnake, almost certainly a western diamondback.
Southwestern hunter-gatherers are known to have eaten rattlers — after removing their heads, and skinning and roasting them. But eating an entire rattler, including its venomous fangs, is a high-risk proposition. And the ancient West Texan who did it certainly knew the risks.
Dozier and her colleagues concluded they were seeing evidence of a ceremonial, rather than a purely culinary, activity.
And there's cause for that speculation. Snakes figure in rock art here, suggesting their cosmological significance. And across arid North America, Indigenous traditions link snakes with springs and the watery underworld, and with water itself. Hopi Snake ceremonies, the researchers note, culminate with priests holding rattlers in their mouths, to petition for rain and a successful harvest. And images of Aztec ceremonies to the rain god Tlaloc include human figures – with what appear to be rattlesnakes in their mouths.
It's impossible to know the full story behind the “snakey” coprolite, Dozier said. But it shows that haunting clues about the past can come from unlikely sources.
“I think as an archeologist you have to be okay with a little bit of the unknown,” she said. “But I can't imagine it not being a powerful statement, and somehow engaging with the supernatural. What the motive was, I'm not quite sure. But it was a brave move, no matter what way you look at it.”
Copyright 2023 Marfa Public Radio. To see more, visit Marfa Public Radio.
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Of fangs and feces: Unearthing a venomous mystery in a prehistoric latrine
The rock shelters of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands are an archeological treasure trove. Here, where the Pecos and Devils rivers join the Rio Grande, shallow caves preserved what would otherwise have been lost to time and the elements. Four-thousand-year-old murals, immense and colorful. Tools, textiles, the bones of butchered game. Then, there are archeological treasures that, quite literally, were another man's waste.
Hundreds of coprolites — fossilized human poops — have been recovered from these West Texas canyonlands. In 2018, three Texas A&M PhD students analyzed one such coprolite, more than 1,500 years old. They discovered a “unique gastrological event” — what the researchers identified as “the potential ritual consumption of a viperous snake.”
Dr. Crystal Dozier, now of Wichita State University, was one of three students, along with Elanor Sonderman and Morgan Smith, who undertook the coprolite analysis.
“Imagine this: It's 1969, and you're like, 'Who's going to want all this crap?'” Dozier said. “Which is what it is. It's a totally innocuous cow patty when it's dry. But once you start the rehydration process, it gets back all the properties of being fresh.”
The coprolite was from a site known as Conejo Shelter, near the confluence of the Pecos and Rio Grande. The construction of Amistad Reservoir here, in the late 60s, inundated many rock shelters, and there was a flurry of excavation before the sites were lost. At Conejo, archeologist Robert Alexander unearthed an extensive prehistoric latrine. There were few tools for coprolite analysis at the time, but he trusted future archeologists to make use of what he'd found.
And he was right — coprolites can now yield vivid insights into prehistoric diets.
The students rehydrated the coprolite for two weeks – during which time it recovered the olfactory qualities of a fresh sample. Then they filtered and analyzed it.
Dozier looked for microscopic pollen grains.
“I was surprised and elated that pollen preservation was beautiful,” she said. “We had really excellent data. Even just glancing at it you could see it was
|
dominated by one particular pollen type.”
The pollen was from a yucca flower — the coprolite's “author” had dined on these crunchy blossoms. Other plants were on the menu. The ancient canyonlands resident had eaten desert succulents — lechuguilla, sotol and prickly pear — which had likely been slow-roasted in earth ovens.
There was protein, too. The researchers found the bones and hair of a rodent — perhaps a pocket gopher. The animal had apparently been eaten whole, with little or no preparation.
The findings aligned with previous studies.
“You know, a ton of these coprolites had been analyzed before,” Dozier said, “so we had an idea of what to expect. And most of what we found in that coprolite was expected, until we got to the one thing that was not.”
The team found the scales first, and then the vertebrae — clearly those of a reptile. Then came the surprise: a fang, with the unmistakable venom channel. Its dimensions narrowed the viperous candidates — these were the remains of a rattlesnake, almost certainly a western diamondback.
Southwestern hunter-gatherers are known to have eaten rattlers — after removing their heads, and skinning and roasting them. But eating an entire rattler, including its venomous fangs, is a high-risk proposition. And the ancient West Texan who did it certainly knew the risks.
Dozier and her colleagues concluded they were seeing evidence of a ceremonial, rather than a purely culinary, activity.
And there's cause for that speculation. Snakes figure in rock art here, suggesting their cosmological significance. And across arid North America, Indigenous traditions link snakes with springs and the watery underworld, and with water itself. Hopi Snake ceremonies, the researchers note, culminate with priests holding rattlers in their mouths, to petition for rain and a successful harvest. And images of Aztec ceremonies to the rain god Tlaloc include human figures – with what appear to be rattlesnakes in their mouths.
It's impossible to know the full story behind the “snakey” coprolite, Dozier said. But it shows that haunting clues about the past can come from unlikely sources.
“I think as an archeologist you have to be okay with a little bit of the unknown,” she said. “But I can't imagine it not being a powerful statement, and somehow engaging with the supernatural. What the motive was, I'm not quite sure. But it was a brave move, no matter what way you look at it.”
Copyright 2023 Marfa Public Radio. To see more, visit Marfa Public Radio.
|
Women with irregular menstrual cycles or cycle lengths may face a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, a new study suggests.
Cycles that are shorter than normal – less than 21 days – and longer-than-normal cycles – at more than 35 days – were associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeats, according to the study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association. A menstrual cycle was measured as the number of days between each menstrual period.
Specifically, “long menstrual cycle length was associated with increased risks of atrial fibrillation but not myocardial infarction, heart failure, and stroke,” the researchers wrote, and shorter cycles were associated with a greater risk of coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction or heart attack.
Some questions remain.
While “women with menstrual cycle dysfunction may experience adverse cardiovascular health consequences,” the exact nature of that relationship and what’s driving it remains unknown, said senior study author Dr. Huijie Zhang, chief physician and professor at Nanfang Hospital of Southern Medical University in China, in an email.
Still, the study findings indicate that “it is time” to raise awareness around the importance of monitoring menstrual cycle characteristics throughout a person’s reproductive life, Zhang said.
Overall, about 14% to 25% of women have irregular menstrual cycles worldwide, according to the US National Institutes of Health.
The researchers, based in China, analyzed health data on 58,056 women in the United Kingdom. The women, ages 40 to 69, reported in questionnaires the length and regularity of their menstrual cycles over time and other medical information over the course of about 12 years.
Among the women, 39,582 reported having regular menstrual cycles, and 18,474 reported either irregular cycles or no periods.
The researchers found that 2.5% of the women with regular cycles developed cardiovascular disease, compared with 3.4% of those with irregular cycles.
Irregular menstrual cycles were associated with increased risks of cardiovascular disease despite other risk factors, such as “age, race and ethnicity, BMI, smoking status, drinking status, physical activity, history of oral contraceptive use,” the researchers wrote.
The data also showed that 0.56% of those with regular cycles developed atrial fibrillation, compared with 0.92% of those with irregular cycles.
And the researchers found that about 1.3% of those with regular cycles developed coronary heart disease, compared with 1.7% of those with irregular cycles. About 0.29% had heart attacks, compared with 0.45% of those with irregular cycles.
‘Another vital sign’
The findings came as no surprise to Dr. Stephanie Faubion, director of Mayo Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health and medical director of the North American Menopause Society.
“There’s accumulating evidence that irregular menstrual cycles are not healthy, and in fact, they could be considered another vital sign for women – and irregular menses should be triggering people to think about cardiovascular risk in women,” said Faubion, who was not involved in the new study.
Guidance issued in 2015 by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that medical practitioners should treat the menstrual cycle in adolescents as an additional vital sign. Like temperature and pulse, it should be used to assess overall health, and doctors should try to identify abnormal menstrual patterns in adolescence.
Faubion said that studies have found an association between irregular menstrual cycles and markers for heart disease risk such as insulin resistance, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and chronic inflammation. Yet what’s behind these associations remain unclear.
“The exact mechanism behind it, we don’t know,” Faubion said, but menstrual cycles still should be considered a “marker” of overall health.
“And if you’re not menstruating on a regular basis, your health care professional should be looking into why you’re not menstruating on a regular basis,” she said. “Part of this is educating health care professionals that menstrual cycles are another vital sign for women.”
Get CNN Health's weekly newsletter
Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.
More research is needed to better understand this association between cardiovascular health and the length and regularity of a menstrual cycle, said cardiologist Dr. Nieca Goldberg, medical director of Atria New York City and clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, who was not involved in the new study.
She said in an email Wednesday that some studies have found an association between shorter menstrual cycles and insulin resistance and lipid abnormalities – but the reasons are elusive.
“Short cycles are associated with lower estrogen levels that affect lipid levels and insulin resistance. Atrial fibrillation risk may relate to hormonal changes and their influence on electrocardiograms,” Goldberg wrote. “It is clear that continued research in the area of menstrual cycle and cardiovascular risk is important for women and proves our work is not done in assessing risk factors for cardiovascular disease in women.”
CNN’s Madeline Holcombe and Katie Hunt contributed to this report.
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Women with irregular menstrual cycles or cycle lengths may face a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, a new study suggests.
Cycles that are shorter than normal – less than 21 days – and longer-than-normal cycles – at more than 35 days – were associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeats, according to the study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association. A menstrual cycle was measured as the number of days between each menstrual period.
Specifically, “long menstrual cycle length was associated with increased risks of atrial fibrillation but not myocardial infarction, heart failure, and stroke,” the researchers wrote, and shorter cycles were associated with a greater risk of coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction or heart attack.
Some questions remain.
While “women with menstrual cycle dysfunction may experience adverse cardiovascular health consequences,” the exact nature of that relationship and what’s driving it remains unknown, said senior study author Dr. Huijie Zhang, chief physician and professor at Nanfang Hospital of Southern Medical University in China, in an email.
Still, the study findings indicate that “it is time” to raise awareness around the importance of monitoring menstrual cycle characteristics throughout a person’s reproductive life, Zhang said.
Overall, about 14% to 25% of women have irregular menstrual cycles worldwide, according to the US National Institutes of Health.
The researchers, based in China, analyzed health data on 58,056 women in the United Kingdom. The women, ages 40 to 69, reported in questionnaires the length and regularity of their menstrual cycles over time and other medical information over the course of about 12 years.
Among the women, 39,582 reported having regular menstrual cycles, and 18,474 reported either irregular cycles or no periods.
The researchers found that 2.5% of the women with regular cycles developed cardiovascular disease, compared with 3.4% of those with irregular cycles.
Irregular menstrual cycles were associated with increased risks of cardiovascular disease despite other risk factors, such as “age, race and ethnicity, BMI, smoking status, drinking status, physical activity, history of oral contraceptive use,” the researchers wrote.
The data also showed that 0.56% of those with regular cycles developed atrial fibrillation, compared with 0.92% of those with irregular cycles.
And the researchers found that about 1.3% of those with regular cycles developed coronary heart disease, compared with
|
1.7% of those with irregular cycles. About 0.29% had heart attacks, compared with 0.45% of those with irregular cycles.
‘Another vital sign’
The findings came as no surprise to Dr. Stephanie Faubion, director of Mayo Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health and medical director of the North American Menopause Society.
“There’s accumulating evidence that irregular menstrual cycles are not healthy, and in fact, they could be considered another vital sign for women – and irregular menses should be triggering people to think about cardiovascular risk in women,” said Faubion, who was not involved in the new study.
Guidance issued in 2015 by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that medical practitioners should treat the menstrual cycle in adolescents as an additional vital sign. Like temperature and pulse, it should be used to assess overall health, and doctors should try to identify abnormal menstrual patterns in adolescence.
Faubion said that studies have found an association between irregular menstrual cycles and markers for heart disease risk such as insulin resistance, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and chronic inflammation. Yet what’s behind these associations remain unclear.
“The exact mechanism behind it, we don’t know,” Faubion said, but menstrual cycles still should be considered a “marker” of overall health.
“And if you’re not menstruating on a regular basis, your health care professional should be looking into why you’re not menstruating on a regular basis,” she said. “Part of this is educating health care professionals that menstrual cycles are another vital sign for women.”
Get CNN Health's weekly newsletter
Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.
More research is needed to better understand this association between cardiovascular health and the length and regularity of a menstrual cycle, said cardiologist Dr. Nieca Goldberg, medical director of Atria New York City and clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, who was not involved in the new study.
She said in an email Wednesday that some studies have found an association between shorter menstrual cycles and insulin resistance and lipid abnormalities – but the reasons are elusive.
“Short cycles are associated with lower estrogen levels that affect lipid levels and insulin resistance. Atrial fibrillation risk may relate to hormonal changes and their influence on electrocardiograms,” Goldberg wrote. “It is clear that continued research in the area of menstrual cycle and cardiovascular risk is important for women and proves our work is not done in assessing risk factors for cardiovascular disease in women.”
CNN’s Madeline Holcombe and Katie Hunt contributed to this report.
|
Cane toads, mosquito fish, mongoose — these are some of the images Australians may (or not) conjure at the mention of biocontrol.
To be fair, there have been some absolute cock-ups. And almost without exception, proper scientific procedure wasn't followed in their making.
Cane toads, for example, were released by an entomologist working for a sugar cane industry research body, and against the advice of other entomologists.
Next to no research was done on the cane toad's host specificity — whether the toad would stick to its intended prey, or go chasing greener pastures.
In fact, nobody actually tested whether the cane toad ate the cane beetle it was supposed to eradicate.
But what about when biocontrol is done right? We tend not to hear about the times it has gone well. And there are plenty of times where it's gone really well.
When it comes to weeds alone, Australia has completed 58 control programs, as of 2017.
Here are a few examples that demonstrate the power of biocontrols that are done right, and some of the challenges researchers face in finding suitable candidates.
Skeleton weed and the rust fungus
First recorded in Australia in 1917, skeleton weed was considered Australia's worst plant pest by the 1950s.
Although it looks fairly innocuous, it wrought economic damage on a huge scale, particularly in Australia's eastern wheatbelts.
"It's got these really wiry flower structures and ... the harvesting machine gets stuck on them," said Mariana Campos, CSIRO's team leader of ecosystem change and ecology.
"[The plant] contains latex as well, so it all gets gummy. Not only does it stop the harvester from actually working, it also contaminates the grain."
Wheat crop yields were cut by up to 80 per cent, farmland was abandoned, and estimated losses in the 1960s were around $30 million a year — more than $200 million in today's value.
In 1966, researchers from CSIRO began investigating possible pathogens in the skeleton weed's native range around the Mediterranean.
Scouring Mediterranean Europe east to Iran, they came up with an initial list of nine possibilities.
Then they spent several years testing for host specificity, which CSIRO's team leader in plant diagnostics Gavin Hunter said is the "core tenet" of biocontrol today.
"That is the bedrock upon which we operate as control researchers," Dr Hunter said.
"In terms of skeleton weed, I think they tested a total of [around] 57 non-target species against the candidate biocontrol agents to prove they were [species] specific."
With a laboratory eventually set up in Montpellier, France, they narrowed their list down to four possibilities. The first of those was released on the Australian east coast in 1971, followed by three more.
Three of the four became established and one in particular, a rust fungus called Puccinia chondrillina, decimated the weed. The two others, a mite and gall midge, worked to further weaken the plant.
In all, CSIRO estimates the program saved the Australian economy more than $1.4 billion, with a cost-to-benefit ratio of 112-to-one.
In Australia, there are three "biotypes" of skeleton weed — they're all the same species, but one has narrow leaves, another intermediate, and the third broad leaves.
The biocontrols were so specific that they only had a significant effect on the worst of the three, the narrow form.
All three types of skeleton weed still persist in Australia's east, albeit in much lower amounts.
But the west took a different approach, opting to suppress the weed through physical and chemical means rather than going all out on a biological control.
That program is ongoing in Western Australia, via an annual levy paid by grain producers. The WA Department of Primary Industries estimates that program costs around $3.4 million per year, at a cost-benefit ratio of one-to-three over 30 years.
Prickly pear and cactoblastis
Prickly pear was first introduced to Australia by Governor Phillip in 1788, for the purpose of setting up a cochineal dye industry.
At the time, red dye was valuable and was used, among other things, to create the distinctive red coats worn by the New South Wales Corps or Rum Corps.
The dye was extracted from a cochineal scale insect — Dactylopius coccus— which feeds on the spiky leaves of the cactus.
But the cochineal insect didn't take well to Australian conditions, and the dye industry floundered.
Not so the prickly pear, which was prized for its hardiness, bright flowers and edible fruit.
By 1840 it had found its way to Chinchilla in Queensland, and by 1920 it had taken over around 60 million acres of farmland, mostly in Queensland and New South Wales.
Arsenic was used to try to control the weed in such quantities that a mine was opened in Queensland to meet increased demand for the poison.
But the cactus continued advancing, swallowing more than 2 million acres a year at its peak.
Farms were abandoned, cash was offered for a solution (but never collected), and everything from flamethrowers to tanks and enlisting returned soldiers for a military assault was floated.
The eventual solution was nowhere near as dramatic but far more devastating — the combination of a moth and some scale insects.
Following the release of the cactus-eating Cactoblastis moth larvae in 1926, "within 10 years, the once dense-fields of common prickly pear lay rotting or had vanished completely", according to the CSIRO.
By 1932, 7 million hectares of land was reopened to farming.
Today, most of the credit goes to the Cactoblastis moth, but biocontrol researcher Michael Furlong of the University of Queensland says it was a team effort.
"The important thing is it wasn't just Cactoblastis ... there were cochineal insects — small-scale insects — introduced as well, and if it hadn't been for them, the Cactoblastis likely wouldn't have worked," Professor Furlong said.
"The cochineal insect was extremely important, and is still very prevalent in areas around western Queensland today."
Myxo, calici and rascally rabbits
Myxomatosis and calicivirus are probably the best known biocontrols to have been used in Australia.
But there was a long time before these viruses came onto the scene. Until then, building fences and "rabbit drives" were the only tools available.
Rabbit drives involved herding often thousands of rabbits at a time into enclosures, before clubbing them to death en masse.
Fence-building was a huge operation, and had some limited success, but weaknesses were invariably found, and rabbits made their way across.
Desperate times led to the attempted introduction (not by CSIRO) of mongoose as a biocontrol during the 1880s.
Around 1,000 mongoose were released in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, but thankfully all failed to take hold.
Mongoose today are considered among the world's most destructive invasive pests.
By 1887, New South Wales was offering a 25,000 pound reward for anyone who could come up with a novel idea to exterminate the pests.
In the 1890s, a virus that was killing rabbits in a lab in Uruguay was discovered.
But there wasn't much appetite to take a risk on releasing a virus here, and the idea was shelved.
It wasn't until 1950 that public sentiment, combined with research and political support, saw the introduction of myxomatosis.
Myxomatosis is a disease caused by the myxoma poxvirus, and spread by mosquitoes.
CSIRO vertebrate management systems group lead Tanja Strive said wildlife biologists don't really like to put a number on how many rabbits there were, because it's always fluctuated, but that best estimates suggest about half a billion in Australia at their peak.
"They talk about the 'grey blanket' before myxomatosis," Dr Strive said.
"[Myxomatosis] was slow to get going initially, but then there was good rainfall and suddenly there was an enormous number of mosquitoes.
"Then it really took off and had a massive knockdown of the rabbit population — over 90 per cent in some areas."
But the honeymoon was short-lived.
The longer rabbits lived, the longer they could pass on the virus, so evolutionary pressure was favouring more resistant rabbits and less virulent myxomatosis.
"Quickly, in two or three years, the effectiveness was starting to wane.
"By the mid-1980s, the numbers were not as high as pre-myxo, but pretty high again."
In the meantime, CSIRO had been searching for alternatives, and an emerging virus had appeared in rabbits in China.
Calicivirus, also known as rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus, attacks the internal organs of the animal and is usually fatal within 30 hours.
Following four years of laboratory testing, in the mid-1990s, CSIRO set up a quarantine research station on Wardang Island in South Australia, when the virus they were testing — calicivirus — escaped on feeding flies.
"Once that got off the island and into the almost completely naive Australian [rabbit] population, again it basically wiped out over 90 per cent of rabbits in some cases," Dr Strive said.
"So it was a raging success again, but over time, much slower than myxo, we've seen some resistance developing."
Which is inevitable in disease biocontrol.
Another new strain of calicivirus made its own way here around 2014, and another was deliberately released in 2017, both of which knocked down the population.
As well as saving the Australian economy billions, the rabbit biocontrol program has also had a knock-on effect on cat numbers, which has enabled some small native mammal species to recover.
CSIRO is currently researching new viruses in rabbits both here and overseas, and looking at ways to improve the impact of calicivirus and myxomatosis.
"We're pursuing a number of avenues," Dr Strive said.
"Ideally we'll have a new tool, or virus, or strategy ready every 10 to 15 years because what we don't want is for numbers to get away again."
'Palm killers' and Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus
The coconut rhinoceros beetle or "palm killer" is an example of how biocontrol can be a moveable feast.
The coconut rhinoceros beetle was first detected in Samoa just over 100 years ago, far outside its native south-east Asian range, according to Professor Furlong.
"It's a large beetle that attacks coconut palms.
"It first got into the Pacific in 1909, devastating coconuts there, particularly in Samoa."
In the early 1960s, a virus was found in rhinoceros beetles in Malaysia and was introduced to Samoa with very promising early results.
"It's not immediately lethal [but] ... it reduces their overall fitness — how much females can move and fly, and it reduces the number of eggs they lay, and that leads to overall population suppression."
The Oryctes virus is also transmitted easily between beetles and spreads rapidly.
For years the virus played an integral role in suppressing beetle numbers across the Pacific.
But in the mid-2000s, the virus's efficacy seemed to be waning.
Attempts to infect beetles on Guam failed, leading to a hypothesis that the Guam beetles were immune, and the coconut rhinoceros beetle (Guam) type was named.
Similar beetles designated as the Guam type showed up in Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, and Palau, the Solomon Islands in 2015, and Vanuatu in 2019.
In response, countries like the Solomon Islands have declared local states of emergency and launched offensives to try to stymie the beetle's spread.
A worst-case scenario of 50 per cent palm losses, would devastate the local oil palm, copra and coconut oil industries, which provide 10 to 15 per cent or more GDP to some Pacific countries.
The beetle also attacks bananas, pineapple and other crops, leading to warnings for Australia to do more to help control the beetle for its own, and its neighbours' benefit.
But Kayvan Etebari, a molecular biologist at the University of Queensland, doesn't believe the Guam type is immune, or that the Guam type has spread across the Pacific.
"There is no scientific evidence to prove that particular [Guam] population is resistant," Dr Etebari said.
He is working to understand why the virus is no longer suppressing beetle numbers, and said he thinks the virus-insect relationship has changed.
"When we screen the beetles, most of them have the virus infection. So if this is the case the first question is, 'Why is the virus not killing the insect?'
"That's why I believe the virus and insect has changed to a more 'friendly' relationship.
"[But] that can change again. It's not going to stay the same for another 10 years."
In the meantime, he's looking for another virus: "But finding a novel virus is not an easy job."
He's also working with the Oryctes virus to see if it might be able to do the job the cane toad failed to do.
"We want to use the same virus to see if it can control the cane grub, which doesn't have any biological control agent at the moment."
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Cane toads, mosquito fish, mongoose — these are some of the images Australians may (or not) conjure at the mention of biocontrol.
To be fair, there have been some absolute cock-ups. And almost without exception, proper scientific procedure wasn't followed in their making.
Cane toads, for example, were released by an entomologist working for a sugar cane industry research body, and against the advice of other entomologists.
Next to no research was done on the cane toad's host specificity — whether the toad would stick to its intended prey, or go chasing greener pastures.
In fact, nobody actually tested whether the cane toad ate the cane beetle it was supposed to eradicate.
But what about when biocontrol is done right? We tend not to hear about the times it has gone well. And there are plenty of times where it's gone really well.
When it comes to weeds alone, Australia has completed 58 control programs, as of 2017.
Here are a few examples that demonstrate the power of biocontrols that are done right, and some of the challenges researchers face in finding suitable candidates.
Skeleton weed and the rust fungus
First recorded in Australia in 1917, skeleton weed was considered Australia's worst plant pest by the 1950s.
Although it looks fairly innocuous, it wrought economic damage on a huge scale, particularly in Australia's eastern wheatbelts.
"It's got these really wiry flower structures and ... the harvesting machine gets stuck on them," said Mariana Campos, CSIRO's team leader of ecosystem change and ecology.
"[The plant] contains latex as well, so it all gets gummy. Not only does it stop the harvester from actually working, it also contaminates the grain."
Wheat crop yields were cut by up to 80 per cent, farmland was abandoned, and estimated losses in the 1960s were around $30 million a year — more than $200 million in today's value.
In 1966, researchers from CSIRO began investigating possible pathogens in the skeleton weed's native range around the Mediterranean.
Scouring Mediterranean Europe east to Iran, they came up with an initial list of nine possibilities.
Then they spent several years testing for host specificity, which CSIRO's team leader in plant diagnostics Gavin Hunter said is the "core tenet" of biocontrol today
|
.
"That is the bedrock upon which we operate as control researchers," Dr Hunter said.
"In terms of skeleton weed, I think they tested a total of [around] 57 non-target species against the candidate biocontrol agents to prove they were [species] specific."
With a laboratory eventually set up in Montpellier, France, they narrowed their list down to four possibilities. The first of those was released on the Australian east coast in 1971, followed by three more.
Three of the four became established and one in particular, a rust fungus called Puccinia chondrillina, decimated the weed. The two others, a mite and gall midge, worked to further weaken the plant.
In all, CSIRO estimates the program saved the Australian economy more than $1.4 billion, with a cost-to-benefit ratio of 112-to-one.
In Australia, there are three "biotypes" of skeleton weed — they're all the same species, but one has narrow leaves, another intermediate, and the third broad leaves.
The biocontrols were so specific that they only had a significant effect on the worst of the three, the narrow form.
All three types of skeleton weed still persist in Australia's east, albeit in much lower amounts.
But the west took a different approach, opting to suppress the weed through physical and chemical means rather than going all out on a biological control.
That program is ongoing in Western Australia, via an annual levy paid by grain producers. The WA Department of Primary Industries estimates that program costs around $3.4 million per year, at a cost-benefit ratio of one-to-three over 30 years.
Prickly pear and cactoblastis
Prickly pear was first introduced to Australia by Governor Phillip in 1788, for the purpose of setting up a cochineal dye industry.
At the time, red dye was valuable and was used, among other things, to create the distinctive red coats worn by the New South Wales Corps or Rum Corps.
The dye was extracted from a cochineal scale insect — Dactylopius coccus— which feeds on the spiky leaves of the cactus.
But the cochineal insect didn't take well to Australian conditions, and the dye industry floundered.
Not so the prickly pear, which was prized for its hardiness, bright flowers and edible fruit.
By 1840 it had found its way to Chinchilla in Queensland, and by 1920 it had taken over around 60 million acres of farmland, mostly in Queensland and New South Wales.
Arsenic was used to try to control the weed in such quantities that a mine was opened in Queensland to meet increased demand for the poison.
But the cactus continued advancing, swallowing more than 2 million acres a year at its peak.
Farms were abandoned, cash was offered for a solution (but never collected), and everything from flamethrowers to tanks and enlisting returned soldiers for a military assault was floated.
The eventual solution was nowhere near as dramatic but far more devastating — the combination of a moth and some scale insects.
Following the release of the cactus-eating Cactoblastis moth larvae in 1926, "within 10 years, the once dense-fields of common prickly pear lay rotting or had vanished completely", according to the CSIRO.
By 1932, 7 million hectares of land was reopened to farming.
Today, most of the credit goes to the Cactoblastis moth, but biocontrol researcher Michael Furlong of the University of Queensland says it was a team effort.
"The important thing is it wasn't just Cactoblastis ... there were cochineal insects — small-scale insects — introduced as well, and if it hadn't been for them, the Cactoblastis likely wouldn't have worked," Professor Furlong said.
"The cochineal insect was extremely important, and is still very prevalent in areas around western Queensland today."
Myxo, calici and rascally rabbits
Myxomatosis and calicivirus are probably the best known biocontrols to have been used in Australia.
But there was a long time before these viruses came onto the scene. Until then, building fences and "rabbit drives" were the only tools available.
Rabbit drives involved herding often thousands of rabbits at a time into enclosures, before clubbing them to death en masse.
Fence-building was a huge operation, and had some limited success, but weaknesses were invariably found, and rabbits made their way across.
Desperate times led to the attempted introduction (not by CSIRO) of mongoose as a biocontrol during the 1880s.
Around 1,000 mongoose were released in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, but thankfully all failed to take hold.
Mongoose today are considered among the world's most destructive invasive pests.
By 1887, New South Wales was offering a 25,000 pound reward for anyone who could come up with a novel idea to exterminate the pests.
In the 1890s, a virus that was killing rabbits in a lab in Uruguay was discovered.
But there wasn't much appetite to take a risk on releasing a virus here, and the idea was shelved.
It wasn't until 1950 that public sentiment, combined with research and political support, saw the introduction of myxomatosis.
Myxomatosis is a disease caused by the myxoma poxvirus, and spread by mosquitoes.
CSIRO vertebrate management systems group lead Tanja Strive said wildlife biologists don't really like to put a number on how many rabbits there were, because it's always fluctuated, but that best estimates suggest about half a billion in Australia at their peak.
"They talk about the 'grey blanket' before myxomatosis," Dr Strive said.
"[Myxomatosis] was slow to get going initially, but then there was good rainfall and suddenly there was an enormous number of mosquitoes.
"Then it really took off and had a massive knockdown of the rabbit population — over 90 per cent in some areas."
But the honeymoon was short-lived.
The longer rabbits lived, the longer they could pass on the virus, so evolutionary pressure was favouring more resistant rabbits and less virulent myxomatosis.
"Quickly, in two or three years, the effectiveness was starting to wane.
"By the mid-1980s, the numbers were not as high as pre-myxo, but pretty high again."
In the meantime, CSIRO had been searching for alternatives, and an emerging virus had appeared in rabbits in China.
Calicivirus, also known as rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus, attacks the internal organs of the animal and is usually fatal within 30 hours.
Following four years of laboratory testing, in the mid-1990s, CSIRO set up a quarantine research station on Wardang Island in South Australia, when the virus they were testing — calicivirus — escaped on feeding flies.
"Once that got off the island and into the almost completely naive Australian [rabbit] population, again it basically wiped out over 90 per cent of rabbits in some cases," Dr Strive said.
"So it was a raging success again, but over time, much slower than myxo, we've seen some resistance developing."
Which is inevitable in disease biocontrol.
Another new strain of calicivirus made its own way here around 2014, and another was deliberately released in 2017, both of which knocked down the population.
As well as saving the Australian economy billions, the rabbit biocontrol program has also had a knock-on effect on cat numbers, which has enabled some small native mammal species to recover.
CSIRO is currently researching new viruses in rabbits both here and overseas, and looking at ways to improve the impact of calicivirus and myxomatosis.
"We're pursuing a number of avenues," Dr Strive said.
"Ideally we'll have a new tool, or virus, or strategy ready every 10 to 15 years because what we don't want is for numbers to get away again."
'Palm killers' and Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus
The coconut rhinoceros beetle or "palm killer" is an example of how biocontrol can be a moveable feast.
The coconut rhinoceros beetle was first detected in Samoa just over 100 years ago, far outside its native south-east Asian range, according to Professor Furlong.
"It's a large beetle that attacks coconut palms.
"It first got into the Pacific in 1909, devastating coconuts there, particularly in Samoa."
In the early 1960s, a virus was found in rhinoceros beetles in Malaysia and was introduced to Samoa with very promising early results.
"It's not immediately lethal [but] ... it reduces their overall fitness — how much females can move and fly, and it reduces the number of eggs they lay, and that leads to overall population suppression."
The Oryctes virus is also transmitted easily between beetles and spreads rapidly.
For years the virus played an integral role in suppressing beetle numbers across the Pacific.
But in the mid-2000s, the virus's efficacy seemed to be waning.
Attempts to infect beetles on Guam failed, leading to a hypothesis that the Guam beetles were immune, and the coconut rhinoceros beetle (Guam) type was named.
Similar beetles designated as the Guam type showed up in Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, and Palau, the Solomon Islands in 2015, and Vanuatu in 2019.
In response, countries like the Solomon Islands have declared local states of emergency and launched offensives to try to stymie the beetle's spread.
A worst-case scenario of 50 per cent palm losses, would devastate the local oil palm, copra and coconut oil industries, which provide 10 to 15 per cent or more GDP to some Pacific countries.
The beetle also attacks bananas, pineapple and other crops, leading to warnings for Australia to do more to help control the beetle for its own, and its neighbours' benefit.
But Kayvan Etebari, a molecular biologist at the University of Queensland, doesn't believe the Guam type is immune, or that the Guam type has spread across the Pacific.
"There is no scientific evidence to prove that particular [Guam] population is resistant," Dr Etebari said.
He is working to understand why the virus is no longer suppressing beetle numbers, and said he thinks the virus-insect relationship has changed.
"When we screen the beetles, most of them have the virus infection. So if this is the case the first question is, 'Why is the virus not killing the insect?'
"That's why I believe the virus and insect has changed to a more 'friendly' relationship.
"[But] that can change again. It's not going to stay the same for another 10 years."
In the meantime, he's looking for another virus: "But finding a novel virus is not an easy job."
He's also working with the Oryctes virus to see if it might be able to do the job the cane toad failed to do.
"We want to use the same virus to see if it can control the cane grub, which doesn't have any biological control agent at the moment."
|
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