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Why Is Dating So Much Work?  

Dating isn't dead, it has just evolved, argues the author Moira Weigel in her book Labor of Love: The Invention of Dating. In fact, how people seek romance is directly related to how the economy changes. In this video by The Atlantic, she explains how romance has moved from the private to the public realm, the significance of dating apps, and why love is still a worthwhile pursuit.

 
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Zhenya Beck: Earth To Bernie Sanders: You Are Our Only Hope  
In the tight race between Sanders and Clinton, it is the superdelegates who will decide who the Democratic nominee is. But there's one ultra-superdelegate that hasn't weighed in yet: the Earth.

Read more: Climate Change, Environment, Bernie Sanders, 2016 Election, Green News

 
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Katie Redford: The New Corporate Playbook, Or What To Do When Environmentalists Stand In Your Way  
I'm referring to the new playbook for American corporations, and their perverse adaptation of the old adage: "The best defense is a good offense." Companies are no longer satisfied with evading their liability for human and environmental harms.

Read more: Environment, Corporate Accountability, Corporate Accountability International, Human Rights, Supreme Court, Law, Impact News

 
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Danielle Sabrina: Beyond Recycling: How 'Upcycling' Is Paving The Way For Sustainable Entrepreneurship  
The textile industry isn't known for being environmentally friendly. Over 11 million tons of textile materials are wasted each year, and with just 1 p...

Read more: Environment, Entrepreneurship, Upcycling, Business News

 
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Innovations In Science: Pursuing Another Giant Leap For Mankind  
According to the American Cancer Society, in 2016 there will be an estimated 1.6 million new cancer cases diagnosed and over half a million cancer deaths in the US. While much has been achieved in the detection and treatment of cancer, it's clear that this disease in all its various forms, will be with us for a long time.

Regardless of who you are, where you live, or your personal circumstances, chances are you've been touched by cancer in some form. And you don't have to have cancer to be affected by it. All illness is the story of one. Speak to anyone who has had to care for a loved one with cancer and you'll quickly know the emotional, physical and financial toll it takes on everyone involved.

Last year, Vice President Joe Biden lost his son Beau Biden, to brain cancer. This bright, enigmatic young man who was the Attorney General for Delaware was only 46. His death was tragic, but if there is a silver lining in all of this, it's the announcement by President Obama during the State of the Union address on January 12, 2016, establishing the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative to accelerate cancer research, led by Vice President Biden. Its goal is to make more therapies available to more patients, improve early detection methods and, ultimately, prevent this insidious disease.

Make no mistake, finding a cure for all the types of cancer we currently know about will be hard, but sending someone to the moon was a pretty ambitious goal as well. When John F. Kennedy announced on May 25, 1961 America's goal to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, there was no reason to think it couldn't be done. Billions of dollars were invested, and there were plenty of failures along the way, but for anyone who remembers when Neil Armstrong stepped out onto the dusty surface of the moon and said his immortal words "that's one small step..." it was a seminal moment.

Cancer is a global health issue and, as people live longer, one that will continue to grow. From a research standpoint it's also exceptionally cross-discipline covering a broad scope of medical specialties such as neurology, gynecology, pulmonology, gastroenterology and hematology, as well as related factors such as the environment, pharmacology, public health awareness and nutrition. Curing cancer will therefore require intensive collaboration from the scientific community at large.

Economics is another major factor in treating cancer. Most patients will need long-term, on-going care which has enormous implications for family finances as well as the social and psychological impact for the care-givers. Developing treatments, finding cures and, ultimately, preventing cancer, will require the commitment of tremendous resources from government as well as the private and academic sectors. America's moonshot was largely financed by the U.S. government. But in today's economic climate and greater scrutiny of public spending, economic support from the private and philanthropic sectors will be a factor in supporting more cancer research.

Technology, especially the internet, social scientific networks such as Social Science Research Network, an online open-access repository, as well as collaboration platforms such as Mendeley, will allow research teams worldwide easier ways to share knowledge and leverage expertise regardless of location and affiliation.

There's certainly no shortage of work already accomplished. According to ScienceDirect more than 1.5 million research papers about cancer have been published in the past five years; a huge amount of data. Scopus data reveals Europe leads in overall cancer research output, but there have been significant increases from institutions in North America and Asia Pacific during the same period, most notably by China and the United States.

Thanks to the dedication of millions of anonymous researchers tirelessly engaged in cancer research, there have been tremendous strides made in the past decade. The dreaded "c-word" is no longer an automatic death sentence. People are now better educated about high risk behaviors that should be avoided such as smoking and exposure to certain chemicals, as well as the importance of annual physical tests. Sophisticated diagnostic imaging such as ultrasound, MRI and CT scans as well as blood tests can help with early detection of small growths and masses which means early intervention and better chances for a complete cure.

Cancer is a tremendously complex disease and new strains are discovered every day. We may never eradicate it completely, but if it is possible to send a man to the moon and bring him safely home in less than a decade, we stand a pretty good chance of securing a "giant leap for mankind" in reducing cancer's impact on our society.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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A Clone Alone No More: The 20-Year Legacy of Dolly the Sheep  
The world's most photographed ewe was born in Scotland on July 5, 1996. Nature Video talks to two of the researchers who created her. This video was reproduced with permission and was first...

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The World's Largest Mosquito Factory (27 photos)  

In Guangzhou, China, millions of mosquitoes are born at the  Sun Yat-Sen University-Michigan University Joint Center of Vector Control for Tropical Disease in the hopes of finding a way to fight Zika. The lab's mosquitos are infected with a strain of Wolbachia pipientis, a bacterium that inhibits Zika and and other viruses by preventing the fertilization of eggs. Researchers at the center release infected mosquitos on Shazai island to mate with wild females, stopping the next generation. The lab claims there is 99% suppression of the population of Aedes albopictus or Asia tiger mosquito, the type known to carry Zika virus, after the first year of tests.

 
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In the garden of existence, there exists two beautiful roses: Music and love  

marco18678 posted a photo:

 
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Top 5 Reasons To Ban Oil Trains Immediately  
On Friday, June 3rd, a crude oil train traveled through the scenic Columbia River Gorge, a national treasure and one of the most beautiful spots in a country blessed with some of the most stunning places on Earth. It went slowly through the small town of Mosier, Ore. Children sat in class, no doubt looking forward to the weekend, people stopped by the post office, enjoying the rituals of small town life. Then the ground shook. Explosions rocked the area and a plume of thick black smoke snaked its way into the sky. The oil train had derailed a few hundred yards from that school, a few hundred yards from the city center. Four railcars spilled and caught fire -- and tens of thousands of gallons of burning North Dakota Bakken crude created an inferno.

This disaster occurred as Stand and our many allies in the Crude Awakening Network were preparing for the third annual Stop Oil Trains Week of Action, planning dozens of events across the US and Canada between July 6-12 to mark the solemn anniversary of the tragic Lac Megantic oil train disaster on July 6, 2013. The Mosier derailment drove home, once again, why oil trains are too dangerous for the rails. And why Stand is asking President Obama for an immediate ban on oil trains.

Here are the top five reasons Stand, joined by hundreds of groups, community leaders, and elected officials, are calling for a ban on deadly oil trains.

1. 25 million Americans live in the oil train "blast zone".
The US rail system was built to connect population centers, not move millions of gallons of toxic, flammable crude oil. But the oil industry is doing exactly that, sending explosive crude down the tracks right through our cities and by the homes of 25 million Americans. At Stand, we have mapped oil train routes with our Blast Zone map. You can use the map to see if your home, school, or office is inside the dangerous one-mile evacuation area. One clear finding from analyzing America's blast zone: vulnerable populations like environmental justice communities and school children are clearly in harm's way.

2. Oil trains can't be operated safely.
Federal safety standards won't improve oil train safety. Federal legislation, promises by the railroads, and federal regulations- weakened by years of interagency battles between the Federal Railroad Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board -- have all come to very little. Former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board Jim Hall, in a June 2016 op-ed advocating a ban on crude oil trains, put it simply: "Carrying crude oil by rail is just not a good idea." That's because it cannot be done safely. Period.

Thorough reporting by DeSmog Blog on the weak existing federal regulatory standards and the oil and rail industry's failure to meet them demonstrates there have been no improvements on the safety of the 100,000 unsafe tank cars in the US fleet. Only a few hundred of these 100,000 dangerous tank cars have been retrofitted, and cars updated to the newest tank car standard will still puncture at just a few miles an hour faster than the current tank cars.

After 2025, there may be marginal improvements in the tank cars and procedures associated with oil trains. But trains will still derail, and crude will still leak and ignite.

3. Oil train fires can't be controlled.
When an oil train derails at any speed over the puncture velocity of roughly 10 miles an hour a dozen or so cars typically come off the tracks, decouple and are thrown from their wheels. Tank cars are easily punctured, and the crude (either Bakken or diluted tar sands, both highly volatile) can either self-ignite or be sparked by a nearby ignition source.

Once the spilled oil from an oil train disaster ignites, the primary task of emergency responders is to evacuate the area due to toxic plumes, fire, and potential explosions. We write more about the difficulties here, but Bruce Goetsch, a county emergency manager in Iowa, had this advice: "Make sure your tennis shoes are on and start running." Or listen to the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters, which delivered a letter to Washington Governor Inslee on June 8 demanding an immediate halt to crude rail movement and stating that, "these fires are exceedingly difficult to extinguish, even under unusually ideal circumstances."

4. We don't need the oil these dangerous trains carry.
Oil trains in North America carry extreme fracked crude oil from the Bakken formation in North Dakota and Saskatchewan, or diluted bitumen from tar sands deposits in Alberta. We don't need any of this crude oil. According to the most recent information from the US Energy Information Administration, shipments of crude by rail represent only 2.5 percent of the 19 million barrel daily US oil demand. At the same time, the US exports more than five million barrels of oil per day. So the US is exporting ten times more than the 513,000 barrels of crude that is moving by rail each day. The crude moving by train contributes nothing to our energy supply. If we stopped all oil trains tomorrow Americans would never notice the difference at the gas pumps - but we would all be safer, especially the 25 million Americans living in the blast-zone.

5. Oil trains are taking us in the wrong direction.
The dangerous, unnecessary, carbon-intensive crude oil moving by train through North American cities and towns is a new phenomenon. Before 2008, crude oil rarely, if ever, moved by train. Oil companies see this oil as the future. We see a future where we leave extreme crude oil in the ground and use decreasing amounts of conventional oil as we transition to 100 percent clean energy.

The climate accords in Paris followed by the April 2016 United Nations resolution put the United States and the rest of the world on a clear, inevitable path toward reducing fossil fuels from our energy supply. These dangerous oil trains carrying extreme oil are, quite simply, not part of that future: they fail the public safety test, the energy security test, and the climate test.

Forty-seven people died in the Lac Megantic oil train disaster three years ago. Only incredible luck prevented Mosier, OR from being another Lac Megantic. It was a dead-calm day in one of the windiest part of the US, otherwise the fire could have spread quickly to more derailed cars, to surrounding forests, homes, and even to the nearby school. This was another close call, one of more than a dozen major oil train disasters over the last three years that could have been much worse. We need to end this unnecessary and unacceptable threat before our luck runs out.

This is not a radical request. In fact, the Governors of Oregon and Washington have asked for a moratorium on oil trains. Join them -- and Stand: Please join us in asking President Obama for an immediate ban on oil trains.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Building Your Own Home From Open Source Blocks  
What if your next house were to cost 1/10th of the average home while sporting a long list of high-tech hyper-ecological features? With the help of the Open Building Institute (OBI), which is designing affordable, ecological housing accessible to everyone - you may be able to do just that.

In the good old days people built their own homes. My grandfather built his and lived in it with his family for decades. However, as homes and their sub-systems have become more complex along with ever more stringent building codes, few can claim to be able to replicate such a feat. OBI hopes to change that.

OBI is a new initiative that is creating a library of engineered modules and a series of rapid-build procedures to quite literally help anyone build an affordable home. The basic idea is if you can follow an instructable you should be able to follow a few of them - and if the modules are well organized and complete you could finish off a whole house with a few friends.



OBI is following the same open source methodology that has made the Internet so successful --- sharing the source code with a free license. Google and Facebook and many other Internet companies use open source software on the backend because large scale collaboration generally leads to superior technology. Open source hardware follows the same approach from electronics to 3-D printers.

There is a rapidly growing list of open source hardware projects, which are bringing millions of dollars of value to the world. Now OBI is adding 'house' to the list.

In this case, rather than sharing computer code, OBI is sharing a toolkit that is open source and available free of charge--forever. The toolkit includes a library of modular designs (think of them like building blocks), detailed instructions, software, and even the open source machines (for construction and production of building materials following the Open Source Ecology model). Users can design their own house using open source software, and can also contribute designs to the project.



Rapid Builds, Affordable Housing
The preliminary designs are stacked with high-tech ecological features including a building integrated solar photovoltaic roof, in floor hydronic heating, and a biodigester. They aim to achieve Living Building Challenge certification in 2017, which is the highest standard for eco-construction. The standard OBI house model is off-grid (a recent study indicates this may be economic for many people in the U.S.) and will have an Aquaponic Greenhouse option, which produces all the fish and vegetables that a family can eat.



OBI follows a rapid build approach where they can train non-specialists to put up the house in 5 days. If you have ever heard about an Amish barn raising you have the idea.




They have already built a demonstration home - the plans of which anyone is free to copy.


However, not everyone literally wants to build their own house. So the initiative plans to offer a turnkey build service to prospective homeowners in 2017 using an immersion training program for builders--to expand OBI build services to other locations (they are located in Missouri). They are using the now somewhat standardized Open Source Ecology Extreme Manufacturing workflow, which the organization developed over 12 previous builds at its Missouri headquarters.

Are you interested in building your own green home?

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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The New Landscape Declaration: Visions For The Next 50 Years  


India's water crisis / National Geographic

Over the next 50 years, landscape architects must coordinate their actions globally to fight climate change, help communities adapt to a changing world, bring artful and sustainable parks and open spaces to every community rich or poor, preserve cultural landscape heritage, and sustain all forms of life on Earth. These were the central messages that came out the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF)'s New Landscape Declaration: Summit on Landscape Architecture and the Future in Philadelphia, which was attended by over 700 landscape architects.

The speakers used declarations and short idea-packed talks, and attendees used cards, polls, and an interactive question and commenting app to provide input into a new declaration -- a vision to guide the efforts of landscape architects to 2066.

As the 50th anniversary of the original declaration in 1966, many landscape architects looked back to see what has been achieved over the past 50 years. At the same time, through a series of bold statements, they created an ambitious global vision moving forward. As Barbara Deutsch, FASLA, president of LAF, believes: "We are now entering the age of landscape architecture."

While not a comprehensive review of all the declarations, here are some highlights of the visions of what landscape architects must work to achieve over the next 50 years:

Landscape architects must address the "serious issues of air, water, food, and waste" in developing countries

Alpa Nawre, ASLA, assistant professor of landscape architecture, Kansas State University, called for landscape architects to focus their efforts on the developing world, where the bulk of the current population and most of the future population growth will occur. Today, of the 7.2 billion people on Earth, some 6 billion live in developing countries. There, some 100 million lack access to clean water. The global population is expected to reach 9.6 billion in coming decades, with 400 million added mostly to the cities of the global south. "To accommodate these billions, we must design better landscape systems for resource management."

Gerdo Aquino, FASLA, CEO of the SWA Group, echoed that sentiment, arguing that "in the future, there will be much more stringent regulations on natural resources" as they become rarer and more valuable. Landscape architects will play a larger role in valuing and managing those resources.

Christophe Girot, chair of landscape architecture, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, similarly saw the need for "new topical landscapes" for the 9.6 billion who will inhabit the Earth. We must "react, think creatively, and find solutions."

Landscape architects must improve upon urbanization-as-usual

Instead of pursuing idealized visions of parks that may result in "tidy little ornaments of green that make liberals feel good," Chris Marcinkowski, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania and partner at PORT Urbanism, said landscape architects must "work with the underlying systems of urbanization and adapt them," softening them in an era when 1 billion people live in cities.

James Corner, ASLA, founder of James Corner Field Operations, pushed for accelerating urbanization in order to protect surrounding nature. "If you love nature, live in the city." He called for landscape architects to "embed beauty and pleasure in cities" in the forms of parks and gardens, because we need to make it "so that people should want to live in cities." Landscape architects must envision a denser urban world as well, and "shape the form of the future city." His vision of the future city is a "garden city" that takes advantage of the "landscape imagination." And Charles Waldheim, Hon. ASLA, chair of landscape architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and Henri Bava, founding partner, Agence TER, similarly made the case for a new "landscape-led urbanism" rooted in ecological processes.

David Gouverneur, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, called for applying novel approaches to the informal communities in which he works in Venezuela, where the conventional planning and design process fails. He proposed retrofitting these places through his "informal armature approach," which can create both pathways and communal nodes but also areas of flexible growth that allows "locals to invade and occupy." He argued that new forms of planning and design can better meet the needs of the hundreds of millions living in informal communities in the world.



Informal armature / David Gouverneur

And Kate Orff, ASLA, founder of SCAPE, explained how her community-centric approach "creates a scaffolding for meaningful participation that is an active generator of social life." For her, it's all about "linking the social to the ecological and scaling that up for communities."

Carl Steinitz, Hon. ASLA, professor emeritus of landscape architecture and planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, also called for all landscape architects to get more active at the urban and regional scales. "That's where society needs us the most."

Landscape architects must create a future for wild nature

"The landscape has been broken into fragments. We need a more inclusive approach, a new philosophical relationship between humanity and nature," said Feng Han, director, department of landscape studies, Tongji University in Shanghai. That new approach must be rooted in "just landscape planning and design."

Randolph Hester Jr., FASLA, director, Center for Ecological Democracy, and professor emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, made a similar and compelling argument, saying that "justice and beauty must be found together in the landscape." The landscape itself is a "community, with the ecological and cultural being indivisible."

A central part of achieving that just landscape planning and design approach is to better respect the other 2.5 million known species on the planet, argued Nina-Marie Lister, Hon. ASLA, professor at Ryerson University. "We must think of the quality of being for them, too." To protect their homes, landscape architects must lead the charge in "re-establishing the role of the wild." E.O. Wilson, in his most recent book, Half Earth, calls for preserving half of the planet for the other species. "That kind of goal is a blunt instrument. Now we need to design what that looks like. We need a planetary strategy that connects remnant fragments. We can create a global mosaic that will be the foundation of a next wave of conservation."



Projective Ecologies / ACTAR, Harvard University Graduate School of Design

A key part of those mosaics will be designed sustainable landscapes, said Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, FASLA, who argued that "sustainability needs to be addressed in every landscape" moving forward. "We must keep every scrap of nature" by certifying projects with systems like SITES.

And in case anyone forgot the essential message: Laurie Olin, FASLA, founder of OLIN, argued that "everything comes from nature and is inspired by nature."

Landscape architects must dramatically increase in number

Given landscape architects relatively small numbers -- there are estimated to be less than 75,000 worldwide -- Martha Fajardo, International ASLA, CEO, Grupo Verde, said each must "become ambassadors for the landscape," speaking loudly wherever they go.

But Mario Schjetnan, FASLA, Mexico's leading landscape architect, said that may not be enough and more numbers are needed. For example, while there are more than 150,000 architects in Mexico, there are only 1,000 landscape architects.

He said: "There are not enough landscape architects in the developing world. And we need a global perspective. The U.S. and Euro-centric perspective must change. More landscape architects from the developing world studying in the U.S. and Europe need to return to their countries and help."

Landscape architects must diversify themselves fast

"Minorities are woefully underrepresented" in the field of landscape architecture, argued Gina Ford, ASLA, a partner at Sasaki. "The black and Hispanic populations in the U.S. are growing." How can we address this? Ford called for the highest levels of academic and firm leadership to bring in and hire minorities. "It's not about getting warm, fuzzy feelings; it's about innovation. Diversity begets innovation. Diverse staff resonate with diverse clients. We must diversify to create a shared vision for the future."

Landscape architects must get even more political

Patricia O'Donnell, FASLA, founder of Heritage Landscapes, who is active in UNESCO, ICOMOS, and other international organizations, said the first step is for landscape architects to "show up" and engage in political debates. Then, they must "collaborate to be relevant." Working within these complex international fora, O'Donnell herself pushes for "connecting biological diversity with cultural diversity" and encouraging these organizations to value cultural landscapes. To be more relevant, she said, landscape architects should further align their efforts with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Kongjian Yu, FASLA, founder of Turenscape, may be the epitome of the political landscape architect. His work spans planning and design across mainland China, but he spends a good amount of his time and energy on persuading thousands of local mayors and senior governmental leaders alike on the value of "planning for ecological security." He called for landscape architects to "think big -- at the local, regional, and national scales" -- and to influence decision-makers.



China ecological security plan / Turenscape

Martha Schwartz, FASLA, founder of Martha Schwartz Partners, who is an active advocate and commentator in the UK, where she now lives, threw down the gauntlet, calling for landscape architects to form a political wing that will urge policymakers to fund bold research into geo-engineering techniques that can stave off the planetary emergency caused by climate change. At the same time, "we need to start a political agenda for a Manhattan project to reduce carbon emissions." Schwartz sees ASLA pushing for climate rescue over the next 50 years, helping us to "buy the time for a second chance to live in balance with the Earth." For her and others, climate action is the platform for landscape architecture for the next five decades.

And Kelly Shannon, chair of landscape architecture at the University of Southern California, International ASLA, made the case for "changing the unsustainable status quo and inspiring new social movements." Landscape architects must become "essential game changers."

Landscape architects must better leverage green infrastructure to achieve broader goals

Using their knowledge of systems, nature, and people, landscape architects must find new opportunities to regenerate poor communities that have been left out. Tim Duggan, ASLA, Phronesis, called for using green infrastructure as a wedge for creating opportunities. "In consent decree communities, green infrastructure can be leveraged to create wider urban regenerative processes." Green infrastructure, as Duggan has shown, can become the catalyst for community development.

But to make this happen in New Orleans and Kansas City, he had to "lobby change at the decision-maker level and string together innovative financing mechanisms." In other words, he had to wade into the broader economic and governmental systems to make change happen.

Landscape architects must keep design central to the human experience

Charles Birnbaum, FASLA, founder of The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), said a "holistic view" was needed, and that landscape architects can't foresake the important role of art and design in the experience of landscape architecture by focusing exclusively on ecological values. "We need to put the value of landscape architect on the level of the artist." Harriet Pattison, FASLA, helped him make the point in this segment of her TCLF oral history project:

https://youtu.be/iGdpe2tPukA

Blaine Merker, ASLA, Gehl Studio, argued for "making humanism physical and celebrating the human condition" through well-designed space for people. "Plazas and parks increase social connection. This leads to deep sustainability and happiness that reinforce each other."

Landscape architects must generate new fields of research and design to stay relevant

A fascinating idea: what is on the margins today may be at the center tomorrow. Dirk Sijmons, co-founder, H+N+S Landscape Architects, argued for landscape architects to get more deeply involved in what may be a marginal area for them now: the transition to clean energy. He showed his work animating the energy flows of off-shore wind farms in the North Sea. "We must develop new centers for the discipline."

Landscape architects educators must "revolutionize the landscape architecture education system" and become more pragmatic

Kongjian Yu also called for the educational system to teach the aesthetic value of ecology and sustainability. "We need deep forms rooted in ecology, not shallow forms. Nature is the bedrock." Yu calls landscape architecture an "art of survival" that will become increasingly relevant as the world's problems only multiply. "We need to teach how landscapes can fight flooding, fire, drought, and produce food. We need to generate pragmatic knowledge and basic survival skills to open up new horizons."

Marc Treib, professor of architecture emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, added that "the sustainable is not antithetical to the beautiful. We can elevate the pragmatic to the level of poetry."

While these bold ideas do push the landscape architecture agenda forward, what was missing from the LAF event was some critical discussions on how to better collaborate with scientists, ecologists, developers, architects, urban planners, and engineers on forging a common vision that can increase their collective impact in the halls of power; the coming explosion of aging populations; the health benefits of nature -- and how the desire for better health could become a central driver of demand for landscape architecture; and sustainable transportation and the future of mobility. Hopefully, we'll see more on these as LAF continues to hone its vision.

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The Emotional Challenge of Advocating for Eco-Eating  

Image Credit: Huffington Post Images


I struggle. I struggle to inform my friends, my colleagues, students, and the "masses" about human interference with wildlife, climate change, and how our diet contributes to both these problems.

I have been a practicing dietitian for over 12 years now. I already understand how difficult it is for individuals to make relatively-simple changes in their diet. For example, to switch from white bread to whole-wheat.

So, asking people to make bigger changes such as reducing their consumption of animal products seems to be a truly daunting task, one that is overwhelming, and one that so far, seems to mostly evoke blank stares and inaction.

I know there are myriad of reasons why people don't change; and, I know, it's an even bigger challenge to change eating habits.

After all, "If it were easy, everyone would do it" - Tom Hanks in "A League of Their Own"

For starters, people are creatures of habit.
We like to eat what we like to eat. Diet is ingrained in us from childhood, it's culture, it's personal. So, change can feel like we are giving up a part of our self.

Another challenge may be pure ignorance.
Since there are always fish at the supermarket or the fish market, it seems impossible to believe or understand that certain fish stocks are severely in decline, or have even been decimated.

Moreover, the oceans are so far removed from our daily existence, and we don't see all the hundreds of thousands of animals that are killed as by-catch from fish nets or from fish-farms; for example, it takes 2-4 pounds of wild-fish to grow one pound of certain farmed fish!

In some parts of the world, hundreds of thousands of dolphins, sea birds, and other sea mammals drown every day from fish nets, fishing practices - including finning, or are brutally murdered by being viewed as competition for fish.

On land, if 100 animals were "accidentally" killed by accident for every five that come to market, this would likely be viewed as unethical, and completely unacceptable.

But in the ocean This. Is. Exactly. What. Happens. ALL. THE. TIME.

To make matters worse, nets and fishing gear are often left - illegally - in the ocean killing a wide-array of marine wildlife; and, plastic, is being consumed en-mass by animals, crowing out room for food, and normal behaviors.

But I just truly don't know how to make people understand or aware that these oceanic/sea-life problems exist, in a way that is meaningful to THEM.

A third possible challenge can be apathy.
Why should I change what I eat when no one else in changes what they eat?
I don't make any difference I'm just one small person.

What I've told myself is, instead of feeling that way, perhaps it would be more useful to lead by example and educate others.

However, as I have discovered, this comes with a lot of downfalls, mostly emotional; where truly you want to scream at the top of your lungs, "stop eating that fish, stop eating that beef, it damages the planet!"

A fourth challenge I sometimes come across is "pride."
Patients sometimes tell me "I've heard it all, I don't need more information."

Which brings me back to my earlier points, then why aren't you doing it? What are you waiting for?

So, what does this mean for me?

On the one hand, I look around me at the beauty of our Earth and how it is disappearing bit by bit by bit, and that we humans have a hand in this; and it makes me want to work that much harder to educate, to speak, to write, to help, to fight for the animals of our planet.

On the other hand, I am frustrated, angry, sad, and sometimes hopeless; because, I can speak until I am blue in the face, but I cannot make people change their behaviors. Only THEY CAN DO THAT.

Therein lies the rub.

I see that we need to change our ways. But we need the will to do it. We need to have the desire.
We need to have the knowledge.

And, I can do THAT. I can impart knowledge. That is my role.

To educate.
To advocate.
To support Earth.

Unfortunately however I cannot give desire, I cannot give motivation, it has to come from within.

If anyone has the recipe to make all these necessary attributes come together, please, let me know your secret.

In the mean time, I will continue to educate, advocate, and provide a "recipe" for taking that first step, that first eco-friendly bite.

See, I'm not asking you to become vegan overnight, but I am asking that you show concern, acknowledge that there is a problem, and be willing to be a part of the solution. Not just live in apathy.

For more specific meal suggestions and recipes, please refer to my previous post: "Why Plants are This Summer's "Coolest" Diet."

Contact Dana at: recipe.for.survival@gmail.com
Twitter: recipe4survival
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RecipeForSurvival/
blog: recipeforsurvival.wordpress.com

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Rip up the rule book and let NASA's Mars rover check ‘life' zone  
Contamination fears should not stop NASA sending its Mars rover to examine a nearby area that might contain water… and life, says Dirk Schulze-Makuch  
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Sexual arms race drives range expansion in UK diving beetle species  
Sexual conflict and relative mating success seems to be driving a dramatic shift in the distribution of diving beetles in the UK, a new shows.  
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Becoming Naturalists at the E.O. Wilson Biophilia Center  

At the E.O. Wilson Biophilia Center in East Freeport, Florida, children are learning about nature by experiencing it firsthand.

Developed by Walton County conservationist M.C. Davis in 2009, the Center sits on the 50,000-acre Nokuse Plantation. Paul Arthur, president of Nokuse Education Inc. and director of E.O. Wilson Biophilia Center for the past five years, describes it as an environmental education center.

“Our ultimate goal is to teach future generations about the importance of conservation, preservation, and restoration of the ecosystem,” Arthur says. “We want every student to leave a little bit of a naturalist.”

Through two- or four-day programs, the Center provides children with a “complete learning experience” that aims to give them an in-depth understanding of the Florida Panhandle's longleaf pine ecosystem, while also exposing them to the idea of conservation more broadly.

The Center's lesson plan aligns with Florida state standards and is adjusted yearly. With over 700 pages of curriculum written by its staff, the Biophilia Center targets 4^th and 7^th grade students, as standardized testing occurs in 5^th and 8^th grade. The students come to the Center from schools in its five surrounding counties—Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Holmes, and Washington.

Each year the Center educates 5,200 students and averages more than 100 students every school day. It places a lot of emphasis on experiential learning; over 20 hands-on activities comprise 75 percent of the overall curriculum. These activities—led by team members with nicknames like Bluegill Jill, Tree Frog Tess, and Pine Tree Paul (Arthur)—include surveying with lasers to analyze topography and slope, water quality testing, and a gopher tortoise simulation class.

“My number one goal is to get students outside,” Arthur says. “We want to immerse them into the environment out here so they get excited about it.”

Their methods are working. In 2014, Columbus State University doctorate candidate Michael Dentzau conducted a two-year study on the effectiveness of the Biophilia Center. Dentzau had 4^th grade students draw pictures of Florida's environment before and after they went. According to Arthur, before visiting the Center, students had a warped view of the outdoors, drawing “snow-peaked mountains with giraffes, elephants, and gorillas.” Following their visits to the Center, the students' drawings changed drastically.

“Not only did they draw it [accurately], they started labeling it: loblolly pine, gopher tortoise, eastern indigo, wire grass, turkey oak,” Arthur explains. “That's what really blew us away.”

Dentzau also interviewed students five months after the visit. Much to the Center's delight, they still remembered what they had learned.

“These kids were rattling off information to him that was amazing,” Arthur said. “It was amazing to hear that what we do is effective.”

The Center continues to serve students in northwestern Florida and promote the values of conservationism to the local community as a whole. Arthur notes that the Center hopes to provide a “complete learning experience” so students learn more than just facts.

“People don't understand that when you mess with the food web it affects everything,” he says. “We want the students to understand how important it is that we maintain that balance for the biodiversity of the planet.”

Read more from Paul Arthur and the E.O. Wilson Biophilia Center on Voices for Biodiversity.

---

Jaime Gordon is a sophomore at Duke University. She plans to declare a major in Cultural Anthropology and a minor in Political Science, while also working on a minor in Japanese and a certificate in Policy Journalism. Born in Jamaica, but raised in the United States, Jaime has always had an interest in how the human experience differs across cultural lines. She wants to travel as much as possible in between her semesters as a full-time student. Though her particular interests are in East Asia and Francophone Europe, Jaime hopes to visit all seven continents in pursuit of novel experiences, artsy photos, and the world's best ice cream.

 
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Ashley Stanley: Putting the Value Back in Food  
It's 8:30 a.m., and our first pick-up is underway. Not a substantial haul, but not a small one either, and it looks something like this: 600 pounds ...

Read more: Whatsworking, Environment, Food Waste, Hunger, Boston, Reclaim, Hunger Relief, Lovin' Spoonfuls, Food Rescue, Impact News

 
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STILL MISSING: MYTHICAL CITY OF ITHACA  
Just when you think you've found the lost City of Ithaca, pesky science goes and proves otherwise...  
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Hubble spies rare cosmic tadpole galaxy  

Astro boffins use find to study star formations

The Hubble telescope has captured images of a rare tadpole galaxy glittering with bursts of star formation, swimming in the black pond of space.…

 
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Brexit's Impact Stretches From Deep Space To Nuclear Fusion  

Scientists are worried about how Britain's departure from the European Union would hurt the continent's mega-projects and its researchers. Scientific collaboration "should know no borders," says one.

 
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NIST-4 watt balance weighs in on Planck's constant  
Most precise measurement of h is one step closer to redefining the kilogram  
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What is a watt balance?  
Stephan Schlamminger weighs in on the watt balance and how it will redefine the kilogram  
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Photos of the Day: June 29, 2016  

Explore the news of the day with these images from around the world.  
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Our thoughts are with the people of Istanbul today, following a...  

Our thoughts are with the people of Istanbul today, following a gruesome terrorist attack that took place yesterday at the city's main airport. Istanbul is the largest metropolitan area in Turkey, with a population of more than 14 million people. This Overview was captured at night from the @iss. (at Istanbul, Turkey)

 
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Fighting for you. by Nick Verbelchuk  

Fighting for you. by Nick Verbelchuk

Processed with VSCO with g1 preset

Nick Verbelchuk: Photos

 
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The Risky Business of Oil and Gas in Texas  

Small, poor towns in Texas were flooded with oil and gas workers just a few years ago, bringing a rush of business and prosperity to local economies. Then, seemingly just as soon as they appeared, they were gone again as oil prices tanked across the globe. This short film goes inside Dimmit County, where locals and experts are wondering whether any part of this short-lived success can be salvaged.

Van Alen Sessions is presented by Van Alen Institute with The Atlantic andCityLab. Season Two, “Power Lines,” is directed and produced by Kelly Loudenberg. The series is made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, and is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Connect with Van Alen Institute on vanalen.org.

 
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Poverty Conundrum: Why Most Poor People Live in 'Middle-Income Countries'  
One might think that the countries where most poor people live would be classified as poor themselves. But they aren't. The World Bank's "middle-income countries" designation means that huge numbers of the poorest are placed at further disadvantage.  
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AbstractRadio session - june 2016  


Take a bit of deep and a pinch of disco. Throw in a splash of funky together with just a hint of old school to bring out the full flavour. Add a dash of all-time classic for good measure.

Leave to marinate in a dark place for several months before serving.
No extra seasoning is necessary.

[serving suggestion loud, with good, solid footwear]

As is customary for any AbRad session, every track's a winner, but deserving of a special mention in dispatches are:
J. Sikora's “Larry's Garage”, Sahagun's twisted latin workout “The 3rd Advice”, Kink's ethereal “Pocket Piano” and X-Press 2's autumnal masterpiece - “Give It”.

Enjoy!

More soon

The Abrad team.

[any feedback, much appreciated]

select mixes by genre:

House

Deep

Funky

Disco

Tracklist

Start	Artist	Track Title	Label
00:00	rhythm doctor	intro	truelove
00:39	grand larceny	body workin	b2
03:32	rich pinder	hat play	d-vine
07:26	man without a clue	morning funk mix	clueless
11:01	roter lewis	get out of my life	nite grooves
14:21	juliet sikora	larry's garage	kitt ball
19:15	clio	dangerous	truesoul
25:40	be as deep	music makes me happy	plastic people
32:22	disk nation	saxophonists	cruise
35:09	rene amesz	like it deep	tiger
41:34	diskode	burp	moulton
44:46	move d	jus house	uzuri
49:07	lenny kiser	this time	moulton
53:37	soledrifter	soul groove	large
57:35	joi resh	here we go	kaleydo
64:38	rafa barrios	daledalehey	intec
67:43	alan de lanier	dance	mycrazything
71:49	soul divine	secret love	stereo flava
74:54	manuel sahagun	the 3rd advice	development
81:13	kerri chandler	mommy whats a record	downtown
86:16	kink	pocket piano	running back
91:39	x-press 2	give it	skint

-- Total running time 101.27 --

 
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Griffon Vulture  

My Planet Experience posted a photo:

The Griffon Vulture is a large raptor, inhabitant of the steep cliffs and rocky areas offering numerous cavities where it will nest.
The main cause of the rapid decline in the griffon vulture population is the consumption of poisoned baits set out by people. Wildlife conservation efforts have attempted to increase awareness of the lethal consequences of using illegally poisoned baits through education about the issue. It is very highly vulnerable to the effects of potential wind energy development and electrocution has been identified as a threat.
The flight of the Griffon Vulture is a real show of virtuosity. It soars during long moments, moving scarcely the wings, in an almost unperceivable and measured way.

© www.myplanetexperience.com

 
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The Jon Stewart Problem  


The heart of the progressive point of view is the idea that government has a role to play in solving some of our toughest problems. The private sector, for all the prosperity and innovation it brings, cannot do everything well.

No individual or business can clean the nation's air, protect civil rights, or keep our food supply safe, among many other tasks. And even if they could, there are many problems without a direct economic benefit to the problem solver - say, reducing poverty or stopping terrorism - so the private sector is not going to invest time and money trying to accomplish them.

That means that gaining support for progressive programs requires the public to believe government can do some things well. The more that confidence erodes, the less reason voters have to support action. Why pass a bill to clean up toxic waste or improve health care if government can't do anything right?

If you stop to think about it, there are plenty of successful government programs to support that idea: Centers for Disease Control, Medicare and Social Security, NASA, or DARPA (the agency that created the Internet), to name a few.

The best examples might be environmental laws like the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, which have made our country dramatically cleaner and healthier -- with benefits outweighing costs by 30 to 1 in the case of clean air programs.

Focus on those examples and you're reminded that many big challenges require organized national action, and that the federal government often carries them out to great effect.

But confidence in government is always on an uncertain footing. Part of that is the result of political arguments from those who want smaller government, or see political advantage in attacking "bureaucracy." Some of it comes from genuinely wasteful government programs that are, rightly, held up for public scrutiny. And some of it is the media, looking for a sensational story. We are, after all, a country built on an ideology of anti-government revolution.

So how do we ask the public to support the kind of bold policies we'll need to address big challenges like climate change -- which can't possibly be solved without government action?

First, we have to be open to making government more efficient. Some programs don't work; others can be improved. We can also insure that regular public interactions with the government leave people feeling impressed -- not frustrated. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's proposal to dramatically simplify the process of filing your taxes would remove an annual public service announcement for those who think government can't work well.

There's one more important thing we can do: stop reflectively accusing all institutions of being corrupt. It is so much a part of modern life that we hardly notice it. We assume institutions are weak or corrupt. It's a trend that was accelerated by the Daily Show and continues with its many spin-offs.

To be clear, I think Jon Stewart - like a long line of political commentators going back to Will Rogers and Mark Twain -- was funny, usually right, and very often helped push positive change. But the pressure to be entertaining forces every show like his to drop most nuance. A balanced description of government policies is not going to get much traffic on Hulu.

Critiquing government programs is absolutely vital to democracy, but blanket cynicism both is wrong and counter-productive. The truth is all people - and by, extension, all institutions they create -- are flawed. So it's always easy to find something to criticize about them. That's valuable, as long you don't judge them against an impossible standard.

If you belief something can be improved, of course you should continue to make your case. But it's not necessary to say everything is terrible to push for more reform.

You can admit the Affordable Care Act has pushed the uninsured rate below 10% for the first time while still arguing for single payer, if that's your position. You can recognize that our air is dramatically cleaner, while at the same time fighting for new mercury and smog standards to save even more lives. And acknowledging that Congress just passed a strong reform of our chemical safety system doesn't require you to stop pushing to limit hazardous chemicals.

We sometimes think we've got to paint the bleakest picture of government failure to make the case for strong policies. But because bolder programs in a democracy require a belief in government, we may be undermining our own most important goals.

On Twitter @RealKeithGaby


photo credit: Cliff

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Chevron's Garbage Fire Sale  

Photo credit: @JeremyJ_Miller

[Reposted from the Eye on the Amazon]

Chevron sending up massive flares in Richmond is not the only sign things are getting hot for the oil giant on the run from a $11 billion verdict.

On June 19th, Chevron's Richmond refinery erupted a torrent of flames and black smoke into the air and terrified local residents. The community remembers all too well when 15,000 people were sent to the hospital when that same refinery exploded in 2012. Unfortunately, since then the public hospital in Richmond has closed. They can't afford another explosion as the closest public emergency room services are now thirty to forty minutes away in Oakland.

But that's not the only thing "on fire" at Chevron lately. Similar to the company's claims that it needs massive flares to burn off excess gas, Chevron claims there's "nothing to see here" as it tries to sell off US $5 billion in assets in its Burnaby oil refinery in British Columbia. But the company's actions and track record tell a different story. Realizing it was going to lose in its legal battle and be forced to accept responsibility for deliberately dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into the Ecuadorian Amazon, Chevron instead sold off all its assets and fled that country. It's been a corporate criminal on the run ever since, but the law is finally catching up with Chevron in Canada.

In September, the Ecuadorian plaintiffs bolstered by a unanimous decision in their favor by Canada's Supreme Court will begin their trial to seize Chevron's Canadian assets to cover its US $11 billion debt to the affected communities in Ecuador.

Chevron currently holds approximately US $15 billion of assets in Canada, almost all of which is at risk due to this enforcement action. Chevron refuses to acknowledge its full liability to the SEC and to its shareholders, and this latest move may give a clue as to why. Unable to replicate its customary racist attacks against Ecuador's judiciary and legal system, Chevron has to dream up new methods in Canada.

The Ecuadorians have defeated Chevron in every single legal contest which has considered the evidence of their crimes in Ecuador (Chevron's singular victory a retaliatory RICO SLAPP suit in the US notoriously forbade any evidence of contamination in its proceedings and is still under appeal). The writing is on the wall in Canada, and Chevron is trying to slip out quietly and escape justice once again.

To make matters worse for the oil giant, a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on the use of RICO may preemptively doom its defense before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. As respected appellate attorney Deepak Gupta wrote, the Supreme Court decision "further limits private RICO actions by requiring proof of a quantifiable, redressable and domestic injury something Chevron has steadfastly refuse to identify." The decision also made clear that the RICO statute could not be used to attack a final judgment from a foreign court, as Chevron has tried to do in the Ecuador case. Aaron Page, a U.S. lawyer for the Ecuadorians called it a "nail in the coffin" of Chevron's RICO case. He added, "Now, the Supreme Court has ruled you can't bring a RICO case, even a legitimate one, based on harm that took place abroad. This is another example of why Chevron's RICO case should have been thrown out on day one."

Bottom line on these developments: no matter how desperate it gets, Chevron can't hide its actions in Canada or its pollution in Ecuador or Richmond.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Civil Society To Prime Minister Turnbull: Go 100% Renewable To Save The Reef  
The Hon Malcolm Turnbull
Prime Minister of Australia
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600


Dear Prime Minister

RE: Crisis on the Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is a natural wonder. It is a global treasure, integral to Australia's reputation in the world and to your environmental and cultural heritage. We understand that it is also a lynchpin of the Queensland and national economies, providing around $6 billion to the economy and 70,000 jobs. It is also a UN World Heritage site, and you, as the country's highest elected leader, are its custodian on behalf of all Australians and the global community.

We are all devastated to see it suffer an unprecedented coral bleaching event, the worst in recorded history, fuelled by global warming. Your monitoring agency, the GBRMPA has confirmed that almost a quarter of coral has died, with up to 50% coral death in far north Queensland. Director of the ARC's Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, distinguished Professor Terry Hughes, calls it the "greatest environmental disaster in Australian history."

This disaster is international, with the bleaching of reefs worldwide, driven by global warming, threatening ecological collapse and putting the primary protein food source of up to 500 million people at risk.

This disaster requires an emergency response, Prime Minister. We urge you to visit the site of this destruction, accompanied by Australia's leading coral reef scientists. You must do this immediately, today, as you would for any other national emergency of this scale.

We hope once you have visited and seen first-hand the devastation to the reef that you will be moved to act. We are deeply concerned that your existing climate change policies are inadequate to the task. 57 eminent scientific experts have outlined essential elements of the necessary disaster response, which are priorities among the actions you must take to address climate change:

1. Cease all new coal mine and coal mine expansion approvals, and prohibit any new gas or oil developments.
   
2. Announce the rapid phase out of polluting coal-burning power stations, with a just transition plan for workers and communities.
   
3. Put Australia on the path to 100% renewable energy with the utmost urgency.
   
4. Restore the funds that you stripped from Australia's commitment to fighting poverty and climate change internationally to realise a world powered by 100% renewables.
   

The death of the corals from a significant stretch of the Great Barrier Reef must be deeply distressing to you, as it is to all of us. But it is also your opportunity to protect what remains of this irreplaceable icon now, and to safeguard it for future generations. Australians and the world are waiting for the strong leadership and urgent action that this emergency demands.

Signed:

Alexandra Wandel--Director and Vice-Chair of the Management Board at World Future Council
Bill McKibben--Founder of 350.org
Bunny McDiarmid--International Executive Director at Greenpeace International
Jacqui Rémond--National Director at Catholic Earthcare Australia
Jennifer Morgan--International Executive Director at Greenpeace International
Michael Brune--Executive Director at Sierra Club
Mohamed Adow--Senior Climate Advisor at Christian Aid
Sanjay Vashist--Director at Climate Action Network South Asia
Reverend Fletcher Harper--Executive Director at Greenfaith
Tomas Insua--Co-Founder of the Global Climate Catholic Movement
Wael Hmaidan--Director at Climate Action Network International

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Why Sustainable Development Makes Good Business Sense  
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the fundamental cornerstone to secure future economic and business growth by eradicating poverty in an inclusive way, while protecting the environment.

It is not possible to have a strong, functioning business in a world of increasing inequality, poverty and climate change. Business has the unique opportunity to embrace the SDG agenda and recognize it as a driver of business strategies, innovation and investment decisions. Doing so makes business sense and will give them an edge over their competitors.

The SDGs offer the greatest economic opportunity of our lifetime. With an estimated investment of $2-3 trillion a year, the potential value that can be unlocked for society will be immense. In some sectors it is estimated to be worth hundreds of billions, and even more in others. This is a very high payout for this global agenda and markets are already starting to react.

We have seen this on climate action, which influence 13 of the 17 SDGs, where business that actively take into account this issue enjoy 18 percent higher returns on investment. The 2015 Paris Agreement sent a clear sign that the governments of this world are committed to decarbonize our economies and this is felt in banks, stock exchanges, and boardrooms. It is a sign that the private sector is starting to embrace the business case for a rapid transition to a low carbon world, which will be discussed this week at the Business & Climate Summit in London, but more needs to be done. This is the spirit we also need for the SDGs.

Unilever set out on that journey in 2010 with the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, is our blueprint for sustainable growth whose goals mirror those of the SDGs. The USLP is proving that there is no trade-off between sustainability and profitable growth. We now see, for example, that our Sustainable Living brands are growing 30 percent faster than the rest of the company. These brands have integrated sustainability into both their purpose and products, and are thereby contributing to driving critical progress against the SDGs.

To give you one example -- simply by developing innovative washing products that require less water, women in developing countries need to spend less time collecting water, and have more free time for education, jobs and child care. This is especially true in parts of Africa and Asia where they can walk up to six kilometers a day to the nearest water source.

The path to get where we stand today has not been easy. We had to convince our shareholders and investors that sustainability was the way forward and could generate real value for Unilever.

Part of this process meant doing away with quarterly annual reports. Why? Because the issues we are trying to confront with our business model and through partnerships -- food security, sanitation, employment, climate change -- cannot be solved by quarterly reporting. They require longer-term solutions and value creation, and not 90-day pressures.

Not everyone was happy with that approach at first, but 85 percent of our investors now see the USLP as a driver of long-term value creation and 70 percent of our investors have held shares for more than three years -- at a time when global holding periods have become shorter and shorter. This was unthinkable a few years ago.

Purpose has always been part of Unilever's DNA. Our founder William Lever built a business around the sale of Lifebuoy soap that was not only profitable and sustainable, but also helped transform the health of the poor in Victorian Britain. It was time to re-embed this to the heart of the company.

Fortunately, we are not alone. More and more businesses are seeing the potential of a more sustainable business model, driven both by the firm belief that business can be a force for good, and by the realization that the cost of inaction often exceeds the cost of action -- notably when it comes to the growing threat of climate change and water scarcity.

Sustainability after all is no longer a niche issue. 54 percent of consumers want to buy more sustainably. Many already are. Consumers in both emerging and developed markets want it all -- high-performing products, the right price and a purpose that they can connect with.

Regrettably, however, we are not yet seeing the scale and speed we need. There is still too much reluctance by business leaders and investors to fully embrace the change to this new type of business model. The focus still tends to be on occasional corporate social responsibility (CSR), rather than embedding sustainability at the core of their business. They need to realize that the potential gains from working sustainably are huge, and that this approach needs to be more than a simple CSR exercise.

That is why the role of the Business & Sustainable Development Commission is so important. The Business Commission will quantify the enormous rewards to business that take a lead in sustainable development in all major sectors. This will help drive action at scale and speed by business, accelerating the contribution the private sector can bring to a more equitable, sustainable and inclusive world.

This is a time, like no other in history, when business needs to show the courage to adopt strategies that create long-term value for their companies and for the societies they serve. This is the time to create a brighter future for all.

This blog piece was originally written for the Business & Sustainable Development Commission website, published on 29th June 2016.

Paul Polman is CEO of Unilever and Chairman of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. You can follow Paul on Twitter @PaulPolman and on LinkedIn.

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How Food Can Save the World  
Just two weeks ago today, I was leaving one of the most enormous feasts of my lifetime. Engorged and almost bursting, I was finishing a two-day Nordic intellectual smörgåsbord at the 2016 EAT Stockholm Food Forum. A gathering of 500 of the planet's leaders in the fields of food, health and sustainability from the worlds of science, civil society, the private sector and policy -- this was a two day banquet of ideas, solutions and points of action.

The third iteration of this worldwide gathering, the concept is simple genius -- my favourite kind. Bring together innovators, leaders and forward thinkers who usually never meet but are working on interrelated, global challenges -- food systems, climate change, food security, global health and sustainable development. Put them in one room and get them to share ideas, share stories and hopefully reshape the broken systems driving our planetary shortcomings.

Jamie Oliver talked of a Food Revolution; Michael Pollan challenged the culture of food waste; Dr Francesco Branca of the World Health Organization called on the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition; Mark Watts presented a new urban blueprint for planetary and human health; and of course EAT Founder Dr. Gunhild Stordalen challenged the entire globe to step up, step out of our comfort zone, and cook up something new.

To summarize this two-day long lunch in a thousand words is impossible -- but instead I will provide a tasting menu of take-aways.

Here are just four game-changing ideas from Eating in Stockholm.

1. Accept complexity.

The world is complex -- beyond imagination. As someone who works at the global level in health, it is clearer every day that I know less and less. The world is more complex and interconnected than I had ever thought -- or could even imagine. Whether it's health, or food systems, or cities, or climate change -- each of these is a lifetime of understanding and yet each of these are evolving every day, and interconnected in every way.

We cannot try to understand everything, or even understand the complexity itself. We must simply accept this and instead of talking about complexity, or worse being paralyzed by it, embrace it, thrive on it, be fascinated by it -- and look beyond it.

Because the challenges might be endlessly complex, but the macro solutions can be very simple.

2. Seek simplicity.

Here is the exciting part: The complexity of connections and seemingly endless noise become manageable as "super wicked" problems converge toward solutions.

Whether it is climate change, food shortages, the global obesity epidemic, water crises, ocean sustainability, even geopolitical conflicts -- many or most are interlinked and therefore present common opportunities for co-mitigation.

The best part: many of these powerful links culminate at our food system. The way we subsidize, grow, trade, cook, process, waste, and eat food is where many of these challenges are born, amplify, globalize -- and where their solutions also lie.

In this context, we must seek these converging solutions and scale them.

Simple messages like "zero waste." We throw away or lose one-in-three mouthfuls of food each day, worldwide. Food that takes money to grow that could otherwise drive economic development and pull millions out of poverty. Food that takes water to thrive, that could otherwise stay in our aquifers and support biodiversity. Food that produces carbon to make, process and transport, carbon from a food system that already produces more emissions than any other sector, driving dangerous climate change. Seafood that could continue to sustain the ecosystems of the planet's oceans. And food that could be feeding the half a billion on our planet that go hungry each day.

The message is not about solving the 10 greatest challenges, it is simple: Zero waste. The rest will then come. And this is just one example.

3. Leverage connections.

From overwhelming complexity, to converging and focused solutions. Building on the macro links, we must next find points and platforms for driving implementation. At the EAT forum, three came through loud and clear.

The first is cities. More than half the world now lives in cities, for the first time in human history. While they may be a driver for many of the aforementioned problems, having large numbers of humans in a small space also presents profound opportunities. Through the C40 network, EAT is launching an urban food network. The idea is to connect forward-thinking cities from around the planet to share ideas, drive innovation and keep each other accountable to implementing food-focused solutions. Ensure cities become hubs of delicious health, not nutrition-driven diseases.

The second is the food system itself. We might think this means farmers -- and they are at the epicenter -- but it actually means much more. Bringing together those charged with setting trade and investment policies, those that produce food including the half a billion small-holder farmers on the planet, those that process and market and sell foods, those that transport it, those that cook and even us -- those that eat it. Thinking across the food chain from field to fork, or even fiscal to fork if you include the actors responsible for commodifying our food, is essential to making our food systems healthier, and sustainable. An action done in one link of the chain will have effects elsewhere, and so taking a "whole of food system" approach is key.

The last is the connection between the food system and ourselves -- diets. Through something we all did up to three times today, across 7.4 billion plates on this planet, we have an unprecedented opportunity for collective impact and positive change. One gram less of meat, or waste, or carbon might become 21 billion over a single daytime. We might feel like the quick fixes to our biggest challenges are beyond our reach, but maybe they're actually on our plates. Governments, organizations and individuals around the world are working overtime to find ways to build solutions into our diets, and to nudge consumers to think, talk, cook and eat more sustainably.

4. Take action today.

The final morsel of food for thought was to move from contemplation to action. It's time to quit perusing the menu, and go straight to the main course. As the United Nations declares a Decade of Action on Nutrition, as our global population moves from 50% urban to 70% urban over the coming decades, as food systems and diets become the leading risks to our planet's health, and the health of all mankind, there has never been a better -- or more crucial -- time to act.

Whether it's as an individual, an organization or a population, so much can be done today. By each of us.

Vote with your fork -- eat thoughtfully, waste less, buy food not products, limit your meat and eat a diverse range of colorful fruit and veg. Eat as a family, make time to cook with your kids, provide a flexible workspace for your employees to be able to breastfeed with confidence or finish in time to make dinner with children, encourage and support good food at the schools and workplaces around you, and use food to connect with others -- starting with your neighbors.

Finally, don't just vote with your fork -- but vote with your vote. Think about food, food policy and how food can be leveraged for collective gain when next you're at the polls. If those you can vote for aren't yet talking sustainable, healthy diets -- they soon will be. The biggest change will come through strong, effective policy to change the food environments and dietary determinants.

Food is our most powerful narrative.

When we look across our major global challenges -- and we have some very serious ones -- it can seem overwhelmingly complex to the point we lose our appetites for action. Climate change is happening around us. Water shortages affect 330 million people in India. Two billion of us wake up every day overweight and yet half a billion continue to go hungry. The Great Barrier Reef is under severe stress. Some estimate we have more plastic in our world's oceans than fish. War and conflict seem a daily presence in our media.

The world is a buzz of depressing, seemingly hopeless, diverging challenges.

But I challenge you.

Look beyond the buzz. Don't be distracted from the micro, look at the bigger picture. What becomes clear?

All of these challenges relate back to something simple. Something many of us enjoy every day. Something we all seek, obsess over, photograph and devour.

Food.

Over-consumed, often wasted, poorly managed and needlessly unhealthy. We cannot solve the world's problems, without first solving food. Or another view: food is our best opportunity for getting our planet back on track.

Bon appétit.

This column post was written by Dr Alessandro Demaio in his personal capacity. The views, opinions and positions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not reflect the views of any third party. Additionally, those providing comments on this blogs are doing so in their personal capacity, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of the author.

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UK's oldest deep-water Marine Protected Area successfully protects coral reefs  
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What Brexit Means For The Oceans  


Last week, voters in the United Kingdom narrowly voted to leave the European Union. The national referendum, dubbed "Brexit," had an immediate, negative impact on global markets and raised significant doubts about the future of the European Union. But whether or not one supported Brexit (Oceana took no position on the referendum), the exit of Britain from Europe is creating new uncertainties for ocean conservation.

The European Union has a Common Fishery Policy (CFP), meaning that the countries of the EU administer and regulate their fisheries as a cohesive whole. By catch weight (as reported to the FAO from 2005-2014), the 28 country EU ranks as the third largest ocean fishing entity in the world. It's also the single largest global market for fisheries and aquaculture products. The development of the CFP therefore represents one of the world's biggest policy achievements in ocean conservation. European oceans will be scientifically managed because of the CFP, with the EU prioritizing responsible policies focused on the long-term viability of European fisheries.

In the past, the UK's citizens have been constructive allies in the European battle for sustainable fishery policy. "Hugh's Fish Fight" -- a campaign by UK chef, broadcaster and campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, is one example of this. The campaign generated nearly a million (mostly British) signatures on a petition to stop fish discards. Aghast at the extent of wasted catch in European fisheries, "Hugh's Fish Fight" and the citizen activism it inspired helped lead to Europe's ban on discards.

Domestically, the CFP will no longer apply in the UK after Brexit, and it is unclear what might replace it. The Leave campaign used CFP and fisheries in general as an example of how the EU has been a destructive force for the UK. Nigel Farage, the former commodity broker who leads the UK Independence Party, staged a protest against the EU onboard commercial fishing vessels, sailing up the Thames to be photographed by the Houses of Parliament the week before the vote. At the same time, a very vocal part of the fishing industry supported Leave and will now likely try to weaken ocean protections, rejecting scientific fishing regulations as relics of the despised -- and now rejected -- EU bureaucracy.

Britain's planned departure from the European Union creates uncertainty about the future of shared fish stocks and ocean ecosystems. The UK will have to negotiate new terms for its fisheries with the EU and with other countries in whose waters they are currently fishing.

The UK's exit from the European Union will likely take years to complete, and the path forward is uncertain. However, whatever the future of the United Kingdom, I can assure you that the campaigners, advocates, scientists and leaders at Oceana will continue to push for the policies we need to restore healthy European oceans.

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Our ancestors evolved faster after dinosaur extinction  
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Puma made a shoe celebrating BMW's bizarre fabric-covered concept car  

Puma has collaborated with Designworks — BMW's for-hire design agency — to make a new shoe that pays homage to one of the stranger concept cars of the last decade.

The X-CAT DISC takes styling cues from BMW's GINA Light Visionary Model that debuted in 2008, a roadster with a seamless, silvery fabric pulled taut over a substructure where you'd normally expect metal panels. The car was ridiculous in all the ways you want a true concept car to be: when the swing doors opened, the cloth simply bunched up; when the headlights weren't needed, they disappeared behind cloth "eyelids." Whether you liked the design, you had to give credit to BMW for doing something radically different.

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Sleep is Good for the Waistline  


You are likely to have heard Americans are getting fatter. Eating fast and processed foods and a sedentary lifestyle are likely contributors. Today, almost 70% of Americans are overweight and this is a public health disaster. Officials in New York City sounded the alarm and intervened by banning trans fats but that is hardly enough. It is recognized that there are many other causes. By definition, you are considered obese if your body mass index is over 30.

Another prevalent health issue in the US is problems with sleeping. Almost 20 million people have sleep apnea and about one third of Americans are not getting enough sleep. There is also a high association between sleep disorders and being overweight. But did you know that almost 80% of overweight adults report sleep problems? A study followed women for 16 years and found that those sleeping less than 5 hours a night had a 30% greater chance of gaining 30 lbs or more over that time. How is that for a correlation!

Sleep deprivation has many effects including increasing irritability, memory issues, reduced immune function, risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity. The connection between obesity and sleep has been reported many times. Predictably, sleepy people are apt to not exercise regularly. Reduced activity with even consistent caloric intake can pile on the pounds. On top of this, our bodies own metabolism works against us.

Hormonal changes are induced during sleep deprivation. The so called hunger hormones, leptin and ghrelin are appetite stimulating hormones whose levels are altered in sleep-deprived individuals. So when you are tired, the signals are interpreted as being hungry and you eat! It turns out that hunger and sleep induced fatigue alters the physiology of humans similarly.

Our brains also make a chemical called endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol or 2-AG. You might have guessed it is chemically related to the active chemical in marijuana and has some of the same effects. It is likely that the cause of the hunger arising from limited sleep is similar to the munchies from smoking pot. 2-AG is associated with pleasure and appetite and is elevated in those that are sleep deprived stimulating the brain's reward system. Researchers found that restricting sleep from eight and one half to four and one half hours, led to the consumption of an extra 1000 calories in the form of "fatty rewarding snacks" during the evening. These results provide obvious implications for weight gain from sleep deprivation.

Hunger correlates with 2-AG levels observed in the blood. Sleep deprived individuals had levels of 2-AG that were one third higher than those with a full night's sleep. For those sleeping normally, 2-AG builds during the day peaking in the early afternoon, while those with limited sleep maintained high levels of 2-AG well into the evening. Therefore 2-AG maybe a new target for therapy to prevent weight gain.

There is also hope in taking advantage of this connection between weight and sleep behavior. If you can achieve more normal sleep, this may help you with weight loss and vice versa.

Medical Discovery News is hosted by professors Norbert Herzog at Quinnipiac University, and David Niesel of the University of Texas Medical Branch. Learn more at www.medicaldiscoverynews.com.

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LG's flexible pressure sensors could help chairs adjust themselves  

LG's materials and components subsidiary, LG Innotek, has developed a new type of flexible, textile pressure sensor. The company has yet to commercialize the technology, but says it could be used in a number of industries, including healthcare and car manufacturing. The company points out that current pressure sensors are all inflexible and stiff, whereas LG's new design is made from a flexible, elastic material that means they can be seamlessly integrated into other products. It also detects pressure across the whole of its exterior — not just in specific points.

The company mentions a number of possible use cases for the pressure sensors, including:

• Healthcare. For example, pressure-sensitive shoes or even a whole carpet that...

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Things you can't do in Oklahoma

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SLS, as it's ...

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Beyond Sightseeing: You'll Love The Sound Of America's Best Parks  

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Image credit: Duke University

 
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What happens when you steam a planet?  

Full Text:

There are reasons to be interested in the other worlds even if they couldn't possibly harbor life. The hot, rocky planets, for example, offer rare and precious clues to the character and evolution of the early Earth. Numerical models show these exoplanets can change their chemistry by vaporizing rock-forming elements in steam atmospheres that are then partially lost to space.

Image credit: NASA

 
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Do you know this Tortoise is in Nigeria? Aldabrachelys gigantea.#CITES Appendix II Endangered species #WildlifeNG https://t.co/p4vRiOVTcI 
https://t.co/p4vRiOVTcI 

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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedaily.com%2Freleases%2F2016%2F06%2F160628221717.htm&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Baby fish lose poisonous protectors in acidified oceans  
A common close partnership which sees baby fish sheltering from predators among the poisonous tentacles of jellyfish will be harmed under predicted ocean acidification, a new study has found.  
gaia  

%feed  
http://redirect.viglink.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedaily.com%2Freleases%2F2016%2F06%2F160628221714.htm&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Humans artificially drive evolution of new species  
Species across the world are rapidly going extinct due to human activities, but humans are also causing rapid evolution and the emergence of new species. A new study summarizes the causes of humanmade speciation, and discusses why newly evolved species cannot simply replace extinct wild species.  
gaia  

%feed  
http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/booster-test-for-space-launch-system-rocket-1  
Booster Test for Space Launch System Rocket  
The second and final qualification motor (QM-2) test for the Space Launch System's booster is seen, Tuesday, June 28, 2016, at Orbital ATK Propulsion Systems test facilities in Promontory, Utah. During the Space Launch System flight the boosters will provide more than 75 percent of the thrust needed to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth.  
astronomy  

%feed  
http://movieposteroftheday.tumblr.com/post/146620346802  
1968 Belgian poster for THE PRODUCERS (Mel Brooks, USA,...  

1968 Belgian poster for THE PRODUCERS (Mel Brooks, USA, 1967)

Designer: unknown

Poster source: Posteritati

Happy 90th Birthday Mel Brooks!

 
culture  

%feed  
http://insider.si.edu/2016/06/air-space-museum-boeing-milestones-flight-hall-reopens-july-1/  
Air and Space Museum's “Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall” Reopens July 1!  

The National Air and Space Museum will reopen the “Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall” July 1 in conjunction with the museum's 40th anniversary. The two-year renovation of the hall was made possible by a gift from Boeing. Several of the museum's most iconic artifacts will remain on view, and new ones have been added. The installation will also introduce GO FLIGHT, a digital experience designed to allow visitors to make connections with and between artifacts and to share the national collection beyond the walls of the museum.

A ceremony at 8:30 p.m. will celebrate the anniversary and reopening. “All Night at the Museum” will begin at 9 p.m. and will include activities throughout the night concluding at 10 a.m. July 2. To learn more, visit http://airandspace.si.edu/events/40th-birthday/.

This video shows the Smithsonian's Digitization Program Office 3D scanning three Milestones of Flight Aircraft at the National Air and Space Museum: Spirit of St. Louis, Bell X-1 and SpaceShipOne. Look for these models soon on http://3d.si.edu for viewing and download! #SIx3D and in the newly opened “Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall.”

The post Air and Space Museum's “Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall” Reopens July 1! appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

 
culture  

%feed  
http://insider.si.edu/2016/06/smithsonian-celebrates-panama-canal-expansion/  
Smithsonian celebrates Panama Canal expansion!  

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) celebrated with Panama the completion of the Panama Canal expansion project on June 26, 2016. The $5.6 billion engineering effort allows ships with triple the carrying-capacity of current vessels to transit the canal. The enterprise gave Smithsonian scientists unique opportunities to study two global-scale experiments: a natural, intercontinental land bridge bisected by a man-made, inter-oceanic pathway. They studied fossils, invasive species, whale migration routes, environmental services and changing climate.

STRI staff scientist Carlos Jaramillo along with Bruce McFadden, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, led the five-year Panama Canal Paleontology Project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation to salvage fossils uncovered by the earthmovers. The fossils reveal ancient migrations of flora and fauna between North and South America and include new species such as Panamacebus transitus, the earliest monkey found in North America. Excavations expose an unusually complete view of the geology of the isthmus' formationthis record of global transformation of ocean currents, weather patterns and ecosystems would otherwise have remained buried under rock and rainforest.

The canal expansion reopens questions about whether exotic species will cross the freshwater corridor to establish themselves on the other side, potentially disrupting the existing ocean ecosystems. Former STRI director Ira Rubinoff argued in the 1960s that maintaining a freshwater bridge between oceans sharply reduced the risk of invasions likely with a sea-level canal, since most marine organisms cannot withstand abrupt changes in salinity. Staff scientist Mark Torchin asks if exotic speciesand their parasites — will be helped or hindered by increased ship traffic arriving daily from around the world.

Nearly 17,000 commercial vessels cross the Gulf of Panama each year. Staff scientist Hector Guzman's studies of humpback whale migration led the government of Panama to propose a “traffic separation scheme” to the International Maritime Organization. Ships in the Bay of Panama now reduce their speed and come into the Pacific entrance to the Canal through a narrow shipping lane. Researchers expect this to reduce the probability of collisions between ships and whales by 95 percent.

To study the Canal's freshwater heartbeat scientists turn to its source — the surrounding forests. The Republic of Panama established Soberania National Park and additional protected areas to conserve the forested watersheds that supply the canal with its lifeblood. At the Agua Salud project located near Soberania, staff scientist Jefferson Hall and colleagues ask how native tree species in lowland tropical forests regulate water flow through soil, help maintain biodiversity and store carbon. The project recently collaborated with the BIO Program of the Inter-American Development Bank to produce the free, online publication, Managing Watersheds for Ecosystem Services in the Steepland Neotropics.

“Climate change increases the likelihood of extreme weather, such as intense storms and droughts,” said Matthew Larsen, director of STRI. “We don't fully understand how the hydrologic and other natural systems in the Panama watershed will respond. STRI's ongoing scientific investigations help the Panama Canal Authority and land-use managers to better understand the range of future conditions.”

Last year's El Niño put the risk of water shortages in the canal into sharp relief. STRI monitoring stations throughout the region contribute to understanding such events. STRI maintains more than a dozen research facilities throughout Panama, including the Punta Galeta Marine Education Center near the Caribbean entrance to the canal and the Pacific-side Punta Culebra Nature Center. Both are open to the public, offering exhibits and educational tours.

STRI's presence in Panama has always been intertwined with the canal. From 1910 to 1912, the Smithsonian's Panama Biological Survey resulted in the first inventory of species and assessment of environmental conditions across the canal watershed. Panama's President Pablo Arosemena encouraged scientists to extend their survey throughout the country, creating an important baseline for understanding the wealth and diversity of the region's natural resources. The Barro Colorado Island research station was established in Lake Gatun, then newly flooded, in 1923. In 2016, along with Panama and the world, STRI looks forward to the fresh pulse that marks the completion of the canal expansion project.

The post Smithsonian celebrates Panama Canal expansion! appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

 
culture  

%feed  
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/112027109460538949/  
// Henri Rousseau  
// Henri Rousseau  
pin-art  

%feed  
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDailyGalaxyNewsFromPlanetEarthBeyond/~3/GJHPWHSR4Gg/undiscovered-stealth-black-holes-hiding-in-the-milky-way-closer-to-earth-than-we-previously-thought.html  
Stealth Black Holes Detected in Milky Way --"Closer to Earth Than We Previously Thought"  
 
astronomy  

%feed  
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDailyGalaxyNewsFromPlanetEarthBeyond/~3/I-_TrKZ8v_Q/ring-of-organic-molecules-discovered-around-newborn-star.html  
Precursor to Life? --"Ring of Organic Molecules Discovered Around Newborn Star"  
 
astronomy  

%feed  
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDailyGalaxyNewsFromPlanetEarthBeyond/~3/MDw0H1UOwXg/dark-moon-of-dwarf-planet-makemake-proves-still-wild-things-to-be-discovered.html  
Dark Moon of Dwarf Planet Makemake --"Proves Still Wild Things to be Discovered"  
 
astronomy  

%feed  
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDailyGalaxyNewsFromPlanetEarthBeyond/~3/85xUNV3JUcY/most-mysterious-star-in-the-milky-way-we-still-have-no-idea-whats-causing-it-to-dim-a-galaxy-update.html  
Most Mysterious Star in the Milky Way --"We Still Have No Idea What's Causing It to Dim" (A 'Galaxy' Update)  
 
astronomy  

%feed  
http://www.flickr.com/photos/europeanspaceagency/27855476652/  
Underground and wet  

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

stronauts from five space agencies around the world are taking part in ESA's CAVES training course Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behaviour and performance Skills.

The two-week course prepares astronauts to work safely and effectively in multicultural teams in an environment where safety is critical.

As they explore the caves of Sardinia they will encounter caverns, underground lakes and strange microscopic life. They will test new technology and conduct science just as if they were living on the International Space Station. The six astronauts will rely on their own skills, teamwork and ground control to achieve their mission goals the course is designed to foster effective communication, decision-making, problem-solving, leadership and team dynamics.

This year is the first international space cooperation to involve astronauts from China, Russia, Japan, ESA and America, with cosmonaut Sergei Vladimirovich, ESA astronaut Pedro Duque, taikonaut Ye Guangfu, Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide and NASA astronauts Ricky Arnold and Jessica Muir taking part.

After a week of training (pictured), the ‘cavenauts' will say goodbye to sunlight and spend six nights underground, setting up basecamp in the Sa Grutta cave in Sardinia, Italy.

Follow CAVES via twitter with #CAVES or on the CAVES blog .

 
astronomy  

%feed  
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDailyGalaxyNewsFromPlanetEarthBeyond/~3/Yu8oI9a1EK8/dark-force-of-the-universe-totally-beyond-anything-we-understand-a-galaxy-insight.html  
Scientists Seek Dark Force of the Universe --“It's Totally Beyond Anything We Understand" (A 'Galaxy' Insight)  
 
astronomy  

%feed  
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/356206651759619697/  
Sacred Geometry Toru  
Sacred Geometry Torus | Tumblr  
pin-gifs  

%feed  
http://wallpapermag.tumblr.com/post/146597575398  
Chris Forsyth captures Europe's overlooked underground...  

Chris Forsyth captures Europe's overlooked underground spaces

 
design  

%feed  
http://borrachas.tumblr.com/post/146615126429  
304  

304

 
gifs  

%feed  
http://www.designboom.com/art/leila-alaoui-galleria-continua-les-moulins-je-te-pardonne-06-28-2016/  
monumental leila alaoui exhibition at galleria continua seeks to rediscover humanity  

'je te pardonne' (I forgive you) is not intended as an homage, rather a search for humanity in the wake of tragedy.

The post monumental leila alaoui exhibition at galleria continua seeks to rediscover humanity appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

 
art  

%feed  
http://www.designboom.com/art/astro-street-art-optical-illusion-loures-arte-publica-lisbon-06-28-2016/  
astro's brain-bending mural turns an apartment into an architectural wormhole  

on the street-facing façade of a residential building, the artist has painted a brain-bending optical illusion that sees a wall seemingly penetrate a deep and dark abyss.

The post astro's brain-bending mural turns an apartment into an architectural wormhole appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

 
art  

%feed  
http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Fmary-ellen-harte%2Fclimate-change-this-week_b_10725198.html&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Mary Ellen Harte: Climate Change This Week: Climate Emergency, Pope Francis Inspires Divestment, and More!  
Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more crowded.




Saving BUB - beautiful unique biodiversity, like this furry Javanese beetle, is ...

Read more: Climate Change, Environment, Drought, Extreme Weather, Global Warming, Sustainability, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Nature, Science, Technology, Technologie, Green Technology, Technology News, Climate Change Denial, Climate, Climate Science, Climate-Change, Obama, Green Energy, Clean Energy, Renewable Energy, Natural Gas, Wind Power, Solar Power, Fossil Fuels, Heat Waves, Congress, Voting, Weather, Business, Business News, Corporations, Economy, Climate Change Solutions, Greenhouse Gases, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Carbon Emissions, Food, Water, Coal, Fracking, Oil, Agriculture, Crops, Rising Sea Levels, Insurance, Pollution, Wildlife, Transportation, Transports, Transport, Cities, Deforestation, Jobs, Natural Disasters, Population, Population Growth, Overpopulation, Oceans, President Obama, Barack Obama, Epa, Nasa, Noaa, Department of Energy, Republicans, Gop, Democrats, Animals, Cute Animals, Fish, Birds, Activism, Political Activism, Humor, Alaska, California, Texas, United Nations, United Kingdom, England, Australia, Britain, China, Europe, European Union, India, Vietnam, Asia, Africa, Norway, Scotland, Germany, Children, Babies, Children'S Health, Kids, Human Health, Health, Education, Air Pollution, Seafood, Exxon Mobil, Bp, Pope Francis, Soil, Art, Cartoons, Micronesia, Palau, Greenland, El Nino, Extinction, Green News

 
general  

%twtpost  
http://twitter.com/ESPEEGEEONE/status/747950808524853248  
@eter9 E9 dead - everyone locked out - what gives HJ?  

%feed  
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160628141521.htm  
Hubble reveals stellar fireworks in 'skyrocket' galaxy  
A new Hubble Space Telescope image shows a firestorm of star birth lighting up one end of the diminutive galaxy Kiso 5639. The dwarf galaxy is shaped like a flattened pancake, but because it is tilted edge-on, it resembles a skyrocket, with a brilliant blazing head and a long, star-studded tail. Kiso 5639 is a member of a class of galaxies called "tadpoles" because of their bright heads and elongated tails. This galaxy resides relatively nearby, at 82 million light-years away. Tadpoles are rare in the local universe but more common in the distant cosmos, suggesting that many galaxies pass through a phase like this as they evolve.  
astronomy  

%feed  
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160628072819.htm  
What happens when you steam a planet?  
Numerical models show hot, rocky exoplanets can change their chemistry by vaporizing rock-forming elements in steam atmospheres that are then partially lost to space.  
astronomy  

%feed  
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160628072426.htm  
Rotating ring of complex organic molecules discovered around newborn star: Chemical diversity in planet forming regions unveiled  
Researchers have discovered a rotating ring containing large organic molecules around a protostar. This observation definitively shows that organic materials formed in interstellar space are brought into the planet-forming region. Researchers also found that the molecular species brought into the planet-forming region vary from one protostar to another. Chemical composition is a new way to answer the long-standing question of whether or not the Solar System is a typical example of a planetary system.  
astronomy  

%feed  
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160628072249.htm  
Clandestine black hole may represent new population  
Astronomers have concluded that a peculiar source of radio waves thought to be a distant galaxy is actually a nearby binary star system containing a low-mass star and a black hole. This identification suggests there may be a vast number of black holes in our Galaxy that have gone unnoticed until now.  
astronomy  

%feed  
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160627214630.htm  
Astronomers release spectacular survey of the distant Universe  
Astronomers have released spectacular new infrared images of the distant Universe, providing the deepest view ever obtained over a large area of sky.  
astronomy  

%feed  
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160627214634.htm  
Drones to keep tabs on light pollution  
Astronomers have developed a light, low cost system, deployable on a drone, that could help everyone monitor and control light pollution.  
astronomy  

%feed  
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160627214636.htm  
Minor mergers are major drivers of star formation  
Around half of the star formation in the local Universe arises from minor mergers between galaxies, according to data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The patch of sky called Stripe 82 is observed repeatedly to produce high-quality images of spiral galaxies. Disruptions to the shapes of these galaxies, caused by interactions with their smallest neighbors, pointed to increased star formation.  
astronomy  

%feed  
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160627214421.htm  
Moon discovered over dwarf planet Makemake in the Kuiper Belt  
Scientists have discovered an elusive, dark moon orbiting Makemake, one of the 'big four' dwarf planets populating the Kuiper Belt region at the edge of our solar system.  
astronomy  

%feed  
http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Fmary-ellen-harte%2Fclimate-change-this-week_b_10725198.html%3Futm_hp_ref%3Dgreen%26ir%3DGreen&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Climate Change This Week: Climate Emergency, Pope Francis Inspires Divestment, and More!  
Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more crowded.




Saving BUB - beautiful unique biodiversity, like this furry Javanese beetle, is another benefit of conserving carbon-storing forests. Source gbohne at www.flickriver.com

Forests: the cheapest way to store carbon




Locals Know Best such as these Amazonian Awa forest people, when it comes to conserving forests. Source pinterest

OO Indigenous Rights, Private Funding Key To Slowing Deforestation,
Says Norway Minister - Efforts to save the world's forests hinge on securing private sector funds and ensuring indigenous communities in tropical forests are more involved in protecting their environment.







A Lethal Landslide, and More Rain in a Javanese village. Courtesy of @Sutopo_BNPB

OO Java, Indonesia: Massive Deforestation, Heavy Rain Create
Lethal Landslides - Takeaways:

• 64 died in recent landslides;
• 
  
• 1800s to present: Java forests declined from 10 to 0.4 million hectares.
• 
  
• Since 2005: 2000+ people have died from landslides.

Forests anchor soil; remove them, add heavy rain, and landslides result.


When we harm forests, we harm ourselves.

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2016: THE YEAR CLIMATE SHATTERED




An Extreme Mosaic: Heat waves, droughts, and flooding have already broken records in 2016.

OO Shattered Records Show Climate Change Is An Emergency Today,
Scientists Warn - May was the 13th month in a row to break temperature records, say recent data.

It's the latest in a string of climate records this year -- from vanishing Arctic sea ice, to carbon dioxide levels in the air, to drought in India and the vast bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef -- records that scientists have described as a bombshell and an emergency.

Noted UK Meteorologist Adam Scaife, "Including this year so far, 16 of the 17 warmest years on record have been since 2000 - it's a shocking statistic." Fast-rising CO2 levels are "almost entirely" the reason for the record-busting year, with some help from El Nino.

This year's high temperatures so far mean 2016 almost certainly will be the hottest year on record.


Related Headline:




That's Bleached Coral, Not Snow in this aerial view of the Great Barrier Reef, where massive amounts of coral have bleached and died, just one of several record-breaking climate events that have occurred so far in 2016. Source The Centre of Excellence, Coral Reef Studies

OO Seven Climate Records Set So Far In 2016 - a sampler:

1. Warmest Arctic winter
   
2. Last 9 months are hottest on record
   
3. India's hottest day: 51C (128 F)
   
4. Alaska warmest spring on record
   
5. Increase in CO2 levels far more than in previous years
   
6. Australia's hottest autumn (US spring) yet
   
7. Record massive bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef
   

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*

SPEAKING OUT




Not Just The Public, But Scientists All Over Agree - no Arctic drilling. Credit Joshua Trujillo at seattlepi.com

OO Scientists Urge Obama to Halt Oil Leasing in the Arctic - 400+ scientists from over a dozen countries signed the letter, urging him to do so, because of the significant environmental and climate risks associated with further fossil fuels exploration there.


OO Obama At Yosemite Attacks 'Lip Service' To Natural Beauty Amid Climate Inaction - he warned that climate change could ravage many of America's vaunted national parks, and criticized political opponents who "pay lip service" to areas of natural beauty but oppose efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.


*
*



@@ Climate Change 101: Why Care?
What You Need to Know - Bill Nye tells it all in five minutes amid graphic, dynamic, engaging, compelling imagery. Check it Out!

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HOT NEWS




Hot Times

OO May 2016: One More Record-Hot Month for the World says NASA, with record-breaking warm temperatures for the globe; So far this year, every month has been record warm.

February and March set consecutive records for the most anomalously warm month (ie, deviating the most from average temperatures), show data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).


OO 370 Months And Counting...
Global Warming Is Causing A 'Fundamental Change' In The World's Weather the UN warns, as NASA reports the hottest spring in history for the northern hemisphere, accompanied by unusually high rainfall recently in parts of the US and Europe.

World Meteorological Organization global climate director Dr. David Carlson said the new data showed 370 straight months of warm or warmer-than-average temperatures worldwide.

He noted, "The state of the climate so far this year gives us much cause for alarm...Exceptionally high temperatures. Ice melt rates ... Once-in-a-generation rainfall events."




The Heat Is On... Source NSF Centra lArizona Phoenix LTER site

Scientists warn of regular record breaking global temperatures within 50 years without dramatic reductions of carbon emissions, researchers find. By 2061-2080, summers around the world are likely to exceed the warmest on record today, affecting health and food production.






Why Climate Change Makes Stronger Storms -- it's the added heat. Just add heat, and watch things stir.

"We have no choice but to address climate change, or it will address us." -- Michael Mann

@@ Coal Country Clobbered by Climate-fueled Cataclysm

The sad fact about the working class people who have supported right wing politics historically in the US, is that they are themselves so often the victims of the policies their political heroes advocate.

This is certainly true in areas of environment and climate, and yet another of those increasingly common "one in a thousand year" events in West Virginia illustrates vividly.


OO Greenland Was Hotter Than New York City Recently - Greenland, the Arctic nation that is basically one huge ice cube, is feeling rather balmy lately.


OO 120+ F Expected As Monster Heat Wave Hits Southern California




Credit Matt Granz

OO Dangerous Fires, Extreme Heat Causes Misery Across Southern California with 100+ temperatures across a wide area that are fueling dangerous fires.




OO What Would A Global Warming Increase Of 1.5 Degrees Be Like? The difference in temperature of 1.5 or 2 degrees C is marginal.

But what about rises of 1.5 C and 2 C?
The effect on more extreme weather - think floods, droughts, storms, and heatwaves -- is not:
Research suggests that a 1.5 C rise would double the risks of the extremely heat waves and droughts that were once rare but now occurring more often - yeah, we'd likely get twice as much as the present.

Now, add another 0.5 C rise - and the risks double again.

And the probability of even more extreme events increases even faster.




What does a 2 C rise mean for life on Earth?

• Parts of the Middle East would become uninhabitable without permanent air conditioning.
• 
  
• Some experts predict a massive decline in the food crops critical for human survival:
• 
  
• Parts of Africa would see their corn crops cut in half, for example.
• 
  

Two degrees, says Johan Rockström, director of the Stockholm Resilience Center, "contains significant risks for societies everywhere; 1.5 looks much more scientifically justifiable."


*
*

FIXING CLIMATE CHANGE



@@ A Simple And Smart Way To Fix Climate Change given by Dan Miller in 2014 at a Ted talk suggests a way to profit as we tackle climate change, by finally charging those who sell and use fossil fuels - and distributing the revenues back to all of us.

The strategy is sure to speed transition to clean renewable energy. What's not to like? Check it out!

*
*

BURNING UP




Burning Up: 31 large (1,000+ acres) US wildfires are now burning in the west; the wildfire season has grown 100+ days longer. Source Climate Central at wxshift.com

OO Everything You Need to Know About Wildfires in One Map - the new US wildfire tracker map at Climate Central keeps you updated on all, and puts it in the context of our changing climate.


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*

UP, UP, AND AWAY

OO Atmospheric CO2 Levels Forecast To Pass Grim 400 Ppm Milestone -
And Won't Fall Below It In Our Lifetimes says the UK Meteorological (Met) Office, the national meteorological government agency.


Related Headline:

OO Antarctic CO2 Hit 400 ppm For First Time In 4 Million Years and is the last CO2 monitoring station on Earth to do so.







An Increasingly Common CO2 Generator with help from El Nino, which has helped spark wildfires worldwide. Source softpixel.com

OO El Niño Likely To Boost CO2 In 2016 which has warmed and dried the tropics, limiting the ability of forests to take up CO2 from the atmosphere and triggering huge fires around the globe.


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AGRICULTURE EMISSIONS IMPACTING CLIMATE MORE




Climate-Changing Cows are the main culprits, emitting methane as they burp and fart; their numbers increase as the world's appetite for meat does. Source opensourcevegan.com

OO Climate Impacts From Farming Are Getting Worse say new United Nations figures.


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GOOD IDEAS




Beautiful Good Food Source Fully Raw at pinterest.com

OO Going Vegetarian Can Cut Your Food Carbon Footprint In Half says a big recent study on diets in the United Kingdom.


OO China Aims To Halve Meat Eating and has issued guidelines to help wean its citizens onto a more vegetarian diet − offering huge potential health gains and cuts in greenhouse gases. The country consumes 28% of the world's meat due to its population size.

The Chinese health ministry has published new dietary guidelines recommending that people should eat from 40g to at most 75g (1.5- 2.5 oz) of meat a day, which is close to the level recommended by British health authorities to limit the risk of developing bowel cancer.





A Green Way for Wildlife Source firstforwildlife.wordpress.com

OO Natural Corridors Could Help Wildlife Survive Climate Change - Linking up natural areas with migration corridors could help wildlife keep pace with climate change.


OO It's The Economy That Needs To Be Integrated Into The Environment -
Not The Reverse - BP's call for a 'meaningful carbon price' is the latest example of wrongly trying to apply economic theories and tools to the environment.





Source Green MPs on Flickr

OO UK: Retailer Crowd Funds Solar Panels For Its Stores to Help Communities - Marks & Spencer is partnering with Energy4All, a not-for-profit group that helps community groups set up energy co-ops, with the aim of raising £1.23 million to put panels on nine large stores.

Investors will be guaranteed a 5% yearly return, M & S will buy the energy it needs, and further profits will be invested in community energy projects. Triple Win!!!


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MELTDOWN




The River Below - a massive subsurface river of ice may be speeding the flow of ice into Antarctic waters, and speeding sea rise. Source Hubbard et al., 2016

OO An Antarctic River of Ice Might Hasten
Ice Shelf Collapse & Sea Level Rise - as ice collapses into the sea. The discovery of the 300 ft thick moving layer of ice beneath a major ice shelf, the Larsen C, might be speeding its collapse into the sea, says a new study.






It's Melting, Melting... and as permafrost dries, releasing even more climate changing CO2.

OO As Permafrost Melts and Dries,
Its Carbon Emissions Will Double - under a 10C rise in temperature, says a new study that mimicked such warming in the arctic permafrost. In real time, this will happen when the rest of the world heats just 5C, since the Arctic is warming about twice as fast.

As the soil warms and dries, microbial activity increases and starts using oxygen, increasing emissions. Using oxygen results in releasing more CO2, which lasts far longer in the air than the methane released by anaerobic microbes in waterlogged permafrost.

Doubling the release of climate changing emissions will further accelerate climate change and accelerate even greater releases of these emissions.


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GOOD CLEAN NEWS



OO Renewables Will Replace Gas as Top U.S. Power Source in 2031 a Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis shows, becoming the dominant source of electricity generation in the U.S. in 2031, even without subsidies, as wind and solar costs plunge.

Solar and wind capacity will become cheaper than gas or coal without any incentives after 2020.


OO Solar, Wind Costs Could Fall Up To Nearly 60 % By 2025, a study by the International Renewable Energy Agency says, if governments create the right policies that minimize transaction costs and streamline administrative procedures and approval processes.


OO Scotland Exceeds Emissions Targets--Six Years Early - beating out much larger countries.


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CORAL REEF CATASTROPHE CONTINUES




Beautiful, But Can It Reproduce? Healthy looking Carribean elkhorn coral have been found that cannot reproduce. Source www.mnn.com

OO 'Zombie Corals' Pose New Threat To World's Reefs - as if massive die-off from heat bleaching, ocean acidification, and pollution weren't bad enough threats to reefs , scientists have discovered the existence of 'zombie corals' which look healthy but cannot reproduce - they are essentially walking dead, and useless for any hopes of repopulating dead reefs.

Researchers also found a common sunscreen ingredient is killing and mutating corals in tourist spots.






When A Reef Dies, Its Fish Disappear such as this Palauan Mandarin fish in Palau, Micronesia. Source www.palaudiveadventures.com

OO Another Season of Bleaching Predicted for Northern Coral Reefs - Takeaways:

• current global coral bleaching event started in 2014;
• 
  
• It is the longest-lasting and largest such event ever recorded;
• 
  
• It is expected to last til the end of 2016, at least.
• 
  .
  
• Northern hemisphere reefs can expect another season of bleaching.
• 
  
• Micronesia reefs face the biggest threat;
• 
  
• Micronesia depends on reefs for food and tourism revenue.

OO Australia: Prime Minister Unveils £500 Million Plan
To Save The Great Barrier Reef - to pursue solutions such as solar panel projects, improved sewage treatment, and helping farms and businesses to prevent pollutants and fertilisers entering waterways.

Sounds good (except he really can't do anything about the damage already inflicted), but this is an election campaign pledge .... need I say more?

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CLIMATE LEADERSHIP




Four Australian Catholic Orders are jointly and publicly divesting from coal, oil and gas:
'We believe the Gospel asks no less of us.'

OO Australia: Catholic Orders Take Their Lead From The Pope
And Divest From Fossil Fuels


OO White House Commits To Boosting US Energy Storage capacity, as it rolled out a suite of executive branch and private sector commitments to do so.

This will assist President Barack Obama's goals of fighting climate change and modernizing the grid by smoothing the integration of renewable energy and creating resilient backup systems.

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ELECTION YEAR:




If You Don't Vote For Climate Action, You Can Forget The Rest - in a climate-changing world of famine, drought, rising seas, giant storms and heat waves, there will be no security in jobs, health, wealth, or national safety. There will be chaos ensuing from increasing crises and disasters. Vote.

OO Global Warming Policies We Set Today Will Determine The Next 10,000 Years - of global warming, a new study shows -- and whether our civilization survives or not: history shows that harmful climate change has destroyed civilizations before.

This time, it could be worldwide. Let's keep "The Hunger Games" in the realm of fiction.

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NATURAL REPERCUSSIONS



The Carbon Cycle - how it flows from air to plants to soil to air to... Source Kirk et al, 2016, Fig1

OO Alpine Soils Losing Up To A Third of Their Carbon
As Summers Warm Takeaways:

• The top meter of the world's soils holds 3x the carbon in the entire atmosphere;
• 
  
• Losing that soil carbon will speed up climate change;
• 
  
  
• The Alps are already losing carbon as summer temperatures rise;
• 
  
• German alpine soils have lost an average 14 % of their carbon, up to 32 % in places.

The Warming Meadow - has been heating since 1991, and showed over a few years what global warming can do to ecosystems over decades. It continues to serve as a field climate change lab. Credit John Harte

MEH: SIMILAR US RESULTS occurred in the first and longest running climate change field experiment (FD: John Harte, my husband, started it in 1991) in a subalpine meadow in the Colorado Rockies.

From 1991-1996, the soils lost 20-25 % of their carbon, and then slowly rebounded. Now, unheated plots are starting to show this same effect, albeit far more slowly, as real world global warming sets in.


OO First Mammal Species Wiped Out By Human-Induced Climate Change - sea level rise did in an endemic island rat.

An interesting sidenote, but a drop in the bucket compared to the mass extinction of animals and plants humans are causing as they continue to spread, and destroy natural habitat for their own purposes.



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A SWEET SPOT IN CREATING SUSTAINABLE POPULATIONS




Triple Win: Using Profits to Provide Needed US Family Planning - Medicines360.org is key to creating a sustainable US population and bright futures for women - AND saving taxpayers many billions yearly in community costs by preventing unintended pregnancies. Source medicines360.org

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SOCIAL REPERCUSSIONS




The New Venice, Like It Or Not - just one of several Texas towns that recently flooded. Source Texas Climate News

OO US Flooding Costs Will Soar In A Warming World,
Economic Analysts Say - Damage from Texas flooding in 2015 and 2016 have reached into the billions. Expect more.



Drought Dries Up the Promise of Food for this Vietnamese farmer. Credit Kham at Reuters


OO Vietnam Drought Leaves One Million In Urgent Need Of Food - the worst drought in 90 years coupled with seawater intrusion into Mekong River delta have destroyed fruit, rice and sugar crops.

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*

FOSSIL FUEL FOLLIES




OO Power Plants Are No Longer America's Biggest Climate Problem -
Transportation Is. Takeaways:

• US cars, trucks, and airplanes now emit more carbon dioxide than its power plants do;
• 
  
• The US has made remarkable progress in cleaning up its electricity sector since 2005;
• 
  
• Power plants account for only about one-third of America's CO2 emissions;
• 
  .
  
• Transportation, another third (and now the biggest source);
• 
  
• Transportation remains much tougher to address;
• 
  
• And since 2013 transport emissions have been creeping upward again.

Credit Michael Lukovich

OO Biggest US Coal Company Funded Dozens Of Groups Questioning Climate Change


OO Oil Bust Leaves States With Massive Well Cleanup as the recent oil bust is putting oil producing states on the hook for thousands of newly abandoned drilling sites at a time when they have little money to plug wells and seal off environmental hazards.


OO Exxon Sues a Second Attorney General to Fight Off Climate Fraud Probe - following the ancient tradition of killing the messenger if the message threatens you.


*
*



If we do not grow sustainably,
Our children will die inhumanely.





@@ The Cost of Unintended Pregnancy: Too Young

Teen childbearing cost US taxpayers $9+ Billion in 2010
And the costs of raising a child usually ensures decades, if not a life, of poverty for its mother.
- US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Help prevent unintended pregnancies in your community:
publicize where women can access affordable contraception.



Find locations here:




And there are many more actions you can do, right here.

*
*
*

SOLAR KEEPS FLYING



OO Investments in Solar Energy Grow to $9.4 Billion in 2015, Says World Bank
Private infrastructure investment was 72% higher than the average of the previous five years.





*
*
*

WHY WE SHOULD ACT NOW: RISING RISKS




Daily Climate Change: Global Map of Unusual Temperatures, June 28, 2016

How unusual has the weather been? No one event is "caused" by climate change, but global warming, which is predicted to increase unusual, extreme weather, is having a daily effect on weather, worldwide.

Looking above at recent temperature anomalies, much of the US and the waters surrounding it are experiencing warmer than normal temperatures: the eastern Pacific warm spot continues and so does the drought in California, where wildfires rage even as an extreme heat wave occurred.

Much of the areas surrounding the North Pole are experiencing much warmer than normal temperatures - not good news for our Arctic thermal shield of ice. Hotter than usual temperatures continue to dominate human habitats.

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*



There is, of course, much more news on the consequences and solutions to climate change. To get it, check out this annotated resource list I've compiled, "Climate Change News Resources," at Wordpress.com here. For more information on the science of climate change, its consequences and solutions you can view my annotated list of online information resources here.

To help you understand just what science does and does NOT do, check this out!

Every day is Earth Day, folks, as I was reminded by this wild flower I photographed one spring. Making the U.S. a global clean energy leader will ensure a heck of a lot more jobs, and a clean, safe future. If you'd like to join the increasing numbers of people who want to TELL Congress that they will vote for clean energy candidates you can do so here. It's our way of letting Congress know there's a strong clean energy voting bloc out there. For more detailed summaries of the above and other climate change items, audio podcasts and texts are freely available.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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A Strong EPA Delivers Protection, Justice, And Pathways To A Cleaner Future  
Clean air is a national asset and personal right that must be protected and vigorously defended.

When Americans see images of blinding smog and choking pollution in cities from Beijing to Mumbai, they should remember that before the Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1970, and landmark laws like the Clean Air Act were enacted, some of our own cities suffered similar fates. If not for the importance our country has placed on protecting public health and our environment, many of our own hometowns would still look that way today.

These protections don't just happen. They require cutting edge science, technology, ambitious yet careful policy making, and legal mandates to execute, enforce, and defend. That's the job of the EPA. We use the authorities granted to us by Congress to protect the environment and public health in a common sense way. And that includes setting and enforcing limits on pollution from our vehicles.

We Americans love our cars. We've doubled our collective driving mileage nearly every generation. But science tells us that certain vehicle emissions help form pollutants that aggravate asthma and make it hard to breathe for kids, the elderly, and those with heart and lung disease. That's why EPA has set standards for tailpipe emissions--standards that automakers can, and are expected, to meet.

Last September, EPA announced that Volkswagen, the world's largest automaker, was using "defeat devices" on its two-liter diesel engine cars to circumvent EPA's vehicle emissions standards. VW sold nearly half a million cars in the United States that emit pollution up to 40 times the legal limit. This violation is both a breach of consumer trust and a serious threat to public health.

In one of the most creative and ambitious environmental enforcement settlements in U.S. history, we are addressing the immediate pollution issue VW caused and, at the same time, setting a new precedent for long term benefits that can be achieved under the Clean Air Act.

Working with our partners at the Department of Justice and in the state of California, our first priority is to get these dirty cars off the road and illegal pollution out of the air. Our agreement requires VW to give all consumers a choice: sell back their cars to the company, terminate their leases, or, if an emissions modification gets approved by EPA and California, have their cars modified to reduce harmful emissions.

But it doesn't stop there. The settlement also requires VW to spend $2.7 billion to cut health threatening air pollution across America, and make an additional $2 billion in transformative investments in clean transportation and innovation.

The pollution reduction funding will be used by states and tribes to slash emissions from highly polluting diesel vehicles and improve air quality in communities across the country. The clean transportation investments will support the construction of charging stations, public information programs, and steps to improve access to zero-emission vehicles - all designed to lay the foundation for a cleaner transportation future in the United States.

EPA has turned a pollution crisis into a major opportunity to advance cleaner, greener vehicles of all kinds. This is the EPA that Americans depend on - one that is serious about protecting public health, tough in enforcing legal limits on pollution, and innovative in supporting the advancement of our green economy over the long term.

Since EPA first started regulating in 1970, we have seen consistent, simultaneous trends of decreasing pollution, increasing fuel efficiency, and unprecedented economic growth. In that time, we've cut air pollution by 70 percent while our economy has tripled. Since 1980, national average ozone levels have gone down 33 percent. From 1990 to 2011, emissions of harmful air toxics declined by over 60 percent as a result of EPA pollution standards for industrial facilities, vehicles, and fuels.

Meanwhile, thanks to both EPA and the California Air Resources Board, fuel-economy standards for passenger vehicles are now the toughest in U.S. history and demand for electric vehicles is on the rise.

EPA is the strongest line of defense Americans have against the health threats from pollution. And we are the only entity that can enforce clean air protections nationally when the air we breathe is put at risk.

But an empowered EPA does more than address harm and deliver justice when rules are broken. Our actions promote innovation and consumer choice, and we provide concrete health and economic benefits that improve people's lives - today and down the road.

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Blowing in the Wind  

kathybaca posted a photo:

Snowy Plover Fights for the Right to Exist.

 
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You can be my wingman any time! RaspBerry Pi AI waxes Air Force top gun's tail in dogfights  

Maverick, it's not your flying, it's your AI-ttitude

Today's generation of fighter pilots could be the last of their breed, thanks to an AI system dubbed ALPHA that's proving unkillable in air combat.…

 
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Why Vice President Biden's Cancer Moonshot Is A Game Changer  
In his final State of the Union address, President Obama tasked the Vice President with heading up a new national effort, the Cancer Moonshot. The ultimate goal is to double the rate of progress--to make a decade's worth of advances in cancer research in five years--to ultimately end cancer as we know it.

Since 1993, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) has been committed to ending breast cancer by advancing the world's most promising research. The impact of our dedication is clear: BCRF has been involved in every major breakthrough in breast cancer research over the last twenty years.

In response to Vice President Biden's call for commitment, cooperation and collaboration, today, we announce an unprecedented goal of doubling our annual cancer research investment from $50 million to $100 million, aiming for a cumulative investment of $1 billion, by 2021.

As the country's largest non-governmental, nonprofit funder of breast cancer research, BCRF's approach is multi-pronged: looking at the full spectrum of breast cancer research from prevention, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship and metastasis.

With a bold vision to double our commitment, BCRF aims to accelerate the path from discovery to clinical implementation--improving treatment options for patients faster. We will launch a multi-million-dollar impact-investment program aimed at fostering productive teams to bring lifesaving, paradigm-changing discoveries to patients.

Furthermore, BCRF intends to speed the understanding of what causes cancer in the first place--opening an avenue of discovery to stop it in its tracks or prevent it from occurring--by "connecting the dots" between amassing molecular information on tumors and how that sums together to cause the dozens of diseases we call cancer.

To accomplish this, we will build on our twenty-three-year history of fostering collaborative science to convene and support an academy of biologists, physicians, physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, lay advocates and other dedicated, creative individuals.

The Cancer Moonshot aims to expand the very fabric on which BCRF was founded: to unite with others around research--the only way we'll achieve a future beyond cancer. This Wednesday, we'll join a collective group of organizations that are expanding their goals, working collaboratively and undoubtedly speeding our way to ending the devastating disease.

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Friend Shooting. by Moriken  

Friend Shooting. by Moriken

Processed with VSCO with a8 preset

Moriken: Photos

 
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Colorful traffic at Seoul. by Eno Shohki  

Colorful traffic at Seoul. by Eno Shohki

Eno Shohki: Photos

 
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Miyoko Sakashita: Forget Dory And Remember The Horrors Of The Tropical Aquarium Trade  
Cyanide fishing is a grim reality that we'd rather forget, yet it's one we can't continue to ignore.

Read more: Environment, Oceans, Finding Dory, Coral Reefs, Fish, Pollution, Green News

 
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What is the Value of a Species?  

Let's be honest, these are challenging times to be a conservationist, animal lover, nature fan, outdoorsman…a human. No matter the label, one thing that we all share in common is a desire to feel wonder: a wonder that often arises from experiences in the natural world.

Somehow, just knowing that incredible creatures are out there, moving through landscapes that revolve unperceivably slowly on their own dials, without regard or subservience to man's hand, connects us to something deeper. It allows us to believe that it will all be okay. That life was here before, and so will it be in the future. Eternity.

As such, it somehow seems like a sacrilege to validate the worthiness of nature—of a species—by weights and measures, dollars and cents. Too often we impatiently demand to know what good it does for us, the conquerors, the victors, to whom the spoils go daily. As if a row of decimal points could ever serve as the demarcation line between gold and garbage, your own mother on auction like a prize pig at the county fair.

I first discovered the rusty-patched bumble bee in a box on a museum shelf at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I was there to look at the spectral array of bees that were native to the region. While I quickly scanned the collection like an eager child on Christmas morning, Becky Nichols, the park entomologist, drew my attention to one species that hadn't been seen in the Smokies for years.

It wasn't flashy or particularly outstanding in appearance. Even amongst bumble bees it seemed rather dull and unassuming. Only a hint of a fading rusty band, an oxidized kiss of orange on its abdomen, gave a clue to the origin of its common name. It was a species that was once abundant throughout the eastern US and into the upper Midwest, but then it wasn't; nearly winking out before most people even knew it existed.

There was a stuffed passenger pigeon in the same room, staring off into space with its glass eyes. This was once the most numerous bird on the continent, but we eliminated it before we even suspected such a thing was possible. I wondered if the rusty-patched bumble bee, like the passenger pigeon, was another ghost in the making.

It was at that moment that I knew that I had to see a living rusty-patched bumble bee. I wanted to hear the deep thrum of its wings and know, really know, what it was like to behold its presence. If there was ever a precious natural commodity, this was the currency that held the most value to me. This pivotal moment sent me off along the path of an incredibly journey, which culminated in many unexpected, insightful experiences, and a short film that will hopefully give others a sense of what we stand to lose if this species fades into extinction.

In the film, University of Wisconsin entomologist Dr. Claudio Gratton sites a provocative paper that looks at the economic value of native bees. Pollination services are often used as a reason to protect bees and other native pollinators. However, this paper suggests that a core group of bees are responsible for the majority of crop pollination. We have nearly 4,000 species of native bees in North America, none of which are protected under the Endangered Species Act. If crop pollination is our only justification for which species get graced with our approval to continue to exist, what happens to those that have no obvious value to us? Perhaps, as Dr. Gratton so elegantly puts it, this says more about how we value life in general than anything else.

If you'd like to speak up for the protection rusty-patched bumble, a species that has declined 87 percent in the past 15 years, please consider signing our petition requesting that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service place it under the care of the Endangered Species Act.

We spend so much time and effort trying to make life better for ourselves. The least we can do is make life possible for this bee.

Learn more at www.rustypatched.com.

Clay Bolt is a Natural History and Conservation Photographer specializing in the world's smaller creatures. He regularly partners with organizations such as the National Geographic Society, National Wildlife Federation, and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. He is an Associate Fellow in the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP), president-elect of the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA), and co-founder (2009) of the international nature and biodiversity photography project, Meet Your Neighbours. His current major focus is on North America's native bees and the important roles that they play in our lives. Clay lives in Bozeman, Montana where he is the communications lead for WWF's Northern Great Plains Program. Visit www.claybolt.com to learn more.

 
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Forget Dory And Remember The Horrors Of The Tropical Aquarium Trade  


Dory is a forgetful fish. That's the quirky defining quality of the blue tang that stars in Disney/Pixar's Finding Dory, which had the biggest opening weekend ever for an animated film. Dory can't remember anything for more than 10 seconds, not until recalling old memories of her parents in captivity starts her journey and ours.

Dory's amnesia is funny, and it's played for laughs by actress Ellen DeGeneres. But in real life, there's a darker story about royal blue tangs (the kind of fish that Dory is) and other tropical fish caught for the international aquarium trade. More than half of the 12 million fish imported annually into the United States are caught using cyanide poisoning that stuns them for easy capture but kills and injures millions of nearby fish and the corals they depend on.

As Finding Dory approached its June 17 release, some news articles warned people not to buy blue tangs, which must be caught wild and are notoriously difficult to keep healthy in a standard saltwater aquarium. It was an important message given how Finding Nemo created a huge demand for clownfish in 2003.

But the true horrors of the tropical aquarium trade go way beyond the momentary popularity of any particular species. Cyanide fishing in the Philippines, Indonesia, and other countries that export tropical fish kills about two fish for every one that survives to be sold in the U.S. - and even the survivors are likely to be unhealthy and die early. The cyanide squirted onto reefs also kills the corals and contributes to coral bleaching.

Earlier this year, environmental groups filed a legal petition to ban imports of wild fish captured using deadly cyanide. At least half of aquarium fish imported into the United States have been caught with cyanide, and the environmental damage is devastating, as detailed in the report: "Poisoned Waters: How Cyanide Fish and the Aquarium Trade are Devastating Coral Reefs and Tropical Fish."

Ironically, both Finding Dory and Finding Nemo tell stories that revolve around the main characters or their family members escaping from aquariums. They yearn to be reunited with their family or swim free in their Great Barrier Reef communities rather than be ogled at in aquariums in a dentist's office or research center. So it's strange that so many young moviegoers and their families would want to keep their very own Nemo or Dory.

I get that these are movie characters and this is the entertainment industry. And yet, there I can't help but feel there's an important moment here to highlight the truly sad story of how these lovable tropical fish are captured for the international aquarium trade - drugged by a lethal poison that leaves millions of fellow fish floating dead among ghostly white corals - then this issue might finally get the attention it deserves.

Cyanide fishing is a grim reality that we'd rather forget, yet it's one we can't continue to ignore.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Tracking Human Migration on a Micro Scale  


By Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog

We have featured several episodes about the Iceman, Ötzi who lived 5300 years ago, but whose remains were found by hikers in the Italian Alps in 1991. Studies of his mummified remains have revealed much about his life during the Copper Age, between 3500 and 2300 BCE. Now we report not on Ötzi himself, but on his stomach bacteria, which tells us about his life and the history of human geography.

Heliobacter pylori or H. pylori found in Ötzi's stomach infects two thirds of the world's population. This bacterium is thought to have become associated with humans at least 100,000 years ago. As humans spread to different locations around the world, and often formed isolated communities, different strains of H. pylori arose. By analyzing the genetic information of these bacteria in different human populations, scientists gain insight into how these ancient humans might have traveled and intermingled. These bacteria are only passed between people through intimate contact therefore its distribution is limited to the isolated population. So looking at the genome of Ötzi's H. Pylori, we can get an idea of the people he had interacted with.

It was a difficult task to separate out the genetic information from a single type of bacteria among all the genetic information in the Iceman's body. Scientists managed to pull out his H. pylori DNA bit by bit and compared its sequences to those of modern strains. The modern European H. pylori strain is actually a combination of an Asian and an African strain meaning that sometime in the past, those two populations came together but where and when is unknown. So Ötzi's H. pylori could tell us which strains existed in Europeans during the Copper Age.

The DNA sequence of Ötzi's H. pylori revealed that it was almost purely Asia in origin despite his never having left Southern Europe. Only 6.5% of its genetic information was of African origin suggesting it was likely in Europe for quite some time. This data suggests that there were not waves of migration from Africa but it is unclear who brought the bacteria from Africa into Europe. It is theorized that the mixing to create the modern stain of H. pylori had to have occurred after the Copper Age which is much later than previously estimated. The speculation is that the African strain came to Europe via the Middle East but earlier than 9,000 years ago. It may have been the first farmers who brought the agricultural revolution from the Middle East to Europe and brought their strain of H. pylori as well.

Of course, these are conclusions based on the sequence of H. pylori obtained from a single individual. Scientists will need sequences from many more ancient peoples to understand how they moved around and intermingled. Our ability to isolate and sequence the DNA of ancient mummies and their microbiomes from around the world will provide much more insight into the human populations and how they migrated. Who would have thought that we could use a bacterium to further our understanding of ancient human migration.

Medical Discovery News is a weekly radio and print broadcast highlighting medical and scientific breakthroughs hosted by professor emeritus, Norbert Herzog, and professor, David Niesel, biomedical scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Learn more at www.medicaldiscoverynews.com.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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