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The monk and the multiverse  
A journey into the remarkable mind of the 13th-century monk, scholar and proto-cosmologist Robert Grosseteste  
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What Does A Fish Know And Feel?  


Most of us would cringe at the thought of ripping a dog's mouth open with a hook. Why don't we cringe when we think about doing this to a fish? Our society not only considers hooking and suffocating fish to be socially acceptable, we celebrate it. Fishing shows abound on TV, almost every coastal town holds fishing competitions, and CNN routinely displays photos of fishermen with their latest and largest catch. Fishing is also commonly used as a sentimental symbol of the good life.

Perhaps we don't think twice about the ways we treat fish because we don't really know much about these animals. Biologist Jonathan Balcombe wants to change this. In his New York Times best selling book, What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins, Balcombe presents the latest scientific evidence showing that there is so much more to fish than we commonly believe. And, to emphasize that fish are individuals, Balcombe doesn't use the word "fish" as a collective plural. If there is more than one fish, he uses "fishes." I had the occasion to speak with Balcombe about his book.

Why did you decide to write a book about fish and why now?

As a scientist working on animal sentience, I was often encountering new studies of fishes showing that they have rich, interesting lives. But most of this information was buried away in scholarly journals that most folks never read. Translating science into something lay-readers find engaging is something I find challenging and enjoyable. And with fishes being the most exploited group of vertebrates on Earth, there was also a strong ethical motive to write a book of popular science about fishes.

What has your research found about what a fish knows?

Fishes are incredibly diverse, and many are clearly intelligent. Consider groupers. These large, charismatic reef-dwelling fishes will approach trusted divers for handouts or just for the pleasure of being stroked. Careful studies in the Red Sea have shown that a grouper will perform a head-shaking signal to a moray eel as an invitation to go hunting together. Groupers will also point to a prey fish hiding in the reef where the grouper cannot reach but the eel can. If the prey escapes to open water, the grouper is waiting to catch it. Both species have higher hunting success when they collaborate.

Another sharp fish is the cleaner wrasse. A 2012 study showed that these small fishes learned to solve a mental problem faster than chimpanzees, orangutans, monkeys, and a scientist's four-year-old daughter.

What about what a fish feels? Do they experience emotions?

It's pretty clear that fishes can form attachments to one another, and they can become bonded to their human guardians, too. Several readers wrote to me about the games and affection they shared with individual pet fishes, and one can watch online videos of pet fishes who swim into the hand to receive gentle caresses and other pleasurable or playful interactions.

This behavior is borne out by studies like one in which wild-caught surgeon fishes responded to stress by swimming up next to a moving wand to receive caresses, which caused their stress--measured as blood cortisol--to decline. Stationary wands were ignored by these fishes, whose stress levels remained high.

Why do you think other no other scientist has written this book before?

I'm rather dumbfounded that nobody had. With all the great things we are learning about this hugely underestimated group of animals, it has to have been one of the lowest hanging fruits for an author to pick. The moment I thought of it I knew that it was something that had to be done, and it is an incredible privilege to have written this book.

What is the most interesting feedback you have received so far from a reader?

I enjoy hearing from readers wanting to share their personal stories of fishes, and I find these the most interesting. For instance, I received a letter last week from a woman in her seventies who detailed an experience from over 40 years ago when she used to feed the fishes at the back of a pet store. She had to use a stepladder to hand-feed a tank of Oscar cichlids on the top shelf. Soon these smart fishes were jumping from the water to take morsels from her fingertips. It became a game. One day, one Oscar jumped clear of the tank and made a nosedive toward the cement floor six feet below. Miraculously, a tank holding "feeder" goldfishes protruded from a shelf at floor level and the Oscar landed in it. Megan quickly returned the cichlid to his home tank. When she returned to the shop the next morning she found the same Oscar in the goldfish tank! After this happened three days in a row, she installed a lid on the Oscar tank.

You know I focus on the intersection between animal protection and human health. Why should we care about fish? Is there any benefit for us?

There are many reasons to care about fishes. For one thing, their ocean habitats produce most of the world's oxygen. For another, fishes are a critical part of aquatic ecosystems. As they go, so go their ecosystems (and vice versa). Beyond these practical considerations are the philosophical ones that recognize fishes as having lives of value to themselves. Most of us do not need to harm fishes or their habitats to live happy healthy lives. Today, consumers have many choices in what they eat, and I hope growing numbers of humans will make compassionate, conscientious food choices that no longer support industries that cause ecological harm and animal suffering.

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Frank Ocean Versus The Real Ocean  
It's nice that Frank Ocean just released his long-anticipated new album, 'Blonde', that some say is truly awesome. But the fact that 12 of 20 stories on a Google News search under the word "ocean" on Sunday were about his music and that on Monday it had proportionately grown to 6 out of 9 "ocean" news stories might also indicate a larger problem with our culture, society and survival odds as a species.

Our increasingly urbanized celebrity-driven culture and corporate ratings-driven news media are reducing people's awareness of how essential the seas are to our economy (90 percent of trade, also fishing, tourism, real estate, etc.) national security (we're still a maritime nation) and yes, survival. Over half the oxygen Frank Ocean breathes in before singing some of his haunting "baritone with tenor moments" comes from the photosynthesis of ocean phytoplankton that is now in decline for reasons science does not yet fully understand.

The global ocean is experiencing a cascading series of disasters linked to industrial overfishing, pollution, loss of habitat and fossil-fuel fired climate change. By mid-century, by weight, there could be more plastic than living fish in the seas. The ocean's basic chemistry is being altered by climate-linked ocean acidification that is making it harder for shell-forming creatures to survive be they plankton, coral, crab or clam. And a warmer more acidic ocean also holds less dissolved oxygen. Within decades it could look more like the seas did 20 million years ago, meaning more jellyfish, harmful algal blooms and microbial mats and far fewer bony fish, seals, whales and dolphins.

Certainly the flooding disaster in Louisiana that reflects how fossil-fuel fired climate change can and will put low-lying coastal regions at risk and the mucky green algal bloom that's choking parts of Florida's shoreline are two reasons we ought to be seeing more news stories about our coasts and ocean than we are. Frank Ocean and his family were themselves forced to leave New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. And while no single weather event can be directly linked to climate change, that's kind of like saying no single medal won by Russian athletes at the last Winter Olympics can be directly linked to Russia's state-sponsored doping program, yet the trend lines are clear. Just ask the next president.

As much as some would like to think it's about Donald Trump's policy choices like climate denial, his celebrity status and the media's love of spectacle were contributing factors in turning a former reality show TV star and real estate developer into one of this year's two major party contenders for President of the United States. Still, neither Mr. Trump nor former Secretary of State and Senator Hillary Clinton have mentioned ocean issues on the campaign trail. I don't know if they've mentioned Frank Ocean but I'd be less surprised.

In the past two weeks, I've written about what a good ocean policy for the next President should be (in Sierra magazine) where the presidential candidates stand as best we can tell (in The Progressive) and why President Obama should establish an Atlantic Ocean Monument before leaving office (in The Hill).

I've also helped launch a letter to Secretary Clinton and Mr. Trump signed by 115 prestigious ocean leaders in the hope we'll get a response from their campaigns in September and thus make the blue in our red, white and blue something voters get a chance to learn and think about when they cast their ballots.

But if the media won't address serious issues beyond border walls and emails then we'll just have to continue to work at the marine grassroots (seaweed) level and hope for a breakthrough in public awareness and citizen action. And of course it would help if some of our major celebrities would also speak out for healthy seas and the practical solutions that can still help turn the tide. That bait ball is in your court, Mr. Ocean.

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Can Future Global Warming Matter Today?  
Scientists studying past and current climate conditions mull the challenges in making future warming matter today.  
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Pascal Mittermaier: Cities, Nature and the Leaders of Tomorrow - An Interview With LEAF Alum Orlando Raez  
Orlando Raez has been working in city planning since 2004, but he's been thinking about environmental issues and the relationship between cities and nature for much longer.

Read more: New York City, Nature, Environment, The Nature Conservancy, Impact News

 
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We're continuing this week's focus on urban planning with...  

We're continuing this week's focus on urban planning with this Overview of Washington, D.C., USA. The city's L'Enfant Plan was developed in 1791 by Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant for George Washington, the first President of the United States. L'Enfant designed a compass-aligned grid for the city's streets, with intersecting diagonal avenues that were later named after the states of the union. The diagonal avenues also intersect with the north-south and east-west streets at circles and rectangular plazas in order to create more open, green spaces. Lastly, L'Enfant laid out a 400 foot-wide (122 meter) garden-lined “grand avenue” - what is now know as the National Mall that connects the US Capitol Building, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial (the latter two are visible at right in this Overview). /// Source imagery: @digitalglobe (at Washington, District of Columbia)

 
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Cypress by David Perry  

Cypress by David Perry

instagram.com/pavidderry

David Perry: Photos

 
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Untitled by Dyln Engls  

Untitled by Dyln Engls

Dyln Engls: Photos

 
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Sarah Jaffe by Matt Lief Anderson Music  

Sarah Jaffe by Matt Lief Anderson Music

VICE / LIVE NATION TV

Matt Lief Anderson Music: Photos

 
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Pluto: Not A Planet For 10 Years  


A Grown-Up's View
When I was a kid, Pluto was a planet. Of course, when I was a kid our map of the solar system was very immature. Astronomers knew of nine round planets that went around the Sun, and Pluto was one of them. But Pluto was always the oddball. It was the smallest, the coldest, the last, and the planet with the weirdest orbit. But in my youth, it was always a planet, and I liked Pluto all the more for its eccentricities.

However, in the 21st century we grew up. Astronomers put aside their smaller toy-telescopes of the past and utilized their new big-boy technology. With these grown-up telescopes, we learned that the solar system was much, much more complex. In addition to the planets, there are over 600,000 asteroids of various sizes and shapes that circle the Sun. There are objects that defy easy definition that swing wildly in elongated orbits or hang out near planets or even between planets. Then, there is the big shocker: we found over 1,000 other objects in Pluto's realm and beyond. Pluto, it turned out, was not alone, was not the last, and was not even weird. It had over 1,000 other brother-, sister-, and twin-worlds way out there. There is Eris an object nearly as large as Pluto, Makemake, Haumea, and countless other unnamed orbs plying the outer edges of our solar system. These new objects along with Pluto didn't fit into the categories we set up in our infancy.



Seeing Pluto Clearly
And there is another layer to our solar system, a region even farther from the Sun where a mysterious object named Sedna lives. Sedna takes almost 12,000 years to circle the Sun and it may be the forerunner to a myriad of future discoveries in this region of space. Perhaps a new, never-before-seen planet exists 10-1,000 times farther away than Pluto.

Ten years ago, an international group of astronomers decided Pluto's fate. Pluto was not a planet in the same way that the Earth was a planet. They did not destroy it. Pluto did not fly out of the solar system or get sucked into a black hole. It did not change at all. We changed. It was as if we went to the eye doctor and got new glasses. We see Pluto much more clearly for what it is.

I miss my childhood fascination with Pluto, but it's time to come of age. I know there will be some growing pains, but after ten years let's fully jettison our childish notions of Pluto. Pluto isn't a planet. My new boyish crush is with a true oddball - a lone wolf in the depths of space called Sedna. Let's not bemoan the loss of Pluto but instead revel in what has been gained. Check it out and you'll see that Sedna is the new Pluto!

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Joseph Totten Scientist of the Day General Joseph...  

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Joseph Totten Scientist of the Day

General Joseph Gilbert Totten, an American civil engineer, was born Aug. 23, 1788.

read more…

 
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Water: the commodity underwriting our low-carbon future  
The quintessential first thought when you think of saving water, drilled into us at childhood, is turning off the tap when you brush your teeth. As we age and the world advances -- with a global climate agreement and the new Sustainable Development Goals -- a broader view on water is now mainstream. It includes economic pillars such as agriculture; the immense amount of cooling water that power plants need to function; and the water embedded in the food you eat, the cotton shirt you wear and even the smart phones we cannot imagine living without.

We must now take that thinking another step forward, and consider the vital role that water will play as the world moves towards enacting the Paris Agreement and its underlying promise to cut GHG emissions by the nearly 200 countries that signed it.

Water security - access to a stable supply of sufficient amounts of good quality freshwater - is fundamental to achieving our low-carbon ambitions. For instance, China's climate action plan, submitted to the United Nations earlier this summer, outlines the pivotal role that hydropower will have in achieving its goal of reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Hydropower is already the country's second largest source of energy, after coal, and Beijing plans to increase its capacity to 420GW by 2020, up from nearly 300 GW today. To give you an idea of its importance to China's power market, Bloomberg reports that "hydropower accounts for all the increase in China's electricity output over the past two years."


From Bloomberg Gadfly, China's Fossil Fuel Washout

Now consider the fact that in less than 15 years, a 40% global shortfall in water supply versus demand is expected to materialize if we carry on with business as usual. We find ourselves in a position where urgent action is required, in river basins the world over, to secure the water we need to enable us to meet our sustainable development and climate goals.

This reality is already becoming apparent to the business world, as some companies have found that water challenges have the potential to increase GHG emissions. For example, poor water governance in a basin BASF operate in has forced them to increase the amount of recycled water they use, which in turn is now challenging the company's 2020 energy goal. Endesa reports that many of their current activities aimed at reducing GHG emissions require large amounts of water. Carbon Capture and Storage Technology (CCS) for example, will allow the company to generate electricity from coal with nearly zero emissions, but would increase power plant's water needs and dependencies.

So water, and the lack thereof, could put a halt to our low-carbon ambitions. However, better water management could also help us go further in delivering much needed emissions reductions. Clues as to the opportunities available are found in plain sight in CDP's corporate water data, disclosed through our platform by some of the world's largest companies.

Mars reports working with farmers in the Mississippi Delta to use alternate wetting and drying (AWD), an irrigation technique that reduces both water use and GHG emissions with little or no impact on yields. And Lockheed Martin discloses cutting US$77,000 in electrical costs, 800 metric tons of carbon emissions and 8% of its water usage annually in its site in Maryland as a result of a chiller replacement.
By ensuring water security is considered in GHG emissions reductions plans, companies will ensure that their growth strategies and low-carbon transition plans remain on track. Early action and leadership will be beneficial to company's bottom lines as well as contributing positively to the communities and environments upon which they depend.

While it is clear companies have a critical role to play in safeguarding our water resources, they can't do it alone. Policymakers are increasing recognizing that they must not only work with local water users, but also forge impactful partnerships with the private sector. Our new policy briefing, launching at World Water Week in Stockholm at the end of August, offers clear recommendations for policymakers to consider in the run up to COP22. And this Autumn, CDP will be doing more to help companies take their first steps towards improved corporate water stewardship, in partnership with the We Mean Business coalition. We'll be revealing more on this at Climate Week New York in September. Be sure to follow @CDP and @WMBtweets to keep up to date with our news.

-- 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 Market-Based Strategy for Sustainable Water Management  

By Brian Richter, Chief Scientist, Water, The Nature Conservancy

Australia is one of the driest inhabited places on Earth. Yet nearly two-thirds of the country's land area is devoted to agriculture, generating 93 percent of the domestic food supply. The country is only able to sustain this level of food production through irrigation and an active water market—a system in which water-use entitlements can be bought and sold and water can be transferred from one user to another. The system is working for farmers, but Australia is still trying to figure out how to meet the needs of one specific water user—nature. One potential solution to balance the water needs of people and nature, though, may lie with the power of impact investment.

Around the world, more than 30 percent of all rivers, lakes and aquifers are being heavily tapped, mostly for irrigated agriculture. These sources are spread across 60 countries, and dependence on them continues to grow. But as use grows, so does the impact on people and nature. Since 1970, freshwater species populations have declined by an estimated 76 percent globally. And depletion of water sources leaves our communities and economies vulnerable to water shortages in drier times.

To date, our approach to overcome these water scarcity challenges has been to invest more in infrastructure to increase water supplies, such as large reservoirs that store river water, canals that import water from distant sources and wells that go deeper into our aquifers. But we can no longer build our way out of water scarcity—the cost of new infrastructure remains out of reach for many communities, and there are no new supplies to tap.

Water markets have proven immensely effective in many regions—from Australia to the western United States—for stimulating water conservation and enabling the transfer of saved water to other users who need more. By making water a tradeable asset, the system rewards those who can save some water and make it available to others. Furthermore, the cost of providing water to new users through markets is far less than the cost of infrastructure-based approaches and further damage to the environment can be averted.

Water markets can be especially effective when implemented in areas where water is mainly consumed for irrigation. If we can find ways to save just a small percentage of the water used on farms, it will free up a great volume of water that can be used for other purposes, including the protection and restoration of natural ecosystems. But having a water market does not necessarily ensure benefits for nature. In Australia's Murray-Darling Basin and many other areas with water markets, too many entitlements were originally issued, too much water has been withdrawn from the environment and freshwater ecosystems are suffering the consequences.

This is where impact investment can help. Investors who wish to see environmental and social returns, as well as financial returns, can put their money toward market-based solutions that direct water back to the environment while still preserving human uses. One example of this is Water Sharing Investment Partnerships (WSIPs), which operate within existing water markets and use investor capital and other revenue sources to acquire water-use entitlements from willing sellers.

These rights can then be reallocated to depleted freshwater ecosystems or sold or leased to other water users seeking more supplies, thereby generating financial returns for investors. While the primary purpose behind WSIPs is to move water back into the environment, another critically important purpose is to keep farmers farming. In some areas, funds from WSIPs could even be used to help farmers invest in more efficient water technologies, freeing up some of their water to be returned to the environment or sold on the market.

The Nature Conservancy, through a partnership between the Conservancy's impact investing unit, NatureVest, and its Australia and Water teams, launched its first WISP, the Murray-Darling Basin Balanced Water Fund in Australia, in April 2016. This and other impact investment-driven solutions are explored in a new report released by the Conservancy, titled “Water Share,” which shows the potential to return water to depleted ecosystems in many of the 37 water-scarce countries that already have water rights systems, the basic prerequisite for a water market. If all regions with existing water rights systems could establish water markets functioning on par with the Australian market, they could collectively generate total annual water sales of US$13.4 billion per year, equating to market assets of US$331 billion.

Those numbers indicate the great potential water markets hold for nature and investors, and it is high time to unleash that potential—because scarcity is expanding and intensifying around the globe. But with creative financial solutions, nature and people can better share the most precious resource on our planet.

 
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London / Sunset from Primerose Hill  

Paol0 posted a photo:

Primrose Hill is a hill of 213 feet (65 m) located on the northern side of Regent's Park in London, and also the name given to the surrounding district. The hill summit has a clear view of central London.

 
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NASA tried turning lost spacecraft STEREO-B off and on again... but it didn't work. True story  

But Deep Space Network brought her back online

NASA has managed to reestablish a connection with the STEREO-B spacecraft after contact was lost in October 2014.…

 
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Slow  

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via 500px ift.tt/2bakRjI

 
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The Light Will Guide  

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Do You Read Terms Of Service Contracts? Not Many Do, Research Shows  

During an experiment, people consented to sharing their private information with the NSA, and to surrendering their first-born as payment for access to a fictitious social networking site.

 
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This light Spotify theme for Mac is a tribute to Rdio design  

For those who still mourn the loss of Rdio, Devin Halladay has a solution. The 19-year-old designer has hand-crafted a Spotify skin for Mac, which brings Rdio's best design principles to the streaming service that has survived the booms and busts of the modern music industry. You can download the skin over at Halladay's website, and it requires you to switch your Mac security settings to permit apps downloaded from anywhere. Halladay says there's some kinks he has to work out, but it should operate like a light mode replacement for Spotify's desktop app.

Rdio's shutdown was an emotional moment for a certain subset of forward-looking music lovers. The streaming service was a bastion of an era when Apple, Google, and Spotify didn't yet...

Continue reading…

 
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Sunset HC9Q4168-1a  

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Cheers! by Anne  

Cheers! by Anne

Anne: Photos

 
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Beyond Slurpees: Many Japanese Mini-Marts Now Cater To Elders  

Convenience is in the eye of the generation. Increasingly, corner markets in Japan target the 27 percent of residents over 65 — offering nursing care advice and home delivery of meals and groceries.

 
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Paulina's dream by Rarindra Prakarsa  

Paulina's dream by Rarindra Prakarsa

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Rarindra Prakarsa: Photos

 
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Proton pump found to regulate blood pH in stingrays  

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Researchers have discovered the same enzyme used by “boneworms” to dissolve whale carcasses, and that helps promote photosynthesis in corals, also regulates blood pH in stingrays. The study could help scientists better understand the enzyme's function in human kidneys to regulate blood and urine functions.

Image credit: Scripps Oceanography/Martin Tresguerres/Jinae Roa

 
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Tiny origami robot  

Full Text:

This tiny origami robot is made of laser cut PVC and polystyrene. Once heated, the body folds around a magnet and the robot is controlled using an external magnetic field, allowing it to move around on land or in water. Once finished, the robot can dissolve to nothing in acetone (except the magnet). The body of the robot is made of PVC, with creases where it is supposed to fold, and a magnet. Heating the magnet activates the sheet to self-fold into a functional 3-D robot capable of conducting basic tasks and behaviors like swimming, delivering and carrying blocks, climbing a slope and digging. The researchers have developed three models of the origami robot: A water-degradable model, whose outer layer dissolves in water; a conductive model (aluminum coated polyester); and an acetone-degradable model, whose entire body (except the magnet) dissolves in acetone. The researchers say these origami robots could be used to access unreachable sites and show promise for use in medical applications.

Image credit: Evan Ackerman/IEEE Spectrum

 
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Scientists map migration paths of Arctic breeding birds  
Conservation of intertidal habitat -- 65 percent of which has been lost over the last 50 years -- is critical to the survival of countless birds during migration on the East Asian Australasian Flyway.  
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You vs. Future You; Or Why We're Bad At Predicting Our Own Happiness  

Researcher Dan Gilbert says that human beings are the only animals that think about the future. But we don't always do the best job at predicting what will make us happy — or even who we will be.

 
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Could She Be Hillary's Secretary of Space?  
Entrepreneur Laetitia Garriott de Cayeux is laying the groundwork for a policy on space for the masses.  
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'Cyclops' beetles hint at solution to 'chicken-and-egg' problem in novel trait evolution  
Beetles with cyclops eyes have given scientists insight into how new traits may evolve through the recruitment of existing genes -- even if these genes are already carrying out critical functions.  
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Beetles pollinated orchids millions of year ago, fossil evidence shows  
When most people hear the word 'pollinator,' they think of bees and butterflies. However, certain beetles are known to pollinate plants as well, and new fossil evidence indicates that they were doing so 20 million years ago.  
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FBI Releases Mobile App for Finding Bank Robbers  

The new app enlists public's assistance in identifying bank robbers with wanted posters at your finger tips.

 
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Uber Competitor In NYC Promises Drivers Benefits, Even Employee Status  

While Uber and Lyft both fight in courts to keep their workers as independent contractors, new ride-hailing startup Juno is moving to offer full employee status and other benefits.

 
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On Six Flags' Virtual Reality Coaster, The Ride Is Just Half The Thrill  

Magic Mountain in Southern California has a roller coaster in which riders put on VR goggles to see an imagined world while their bodies undergo the physical thrills. How is it? We get a review.

 
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The Last Razor Repairman In Paris  

In a tiny shop from a bygone era, Jacques Guillaume gets calls about more than razors because there's nobody to fix things anymore. "Today, manual work like this is passé and obsolete," he says.

 
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Microsoft's maps lost a city because it used bad Wikipedia data  

Bing Maps relies on Wikipedia? Even a bit? Umm, guys, you do know anyone can edit it?

Microsoft has laid part of the blame for Bing Maps' mis-location of the Australian city of Melbourne by a whole hemisphere on Wikipedia.…

 
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Wildlife And 12-Year-Old Girls  
Who takes to social media and calls a 12-year-old girl a "stupid bitch?"

There has been a firestorm of activity about a young lady from Utah named Aryanna who has been posting pictures on social media of her recent kills in Africa: zebras, giraffes, and many other animals shot with a gun or the pink arrows she pulled from her quiver. Aryanna refers to these hunts as a dream come true and something she will forever cherish.

Interestingly, she has also issued a lengthy formulaic defense of her barbarism, working through the checklist of pro-hunting claims to justify her young bloodlust: money from hunts goes back into conservation; these animals are not endangered; meat from the kills feeds poor African families; hunters are precise killers who only take the shot when they feel guaranteed in their ability to kill swiftly.

Time after time, Born Free has debunked these hunting myths in numerous fora. We have revealed the paltry sum from hunts that is actually returned to conservation efforts and the comparatively small amount of tourism revenue generated by thrill kills as opposed to non-lethal tourism activities; that hunting disrupts family systems and ecosystems, regardless of whether the species is predator or prey, endangered or plentiful; that there is much more community value from having wildlife alive to benefit local communities in perpetuity rather than a one-off slaughter; and that individual animals suffer from being shot (think Cecil), whether with bullet or arrow.

But, here's what really engaged my interest about this specific girl and this specific explosion of vitriol on both sides of the wildlife slaughter industry: I'm the father of a 12-year-old girl. I am looking at pictures of Aryanna, posing with her kills, poised to shoot an arrow. Here's what I see, aside from the horror of the kill: a little girl with her hair up, a backwards baseball cap, a t-shirt, jean shorts, and sneakers. My 12-year-old daughter, Mia, works hard to get her hair up just right, wears a baseball cap backwards, and wears t-shirts, jean shorts, and sneakers.

They are just little girls. Little girls who are influenced by their parents, by their fathers, and who view wildlife as amazing... just in very different ways.

Mia and I just returned from a week-long father/daughter summer trip to Yellowstone. Mia wanted to go to Wyoming. Mia wanted to see wildlife. And, there we were, hiking the Grand Tetons, looking up at bird nests, and driving through Yellowstone searching for wildlife: a herd of elk; a male with antlers taller than Mia; a lone coyote searching for food in the tall grass; chipmunks scurrying to and fro; and buffalo... so many buffalo!

For more than an hour, we sat watching hundreds of buffalo in the valley below grazing, dust-bathing--just really existing in peace. I glanced over at Mia, all of 12, and noticed the tears. My little 12-year-old was crying, so deeply and personally moved at the experience of seeing these animals--just living naturally and being there, in front of us.

As I read the Facebook posts and online commentary about Aryanna, I was truly astounded by the level of anger and viciousness. The incendiary language. The hate. Make no mistake; we who object to animal slaughter for sport, or fun, or commerce receive the hatred back ten-fold.

At the end of the day, they are, genuinely, just little girls. So, I teach Mia compassion, care, and concern for all living things. Aryanna's dad teaches her to kill animals for sport and to justify it with a litany of defenses.

I believe to my core that we should raise our children to respect other living beings: to protect them and, at the very least, to leave them alone to behave and live naturally in the wild. Mia believes this, too, and is literally moved to tears at the mere sight of thriving, heaving herds of buffalo.

Step one, I think, is to dial down the rhetoric in a significant way. We can believe different things but behave respectfully toward one another; it's what compassion is all about. Step two is a bit more challenging, though, isn't it? There is not a simple or straightforward strategy for changing minds. I doubt I will sway Aryanna's father and I know he will not sway me.

I wonder what might happen, however, if two 12-year-old girls, backwards baseball caps and all, could just talk to each other without external influence... or maybe build a friendship around humane activities. Perhaps fewer animals would suffer and their happiness in life would be equally strong.

Perhaps Aryanna would no longer see a giraffe or zebra as something to selfishly covet, dead, on display in her home. Perhaps she would desire a world with wild animals safe and free. Perhaps she would realize that she could enjoy nature while still shooting bullets and arrows at inanimate targets, just as the archers and shooters do in the Olympics. Perhaps there would be more common ground there than anyone might expect.

Maybe while Aryanna and Mia are exploring compassionate friendship, I'll buy her dad a beer.

Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Adam

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BABY ZEBRA  

Robert Aycock posted a photo:

A picture I took of a baby zebra at the zoo in Arizona. It's a beautiful creature and looks even better in black and white than in color. Then again, the zebra didn't change color, only the background. Enjoy.

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by the side  

thatgirlwiththekicks posted a photo:

 
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Is carbon neutral growth on the horizon for aviation? That depends on your definition.  
In October 2013, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the specialized UN agency that acts as the de facto regulator for aviation worldwide, established an aspirational climate goal of Carbon Neutral Growth (CNG) for the aviation sector from 2020 on. Since then, various working groups in ICAO have been meeting regularly to flesh out an industry proposal to promote carbon offsets through a global market-based measure (MBM) for decision at the ICAO's 39th Assembly next month.

Questions about the likely effectiveness of ICAO's MBM are many. Here we focus narrowly on the potential coverage of the MBM, and how consistent these various approaches are with ICAO's CNG goal. There is general agreement that the smallest and least developed countries, which have contributed little to historical emissions, should be exempted from the scheme. But those exemptions, if not made up by extra offsetting for the carriers that are included, would mean that the MBM would allow emissions growth beyond 2020. The question is how much.

There have been many iterations of ICAO's offsetting system along the way. A recent draft Assembly resolution proposed to implement the MBM in two phases. In Phase 1, states accounting for at least 1% individually or within the top 80% of aggregate international 2018 aviation activity in the form of revenue tonne kilometers (RTKs) must offset post-2020 emissions growth. Phase 2 would tighten the exclusion criteria via percent thresholds of 0.5% on an individual basis or 95% on an aggregate basis. Most recently, a news report indicated that the system may rely upon countries voluntarily "opting-in," with countries like the US, Canada, Mexico, Singapore, and the 44 European members of the ECAC as likely participants. India, on the other hand, has expressed hostility toward to any system covering its airlines.

So how do the current proposals stack up in terms of coverage? To figure this out, we estimated the coverage of several MBM systems based upon different threshold percentages (e.g., 1% and 80%) as well as any opt-in or opt-out countries (e.g., India). Key inputs included OAG Schedules data from 2016, growth rates from ICAO's 2013 Environmental Report and global average load factors from ICAO's Annual Report.

Several graphs depicting the estimated coverage of potential MBM approaches are shown below. The first graph shows the coverage of the current draft Assembly resolution, with excluded international aviation activity (2020 RTKs) shown in dark blue, post-2020 growth requiring offsetting shown in green, and growth not subject to offsetting shown in light blue. Surprisingly, what looks like near complete coverage on paper (~80% in Phase 1, and ~95% in Phase 2), ends up allowing for emissions growth that is not insignificant. Between 2020 and 2030, about 76% of growth, or 17% of total international RTKs, is covered in the base case scenario. This leaves behind about 8.6 trillion RTKs that would not be subject to carbon offsetting.



Why does a proposal that looks like 80% coverage on paper for the first five years end up covering only 56% of international activity? Two issues are at work, both related to ICAO's definition of a country's "individual share of international aviation activities." ICAO's approach is to define activity as the RTKs flown by air carriers registered to a given country via an air operator's certificate (AOC). If a foreign registered carrier provides most of the international flights to and from a country, this can make a decent sized market, like Brazil or South Africa, look small (and therefore exempt). However, once the list of exempt countries is determined, ICAO would exclude flights from all carriers flying to and from that country regardless of where there are registered. This makes sense to prevent airlines that do not need to pay for carbon offsets from having an unfair price advantage over included airlines, but has the side effect of allowing more emissions growth.

A second, and larger, effect occurs if the calculation of which countries would be exempt from the MBM and which flights would then be excluded are not properly aligned. The draft resolution's approach is generally understood to determine whether a country is exempt based upon its percentage share of global RTKs by departures only, or an equivalent value. The current proposal, however, excludes all flights to and from an exempt country, approximately doubling the coverage gap of the MBM. These two ways of defining aviation activity, combined, explain why what looks like 80% coverage on paper in fact leaves a 44% coverage gap through 2026.

Unfortunately, the numbers look even worse for an opt-in system focused on richer countries. The chart below shows our analysis of that system. When only the 48 countries identified in the article above are included under the MBM, the coverage falls significantly; in 2030, less than 22% of growth RTKs, or 8% of international RTKs, would be covered by the measure.



These estimates are subject to significant uncertainty, but clearly even the mandatory approach under consideration today would fall short of the CNG2020 goal. What could ICAO do to plug this gap? A number of solutions have been proposed. ICAO could base its exemption calculation upon all flights to and from a country regardless of where a carrier is registered, as recommended by industry. It could also tighten the exclusion criteria for a mandatory MBM, either by reducing the RTK numerical threshold or by aligning the method of exempting countries and excluding flights. Finally, the system could be designed so that uncovered emissions growth due to country exemptions is offset by carriers participating in the scheme, an idea advocated by environmental NGOs, but opposed by industry.

ICAO has struggled to develop an MBM for international aviation for the past 15 years. We'll know soon whether it succeeds this time and, if so, how close to its goal of carbon neutral growth it comes.

This blog was original posted at the International Council on Clean Transportation's staff blog.

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Sustainable Fish Do Not Exist  

Image Credit: Huffington Post Images

Right now, we humans are creating the biggest experiment of all time. We are experimenting with our oceans, with our fisheries, and with our climate.

When we walk into our local grocery store or fish market, we walk into the biggest farce of all time.

We see a plethora of fish and shellfish. We see the beautiful flaky whites, The thick fatty orange salmons, and the deep red tunas. We think nothing of it. Because they've always been there.

But, this will not always be the case.

Read the book, or watch the movie "The End of the Line" or "Racing Extinction." These movies highlights the plight of our oceans and their wildlife. In fact, the United Nations Environmental Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization, report that we are running out of fish. We have overfished or overexploited more than 80% of our fish stocks. We are running down the foodchain of fish.

We started out with the really big ones, the bluefin tunas, the swordfish, the groupers, the cods. Fisherman used to catch them when they weighed close to 400kg (~900 pounds). Now when they're caught, sometimes they barely weigh a quarter of that.

They are being caught younger and smaller. Even too young to reproduce. In fact, a number of the species have been declared as critically endangered and threatened with extinction by the International Union on the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Metaphorically speaking, eating these fish is like eating a rhinoceros, an elephant, an orangutan, or a cheetah.

And, while we may believe that consuming farmed fish is a more sustainable and ecological choice, and many groups are bent on convincing us of this, in many instances farmed fish are even worse for the environment.

Farmed fish not only harbor pests, diseases, require specialized dyes in chemicals in their feed; but, they in fact consume more wild fish then they create in flesh.

It takes approximately five pounds of wild small fish such as herring, menhaden, or anchovies to create one pound of salmon, a predatory fish. Not only that, but the proportion of the healthy omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon is lower pound-for-pound than it would be simply in the smaller fish.

To further exacerbate the issue, medical institutions and nutrition establishments continuously recommend people to take fish oil. But, this also, is not sustainable. In fact, current statistical analyses and estimates indicate that in a "business as usual" world, we will run out of the fish we eat by 2048. That means, no more tuna, no more salmon, no more sushi. We are simply taking the fish out of the oceans faster than they can reproduce. We are simply consuming fish at rates that are too high to be ecologically sustainable.

Therein lies the rub. There are groups that advocate for consuming sustainably-grown fish; either wild or farmed. But the fact of the matter is, it's near impossible to grow or to take a fish in a sustainable way. In a way, nearly every fish humans eat is threatened with extinction.

And this will be felt worst for those who depend on the oceans for their livelihoods, for their food. This will disproportionately affect the poorest coastal countries and the poorest coastal peoples.

Nearly one-fifth of the worlds population roughly 1.2 billion people depend on the oceans as their main source of protein and as their main source of livelihood.

We are on the brink of a Global food-security crisis. We are on the brink of potentially a global-security crisis. For eons people have fought over resources. This may be no different, particularly when it involves hundreds of millions of starving people.

So, what can you do?

1. Never order bluefin tuna. It would be akin to eating a rhinoceros.

2. Look lower down the food chain. If you are going to eat fish, consume the small ones. The anchovies, the herring; the bottom of the food chain.

3. Skip that fish oil. You don't need it, there's no real benefit, and you can get those healthy oils from other foods including algal oils, flaxseed, seeds and nuts.

4. Ask your grocer where they source their fish. Confirm that it is not an endangered species simply renamed for marketing purposes.


To contact Dana: recipe.for.survival@gmail.com
Twitter: recipe4survival
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RecipeForSurvival/
PlanetExperts: http://www.planetexperts.com/author/danahunnes/

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Dana Ellis Hunnes: Sustainable Fish Do Not Exist  
Right now, we humans are creating the biggest experiment of all time. We are experimenting with our oceans, with our fisheries, and with our climate.

Read more: Bluefin Tuna, Endangered Species, Sustainable-Fisheries, Farmed Fish, Iucn Red List, Green News

 
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How Big, Really, Is The Zika Outbreak In Florida?  

So far, health officials know of 37 confirmed cases of people who contracted Zika from mosquitoes in Miami. But computer models suggest the underlying outbreak in Miami is bigger — and spreading.

 
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Sunset in south London  

bibigrenouille posted a photo:

 
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Demolition order (2 of 3) by Marco Grassi  

Demolition order (2 of 3) by Marco Grassi

I'm publishing three photos today, with the intent to stoke your attention on what's happening to this place right now. What before was the largest buddhist settlement in the world and a remote place out of the modern society where nuns and monks led a pacific life, is now being demolished by Chinese authorities. First, the access to Larung Gar has been blocked for non-chinese residents and every single tourist trying to visit the place has been stopped by military forces and forced to leave. Then, a 7-point demolition order with the purpose to destroy thousands of monastic dwellings and expel monks and nuns has been issued (you can read the complete order here: http://tchrd.org/china-issues-demolition-order-on-worlds-largest-religious-town-in-tibet ). Long story short, by the end of August 2016 more than 5.000 houses will be demolished. Houses that monks and nuns have payed for, with their own efforts, will be soon washed away, turning these people into homeless who don't have a place to go anymore. Since June 2016, everything has changed in Larung Gar, but almost nobody knows about that. www.marcograssiphotography.com FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM

Marco Grassi: Photos

 
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Liberty Bonds: Bringing Ordinary People into the Energy Transition  
What can start a serious and rapid transition to renewable energy and thus to a reduction of global warming?

Looking back to the early 1980s, I recall that ending the Cold War was widely assumed to be impossible. Several changes broke the logjam, including the needs, vision and daring of Mikhail Gorbachev. On the US side, despite Reagan's early rhetoric as President, we had the "nuclear freeze" movement with a campaign of local initiatives culminating in a monster rally in Central Park , plus the publication of Jonathan Schell's book about nuclear abolition, The Fate of the Earth (all in 1982), a TV movie about the ghastly effects of a nuclear strike on the heartland U.S. ("The Day After," broadcast to a huge audience in 1983), the pioneering of citizen diplomacy (early 1980s), an astonishing summit meeting between Gorbachev and Reagan (in Reykjavik, in1986), and "Soviets Meet Middle America" (part of an extensive exchange program, begun in 1988).
I was able to play a little role when a wealthy San Francisco Bay Area entrepreneur and philanthropist invited me to work with him through a new foundation, which was dedicated to the single goal of helping to end the Cold War standoff. When I responded to this offer by initially expressing the conventional view that ending the Cold War would be very difficult, he said, "Craig, I know it's impossible, but it's necessary." My admiration for his initiative led to a pair of books (Citizen Summitry and Securing Our Planet), financial support for some thirty groups, trips to Moscow plus an appearance on All-Soviet TV, and around a hundred appearances in the U.S. by authors of the books.
Along with the street demonstrations, TV, and the rest of the useful hoopla, one thing that was new about the era was a huge program of citizen exchange between this country and the Soviet Union. Watching from the Bay Area, we were impressed both by the Esalen Institute program and by a new venture pioneered by Sharon Tennison. (Her deeply revealing book about this under-reported phenomenon is called The Power of Impossible Ideas.)
Ctizen diplomacy provided what lawyers call a "form of action," a way of doing something. U.S. citizens could travel to the other side, and vice versa. With the help of a Gorbachev appointee who could give exit visas, Tennison brought unofficial Soviets to hundreds of cities in the U.S., where they were hosted by "middle Americans" who brought them to backyard barbecues, schools, houses of worship, small businesses, radio stations. In the same way, ordinary Americans, instead of stopping in Western Europe, could go a little further, land in Moscow, and meet ordinary Russians. Politically, this awakening helped to gave the leaders something to move into. As citizen diplomats used to like to say, "when the people lead, the leaders follow."
What changed was the provision of a form of action for people who would otherwise say, "I know, but what can one person do?"
In facing climate change, rather than denying it or acting as if it's a problem for somebody else, later, can we create forms of action for ordinary people,soon? For example, could there be bonds to support a rapid energy transition, the way we had war bonds (also called liberty bonds) to support the military effort in the 1940s? Such bonds could be bought by ordinary people, and would be used to buy and install renewable energy devices, whether solar panels, wind turbines or other modalities. The bonds would be repaid out of the revenue streams from these devices, and out of secondary purchase of the devices themselves. The goal would be to make these devices easily available, starting immediately after the program began, devices that could be owned, for example, by corporations (which could even be non-profit), municipalities, and homeowners. People who choose to buy a bond will be open to the rapid growth of renewable power and to talking with their neighbors.
This is only an illustration of a form of action that would appeal to ordinary people who, despite the propaganda spread by fossil fuel industries trying to repeat the success of the tobacco lobby, know that they and their children will be better off after a rapid energy transition. The point is, we can't wait for the political elite to act, not to the extent that they are bought off by "campaign contributions" and grotesquely large speaking fees, and misled by the denialism of so-called "think tanks."
In the absence of forms of action for ordinary people, we would witness the spectacle of increasingly less cautious scientific warnings, natural disasters (for example, wildfires, floods), absurd self-congratulation by diplomats as after the Paris meetings (COP21), all followed by panic when it's too late to act. The needs for an energy transition is so much bigger than such issues as abortion, or gross economic inequality, or the other matters that arouse such passion. Of what use would be the "right to life" or an acceptable band of inequality in an unlivable world?
It is hard to explain the lack of action on climate change, which I have elsewhere called the "issue from hell." Is the difficulty because a rapid switch to renewable energy would leave us with less energy than we're accustomed to using, and thus inevitably raise the issue of gross economic inequality? Is it because those who respect the scientific consensus are satisfied to laugh at Trump even when they recognize the shortcomings of the other major candidate? Is it because a serious solution involves not only the changing of transportation, but also the raising of methane-emitting animals for food, and the preserving of rain forests? Is it because of the temporal gap between emission of greenhouse gases and the ultimate effects, leading some observers to predict complacency followed by panic? In any case, global warming is low on surveys of public concerns, after such items as the provision of good jobs.
Whatever role will be played by street demonstrations, to get involved in the invisible war, ordinary people need additional forms of action that can't be easily blocked by the cash of fossil fuel industries. A vigorous program of energy bonds is one possibility. Another is local initiatives, such as the new tribe training.

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Burqa Ban Debate: Full Veils Already Mostly Prohibited in Germany  
Some conservative German politicians would like to see a ban on burqas and other veils. Doing so, however, would likely violate the constitution -- and there are plenty of practical rules already in place.  
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Fear Unveiled: Why Banning the Burqa Makes No Sense  
Calls in Germany to ban the burqa are misguided and the move would do little to liberate Muslim women. The fight for emancipation must come from inside the religion.  
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London Eye Sunset  

aevo69 posted a photo:

The London Eye at sunset, I've left the distortion as is to help lead the eye in and glow lends it's self to this. I love taking shots of the millenium wheel from here its a great place.

 
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Fibonachi by Grethe Lange  

Fibonachi by Grethe Lange

Grethe Lange: Photos

 
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On the roofs by Nick Grigor'ev  

On the roofs by Nick Grigor'ev

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Nick Grigor'ev: Photos

 
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Medal by Asante Gilbert  

Medal by Asante Gilbert

Crown of Thorns is part of series of Photos I did for Afro Musician, Medal, for his upcoming Album, "Thank God". This was inspired by the death Jesus Christ obviously :)

Asante Gilbert: Photos

 
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Untitled by darijit340  

Untitled by darijit340

darijit340: Photos

 
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The $1 Trillion Mountain: The Actual Cost of Food Waste  
Imagine receiving just 60% of your pay. Or when you send email, 40% are never delivered. We don't tolerate 40% inefficiency in anything, yet we've come to accept it with the major resource that sustains the human race: our food.

One-third or more of food never makes it from the farm to our fork. The food is lost to waste or spoilage. At the same time nearly one billion people go to bed hungry every night.



The $1 Trillion Mountain

Setting societal and environmental issues aside for a moment, the direct economic cost of food waste is a $1 trillion mountain, and growing. That's $1 trillion worth of food that required manpower, water and energy (with resulting greenhouse gas emissions) to plant, harvest, transport and sell.

Unfortunately, this massive amount of food never made it from the farm, spoiled in transport due to inefficient refrigeration systems, was deemed "ugly" and unsellable and therefore thrown away, or was discarded by people in homes around the world who didn't use or want it after all.

The Hunger-Money Connection

When you go to the grocery store and buy food without having a plan for what to do with it, you may end up wasting money - a few dollars here and there quickly adds up. The financial impact of food waste, however, goes far beyond that.

Many studies have demonstrated that reducing hunger and undernutrition can actually raise a country's gross domestic product (GDP). A report by the International Food Policy Research Institute showed that for every dollar a government invests in nutrition, it can see an average return of 16 times - and in some countries much higher.

ReFED's (Rethinking Food Waste through Economics and Data) recent publication, A Roadmap to Reduce Food Waste, reports that the United States spends $218 billion a year, or 1.3% of GDP, to grow, process and transport food that is never eaten.

Simply put, if we can reduce food loss and waste and keep nutritious calories from leaking out of the food supply chain, we have the potential to improve the economies of countries around the world.

That is a connection between hunger and money worth remembering.


Developed countries bear an enormous financial burden when their citizens suffer from food insecurity. A study published in 2011 concluded that hunger costs America $167.5 billion annually due to lost productivity, more expensive public education, avoidable health care costs, and the price of charity to provide food for families in need.

In our own homes, the average American family spends $1,410 each year on food it throws away. That's money you could use for household bills, a vacation, tuition, or other expenses - money back in your pocket, just from reducing food waste. Focusing on food waste could yield economic results relatively quickly.

Factor in Conflict, GHGs and the Actual Cost Balloons to $2.6 Trillion

The $1 trillion mountain of food waste? It exists, but this number only includes direct food waste - the value of that food if it was sold at market. The actual full cost, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, is $2.6 trillion!

Further, a 2014 study by the FAO offers a smart, ambitious look at the environmental and social costs of our distressed food chain. It calculates, for the first time, the financial costs related to health, conflict, water shortage, greenhouse gas emissions and more. The study also describes the enormous opportunities available to fix the problem of food waste and improve human welfare.

Staggering as the cost of food waste may be, together we can discover new solutions to this global problem. Tweet me @JohnMandyck to tell me what you think!

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Outreach and awareness building approaches to reducing food waste  
Awareness of the immense volume of wasted foods and associated problems is an important first step to reducing food waste in many countries, and the goal of creating increased awareness via outreach and capacity building is one reason that so much activity in the sector has been underway in the past few years.

Feeding the 5000 launched in London in 2009, and partners with local farmers, NGOs and governments to reclaim wasted foods and host public events where masses of people are provided with free food. Events have been held in partnership with:
• Slow Food and Belgian Food Banks in Brussels (Jan 2014)
• EndFoodWaste.org in Oakland (October 2014)
• "Just Eat It" film makers in Vancouver (May 2015)

"Just Eat It" is a documentary on food waste (http://www.foodwastemovie.com/ ). JUST EAT IT: A FOOD WASTE STORY follows a couple who find it rather easier than expected to survive on discarded foods during a six month period, and was awarded the EFFY 2015 Grand Jury Prize at the Environmental Film Festival at Yale University.

In May 2016, two cities in the USA held Feeding the 5000 events (NYC and Washington DC), ramping up the food waste reduction movement in America. Future events are promoted via their website. http://feedbackglobal.org/events/

WRAP in the UK and NRDC in the USA were among the first to raise the issue of high levels of food waste in 2011, and the SAVE FOOD Initiative was launched in May 2011, with the FAO commissioned report "Global Food Losses and Food Waste" (Gustavsson, 2011).

WRI published its series of working papers on "Creating a sustainable food future" beginning in 2013 (Lipinski et. al. 2013), just a few months before the UN FAO launched their global SAVE FOOD Initiative online community and partnership drive -- more than 700 organizations have joined in to date. The Global Food Loss and Waste Protocol was developed by WRI with stakeholder input during 2015 and was launched in June 2016. It is being promoted now via a new website. http://www.flwprotocol.org

In Germany, www.foodsharing.de and their partners co-ordinate 7,000 people doing food pickups at more than 1,000 businesses across the country. These "food savers" either distribute the food themselves or leave it at designated spots, where it is free to pick up.

The Zero Hunger Challenge includes as one of its main objectives Zero loss or waste of food. "Minimizing food losses during storage and transport, and waste of food by retailers and consumers; empowering consumer choice through appropriate labeling; commitments by producers, retailers and consumers within all nations; achieving progress through financial incentives, collective pledges, locally-relevant technologies and changed behavior" (Zero Hunger Challenge).

During 2015-16 there have been a wave of activities and global, regional and national programs, projects and public outreach and capacity building events:
• Expo Milano 2015 (May 1 - Oct 31, 2015) in Italy was attended by hundreds of thousands of people
• UNEP - Think Eat Save
• EU Consortium "Fusions"
• Global FoodBanking Network (GFN)
• Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition (AAHM)
• Brookings Institution's Ending Rural Hunger project
• National initiatives in UK, Denmark, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, USA, Canada, Portugal, Brazil, South Africa, Thailand
• Thai SAVE FOOD Campaign

Many unique approaches to increasing awareness have been developed. The Culinary Institute of America in 2015 introduced the world's first business school dedicated to food entrepreneurship & innovation. Their slogan is: "We develop leaders to transform the business of food."

WastED, a pop-up restaurant in New York City, was launched in March 2015 by Dan Barber, Blue Hill. In an effort to both draw attention to and elevate the possibilities for food waste, the pop-up serves meals made from food scraps, with ingredients like cucumber butts, and typically rejected produce like ugly sweet potatoes and misshapen fruits and vegetables. Twenty renowned guest chefs are helping to develop recipes for the daily specials (WastEd 2015).

Food Tank (www.foodtank.org) has published a list of 21 organizations that are working to reduce food waste around the world. Food Tank: The Food Think Tank featured a series of articles throughout the week of World Environment Day in June 2015 highlighting different initiatives that are helping to prevent food waste in developing and industrialized countries. They have highlighted organizations working in schools, restaurants, businesses, and on farms to make sure all of the labor and natural resources that go into growing, processing, storing, processing and marketing food doesn't go to waste (Food Tank 2015) and interviewed the leaders of some of these organizations (Food Tank 2016).

This blog post is based on a major review article on food loss and waste issues prepared for the Brookings Institution's Ending Rural Hunger Project (https://endingruralhunger.org/report/), and has been updated to include activities being undertaken in 2016. For further information you can read the original review article (Kitinoja, 2016) and cited reports.


This post is part of our "Reclaim" initiative, which showcases solutions to the issue of food waste and engages our readers to take action. You can find all the posts in this initiative, as well as feature pieces, investigative stories and video, here. Follow the initiative on Twitter at #Reclaim. And if you'd like to add your own thoughts to our series, sign up here for a HuffPost blog account.

Citations

Food Tank 2015. http://foodtank.com/news/2015/01/twenty-one-inspiring-initiatives-working-to-reduce-food-waste-around-the-wo

Food Tank 2016. http://foodtank.com/news/2016/01/leading-a-global-mission-to-reduce-food-waste

Gustavsson, J. et al. 2011. Global Food Losses and Food Waste. Interpack/SAVE FOOD Initiative. http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/datastore/234-1961.pdf

Kitinoja, Lisa. 2016. "Innovative Approaches to Food Loss and Waste Issues," Frontier Issues Brief for the Brookings Institution's Ending Rural Hunger project. https://endingruralhunger.org/assets/files/downloads/Frontier_Issues_FLW.pdf

Lipinski, B. et al, 2013. Creating a sustainable food future- reducing food loss and waste. World Resources Institute. Working Paper. http://pdf.wri.org/reducing_food_loss_and_waste.pdf

WastEd 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/27/blue-hill-wasted-pop-up_n_6949058.html?utm_hp_ref=taste&ir=Taste

-- 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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When Your Best Friend Becomes a Woman  

Byron and Neil have been friends for decades, but their relationship is faced with challenges when Byron transitions from a man to a woman. This short documentary, Same But Different, explores the struggles regarding trust and honesty between the two friends that arise out of Byron's transition. “He's one of not many people that I've just been completely myself with,” Neil says. “That's what I find difficult about this transition is that he has not been completely himself with me.”

This film comes to us from the Loading Docs initiative, which supports 10 filmmaking teams to create three-minute, creative documentaries that tell New Zealand stories. This year's theme is change.

 
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Logged rainforests can be an 'ark' for mammals, extensive study shows  
Research reveals that large areas of 'degraded' forest in Southeast Asia can play an important role in conserving mammal diversity.  
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Susie Lee: A Means To An End, Method 4.0  
I recently collaborated with Joe Freeman, an artist who explores imagined and existing landscapes. We created A Means to an End, Method 4.0, a work that documents rebuilding a tree out of harvested wood in the middle of a clearcut in Washington state.

Read more: Art, Artist, Emerging Artists, Environment, Environmentalism, Deforestation, Clearcutting, Arts News

 
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Thames Barrier at sunset  

cafe_in_space posted a photo:

Seen from the Woolwich ferry

 
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METAL CORD  

jason Buckley. posted a photo:

 
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A Moon's Contrasts  
Dione reveals its past via contrasts in this view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.  
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Rio 2016: Photos From the Final Weekend (40 photos)  

Hundreds of photographers gathered in Rio to follow the action in the Olympic arenas, swimming pools, racetracks, and more. The final events wrapped up over the weekend, capped off by the Closing Cermony in Maracana Stadium on Sunday, and the handoff to Tokyo for the 2020 Olympic Games. Today's entry encompasses rhythmic gymnastics, wrestling, triathlon, mountain biking, canoe, modern pentathlon, soccer, the Closing Ceremony, and much more.

 
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Monday morning in London before the heavens opened  

goldstareagle posted a photo:

 
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Cliffhanger by Nick Carnera  

Cliffhanger by Nick Carnera

Nick Carnera: Photos

 
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spicy noodles by Tony Moore  

spicy noodles by Tony Moore

Tony Moore: Photos

 
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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/aug/22/museum-of-skateboarding-kirill-savchenkov-calvert-22  
Zen and the (male) art of skateboard combat  

At the Museum of Skateboarding, Russian artist Kirill Savchenkov turns the urban skater into a rōnin-style warrior engaged in a boys-only martial art

London has a new Museum of Skateboarding. But before you dust off your Vans, be warned: this is not a public institution on the South Bank dedicated to outsize shorts, broken wrists and the unseasonal wearing of beanie hats. It's in an art gallery.

The work of Russian artist Kirill Savchenkov, the “museum” opened at London's Calvert 22 last week. Addressing the deathlessly hip sport mock-anthropologically, it's an exhibition that gazes back, as if from the near future, to a fantasy New Skateboarder culture in which the urban skater is a kind of warrior monk or rōnin on wheels.

Related: Bristol skateboarders take on 'skatestopper' defensive architecture

Related: Skating on the South Bank: my nights getting wrecked in the undercroft

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studiobird present futuristic sarcophagus coffin at the venice architecture biennale  

a meditative enclosure was developed allowing participants to find comfort within an unconventional place of rest.

The post studiobird present futuristic sarcophagus coffin at the venice architecture biennale appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

 
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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/aug/22/the-papermeal-project-yelldesign-food  
Compliments to the sheaf: food made out of paper  in pictures  

In between their work for corporate clients, Australian studio yelldesign has created Papermeal, a series of playful paper sculptures of food

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Owlman of the Nazca  
Owlman of the Nazca Lines in Peru (© Laura Fafone/Getty Images) 2016-08-22 [www.bing.com/search]  
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Rio de Janeiro, seen  
Rio de Janeiro, seen from Sugarloaf Mountain, Brazil (© Juan Carlos Ruiz/500px) 2016-08-21 [www.bing.com/search]  
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The Florida Retirement Community Designed for Indians  

ShantiNiketan is known as “little India”—it's a small cluster of retirement homes in Central Florida that was planned for Indian Americans. It's meant to be a space for people who cannot grow old in their homeland because their lives are rooted in the United States. “Because of the very unique culture, food, and religion, Indians find it very difficult to retire in a mainstream retirement community,” says Iggy Ignatius, who was born in India and founded ShantiNiketan in 2008. “But for those who want to come here, I can tell you this is heaven for them.” We went inside ShantiNiketan to speak to the Indian Americans who live there, and to understand the appeal of moving to a place that's steeped in the culture of your birthplace.

 
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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/22-28-august-2016/johnson-banks-reveals-first-designs-open-source-mozilla-rebrand/  
Johnson Banks reveals first designs for “open-source” Mozilla rebrand  

Johnson Banks has unveiled seven potential brand identities for Mozilla, as part of its ongoing “open-source” rebrand.

The search for the not-for-profit software company's new identity was first announced in June, and it has been taking feedback from the Mozilla community and members of the public since then.

Seven initial themes were created by Johnson Banks, all exploring different facets of Mozilla's advocacy for shared and open-source internet access and software.

More open and positive message

After further refining these themes in response to feedback that suggested “upping the positivity and doing more with the whole principle of ‘open'”, seven visual identities and their accompanying assets have been made available to view on the Mozilla Open Design blog.

The designs include everything from a simple typographic mark to a modern version of its former Dinosaur logo, and public comments on them are already coming thick and fast.

“Our work on the narrative has changed a lot as we learn more about them,” says Michael Johnson, founder and creative director of Johnson Banks.

“It's debatable whether some of our other clients, either blue-chip or not-for-profit, could handle this but this is unprecedented as an approach. Perhaps it will push others to be more open.”

We outline all of the proposed design concepts below.

1) The Eye

This abstract eye design plays on the not-for-profit's former Dinosaur logo, which is still used internally.

2) The Connector

The consultancy has experimented with Mozilla's name, using intertwining letters inspired by circuitry and tribal patterns.

3) The Open Button
This button pictogram is designed to represent Mozilla's commitment to making the internet “open to everyone on an equal basis”.

4) Protocol
Alluding to the not-for-profit's longevity, this symbol is intended to show that the not-for-profit is “at the core of the internet”.

5) Wireframe World

This concept highlights Mozilla's place within “the enormity of the internet”, forming an “M” symbol out of a series of 3D grid systems.

6) The Impossible

Another simple typographical mark, this “impossible” design gives a nod to computer graphics and optical illusions.

7) Flik Flak

As an extension of the former dinosaur logo, this visual identity builds a character out of isometric shapes, also spelling out the name “Mozilla”.

The post Johnson Banks reveals first designs for “open-source” Mozilla rebrand appeared first on Design Week.

 
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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/aug/22/museum-of-skateboarding-kirill-savchenkov-calvert-22  
Zen and the (male) art of skateboard combat  

At the Museum of Skateboarding, Russian artist Kirill Savchenkov turns the urban skater into a rōnin-style warrior engaged in a boys-only martial art

London has a new Museum of Skateboarding. But before you dust off your Vans, be warned: this is not a public institution on the South Bank dedicated to outsize shorts, broken wrists and the unseasonal wearing of beanie hats. It's in an art gallery.

The work of Russian artist Kirill Savchenkov, the “museum” opened at London's Calvert 22 last week. Addressing the deathlessly hip sport mock-anthropologically, it's an exhibition that gazes back, as if from the near future, to a fantasy New Skateboarder culture in which the urban skater is a kind of warrior monk or rōnin on wheels.

Related: Bristol skateboarders take on 'skatestopper' defensive architecture

Related: Skating on the South Bank: my nights getting wrecked in the undercroft

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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/22-28-august-2016/mettle-studio-creates-wearable-button-carers-find-wandering-dementia-patients/  
Mettle Studio creates wearable “button” for carers to find wandering dementia patients  

London-based Mettle Studio has created Proximity Button, a wearable device worn by dementia patients to alert their carers if they wander further than a safe distance.

Wandering is a common side effect of dementia, and Mettle's design aims to instil confidence in patients' carers. The device works using radio signals emitted to a carer's phone via the Proximity Button app. The signal is lost if the patient wanders, and an alarm is raised as a warning.

The look and feel is simple and lightweight, with a focus on comfort and discretion, using a magnetised fastening to snap onto the wearer's clothing. “We didn't want anything to look too explicitly medical, we wanted it to be a bit more towards the agnostic tech end,” says Mettle Studio creative director Alex Bone. “That's why it's more plain, and we wanted to have all the places and weight on the inside, to make it less noticeable.”

Mettle Studio was approached by Proximity Care to work on the project in November last year, and created the hardware designs and the accompanying app. The UX and UI were created to be as simple to view and use as possible. Bone says, “The UI and UX was heavily geared towards simplicity. We stripped a lot of features out to make it more simple, as the target user wasn't necessarily expected to have a smartphone as standard. We had to assume no prior knowledge, so the app is designed with a step-by-step tutorial and allows you to see pretty much everything on one page.”

According to Bone, the device is currently in production and should be released in around November this year.

The post Mettle Studio creates wearable “button” for carers to find wandering dementia patients appeared first on Design Week.

 
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https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/aug/22/airbnb-urban-planning-samara  
Airbnb has started building its own listings will planning cities be next?  

With a new design studio and a communal house in a Japanese village, Airbnb has announced its ambitions to change the way we live, travel and share space. Some say the company are venturing into urban planning are they?

Since its inception, Airbnb the website that allows people to rent out their homes for holiday accommodation has been a contentious issue in cities. It's a cost-saving convenience for travellers and a money-making opportunity for homeowners, yet a source of ire to scores of traditional hotels and guest-houses.

Some have accused the global home-sharing initiative which operates in 34,000 cities of playing a part in gentrifying neighbourhoods, as more Airbnb listed properties means fewer available homes to live in, thus pushing up prices. Mark Tanzer, chief executive of the Association of British Travel Agents, has also criticised Airbnb's contribution to growing tourism numbers as a threat to historic cities around the world. Meanwhile, a number of city governments have implemented restrictive permits and regulations to curb the practice and its negative impacts.

Related: Which cities have the oldest residents?

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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/22-28-august-2016/work-fiction-think-inspire-great-visitor-experience/  
What work of fiction do you think could inspire a great visitor experience?  

Not to give away the average age of our design studio but we think our deep-seated love of cult 1980s movies could make an amazing visitor attraction. Who doesn't want to fly on a bike with ET in front, go Back to the Future in a DeLorean or shrink in size to meet Gizmo face-to-face?

Just think how great it would be arm yourself with proton packs to fight the Marshmallow Man or journey through the labyrinth to the goblin city.

With strong cinematic plots, iconic music and amazing special effects that live on in our memories well beyond they should for grown adults, this decade of movie magic could translate into an experience with mass appeal.

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I would translate horse racing game Escalado onto a local high street, get people riding large fibreglass horses while groups of volunteers turn a giant cog which makes a giant plastic sheet vibrate and the horses move forward.

This will mean nothing to 95% of people reading this, but for those of you who have never played one of the greatest toy games ever, get onto Ebay and buy yourself one in full working order. It will cure your Pokemon Go habit, period!

It will make our high streets much more vibrant. Town centres need giant Escalado to take up the Woolworths and BHS slack.

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A book I read recently that would be a cool visitor experience is David Egger's The Circle. It's about how a young woman finds a job in Silicon Valley with a company like Facebook or Apple (perhaps The Circle refers partly to Foster's new building for Apple).

The visitor experience is a kind of digital journey from ordinary small town life through a series of transformations to a crazy world of total digital connectivity, where every piece of information has to be shared and every experience is transformed into data.

The data is endlessly churned by algorithms and represented by an almost obligatory social media.

As a visitor experience it would start with an ordinary home from the 1980s and end with an immersive digi-scape where data surrounds you, weaving into your life and shaping a strange and often unwished for destiny. Like Dave Egger's book, it would be strange but all too familiar.

The post What work of fiction do you think could inspire a great visitor experience? appeared first on Design Week.

 
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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nybooks/~3/tYGD1x9-66k/  
Lucian Freud: The Pitiless Eye  
“Lucian Freud Unseen,” a small display of drawings and sketches from Freud's voluminous notebooks, now at the National Portrait Gallery in London, is a small display of artist's autobiography, vivified by jottings on ideas and projects and people, phone numbers and racing tips—it takes us through his life, beginning with packed, colorful childish paintings. Looking at Freud's sketches you feel you are in the company of a man of wit, intelligence—and who has a rather uncomfortable, even frightening power.  
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https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/aug/21/neptune-wildest-weather-solar-system-cosmic-rays-weatherwatch  
Neptune the wildest weather in the solar system  

A new study shows that Neptune's exotic clouds and violent storms are driven by a combination of cosmic rays and sunlight

It is the last stop before Pluto and 4.5bn kilometres from the Sun, and yet Neptune has some of the wildest weather in the solar system. Winds of over 2,000km per hour (nine times faster than Earth's fastest winds) whip up extreme storms, and exotic clouds (made of ammonia, methane and hydrogen sulphide) come and go. The methane in Neptune's atmosphere absorbs red light and makes the planet appear blue to us. Meanwhile the high-level cirrus-like clouds, made of frozen methane, give the planet its ever changing pattern of bright white dots and dashes.

Related: Neptune's first orbit: a turning point in astronomy

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http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/08/22/playstation-plus-get-little-pricier/  
PlayStation Plus is about to get a little pricier  

PlayStation Plus launched back in 2010 and since that day the price has been $49.99 for a year of exclusive content, online play, free games, cloud storage and a handful of other features. Starting next month, you'll have to tack on an additional $10. Current subscribers aren't going to see the new price hike until their subscription ends. Monthly subscribers won't notice a price bump at all — there isn't one. But for those on three-month or one-year subscriptions, expect to pay a few extra dollars once it's time to renew. New membership prices are: $59.99 for one year (up…

This story continues at The Next Web  
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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Fmarco18678%2F28870434840%2F&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Good art is a talent; Good design is a skill  

marco18678 posted a photo:

For more info and stories about my pictures or any questions follow me on facebook .... www.facebook.com/mbontenbal

 
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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdailyoverview.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F149325730359&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
This week we will be looking at fascinating examples of urban...  

This week we will be looking at fascinating examples of urban planning - a major focus of the Where We Design chapter in our new book “Overview”. To start off, here is one of our favorite shots of the radiating streets that surround the Plaza Del Ejecutivo in Mexico City, Mexico. If you have examples of other cities that you think might look particularly mesmerizing from above, please let us know in the comments!

19.420511533°, -99.08808712°

 
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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=https%3A%2F%2F500px.com%2Fphoto%2F168995549%2Fimg-1999-3-jpg-by-li-li&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
IMG_1999-3.jpg by Li Li  

IMG_1999-3.jpg by Li Li

Li Li: Photos

 
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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=https%3A%2F%2F500px.com%2Fphoto%2F168991833%2Fyuangyang-rice-terrace-by-enrico-barletta&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
yuangyang rice terrace by enrico barletta  

yuangyang rice terrace by enrico barletta

enrico barletta: Photos

 
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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=https%3A%2F%2F500px.com%2Fphoto%2F168989819%2Fbarbershop-by-%25C5%25A0t%25C4%259Bp%25C3%25A1n-lohr&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Barbershop by Štěpán Lohr  

Barbershop by Štěpán Lohr

Street barbershop in Hanoi, Vietnam

Štěpán Lohr: Photos

 
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