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Clarifications, Re: Fish Sustainability

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Image Credit: Huffington Post Images

I take responsibility for what I write, always. Therefore, I offer a few clarifications and additional explanations to my previous article, "Sustainable Fish Do Not Exist."

In my previous article, I stated that 80% of fish are overfished or overexploited. This 80% figure did come from a FAO report. However, 1) this report was a little outdated, and 2) I did incorrectly state the terms "overfished" and "overexploited" figure.

I do appreciate fisheries management groups for pointing this outdated information to me, along with my misnomers.

In reviewing the most recent FAO report from 2016, What I should have written was that close to 90% of fish are fully-exploited or overfished. To be more specific still, 58% are fully exploited and 31% are overfished.

What this means is that 58% of fish stocks are already at their maximum-production yield with little to no room (if any) to grow in extraction. 31% of fish stocks are already overfished or overexploited, and this figure has been growing since 1974 and continues growing every year (see FAO graph below).

While it is worth noting that 10% of fish stocks globally are underfished, this percentage been falling since 1974.

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Image Credit: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2016) - State of World Fisheries.

Meanwhile, world population is expected to grow by another third by 2050 - nearing 9.7 Billion people (see chart below), and some fish stocks are already on the verge of collapse.

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Image Credit: United Nations (2015) World Population Prospects

In fact, a recent 2016 FAO report - "Fish to 2030" states, "Supplying fish sustainably--producing it without depleting productive natural resources and without damaging the precious aquatic environment--is a huge challenge. We continue to see excessive and irresponsible harvesting in the capture fisheries and in aquaculture. Disease outbreaks among other things, have heavily impacted production..."

So, while aquaculture and fish farming are growing and now represent about 1/2 of all fish produced in the world, there do remain some problems including pollution, disease outbreak, and some excessive use of wild fish as food for farmed fish, though this too, is improving.

Thus, it is remains difficult for me to understand how increased overexploitation and an increased world population who desires to consume more fish, could remain sustainable.

What's more, several fish species have been declared as critically endangered and threatened with extinction by the International Union on the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

And, to exacerbate the lack of sustainability in fisheries it has further been reported by the National Institutes of Health fish oils may not be as beneficial as believed. They are certainly not detrimental, but they don't really provide any major benefits.

According to the Institutes of Medicine, only the plant-based sources of omega-3s, Alpha Linolenic Acid (ALA) and Linolenic Acid (LA) have reference intake values known as adequate intake levels, essentially meaning the minimum level we should be striving to eat every day. Meanwhile, DHA and EPA, the "famous omega-3s," those found in fish, do not. Besides that, DHA can be obtained from algal sources of omega-3.

Finally, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, climate change is expected to create problems with ocean health and fisheries health, through acidification (increasing mortality of certain shellfish and corals), temperature changes (displacing fish stocks), changes to important ocean currents, and even by worsening or increasing oceanic dead zones.

So, to conclude: I did mis-report some figures on overfishing. However, with overfishing growing and underfishing declining, with world population growing, climate change, and some overfishing and collapse of fisheries already present, I still believe that sustainable fish are hard to come by.

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On Finding a Rare and Special Bosque Treasure
During my regular excursions into the Bosque, the nearby grove of cottonwoods that border the Rio Grande (the largest such grove in New Mexico, North America, and supposedly the world), I'm always on the lookout for something remarkable and memorable -- something to revisit or to show to my Bosque-buddies. Most of these memorabilia are living, like a friendly coyote that hangs out in the same area, a school of carp in a ditch, or a certain Cooper's hawk that is sure to return to her nest every spring and with her mate conceive and nurture that year's nestlings. Others are unliving, like the stump that others and I had previously written about: a holy place for prayer, meditation, and meeting new friends.

Two days ago on a new path, I came on a very special Bosque treasure. It was a group of beautiful and healthy flowers (it's monsoon season in New Mexico). They are lily-like, tall, white, and proud. In the high desert where flowers - especially large, showy ones -- are scarce and thus looked upon with much admiration. No wonder the natives of the Southwest were enticed by the Jimson Weed (datura) to interact with it in several ways just as I was; however, for me, that meant learning about this beautiful find in the Internet.

For example, Peruvian-born American author Carlos Castaneda in his writings beginning with The Teachings of Don Juan in 1968 wrote extensively about this plant, in which he claimed that a "Yaqui Man of Knowledge" named Don Juan instructed him in the preparation and uses of all parts of the plant, roots, leaves, flowers and seeds for recreational and spiritual purposes.

Jimson Weed (Datura stramonium) is also called Sacred Thorn Apple, Sacred Datura, Devil's Snare, Angel Tulip, Mad Apple, Peru Apple, and Locoweed) is the name of a poisonous perennial plant and ornamental flower of southwestern North America. The leaves and seeds are used to make medicine as well as in spiritual practices around the world. Despite serious safety concerns, jimson weed is used to treat asthma, cough, flu (influenza), swine flu, and nerve diseases. Some people use it as a recreational drug to cause hallucinations and a heightened sense of well-being (euphoria).

Here are some interesting tidbits I harvested on the web about my new-found flower:

In 1676, a group of soldiers in Jamestown, Virginia accidentally dined on a salad made from D. stramonium leaves. They proceeded to exhibit very bizarre behavior. Thus the name became Jamestown Weed, which morphed into Jimson Weed.
Many North American peoples blend datura leaves with other herbs and kinnikinnick smoking blends to assist in "vision quests" (a rite of passage in some Native American cultures consisting of a series of ceremonies led by Elders including a complete fast while alone at a sacred site in nature.)
Anglophone settlers in California often called it "Indian whiskey" because of its ritual intoxicating use by many tribes; the name "sacred datura" has the same origin.
The Mixo of Oaxaca, Mexico believe that the plant spirit of datura is an elderly wise woman. When they harvest the seeds of the plant, they pray that she may heal the illness of the individual for whom the seeds are being harvested. The seeds are then consumed ritually.
Among the Zuni people, the powdered root is given as an anesthetic and a narcotic for surgery. They also apply a poultice of root and flower meal applied to wounds to promote healing. The Zuni people also use the plant for ceremonial and magical purposes. The root pieces are chewed by a robbery victim to determine the identity of the thief. The powdered root is used by rain priests in a number of ways to ensure fruitful rains.
"I asked Aunt Bett why we couldn't pick that beautiful white flower that bloomed in the evening and on into the night. She sat me down right then and there and told me the story of near death and destruction brought about by the misuse of the Devil's Plant. And she made me promise to never touch Devil's Plant no matter what, 'cause the devil got ahold of anybody who did." [from an Appalachian journalist]

So, in conclusion, I will be revisiting and paying my respects to the patch of Jimson weeds, until they retire for the winter; I will show them to my Bosque buddies; and I will eagerly await their return each late summer monsoon season; but what I won't do - I promise - is give their leaves, seeds, or roots a taste - or even a feel

Seedpods to carry about with you:

From Aldo Leopold: The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: 'What good is it?
From Henry David Thoreau: I went to the woods because I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow.
From George Washington Carver: I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.
From Carlos Castaneda: For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length--and there I travel looking, looking breathlessly.

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Just Stop Hurting Elephants
It's undeniable; elephants are majestic, captivating, inspiring, and magnificent. People across the globe pay attention to their well-being and their plight.

They amaze us as they traverse the African savannah or navigate the Asian tropical forests in matriarchal herds: grandmothers, mothers, daughters, granddaughters, aunts, nieces, and cousins, all living together in strong family systems. They disperse vital seeds, ensuring an enhanced and viable ecosystem. They mourn the dead in poignant burial rituals.

Yet, despite our profound love for elephants and amazement at their very existence, humans have a unique, inexplicable capacity to bring pain and suffering to individual elephants as we simultaneously engage in behaviors that hasten their demise in the wild.

Captive elephants suffer inexplicable indignity. They are forced to "live" in small enclosures that prevent their naturally gregarious and inquisitive behaviors. They languish with comparable immobility, never able to walk the long distances that their wild cousins do. They are forced to perform insane tricks for gawking onlookers that include balancing on a ball, walking on their back legs, perching their front legs on the elephant before them, and carrying thoughtless humans around a ring.

They don't do this willingly. They are "trained." This training is often accomplished with the use of the barbaric bullhook: a stick with a metal spike at the tip that is plunged behind the elephant's ear or into her leg. It's used to induce action; the right action; the action that the cruel trainer is seeking.

In California, no more.

This week, California governor Jerry Brown signed into law legislation introduced by state senator Ricardo Lara from Bell Gardens that prohibits keeping elephants anywhere that uses a "bullhook, ankus, baseball bat, axe handle, pitchfork, or other device designed to inflict pain for the purpose of training or controlling the behavior of an elephant."

Absolutely amazing! I extend my thanks and congratulations to The Humane Society of the United States, Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), and Oakland Zoo for sponsoring this important bill.

It's quite simple, isn't it? In 2016, there is no excuse for keeping elephants in captivity anywhere. They belong in the wild. But, in 2016, if an elephant is to be kept in captivity, there is no excuse for using a bullhook to control her. If you can't manage without a bullhook, get out of the elephant business.

California follows Rhode Island in making this compassionate legislative change. As far as I'm concerned, that's two states down--and 48 to go.

I certainly hope this puts more and more elephant attractions out of business. That said, there are still so many elephants sadly clinging to deprived lives in American zoos, bullhook or not. The San Antonio Zoo, for instance, has been expanding its captive elephant group by pulling elephants "on loan" from the Ringling Bros. circus elephant center in Florida. Imagine: an elephant is grotesquely forced to do stupid and demeaning tricks in a circus, shuttled around the country by rail. She's chained, year after year. When she's FINALLY "retired" to a comparatively peaceful new home in Florida, she's suddenly sent to a zoo in San Antonio. I think the phrase is something about adding insult to injury.

Again, an enlightened society should be moving elephants out of circuses and zoos, and into peaceful sanctuary life immediately and permanently. No excuses. They suffer in captivity, psychologically and physically. They die young in captivity.

Stop beating them with bullhooks. Stop incarcerating them in a living hell. Just stop.

Keep Wildlife in the Wild,

Adam

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Do You Have a Negative Attitude about Aging?
By Kate Wheeling

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Everyone reacts differently to stressful events, but new research, published last week in the Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, shows that our outlook on aging could affect how we deal with the stress of daily life.

Past research on how older adults react to stress has produced a mixed bag of results, according to Jennifer Bellingtier, a Ph.D. student at North Carolina State University, and lead author on the new study. Some studies show that older individuals handle stress better compared to their younger peers, while others find older adults are worse off. Some show that both groups fare about the same. "We thought aging attitudes could be a factor that explains why these results are all over the place," Bellingtier says.

"The research base is definitely building that it's important to have positive attitudes toward aging," she explains. Adults who hold a more negative view of aging report lower levels of life satisfaction, well-being, and social supports, and they're more likely to be hospitalized or to die young.

To find out if aging attitudes could also influence stress responses day to day, the researchers sent nine days' worth of surveys to 43 adults between 60 and 96 years old. On day one, the survey assessed participants' general attitudes toward aging ("I am as happy now as I was when I was younger," for example). For the remaining eight days, participants filled out surveys before bed about any stressful events -- such as disagreements or health problems -- and their moods.

As the team predicted, stressful events had little effect on the moods of adults with positive attitudes toward aging. On the other hand, participants with more negative views about aging had stronger emotional reactions to daily stressors.

The takeaway, according to Bellingtier, is that it's not just hypothetical, future events like hospitalizations that attitude can influence. "What we're adding is that it's also affecting how you respond to daily life," Bellingtier says. "It's going to affect you right now."

There are, however, several factors that affect the generalizability of these results. The participants were mostly women, and the study group was relatively small (though Bellingtier notes that the team has nine data points for almost every participant, which makes the data set more statistically powerful than other studies with a similarly small sample size). Additionally, all the study participants were from the United States.

"When you're looking at aging attitudes, those are always in a cultural context," Bellingtier says. In the U.S., growing older is not typically seen as a positive thing; in the media, for example, older adults tend to be portrayed as a burden or the butt of jokes. Many other cultures view their elders as wise and worthy of respect. More research is needed to find out if those attitudes protect older adults in other cultures from day-to-day stress as well.

But given the growing evidence that what goes on in our minds can influence what goes on in our bodies, maybe we could all use an attitude adjustment.

This article was originally published on Pacific Standard. Read the original article.

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Autism Causes

By Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog

A diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder or ASD in a child can be devastating for parents. Scientists have been seeking the cause of ASD for decades but it still remains elusive. ASD is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders that result in a wide range of symptoms, disabilities and skills. The official categorization of ASD includes three primary diagnoses: Autistic Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Delays - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) and Asperger syndrome. The diagnosis of Autistic Disorder must include impairments in three cardinal domains: communication abnormalities, impaired social functions and repetitive behaviors and restricted interests. Autistic Disorder is more on the severe end of the spectrum with impairments in all three domains. Autistics exhibit marked problems with social interactions, they have delayed and abnormal communications development with as many as 50% not speaking at all. Behaviorally, those affected can be insistent in maintaining routines, resist change and can engage in repetitive behaviors such as hand flapping or rocking.

People with PDD-NOS have some but not all of the symptoms of AD or another Pervasive Developmental Disorder. While those with Asperger's Syndrome have problems with social interaction and respond unusually to their environment much like individuals with autism. However, they do not have the communication and cognitive deficits. They can exhibit unusual idiosyncratic interests in very limited things, for example train schedules, snakes or the weather.

So what causes autism? Twin studies have revealed that there is a strong genetic component to autism. If one identical twin is affected with Autistic Disorder there is a 36-95% chance that the other twin will also be affected. While the risk for fraternal twins is 5-20% which is also the chance of a couple with an autistic child having a second child with autism. The second clue that there is a genetic component is that there are other known genetic disorders in which there are higher autism rates including Downs Syndrome, Turner Syndrome and duplications in chromosome 15.

The search for the gene(s) involved has been underway for many years. There are close to 800 genes that have been found altered in people with autism. It appears that different genes or combinations of altered genes lead to autism in different people. No two autistic individuals are likely to have the same genetic alterations leading. It has been determined that 5-10% of autistic individuals have acquired new mutations not present in their parents' genes. Gene alterations may couple with environmental exposures in causing autism. For example, gestational diabetes, folic acid deficiency at conception, in utero exposure to certain drugs, living near a city with air pollution all increase the risk for autism. There is also some evidence to suggest that the gut microbiome plays an important role in development and disruptions in the normal flora may also contribute to the development of ASD.

Scientists are working hard to understand the complex genetic and environmental factors that are involved in ASD. Unfortunately, the causes of ASD are very heterogeneous. One fact is irrefutable, autism is not caused by vaccinations.

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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With Our Planet At The Crossroads, The Future Of Conservation Depends On Science
This week, conservation takes center stage as 6,000 global experts dive deep into the issues that will define the physical future of our planet. And with the all the far-reaching impacts of these decisions affecting the long-term sustainability of our planet, it's a gathering that cannot come soon enough.

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Photo Credit: © Michel Roggo / WWF

The World Conservation Congress is the single largest conservation event in the world. It brings together a broad cross-section of conservation minds. Leaders and decision-makers from governments, businesses, indigenous organizations, academia, and NGOs are here to identify evolving trends, current threats, and innovative solutions to the challenges we collectively face in safeguarding biodiversity and protecting ecosystems that provide life-supporting services like clean water and air.

Expectations are high as momentum is on our side. Last year, international leaders set a collective agenda to end poverty and ensure sustainability remains front and center when they adopted the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. And, some 195 nations came together in a concerted effort to combat climate change and prepare our communities for its impacts, with the signing of the Paris Agreement. On the heels of these two ambitious agreements, this year's Congress looks to set a global agenda for how we manage our natural environment for human, social and economic development - and do so in a way that lives up to the promise set by these pacts.

It's no small task. And like all significant challenges the world faces today, we need the right mix people with the right kind of talent and a diversity of perspectives to drive the kinds of innovative solutions needed to get us back on course. At the Congress, delegates are building relationships among unlikely partners - from local communities to multi-national companies to global NGOs - to identify the kinds of disruptive solutions we need.

We are sharing our insights into new technologies that can help plan for future growth, making sure the pace of development does not exceed the pace of conservation. We're driving solutions with unleashed creativity, grounding them in sound science, and redefining the way we approach conservation at scale.

I'm here talking about how WWF works with our partners to help drive conservation, using science to accelerate biodiversity protections while helping improve local communities.

We're ramping up high-tech solutions for combatting wildlife poaching. The illegal taking of wildlife has sky-rocketed in recent years, largely driven by demand in Asia. It's an incredible threat to tigers, rhinos, elephants, gorillas and other extraordinary wildlife in Africa and Asia. With sky-high price tags for horns, tusks and other body parts, these animals don't stand a chance unless we can stem the tide and reverse these trends.

Made possible by a grant from Google.org, WWF's Wildlife Crime and Technology Project is using adapted and new technologies to create seamless systems to protect wildlife from poachers. We are arming parks and reserves with thermal cameras and human-detection software, equipping rangers with devices to track the presence and movement of wildlife, and aggressively testing new uses for drones as part to our anti-poaching efforts. By deploying these and other technologies, we are leveling the playing field for rangers and actively protecting threatened species.

Science can also quench the thirst of a water-loving planet. Across the globe, climate-driven droughts are increasing in frequency and intensity. In recent years, heat waves and droughts in the Midwestern US, India, Brazil, and California set records. As these events grow more severe, we'll likely see increased conflicts among industry, farmers, city-dwellers and the environment as the amount of water available for consumption progressively declines.

We need to manage these resources with a transparent and collaborative science-based approach. It's our best hope for escaping future water wars and the scarcity trap. We need to embrace these new approaches, such as WWF's community-based Basin Report Cards, in which participants create a shared knowledge base to actively manage their local water supply sustainably and adaptively over time, even in the face of a changing climate.

We must continue conserving the reefs that foster biodiversity and feed local communities. For 3.1 billion people around the world, fish is an essential source of protein, accounting for almost 20 percent of the annual intake of animal protein. For those who are highly dependent on marine sources of protein, the local fish market is the nearest coral reef. Coral reefs provide the most diverse habitat of all marine ecosystems, housing one quarter of marine species in only one-tenth of the ocean's surface area. In these places, we must meet human dietary needs while ensuring the long-term persistence of the diversity of species. This requires a mix of social and natural science to get the balance right.

In Indonesia, WWF and its partners have established Marine Protected Areas designed to safeguard biodiversity, ensure productive fisheries and increase human well-being. Carefully established monitoring programs for social and environmental outcomes indicate that in many cases, the triple bottom line is possible and sustainable.

As this week's Congress points out, it's not an understatement to say our planet is at a crossroads when it comes to conserving nature. Decisions we make in the coming years - and even this week - will have long-term impact on the health and sustainability of the world we leave to those who follow in our steps. As we discuss, debate, and decide on those actions, it's critical we ensure good science guides the way.

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With Our Planet At The Crossroads, The Future Of Conservation Depends On Science
This week, conservation takes center stage as 6,000 global experts dive deep into the issues that will define the physical future of our planet. And with the all the far-reaching impacts of these decisions affecting the long-term sustainability of our planet, it's a gathering that cannot come soon enough.

-- 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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I, Trigger
In August, the Dean of my alma mater, the University of Chicago, sent a letter to its freshmen nixing trigger warnings and such. The ban hit the headlines , provoking lively debate ("PC or not PC?") in comment-land. Lively, but unfocussed, because "trigger" is a looking-glass word. Besides, the issue goes much deeper. To nudge the conversation toward clarity, I offer my personal experience, not with triggers but as one.

Imagine this. I'm talking with people I've never met before, say at a college reception. They're all articulate, accomplished: a sociologist, a biologist, a psychologist, and a historian. "What do you do?" someone eventually asks me politely. I say "Mathematics" and they all start trembling. Not in awe, but in fear. Their eyes brim with tears. And then, one by one, they confess. "My algebra teacher was wonderful but geometry made no sense to me." Or "I loved math up to sixth grade, but after that, I was blocked." Or "My brother was good at it." Or "I wanted to be a doctor but I failed calculus."

Their confessions perplex me. I'm neither a therapist nor a priest. Should I have warned them that my answer might upset them, and offered them earplugs? Or smiled politely and said, "That's all right, dear, you have other talents?" No. As a staunch UC alum I challenge them: "Why are you telling me this? "

Silence. I push on: "When you meet a violinist, do you turn pale and say you couldn't play a note!? When you meet an economist, do you blush beet red and stammer that you dropped the course?" No, they admit, they do not. "So why do you confess to me?" They laugh nervously, then steer the conversation back to their own terrains.

What's going on? It seems I've rung a bell -- the school bell. Let's ponder the metaphor. The English have rung bells from time immemorial so I looked up "ring, v " in the venerable Oxford English Dictionary, expecting to find a long and interesting history. But no! The metaphor is just eighty-four years old! Here are the first two entries under "c. to ring a bell : to awaken a memory":

1934 A. Huxley Beyond Mexique Bay. Why should the Local Pavlov have
chosen to ring just those particular bells which happen to be rung?
1933 L. Thayer Counterfeit iii. Wait a second, Ray... Why does that name ring
a bell with you?

Why did this metaphor emerge when it did? What happened just about then, besides the Great Depression, the rise of Hitler, and the first sighting of the Loch Ness Monster? Here's one: Ivan Pavlov's work on conditioned reflexes was diffusing to the English-reading public.

The famous Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936) won the Nobel
Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for his work on mammalian digestive systems. But the bell that rings when we hear "Pavlov" isn't a stomach rumbling, it's the literal bell he used in his later work on dogs. As the Nobel Foundation website explains to children,

...he struck a bell when the dogs were fed. If the bell was sounded in close
association with their meal, the dogs learnt to associate the sound of the bell with food. After a while, at the mere sound of the bell, they responded by drooling.

Maybe that's it! People who quake when they learn what I do are conditioned! Not to drool at the sound of a bell, but to tremble and weep at the sight of a math teacher! Think about it. Year after year, children stress out on timed tests. Decades later, when they meet me, stress-behavior kicks in reflexively.

Nonsense, you may be thinking. These adults are grown up; they got over that long ago. But maybe they haven't. Maybe they can't. I wasn't surprised to learn, from the OED , that Aldous Huxley made the Pavlovian connection. He was interested (to say the least) in drugs and visited physicians who studied them. My father was one such doctor but don't I think Huxley paid us a call. Dad worked in the Addiction Research Center at the Narcotic Farm, a federal prison/hospital near Lexington, Kentucky. The Narcotic Farm was indeed both prison and hospital: inmates served time on dope charges, but they were also there to be cured. After detox, they were counseled and taught useful trades-farming, carpentry, and so on-to prepare them for clean, productive lives on the outside. Yet most of them returned one, two, or even ten years after their release, addicted all over again. The relapse rate was ninety per cent.

What is relapse, and why is it time-independent? Dad, a disciple of Pavlov, thought
addiction might be a form of conditioning. Just like in dogs, but with drugs instead of food, and syringes instead of bells. Indeed, ex-addicts were cured if they didn't go home again. They didn't relapse in new lives in new places. But, hanging out with the old gang even for a day, or setting foot on the old street corner, brought on the old craving full force. I learned about conditioned reflexes at the family dinner table; what I know about that science, I learned then. But, naive though I must be, I'll put it out there anyway: I trigger relapse!

With this insight, I'll take another tack next time. I won't warn or soothe or challenge my weeping interlocutors. Instead, I'll invite them all -- the sociologist, the biologist, the psychologist, the historian, the violinist and the economist -- to join forces and work together to understand triggers in addiction, PTSD, math anxiety, literature and much more. That's a conversation for a college.

Note: This blog draws on my essay "Bells and Whistles," in P. Casazza, S. G. Krantz, and R. D. Ruden, I, Mathematician, II, COMAP, Bedford, MA, 2016.

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Small Island States with Big Ocean Visions
Over the next two weeks I will be representing the world's smallest nation, the Republic of Nauru, at a meeting at the United Nations aimed at protecting the world's greatest natural asset, the ocean. For the people of small islands, understanding the importance of the ocean to human survival is as natural as breathing. If the ocean is healthy, we are healthy; if the future of the ocean is uncertain, so is ours. It is therefore alarming to witness the warming, rising and acidification of the sea around us due to climate change, and the increasing pressure on tuna and other fish stocks we depend on, and it has made Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like mine among the loudest voices calling for international action.

Along with our fellow SIDS, Nauru has been working for years to encourage all governments to prioritize ocean health, and we celebrated a year ago when a coalition of states and organizations succeeded in securing a strong Sustainable Development Goal for the ocean, SDG 14. Over the coming days our task at this Prepcom meeting is to begin translating our shared visions for addressing threats to the ocean into the terms of a breakthrough international agreement to conserve and sustainably use biological diversity in areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction (the BBNJ), or the high seas. This is vital as what happens on the high seas directly affects territorial waters. Neither fish, nor pollution, nor the impacts of climate change pay any attention to the 200 nautical mile demarcation lines that divide national from international waters. If we are serious about protecting the ocean, and meeting the targets contained in SDG 14, we must agree on how to effectively, sustainably and fairly govern and manage the high seas. And we must do so without delay.

Negotiating a new, legally-binding international agreement on marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction is an immensely complex undertaking, but when completed it will take its place as one of the great international legal instruments of our time. It is a responsibility that delegates meeting in New York do not take lightly, but also one that we must execute with a degree of urgency. Maintaining the status quo will not keep us comfortably ticking along; it will leave the high seas - half the surface of the Earth - in continued peril of unregulated exploitation, and hold back efforts to boost the resilience of the ocean to climate change. For vulnerable island and coastal communities this spells disaster. Fortunately, the successful negotiation of the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 gives us momentum, and offers hope that a robust High Seas Biodiversity Agreement can be swiftly reached. The task before us may be complex, but much of what should constitute the foundations of the agreement has already been laid by marine scientists and the negotiators of earlier agreements.

"2016-09-01-1472739754-806244-ChristianVizlMarinePhotobank.jpg"

©ChristianVizl/MarinePhotobank

The High Seas Biodiversity Agreement should focus on how the high seas can be jointly governed in order to meet the SDG 14 targets and all the goals agreed to under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These targets include to "sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience"; to "end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans"; and to "conserve at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas." The BBNJ can be a key partner in implementing this ambitious, and essential, agenda, but only if it lives up to the challenge by including the mechanisms needed to eliminate harmful and illegal fishing, and establish marine protected areas, including reserves, on the high seas so that biodiversity and ecosystems can flourish. It must also contain provisions that ensure that access to and benefits from the natural resources of the high seas are equitably shared among all nations, large or small.

When we take our seats at the discussions on the substance of the new High Seas Biodiversity Agreement at the UN this week, the delegates from SIDS may represent only a tiny proportion of the world's population, but we feel that we also speak for the ocean. We hope that all states will seize this exciting opportunity to forge a new future of responsible, science-based high seas governance that benefits all people and conserves the blue heart of the ocean. We believe it is a vision well within our reach.

This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post in partnership with Ocean Unite, an initiative to unite and activate powerful voices for ocean-conservation action. The series is being produced to coincide with the UN's Preparatory Committee Meeting (Aug 26-Sept 9) on an internal legally binding instrument on marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction and is a part of HuffPost's "What's Working" initiative, putting a spotlight on initiatives around the world that are solutions oriented. To read all the posts in the series, read here.

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Driverless Vehicles: Ways to Improve Safety and Accelerate Environmental Progress Together
Are autonomous "driverless" vehicles truly the "next big thing" to transform our transportation system? If so, how soon, and what are the consequences for both safety and environmental values?

Federal policies to advance autonomous vehicle use should go hand-in-hand with policies to accelerate zero and low emissions vehicles and implement the Phase 2 CAFÉ standards that require much higher vehicle fuel efficiency.

Federal oversight agencies are initially focusing on autonomous vehicle safety, but they can do more than one thing at a time. Consistent with the Obama Administration's overall climate change policy solutions, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should assess ways in which autonomous vehicle use can reduce greenhouse gas pollution. This should be a "both-and": the technological advances that are spurring development of autonomous vehicles can create opportunities to both reduce fatalities on roadways and reduce pollution that harms our health and environment.

If federal policies are crafted with a broader view to address climate change solutions, driverless cars can significantly help the United States to reach the greenhouse gas pollution reduction goals set at the United Nations COP21 meeting in Paris where our nation pledged to achieve a 28 percent domestic reduction in greenhouse gas pollution by 2025. The new vehicle technologies developed and deployed here can also be transferred and exported to advance global climate change solutions. As a matter of climate change science, it doesn't matter for the atmosphere whether carbon pollution comes from Indiana, India or Indonesia.

Transportation is the second largest source of greenouse gas pollution. Promoting the development of driverless cars that include an emphasis on vehicles with zero or low carbon emissions is an important climate change solution.

Optimizing driving efficiency - for example, through smooth acceleration - which has been shown to cut emissions as much as 60 percent. Autonomous vehicles can be programmed to reduce "heavy-footed" driving.

"Platooning" - where a group of vehicles follows each other very closely on a highway - can increase fuel efficiency by 5-20 percent. This vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology can precede the deployment of fully autonomous vehicles.

Alleviating congestion, especially in city centers, to enable freer-flowing traffic and less start-and-stop driving that burns more fuel and creates more pollution.

Reducing vehicle weight. If driverless cars prove as safe as developers claim, then smaller, lighter, more efficient vehicles become more possible.

This is not, however, a one-way street. Adding more gas-powered driverless vehicles on the highways also presents the risk of reversing decades of progress in policy work to reduce vehicle miles travelled (VMT) and pollution. The ease of not-driving while reading a book, chatting with friends and family, or snoozing in a driverless car can facilitate longer commutes, more vehicles and more congestion on the highways, more exurban sprawl, and more VMTs. Unless there are accompanying fuel efficiency improvements through better vehicle technologies that substantially reduce pollution, there is a risk of moving backward (or at least not moving as far forward) in achieving greenhouse gas pollution reduction goals.

Simply put, policies to advance autonomous vehicle use should work together with federal policies to accelerate zero and low emissions vehicles and to ensure progress implementing the Phase 2 CAFÉ standards for higher vehicle fuel efficiency in order to reduce pollution. .

These opportunities and challenges are ripe for discussion. U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced in January that the NHTSA intends to work with automakers and state governments to remove barriers by developing prototype laws and regulations. While the initial U.S. DOT and NHTSA discussions are focused on setting safety standards, the agencies should also engage the U.S. EPA at the table and infuse climate change considerations into the discussions and resulting guidelines over the next six months.

EPA's recent draft Technical Assessment Report on the CAFÉ standards begins to address greenhouse gas pollution impacts of autonomous vehicles: "EPA, NHTSA, and CARB are beginning to explore research on the potential emissions and fuel economy impacts of emerging transformational technologies and transportation trends."

That's a step in the right direction for devising the best policy roadmap for incorporating autonomous vehicles into our national transportation system in a way that improves both safety and environmental quality for us all.

-- 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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Apple set to control homes through new connected home app

Apple will be launching an app this autumn, which will allow users to control multiple home appliances through speaking to their smartphone.

The Home app will roll out with Apple's latest iOS 10 update in September, and aims to enhance the company's existing platform HomeKit, which until now has worked by connecting different device apps together.

A hub to “control your home”

Now, Home will be a hub where users can access all of their connected home products, including lighting, locks, heating and cooling, plugs and switches, blinds and sensors for appliances such as kettles.

Home will rival smart thermostat apps such as British Gas's Hive and Alphabet's Nest, and connected home hub Samsung's SmartThings.

Apple describes the new app as a “simple and secure way to manage home automation products in one place”, and to “set up, manage and control your home”.

Voice activated through Siri

The app links up with Apple's Siri feature so will be voice activated. Users can choose whether they want to manage home devices individually or group certain ones together, such as lighting, locks and heating, and control them with a single command.

Users can also organise their day into “scenes”, for example “I'm home”, “Good morning” and “Good night”, which when selected will trigger a series of actions, such as lights and heating coming on when they get home.

Can be used remotely

The app will also show specific details, such as the exact temperature of a thermostat at a given time, or the percentage at which dimmer lights are lit.

The app allows devices to be controlled remotely away from the home, or alternatively through other devices such as the Apple TV. It will also be possible to set timer triggers, and also event triggers for example, requesting the heating to come on only if the temperature in a room drops below 20°C.

The app will be available for £10.99 through the iTunes Store this autumn for users of iPhone 5 and later editions. An exact release date for iOS 10 is yet to be revealed.

The post Apple set to control homes through new connected home app appeared first on Design Week.

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Channel 4 TV show Hollyoaks undergoes rebrand

Channel 4 TV show Hollyoaks has had a brand revamp, taking on a new logo and new title sequence.

The redesign is the soap opera's first major one in six years, and has been completed by the design and graphics team at Lime Pictures, the production company for the show.

The new logo replaces one implemented in 2011, which was made up of a 3D sans-serif typeface that used two interchangeable colours.

Prior to this, the soap had a flat logo which incorporated plus sign and arrow gender symbols, implemented in 2007.

The new logo sees a return to flat typography, which still makes use of two shades but without 3D elements.

The two colours are interchangeable depending on context, but are most commonly seen as white and grey, used against various title sequence backdrops.

Lime Pictures says the new logo has “clean lines and a modern feel” but also a “slightly retro look to recognise the show's heritage”.

The new branding has also been applied online and across social media applications, using a revamped “H” icon as the motif.

The new title sequences aim to be “vibrant, fun and glossy”, says the show's executive producer Bryan Kirkwood, and include shots of new characters on the show. Lime Pictures say the sequences aim to “move away from CGI” and more towards film.

Music accompanying the title sequence has also been reworked, completed by musician A Skillz.

2016 marks the soap's 21st year on Channel 4. The new title sequences and branding roll out this week.

The post Channel 4 TV show Hollyoaks undergoes rebrand appeared first on Design Week.

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Dinner in a dumpster: are most urban pop-ups as silly as they sound?

In cities around the world, temporary ‘pop-up' restaurants, shops and cultural events are everywhere. Have we reached peak pop-up, or is there more to this sometimes daft-sounding phenomenon than meets the eye?

Pop-ups are now ubiquitous in our cities. Whether it's airy white retail spaces selling Kanye West's Pablo merch, unassuming cornershops doubling as the spot where Frank Ocean chooses to launch his new album or shipping containers being made into temporary accommodation for homeless people in one form or another they are now part of the fabric of many cities around the world.

Which is why it takes a fairly outlandish one to make you look up from the bowl of Lucky Charms you're eating in a replica Saved by the Bell diner. But San Francisco residents have recently been invited to a pop-up that does just that: a dinner in a dumpster.

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. : magic mushrooms : . by Martin Pfister

origin by Marta Bevacqua

out on Irk Magazine, with Juliet Searle and make up by Meyloo follow me on facebook : https://www.facebook.com/MartaBevacquaPhotography/ or instagram @martabevacqua for more photos and news. www.martabevacquaphotography.com

hangs. by Johannes Hoehn

Wake Up! by Erik Johansson

She became absorbed, oblivious to the passage of time. You can pretend to be asleep, but you can't pretend to be awake. A video showing the process of creating this image will be published in a few days...

A hub to “control your home”

Voice activated through Siri

Can be used remotely