Two cups of green tea a day may reduce a person's risk of having the most common form of stroke, say researchers.
According to researcher Professor Colin Binns, of the School of Public Health at Curtin University in Western Australia, the study shows that people who drink at least one cup of green tea a day reduce their risk of ischemic stroke, reports ABC Online.
"We can say if you are going to drink a beverage, then tea is the healthier option," said Binns. "We believe other kinds of tea are half as effective as green tea in reducing risk," he added. The findings have been published in the journal Stroke.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Bullets don't stop Guatemala green activist
His stride is an awkward hop, the scars on his abdomen and legs an ugly road map of hurt. Seven bullets tore into Yuri Melini -- that much is known.
Harder to figure out is who did it. Melini has a lot of enemies.
Drug traffickers. Midnight loggers. Mining giants. Corrupt military men. Politicians. The 47-year-old Melini has taken on all of them as lead agitator of a Guatemalan environmental advocacy group, the Center for Legal, Environmental and Social Action, or CALAS.
Melini doesn't seem surprised that police have yet to come up with a solid lead into September's shooting by a lone gunman. Or that telephone threats and sightings of shadowy men haven't stopped.
He opts for the bright side. "I'm alive," Melini says.
If you think it's not easy being green, try doing it in a place as violent as Guatemala, where environmentalism is often viewed as a radical pursuit and the rule of law remains a distant goal. Speaking out can bring a hit man to your door.
For the last nine years, Melini has spoken out a lot. Using a mix of grass-roots activism, lawsuits and old-fashioned lobbying, his organization tackles issues from illegal logging in protected forests and the impact of a growing mining industry to the supply and cleanliness of water.
Guatemala has plenty of other grave social problems, poverty and inequality among them. But Melini, who gave up his training as a physician to focus on conservation causes, says his environmental work ties into a wider effort to improve life for the powerless, including the country's large indigenous population.
"There are enough laws -- the problem is they are not being applied," Melini says, as government-supplied bodyguards wait outside his office in Guatemala City, the capital. "It is a matter of awareness and will: raising the awareness of the people and the will of the politicians."
Big triumphs have been few for CALAS, with a staff of 21 lawyers, engineers, agronomists, sociologists and other experts.
But a major victory came last June, when the group won a Supreme Court of Justice ruling that struck down parts of the nation's mining law as too lax. CALAS had argued in its legal challenge that the law didn't adequately safeguard people living near mining operations.
Melini has done battle with oil firms and gone to court to challenge a decision to allow logging in a mountain forest designated for protection.
In addition, he has complained loudly about damage caused by drug traffickers in a vast wilderness in the northern province of Peten, where smugglers fell trees to build secret airstrips and roads. This year, CALAS is to open its first offices in the region, home to some of its toughest fights and most dangerous adversaries.
Such crusades don't always charm. Melini acknowledges that even some environmentalists consider him too strident. He relies on foreign sources for funding, with most coming from a special environmental program of the Dutch government.
But admirers say Melini is breaking new ground by carrying environmental fights to the courtroom -- a tactic that is common in the United States but not in Guatemala or much of the surrounding region. Melini says he wants to create a legal-aid network devoted to environmental issues and to lobby for creating special environment courts.
"Environmental litigation across Central America is still not very common," said Erika Rosenthal, an attorney for the Oakland-based group Earthjustice. "That kind of advocacy . . . is sorely needed."
Last month, Melini was honored by the Irish-based human rights group Front Line for his efforts on illegal logging and mining issues. The group cited his attempts to bring attention to attacks on environmental activists. (He counted 128 during two years.)
Melini was ambushed outside his mother's house Sept. 4 by a gunman who fired from close range. The activist said he lay curled on the ground, awaiting the coup de grace, but the attacker left.
Nine months later, Melini gets around with a walker and faces more surgery. He's had residency offers from several countries, including Switzerland and the Netherlands, but refused. He figures fleeing Guatemala would serve those behind the attack on him, whoever they are.
"I am like a tree," Melini says. "They chopped me down, and I'm bouncing back again."
Harder to figure out is who did it. Melini has a lot of enemies.
Drug traffickers. Midnight loggers. Mining giants. Corrupt military men. Politicians. The 47-year-old Melini has taken on all of them as lead agitator of a Guatemalan environmental advocacy group, the Center for Legal, Environmental and Social Action, or CALAS.
Melini doesn't seem surprised that police have yet to come up with a solid lead into September's shooting by a lone gunman. Or that telephone threats and sightings of shadowy men haven't stopped.
He opts for the bright side. "I'm alive," Melini says.
If you think it's not easy being green, try doing it in a place as violent as Guatemala, where environmentalism is often viewed as a radical pursuit and the rule of law remains a distant goal. Speaking out can bring a hit man to your door.
For the last nine years, Melini has spoken out a lot. Using a mix of grass-roots activism, lawsuits and old-fashioned lobbying, his organization tackles issues from illegal logging in protected forests and the impact of a growing mining industry to the supply and cleanliness of water.
Guatemala has plenty of other grave social problems, poverty and inequality among them. But Melini, who gave up his training as a physician to focus on conservation causes, says his environmental work ties into a wider effort to improve life for the powerless, including the country's large indigenous population.
"There are enough laws -- the problem is they are not being applied," Melini says, as government-supplied bodyguards wait outside his office in Guatemala City, the capital. "It is a matter of awareness and will: raising the awareness of the people and the will of the politicians."
Big triumphs have been few for CALAS, with a staff of 21 lawyers, engineers, agronomists, sociologists and other experts.
But a major victory came last June, when the group won a Supreme Court of Justice ruling that struck down parts of the nation's mining law as too lax. CALAS had argued in its legal challenge that the law didn't adequately safeguard people living near mining operations.
Melini has done battle with oil firms and gone to court to challenge a decision to allow logging in a mountain forest designated for protection.
In addition, he has complained loudly about damage caused by drug traffickers in a vast wilderness in the northern province of Peten, where smugglers fell trees to build secret airstrips and roads. This year, CALAS is to open its first offices in the region, home to some of its toughest fights and most dangerous adversaries.
Such crusades don't always charm. Melini acknowledges that even some environmentalists consider him too strident. He relies on foreign sources for funding, with most coming from a special environmental program of the Dutch government.
But admirers say Melini is breaking new ground by carrying environmental fights to the courtroom -- a tactic that is common in the United States but not in Guatemala or much of the surrounding region. Melini says he wants to create a legal-aid network devoted to environmental issues and to lobby for creating special environment courts.
"Environmental litigation across Central America is still not very common," said Erika Rosenthal, an attorney for the Oakland-based group Earthjustice. "That kind of advocacy . . . is sorely needed."
Last month, Melini was honored by the Irish-based human rights group Front Line for his efforts on illegal logging and mining issues. The group cited his attempts to bring attention to attacks on environmental activists. (He counted 128 during two years.)
Melini was ambushed outside his mother's house Sept. 4 by a gunman who fired from close range. The activist said he lay curled on the ground, awaiting the coup de grace, but the attacker left.
Nine months later, Melini gets around with a walker and faces more surgery. He's had residency offers from several countries, including Switzerland and the Netherlands, but refused. He figures fleeing Guatemala would serve those behind the attack on him, whoever they are.
"I am like a tree," Melini says. "They chopped me down, and I'm bouncing back again."
British 'Searaser' invention promises green power revolution on the waves
Alvin Smith had his eureka moment not in the bath, but in the swimming pool. 'I was swimming round the pool, making little waves, and it struck me how much power there was in the displacement of the water,' he remembers. 'You think of a 500-tonne boat: a wave comes along, lifts that whole boat, and then drops it down again. You must be able to harness some of that, I thought.'
His subsequent invention would have made Archimedes proud, and should be making the renewables industry very excited.
Dubbed 'Searaser', it consists of what looks like a navigation buoy, but is in fact a simple arrangement of ballast and floats connected by a piston. As a wave passes the device, the float is lifted, raising the piston and compressing water. The float sinks back down on the tail of the wave on to a second float, compressing water again on the downstroke.
What is particularly clever about Searaser, however, is its simplicity. Where most marine energy devices have sealed, lubricated innards and complex electronics, Searaser is lubricated entirely by seawater, has no electronic components and is even self-cleaning. Smith describes it as 'Third-World mechanics', but this belies the sophistication of the concept.
'The beauty of it is that we're only making a pump, and bringing water ashore,' he explains. 'All the other technology needed to generate the electricity already exists.'
Searaser is designed to pump water either straight through a sea-level turbine to generate electricity, or up to a clifftop reservoir, where the water could be stored until needed, then allowed to flow back down to the sea through turbines, generating electricity on demand.
The second option is the one about which Smith is most passionate. By effectively storing the energy generated by Searaser to be used on demand, his system would solve a problem that dogs almost all renewable technologies – their variability. Energy that can be summoned at will is not only more valuable, but also allows the grid to compensate for other, less easily controlled renewables such as wind and solar.
Early trials of the prototype Searaser, one of which was completed in April, have proved encouraging. Despite being less than a tenth of the size of the version he hopes will eventually be supplying power to our homes, Smith's homemade machine managed to pump some 112,000 litres of water a day during the trial, at times operating from waves a mere 6in high.
The eventual machine will be capable of generating 1 megawatt of electricity – enough to supply some 1,700 homes – at prices that the team behind Searaser believe will be lower than most other renewable technologies.
As an intermediate step, a trial of two midsize machines should go ahead towards the end of this year, with a university invited to monitor the trial and provide independent accreditation of the results. Although these machines won't generate electricity (they will simply pump water through a flow meter to determine their potential) they will demonstrate whether the technology can work for prolonged periods and in rough conditions.
For Smith, however – a man who could use a welder by the age of eight – the incremental steps between prototype and commercial deployment seem almost an irritation. His vision is already far advanced, and includes using the pressurised saltwater generated by Searaser to produce drinking water, using the same reverse osmosis process used in conventional, energy-hungry desalination plants.
'All you'd have to do is reduce the size of the piston and increase the size of the floats to increase the pressure,' he explains.
He has also put plenty of thought into how he would persuade planners and landowners to allow him to build reservoirs on top of cliffs to provide the energy storage for Searaser.
'The planning will frighten everyone,' he says, 'but if you were trying to produce as much energy from wind turbines, they'd be very visible; a reservoir you'd only see from above.'
Smith has also put thought into how the reservoir could be made as water-tight as possible – vital to avoid saltwater leaching into soils. By double-lining the reservoirs and including an outlet pipe in between the two linings, you would instantly be able to see if the uppermost lining had a puncture by watching the end of the outlet pipe.
'If you saw any water coming out, you'd know you had a leak and you could drain down the reservoir and sort it out,' he says.
Beyond being simply functional, however, Smith believes the reservoirs could be beautiful, providing recreational spaces for watersports or sites for shellfish farmers. 'I bet the birds would love it, too,' he adds.
Although Searaser is clearly a commercial project and Smith hopes to see a return on his patents, he is also keen to see the technology deployed abroad, given that its simplicity lends itself to installation and maintenance in the less-industrialised world.
'It's a modular system: a community could start off with two or three machines, and expand as necessary. It can go round the globe, it really can,' he says.
His subsequent invention would have made Archimedes proud, and should be making the renewables industry very excited.
Dubbed 'Searaser', it consists of what looks like a navigation buoy, but is in fact a simple arrangement of ballast and floats connected by a piston. As a wave passes the device, the float is lifted, raising the piston and compressing water. The float sinks back down on the tail of the wave on to a second float, compressing water again on the downstroke.
What is particularly clever about Searaser, however, is its simplicity. Where most marine energy devices have sealed, lubricated innards and complex electronics, Searaser is lubricated entirely by seawater, has no electronic components and is even self-cleaning. Smith describes it as 'Third-World mechanics', but this belies the sophistication of the concept.
'The beauty of it is that we're only making a pump, and bringing water ashore,' he explains. 'All the other technology needed to generate the electricity already exists.'
Searaser is designed to pump water either straight through a sea-level turbine to generate electricity, or up to a clifftop reservoir, where the water could be stored until needed, then allowed to flow back down to the sea through turbines, generating electricity on demand.
The second option is the one about which Smith is most passionate. By effectively storing the energy generated by Searaser to be used on demand, his system would solve a problem that dogs almost all renewable technologies – their variability. Energy that can be summoned at will is not only more valuable, but also allows the grid to compensate for other, less easily controlled renewables such as wind and solar.
Early trials of the prototype Searaser, one of which was completed in April, have proved encouraging. Despite being less than a tenth of the size of the version he hopes will eventually be supplying power to our homes, Smith's homemade machine managed to pump some 112,000 litres of water a day during the trial, at times operating from waves a mere 6in high.
The eventual machine will be capable of generating 1 megawatt of electricity – enough to supply some 1,700 homes – at prices that the team behind Searaser believe will be lower than most other renewable technologies.
As an intermediate step, a trial of two midsize machines should go ahead towards the end of this year, with a university invited to monitor the trial and provide independent accreditation of the results. Although these machines won't generate electricity (they will simply pump water through a flow meter to determine their potential) they will demonstrate whether the technology can work for prolonged periods and in rough conditions.
For Smith, however – a man who could use a welder by the age of eight – the incremental steps between prototype and commercial deployment seem almost an irritation. His vision is already far advanced, and includes using the pressurised saltwater generated by Searaser to produce drinking water, using the same reverse osmosis process used in conventional, energy-hungry desalination plants.
'All you'd have to do is reduce the size of the piston and increase the size of the floats to increase the pressure,' he explains.
He has also put plenty of thought into how he would persuade planners and landowners to allow him to build reservoirs on top of cliffs to provide the energy storage for Searaser.
'The planning will frighten everyone,' he says, 'but if you were trying to produce as much energy from wind turbines, they'd be very visible; a reservoir you'd only see from above.'
Smith has also put thought into how the reservoir could be made as water-tight as possible – vital to avoid saltwater leaching into soils. By double-lining the reservoirs and including an outlet pipe in between the two linings, you would instantly be able to see if the uppermost lining had a puncture by watching the end of the outlet pipe.
'If you saw any water coming out, you'd know you had a leak and you could drain down the reservoir and sort it out,' he says.
Beyond being simply functional, however, Smith believes the reservoirs could be beautiful, providing recreational spaces for watersports or sites for shellfish farmers. 'I bet the birds would love it, too,' he adds.
Although Searaser is clearly a commercial project and Smith hopes to see a return on his patents, he is also keen to see the technology deployed abroad, given that its simplicity lends itself to installation and maintenance in the less-industrialised world.
'It's a modular system: a community could start off with two or three machines, and expand as necessary. It can go round the globe, it really can,' he says.
China and the environment: Red, green - and black
Visiting China a couple of years ago, the American journalist Thomas Friedman conceded that, when it came to climate change, his hosts had a point. Yes, the west had grown rich using dirty old coal and oil, and the Chinese had the right to do the same. "Take your time!" he told a conference in Tianjin. "Because I think my country needs ... five years to invent all the clean power and energy efficiency tools that you, China, will need to avoid choking on pollution and then we are going to come over and sell them ... to you." It took a few moments for his words to be translated and land in delegates' headphones - and for the ripple of consternation to spread around the hall.
Two years on, Mr Friedman's lesson - that clean energy can be profitable rather than a costly drag - has not only been learned by the Chinese; now Beijing is intent on writing the rest of the textbook. Just look at yesterday's Guardian report on China's plans to ramp up wind and solar power, so that they meet 20% of its energy needs by 2020. That is already a big advance in Beijing's goals - and it is poised to go even further. There are reports it will spend up to $600bn on clean power over the next decade - or the equivalent of its entire military budget every year for each of the next 10 years.
Sums like that certainly put western chatter about green new deals in perspective. Indeed, China's 20% goal matches European targets, which EU members such as Britain are struggling to meet. And while Beijing's announcement may put Europe's governments on their mettle, there is more to this clean stimulus than a challenge for environmental leadership. China is dependent on imported fuel, it can see the business opportunities from developing green technology (it is already the world's leading manufacturer of photovoltaic panels, which turn sunlight into electricity) - and Beijing needs to go into this December's negotiations on a successor treaty to Kyoto with something to deflect the charges that it is some kind of climate criminal. Instead, China will be able to cast itself as a green leader.
There is only one snag. Green optimists such as Thomas Friedman yoke energy security with the green agenda; Beijing is effectively decoupling the two. However much it may trumpet its green initiatives, China is still the world's biggest user of coal and the largest emitter of carbon. Neither of those two things look likely to change. Beijing has yet to accept any target for reducing carbon emissions. The US Congress looks as if it will accept only a small one. The two countries that are central to December's negotiations in Copenhagen will be able to show much progress and good faith - but painful, binding targets? Do not bet on it.
Two years on, Mr Friedman's lesson - that clean energy can be profitable rather than a costly drag - has not only been learned by the Chinese; now Beijing is intent on writing the rest of the textbook. Just look at yesterday's Guardian report on China's plans to ramp up wind and solar power, so that they meet 20% of its energy needs by 2020. That is already a big advance in Beijing's goals - and it is poised to go even further. There are reports it will spend up to $600bn on clean power over the next decade - or the equivalent of its entire military budget every year for each of the next 10 years.
Sums like that certainly put western chatter about green new deals in perspective. Indeed, China's 20% goal matches European targets, which EU members such as Britain are struggling to meet. And while Beijing's announcement may put Europe's governments on their mettle, there is more to this clean stimulus than a challenge for environmental leadership. China is dependent on imported fuel, it can see the business opportunities from developing green technology (it is already the world's leading manufacturer of photovoltaic panels, which turn sunlight into electricity) - and Beijing needs to go into this December's negotiations on a successor treaty to Kyoto with something to deflect the charges that it is some kind of climate criminal. Instead, China will be able to cast itself as a green leader.
There is only one snag. Green optimists such as Thomas Friedman yoke energy security with the green agenda; Beijing is effectively decoupling the two. However much it may trumpet its green initiatives, China is still the world's biggest user of coal and the largest emitter of carbon. Neither of those two things look likely to change. Beijing has yet to accept any target for reducing carbon emissions. The US Congress looks as if it will accept only a small one. The two countries that are central to December's negotiations in Copenhagen will be able to show much progress and good faith - but painful, binding targets? Do not bet on it.
Climate action must be a first resort
As the first signs of "green shoots" start to appear in headlines and the housing market, a rather depressing question keeps nagging at me: "Is the current economic 'shock' big enough?" It might seem an odd question to ask when a crisis is destroying jobs, decimating trade and driving many countries to the brink of insolvency. No one, least of all Oxfam, is hoping for anything but a quick recovery.
But crises do not only destroy; they can also create once-in-a-generation opportunities when the world re-examines the way we do things. Women won the vote in Britain after the first world war had transformed their role in society. In the US the Great Depression led to the New Deal. As Rahm Emmanuel, Obama's chief of staff, remarked recently: "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."
Could the current crisis create the conditions for profound changes that would benefit the majority of the world's people in the long run; or is the current doom and gloom devoid of any such silver lining?
The latest figures from the IMF are certainly shocking. The global economy is in full recession, predicted to shrink by 1.3% this year (at least until the next downward revision of forecasts). Advanced economies have suffered a massive 3.8% fall in output. And although the developing world isn't doing quite so badly as the rich countries – it is predicted to achieve sluggish positive growth – a close examination of the numbers reveals that the impact on poor people looks very worrying.
In per capita terms (ie allowing for population growth), developing country economies are shrinking, after years of progress. Using the World Bank estimate that a loss of 1% of global economic output pushes 20m people into poverty, by the end of 2009, 100 million more people will be living below $1.25 a day than would otherwise be the case. Stop and read that again: below $1.25 a day.
That certainly fits economists' definition of a "shock", and a big one at that. What changes might such a shock trigger? There are already signs of some tectonic shifts. First, the geopolitical – the crisis has crystallised the rise of China. After keeping its head down during three decades of "peaceful rise", Chinese diplomacy has suddenly become far more assertive, openly blaming the west for the crisis and calling for major reforms of the international financial system. The era of the G2 (US and China) begins here. More broadly, the G8 is now looking increasingly obsolete – real power has shifted to the G20, with far greater recognition of the role of emerging economies such as Brazil and India, as well as China.
Second, the end of the Great Deregulation. Since finance was let off the leash in the mid 1970s, it has boomed and come to dwarf the real economy. By 2007 the daily flow of capital across borders was 100 times greater than world trade. Backed by the power to make and break economies, the whims and prejudices of financial markets acquired absurd political importance. That has now given way to an era of reregulation and downsizing of the financial sector. Good thing too.
But other impacts are worrying or absent. At the G20 in London in April, the world wrote a huge cheque to the International Monetary Fund, in return for promises of reform. But it is far from certain that the IMF can transform itself from being an austerity-wielding devotee of the "Friedmanite tourniquet" to being an advocate of the kind of Keynesian reflation that is needed in poor countries right now.
Most worrying of all, climate change has so far taken a back seat. The G20 largely ignored the issue; progress in the UN talks that culminate in Copenhagen in December is glacial. But we are running out of time. The longer we take in beginning a fundamental (and probably painful) shift to a low-carbon economy, the worse the climate change and pain of transition will become. At the current rate global greenhouse gas emissions will double in 25 years. They need to start falling fast by 2015 at the latest.
Some argue that we should sort out the economic crisis first, and then turn our attention to the longer-term issues such as climate change, but that is to ignore the role of crises in driving change.
The creation of the UN, World Bank and IMF – the global order of the second half of the 20th century – was the product of both the Great Depression and the second world war. World leaders meeting at the G8 next month have a real chance to grasp their once-in-a-generation opportunity. But my fear is that the current economic collapse will not be enough to convince us or them of the need for change. Will we need the climate equivalent of a world war before we and our leaders accept the need to shift to a low carbon world? The scale of such a climate shock, its irreversibility, and the impact on the lives of millions of ordinary people make that a very bad last resort.
But crises do not only destroy; they can also create once-in-a-generation opportunities when the world re-examines the way we do things. Women won the vote in Britain after the first world war had transformed their role in society. In the US the Great Depression led to the New Deal. As Rahm Emmanuel, Obama's chief of staff, remarked recently: "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."
Could the current crisis create the conditions for profound changes that would benefit the majority of the world's people in the long run; or is the current doom and gloom devoid of any such silver lining?
The latest figures from the IMF are certainly shocking. The global economy is in full recession, predicted to shrink by 1.3% this year (at least until the next downward revision of forecasts). Advanced economies have suffered a massive 3.8% fall in output. And although the developing world isn't doing quite so badly as the rich countries – it is predicted to achieve sluggish positive growth – a close examination of the numbers reveals that the impact on poor people looks very worrying.
In per capita terms (ie allowing for population growth), developing country economies are shrinking, after years of progress. Using the World Bank estimate that a loss of 1% of global economic output pushes 20m people into poverty, by the end of 2009, 100 million more people will be living below $1.25 a day than would otherwise be the case. Stop and read that again: below $1.25 a day.
That certainly fits economists' definition of a "shock", and a big one at that. What changes might such a shock trigger? There are already signs of some tectonic shifts. First, the geopolitical – the crisis has crystallised the rise of China. After keeping its head down during three decades of "peaceful rise", Chinese diplomacy has suddenly become far more assertive, openly blaming the west for the crisis and calling for major reforms of the international financial system. The era of the G2 (US and China) begins here. More broadly, the G8 is now looking increasingly obsolete – real power has shifted to the G20, with far greater recognition of the role of emerging economies such as Brazil and India, as well as China.
Second, the end of the Great Deregulation. Since finance was let off the leash in the mid 1970s, it has boomed and come to dwarf the real economy. By 2007 the daily flow of capital across borders was 100 times greater than world trade. Backed by the power to make and break economies, the whims and prejudices of financial markets acquired absurd political importance. That has now given way to an era of reregulation and downsizing of the financial sector. Good thing too.
But other impacts are worrying or absent. At the G20 in London in April, the world wrote a huge cheque to the International Monetary Fund, in return for promises of reform. But it is far from certain that the IMF can transform itself from being an austerity-wielding devotee of the "Friedmanite tourniquet" to being an advocate of the kind of Keynesian reflation that is needed in poor countries right now.
Most worrying of all, climate change has so far taken a back seat. The G20 largely ignored the issue; progress in the UN talks that culminate in Copenhagen in December is glacial. But we are running out of time. The longer we take in beginning a fundamental (and probably painful) shift to a low-carbon economy, the worse the climate change and pain of transition will become. At the current rate global greenhouse gas emissions will double in 25 years. They need to start falling fast by 2015 at the latest.
Some argue that we should sort out the economic crisis first, and then turn our attention to the longer-term issues such as climate change, but that is to ignore the role of crises in driving change.
The creation of the UN, World Bank and IMF – the global order of the second half of the 20th century – was the product of both the Great Depression and the second world war. World leaders meeting at the G8 next month have a real chance to grasp their once-in-a-generation opportunity. But my fear is that the current economic collapse will not be enough to convince us or them of the need for change. Will we need the climate equivalent of a world war before we and our leaders accept the need to shift to a low carbon world? The scale of such a climate shock, its irreversibility, and the impact on the lives of millions of ordinary people make that a very bad last resort.
US wind farm energy up in the air over climate change, says study
The great gusting winds of the American midwest – and possibly the hopes for the most promising clean energy source – may be dying, in part because of climate change, according to a new report.
A study, due to be published in August in the peer-reviewed Journal of Geophysical Research, suggests that average and peak winds may have been slowing across the midwest and eastern states since 1973.
The authors of the study note that their findings are preliminary and some of their data is ambiguous. But the study, based on measurements gathered from wind towers across the midwest raises the possibility of yet another new side effect from global warming: declining wind speeds.
"We have noted there have been some periods in the past ... where there was a pretty substantial decrease in wind speed for 12 consecutive months," Eugene Takle, the director of the climate science initiative at Iowa State University and one of the authors of the study, said. "We suspect that it's some large-scale influence that we don't yet understand."
Areas of the midwest have seen a 10% decline in average wind speed over the past decade. Some places – such as Minnesota – have seen a jump in the number of days where there was no wind at all.
Takle said climate modelling suggested a further 10% decline in wind levels could occur over the next four decades. "Generally we expect there will probably be a decline in wind speeds due to climate change."
The sharpest fall off in wind speeds recorded in the study occurred in the eastern United States including Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana, northern Maine, western Montana and Virginia.
Other areas, like west Texas, which is the heart of America's wind power industry have been relatively unaffected, the study found.
The yet-to-be-published study was first reported by the Associated Press which also noted that the research was preliminary.
Takle noted that data could be skewed by changes in instruments for measuring wind, or reforestation, which could also slow wind speeds.
Other scientists have also raised doubts about the findings.
But if the findings are borne out, the dying winds could deliver a serious setback to plans to expand the use of the renewable energy.
The US is the world's largest producer of wind power, and investment in the sector had explosive growth before the economic downturn, hitting $17bn last year. Wind turbines are now a common sight on high rises across many American states.
But a 10% fall in peak winds could translate into a 27% reduction in energy, Takle said. "On moderately windy days when wind turbines are struggling to get as much as they can out of the wind available and they are not letting any extra power go through that could make a big difference."
Wind industry analysts downplayed the potential impact of a reduction in wind levels in some regions of the US. "I don't think that at this point you could definitively say there are going to be across the board decreases in wind," said Michael Goggin, an industry analyst for the American Wind Energy Association. "The abundance and diversity of wind resources in the United States is so great. We are called the Saudi Arabia of wind for a reason. There are enough different climate regimes that even if some are negatively affected – and at this point that is speculative – others could do better."
Gavin Schmidt, a climate scientist at Nasa's Goddard Institute of Space Studies, told the Guardian the study had yet to establish a clear pattern of declining winds, and that it was too soon to be thinking of the effects on wind energy industry.
"It's still very preliminary. My feeling is that it is way too premature to be talking about the impact that this makes.
A study, due to be published in August in the peer-reviewed Journal of Geophysical Research, suggests that average and peak winds may have been slowing across the midwest and eastern states since 1973.
The authors of the study note that their findings are preliminary and some of their data is ambiguous. But the study, based on measurements gathered from wind towers across the midwest raises the possibility of yet another new side effect from global warming: declining wind speeds.
"We have noted there have been some periods in the past ... where there was a pretty substantial decrease in wind speed for 12 consecutive months," Eugene Takle, the director of the climate science initiative at Iowa State University and one of the authors of the study, said. "We suspect that it's some large-scale influence that we don't yet understand."
Areas of the midwest have seen a 10% decline in average wind speed over the past decade. Some places – such as Minnesota – have seen a jump in the number of days where there was no wind at all.
Takle said climate modelling suggested a further 10% decline in wind levels could occur over the next four decades. "Generally we expect there will probably be a decline in wind speeds due to climate change."
The sharpest fall off in wind speeds recorded in the study occurred in the eastern United States including Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana, northern Maine, western Montana and Virginia.
Other areas, like west Texas, which is the heart of America's wind power industry have been relatively unaffected, the study found.
The yet-to-be-published study was first reported by the Associated Press which also noted that the research was preliminary.
Takle noted that data could be skewed by changes in instruments for measuring wind, or reforestation, which could also slow wind speeds.
Other scientists have also raised doubts about the findings.
But if the findings are borne out, the dying winds could deliver a serious setback to plans to expand the use of the renewable energy.
The US is the world's largest producer of wind power, and investment in the sector had explosive growth before the economic downturn, hitting $17bn last year. Wind turbines are now a common sight on high rises across many American states.
But a 10% fall in peak winds could translate into a 27% reduction in energy, Takle said. "On moderately windy days when wind turbines are struggling to get as much as they can out of the wind available and they are not letting any extra power go through that could make a big difference."
Wind industry analysts downplayed the potential impact of a reduction in wind levels in some regions of the US. "I don't think that at this point you could definitively say there are going to be across the board decreases in wind," said Michael Goggin, an industry analyst for the American Wind Energy Association. "The abundance and diversity of wind resources in the United States is so great. We are called the Saudi Arabia of wind for a reason. There are enough different climate regimes that even if some are negatively affected – and at this point that is speculative – others could do better."
Gavin Schmidt, a climate scientist at Nasa's Goddard Institute of Space Studies, told the Guardian the study had yet to establish a clear pattern of declining winds, and that it was too soon to be thinking of the effects on wind energy industry.
"It's still very preliminary. My feeling is that it is way too premature to be talking about the impact that this makes.
Bird numbers decline 'worrying'
Scotland's seabird numbers plunged by 19% between 2000 and 2008, a new report has said.
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) said the major cause was almost certainly a shortage of food due to a drop in the number of small fish, such as sandeels.
SNH said the fish were probably being affected by rising sea temperatures.
Declines have been greater in areas such as the Northern Isles and down the east coast. RSPB Scotland said the figures were "deeply worrying".
SNH said lower fish numbers led to lower numbers of adult birds surviving from one year to the next, and not enough chicks being produced and surviving to replace them.
SNH director of policy and advice, Prof Colin Galbraith, said: "While it's always disappointing to witness declines in important species, we are not entirely surprised at these findings.
"After several decades of increasing seabird abundance, we are now witnessing a period of decline. Key reasons are likely to be linked to food availability, weather, and predation.
"It is important that we are now able to monitor seabird numbers much more effectively than in the past, to inform policy and action. We need to keep a close eye on seabird trends and try to understand what is driving them."
'No reprieve'
SNH said there were now 55% fewer black-legged kittiwake and 71% fewer Arctic skuas breeding in Scotland than in the mid 1980s. Arctic terns declined by 26% over the same period.
Deryk Shaw, warden of the Fair Isle Bird Observatory in Shetland, said: "Breeding kittiwake numbers have been falling for many years now and there was no reprieve in 2008.
"A whole island count for the Fair Isle found that the number of nests is only half of that counted as recently as 2005 with many birds just standing on bare ledges."
Douglas Gilbert, of RSPB Scotland, said: "If the declines continue at this alarming rate, then many of Scotland's famous seabird cities could be virtually deserted within a decade.
"In the past decade the hopes of a good breeding season have been crushed, as eggs are deserted or young chicks starve in their nests because the adult birds cannot find enough fish."
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) said the major cause was almost certainly a shortage of food due to a drop in the number of small fish, such as sandeels.
SNH said the fish were probably being affected by rising sea temperatures.
Declines have been greater in areas such as the Northern Isles and down the east coast. RSPB Scotland said the figures were "deeply worrying".
SNH said lower fish numbers led to lower numbers of adult birds surviving from one year to the next, and not enough chicks being produced and surviving to replace them.
SNH director of policy and advice, Prof Colin Galbraith, said: "While it's always disappointing to witness declines in important species, we are not entirely surprised at these findings.
"After several decades of increasing seabird abundance, we are now witnessing a period of decline. Key reasons are likely to be linked to food availability, weather, and predation.
"It is important that we are now able to monitor seabird numbers much more effectively than in the past, to inform policy and action. We need to keep a close eye on seabird trends and try to understand what is driving them."
'No reprieve'
SNH said there were now 55% fewer black-legged kittiwake and 71% fewer Arctic skuas breeding in Scotland than in the mid 1980s. Arctic terns declined by 26% over the same period.
Deryk Shaw, warden of the Fair Isle Bird Observatory in Shetland, said: "Breeding kittiwake numbers have been falling for many years now and there was no reprieve in 2008.
"A whole island count for the Fair Isle found that the number of nests is only half of that counted as recently as 2005 with many birds just standing on bare ledges."
Douglas Gilbert, of RSPB Scotland, said: "If the declines continue at this alarming rate, then many of Scotland's famous seabird cities could be virtually deserted within a decade.
"In the past decade the hopes of a good breeding season have been crushed, as eggs are deserted or young chicks starve in their nests because the adult birds cannot find enough fish."
'Boom and bust' of deforestation
Cutting down Amazon forest for cattle and soy does not bring long-term economic progress, researchers say.
A study of 286 Amazon municipalities found that deforestation brought quick benefits that were soon reversed.
Writing in the journal Science, the researchers say the deforestation cycle helps neither people nor nature.
They suggest that mechanisms to reward people in poorer countries for conserving rainforest could change this "lose-lose-lose" situation.
Jumbled paths
The Brazilian government has long had a twin-track approach to the Amazon, which contains about 40% of the world's remaining rainforest.
While the land development agency Incra settles people in the region as a way of giving them land and livelihoods - a policy that dates from the 1970s - the environment ministry is trying to reduce the rate of deforestation.
Last year the environment ministry named Incra as the country's worst illegal logger.
The Science study suggests that the settlement and expansion policy is not producing real benefits for people.
Ana Rodrigues and colleagues assessed the development status of people in 286 municipalities using the UN's Human Development Index (HDI), which combines measures of standard of living, literacy and life expectancy.
Some of the municipalities were in areas of virgin forest.
Others had already lost all their trees, and some were in the process of being deforested.
Areas in the initial stage of deforestation yielded HDI scores above the average for the region.
But once the period of deforestation had passed, scores returned to the values seen in areas that had not yet been logged.
"It is generally assumed that replacing the forest with crops and pastureland is the best approach for fulfilling the region's legitimate aspirations to development," said Dr Rodrigues
"We found although the deforestation frontier does bring initial improvements in income, life expectancy, and literacy, such gains are not sustained."
The "boom and bust" pattern was the same for each of the three aspects of the HDI, showing that even a straight economic benefit was not maintained.
REDD dawn
As the study emerged, UN climate negotiators are meeting in Bonn to discuss aspects of a follow-on treaty to the Kyoto Protocol, which is suppposed to be finalised by the end of the year.
One of the aspects of the new treaty will be a mechanism that rewards local communities for keeping carbon-absorbing forests intact - a mechanism known as REDD (Reducing Emissions through Deforestation and forest Degradation).
Andrew Balmford, a co-author of the new study, said REDD and other proposals could change the current situation, which he described as disastrous for local people, wildlife and the global climate
"Reversing this pattern will hinge on capturing the values of intact forests... so that local people's livelihoods are better when the forest is left standing than when it is cleared," said the Cambridge professor of conservation science.
"Discussions being held in the run-up to this December's crucial climate change meeting in Copenhagen... offer some promise that this lose-lose-lose situation could be tackled, to the benefit of everyone - local Brazilians included."
The research was possible only because Brazil has good data on human development and on deforestation, which these days is measured by satellites.
But Ana Rodrigues believes the conclusions probably hold true for other countries stocked with tropical forests in southeast Asia or west Africa.
"I would be very surprised if we didn't see this boom and bust pattern emerging in these areas as well," she told BBC News.
President Lula is currently debating whether to ratify a bill that would grant legal status to illegal settlers and loggers in the Amazon region.
Environmentalists say the bill would increase the rate of land-grabs, with a knock-on rise in illegal logging likely.
A study of 286 Amazon municipalities found that deforestation brought quick benefits that were soon reversed.
Writing in the journal Science, the researchers say the deforestation cycle helps neither people nor nature.
They suggest that mechanisms to reward people in poorer countries for conserving rainforest could change this "lose-lose-lose" situation.
Jumbled paths
The Brazilian government has long had a twin-track approach to the Amazon, which contains about 40% of the world's remaining rainforest.
While the land development agency Incra settles people in the region as a way of giving them land and livelihoods - a policy that dates from the 1970s - the environment ministry is trying to reduce the rate of deforestation.
Last year the environment ministry named Incra as the country's worst illegal logger.
The Science study suggests that the settlement and expansion policy is not producing real benefits for people.
Ana Rodrigues and colleagues assessed the development status of people in 286 municipalities using the UN's Human Development Index (HDI), which combines measures of standard of living, literacy and life expectancy.
Some of the municipalities were in areas of virgin forest.
Others had already lost all their trees, and some were in the process of being deforested.
Areas in the initial stage of deforestation yielded HDI scores above the average for the region.
But once the period of deforestation had passed, scores returned to the values seen in areas that had not yet been logged.
"It is generally assumed that replacing the forest with crops and pastureland is the best approach for fulfilling the region's legitimate aspirations to development," said Dr Rodrigues
"We found although the deforestation frontier does bring initial improvements in income, life expectancy, and literacy, such gains are not sustained."
The "boom and bust" pattern was the same for each of the three aspects of the HDI, showing that even a straight economic benefit was not maintained.
REDD dawn
As the study emerged, UN climate negotiators are meeting in Bonn to discuss aspects of a follow-on treaty to the Kyoto Protocol, which is suppposed to be finalised by the end of the year.
One of the aspects of the new treaty will be a mechanism that rewards local communities for keeping carbon-absorbing forests intact - a mechanism known as REDD (Reducing Emissions through Deforestation and forest Degradation).
Andrew Balmford, a co-author of the new study, said REDD and other proposals could change the current situation, which he described as disastrous for local people, wildlife and the global climate
"Reversing this pattern will hinge on capturing the values of intact forests... so that local people's livelihoods are better when the forest is left standing than when it is cleared," said the Cambridge professor of conservation science.
"Discussions being held in the run-up to this December's crucial climate change meeting in Copenhagen... offer some promise that this lose-lose-lose situation could be tackled, to the benefit of everyone - local Brazilians included."
The research was possible only because Brazil has good data on human development and on deforestation, which these days is measured by satellites.
But Ana Rodrigues believes the conclusions probably hold true for other countries stocked with tropical forests in southeast Asia or west Africa.
"I would be very surprised if we didn't see this boom and bust pattern emerging in these areas as well," she told BBC News.
President Lula is currently debating whether to ratify a bill that would grant legal status to illegal settlers and loggers in the Amazon region.
Environmentalists say the bill would increase the rate of land-grabs, with a knock-on rise in illegal logging likely.
World Bank sees even worse slump
The world economy will shrink by much more than previously thought, according to the World Bank.
The world economy will contract by 3% this year, far more than the 1.75% drop it predicted earlier this year.
"Most developing country economies will contract this year and face increasingly bleak prospects," World Bank president Robert Zoellick said.
The gloomier forecast comes despite recent signs that the worst of the recession is over.
This year is likely to be the first global recession since World War II.
'Aftershocks'
The revised figure brings it closer in line with the OECD, which represents rich nations, who predicted that the world economy will shrink by 2.7%.
The World Bank's sister institution, International Monetary Fund (IMF), said in April the world economy will shrink by 1.3% this year.
However, the forecasts are broadly compatible as the World Bank methodology gives a smaller weight to China, still the world's fastest growing large economy.
Mr Zoellick still predicted a recovery next year.
"Although growth is expected to revive during the course of 2010, the pace of the recovery is uncertain and the poor in many developing countries will continue to be buffeted by the aftershocks," he said.
The World Bank said the International Development Association (IDA), a division of the World Bank that focuses on the 78 poorest countries, had received a record number of pleas for help.
For the year to 30 June, the number of grants and interest-free loans are expected to be $13bn, the most ever. In the previous year, the figure was $11.2bn.
The World Bank forecast comes before a meeting of the finance ministers from the Group of Eight richest nations on Friday in Lecce, Italy.
The world economy will contract by 3% this year, far more than the 1.75% drop it predicted earlier this year.
"Most developing country economies will contract this year and face increasingly bleak prospects," World Bank president Robert Zoellick said.
The gloomier forecast comes despite recent signs that the worst of the recession is over.
This year is likely to be the first global recession since World War II.
'Aftershocks'
The revised figure brings it closer in line with the OECD, which represents rich nations, who predicted that the world economy will shrink by 2.7%.
The World Bank's sister institution, International Monetary Fund (IMF), said in April the world economy will shrink by 1.3% this year.
However, the forecasts are broadly compatible as the World Bank methodology gives a smaller weight to China, still the world's fastest growing large economy.
Mr Zoellick still predicted a recovery next year.
"Although growth is expected to revive during the course of 2010, the pace of the recovery is uncertain and the poor in many developing countries will continue to be buffeted by the aftershocks," he said.
The World Bank said the International Development Association (IDA), a division of the World Bank that focuses on the 78 poorest countries, had received a record number of pleas for help.
For the year to 30 June, the number of grants and interest-free loans are expected to be $13bn, the most ever. In the previous year, the figure was $11.2bn.
The World Bank forecast comes before a meeting of the finance ministers from the Group of Eight richest nations on Friday in Lecce, Italy.
Asthma Patients Should Compulsorily Practice Yoga
Settling into a warrior or tree pose a few times a week seems to improve symptoms and quality of life for people with asthma.
In fact, participants in a recent trial studying the effects of Hatha yoga also reported that they had been able to cut back on some of their asthma medication, said Amy Bidwell, senior author of a study presented this week at the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual meeting, in Seattle.
“It’s dramatic but not surprising,” said Dr. Jonathan Field, director of the allergy and asthma clinic at New York University School of Medicine/Bellevue Medical Center in New York City. “There have been some smaller studies that have stated this before, but I don’t think they’ve ever used a standardized scale of this sort.”
Bidwell, a doctoral student in the department of exercise science at Syracuse University, had injured her back when she was working as a personal trainer. “I opted for yoga, not surgery, and it pretty much healed me,” she noted.
And while previous studies had been positive, most had looked at immediate physiological responses following a rigorous yoga practice, for example, twice a day for 10 days.
That regimen, Bidwell said, “really wasn’t feasible,” Bidwell said. “Three times a week for 10 weeks was more realistic.”
Bidwell and her co-authors, one of whom is a physician, randomly assigned 20 individuals aged 20 to 65 to practice Hatha yoga two-and-a-half hours a week or to join a (non-yoga) control group, for a total of 10 weeks.
Results were based on a questionnaire that measured frequency and severity of symptoms, activities associated with breathlessness and social and psychological functioning.
“We hold poses up to a minute and focus on deep breathing, which is critical to asthmatics” said Bidwell, who is also a yoga instructor.
Heart rate variability, oxygen consumption and ventilation were also assessed while volunteers performed each of two tasks: handgrip for three minutes and an upright tilt for five minutes.
Overall, scores of individuals participating in the yoga arm of the trial improved an average of almost 43 percent.
There were few or no differences between the groups in heart rate variability, oxygen consumption or ventilation.
“There’s not much of a downside to yoga unless you have a major orthopedic problem,” said Bidwell, who does not hesitate to recommend the practice to asthmatics after receiving proper instruction.
“Breathing symptoms are such a big part of asthma in terms of gaining control over them. Yoga enhances awareness of breathing and you may be able to recognize early on when breathing is not at a level it should be, which would promote earlier care,” Field said. “Also, it’s been recognized that deep breathing in athletes — swimmers or runners — actually improves asthma. When you have more functional use of lungs, it protects against asthma.”
In fact, participants in a recent trial studying the effects of Hatha yoga also reported that they had been able to cut back on some of their asthma medication, said Amy Bidwell, senior author of a study presented this week at the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual meeting, in Seattle.
“It’s dramatic but not surprising,” said Dr. Jonathan Field, director of the allergy and asthma clinic at New York University School of Medicine/Bellevue Medical Center in New York City. “There have been some smaller studies that have stated this before, but I don’t think they’ve ever used a standardized scale of this sort.”
Bidwell, a doctoral student in the department of exercise science at Syracuse University, had injured her back when she was working as a personal trainer. “I opted for yoga, not surgery, and it pretty much healed me,” she noted.
And while previous studies had been positive, most had looked at immediate physiological responses following a rigorous yoga practice, for example, twice a day for 10 days.
That regimen, Bidwell said, “really wasn’t feasible,” Bidwell said. “Three times a week for 10 weeks was more realistic.”
Bidwell and her co-authors, one of whom is a physician, randomly assigned 20 individuals aged 20 to 65 to practice Hatha yoga two-and-a-half hours a week or to join a (non-yoga) control group, for a total of 10 weeks.
Results were based on a questionnaire that measured frequency and severity of symptoms, activities associated with breathlessness and social and psychological functioning.
“We hold poses up to a minute and focus on deep breathing, which is critical to asthmatics” said Bidwell, who is also a yoga instructor.
Heart rate variability, oxygen consumption and ventilation were also assessed while volunteers performed each of two tasks: handgrip for three minutes and an upright tilt for five minutes.
Overall, scores of individuals participating in the yoga arm of the trial improved an average of almost 43 percent.
There were few or no differences between the groups in heart rate variability, oxygen consumption or ventilation.
“There’s not much of a downside to yoga unless you have a major orthopedic problem,” said Bidwell, who does not hesitate to recommend the practice to asthmatics after receiving proper instruction.
“Breathing symptoms are such a big part of asthma in terms of gaining control over them. Yoga enhances awareness of breathing and you may be able to recognize early on when breathing is not at a level it should be, which would promote earlier care,” Field said. “Also, it’s been recognized that deep breathing in athletes — swimmers or runners — actually improves asthma. When you have more functional use of lungs, it protects against asthma.”
Rotavirus: Every Child Should Be Vaccinated Against Diarrheal Disease, W.H.O. Says
The World Health Organization recommended last week that the vaccine against rotavirus, a diarrheal disease that kills 500,000 children a year, be given to every child in the world.
More than 85 percent of those deaths are of poor children in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and the W.H.O. endorsement allows donor money to be used for the vaccine.
Rotavirus drops are already routine for babies in the United States. Without them, virtually all children are infected by age 3; most cases are mild, but some unpredictably turn life-threatening.
In countries with ambulances and hospitals, even unimmunized children with severe viral diarrhea can usually be saved with intravenous fluids. In poor countries, they often die.
The recommendation came after trials in South Africa and Malawi showing that a GlaxoSmithKline vaccine worked even in areas with poor sanitation, competing viruses, high infant death rates and mothers with AIDS. The results of trials on a rival Merck vaccine in Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Mali and Vietnam are expected in the fall.
The recommendation “clears the way for vaccines that will protect children in the developing world from one of the most deadly diseases they face,” said Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of global health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which paid for much of the research.
The next steps will not be cheap, Mr. Gates said recently. Even in poor countries, the vaccine costs about $20 and the vials must be refrigerated — no easy task in places lacking electricity.
More than 85 percent of those deaths are of poor children in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and the W.H.O. endorsement allows donor money to be used for the vaccine.
Rotavirus drops are already routine for babies in the United States. Without them, virtually all children are infected by age 3; most cases are mild, but some unpredictably turn life-threatening.
In countries with ambulances and hospitals, even unimmunized children with severe viral diarrhea can usually be saved with intravenous fluids. In poor countries, they often die.
The recommendation came after trials in South Africa and Malawi showing that a GlaxoSmithKline vaccine worked even in areas with poor sanitation, competing viruses, high infant death rates and mothers with AIDS. The results of trials on a rival Merck vaccine in Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Mali and Vietnam are expected in the fall.
The recommendation “clears the way for vaccines that will protect children in the developing world from one of the most deadly diseases they face,” said Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of global health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which paid for much of the research.
The next steps will not be cheap, Mr. Gates said recently. Even in poor countries, the vaccine costs about $20 and the vials must be refrigerated — no easy task in places lacking electricity.
Customers Prove There’s a Market for Fresh Produce
But will people buy them?
Vegetables, that is. Certainly on Wednesday afternoon, an urgent line formed at a cheery new produce cart that had materialized at the corner of East Fordham Road and Decatur Avenue near Fordham University in the Bronx.
“These strawberries look great, and they’re a bargain,” said Michelle Cruz, a 38-year-old graphic designer who lives nearby and found herself jostling other produce hounds under the cart’s jaunty green umbrellas.
The cart’s debut was the centerpiece of the first public celebration of a new citywide effort to encourage street vendors to bring fresh vegetables and fruit to low-income neighborhoods that have been called “food deserts” because of the predominance of fast-food outlets offering high-fat, high-sugar fare and the dearth of healthful culinary fare.
The city has approved 1,000 new mobile food carts for neighborhoods in the five boroughs that have long been isolated from traditional supermarkets, grocery stores and farmers’ markets offering fresh produce at reasonable prices.
“There is an epidemic of obesity and diabetes among those who are poor,” said Linda I. Gibbs, the deputy mayor for health and human services.
So far, 200 Green Carts, as they are officially called, are now on the streets. “Already, people are telling us they’re glad we’re here,” said Michael Bracho, the 42-year-old proprietor of the Decatur Avenue cart, a downsized former Office Depot manager who describes his new occupation as “lucrative if you do it right.”
Some of the vendors who hit the streets last year complained about low-traffic locations, and it will take a while to determine whether there is enough demand to keep all the vendors in business in neighborhoods where processed foods are dominant. And some local merchants could see the carts as competition.
The carts do not accept food stamps, though a government-financed pilot program will soon provide $1,000 all-weather wireless terminals so 15 vendors can accept food-stamp debit cards.
The cart permits restrict operators to designated impoverished neighborhoods in the five boroughs and limit sales to raw fruits and vegetables.
The plan, approved by the New York City Council and signed into law by the mayor last year, is part of a public-private effort to make healthier food available to the poor while also providing 1,000 new jobs. Many vendors are immigrants from Latin America, Asia and elsewhere, said Karen Karp, a consultant to the project.
In low-income neighborhoods, “we know that it takes more time to build supermarkets,” said Benjamin Thomases, the food-policy coordinator for the Bloomberg administration, “but we can get carts on the streets right now.”
Even if doctors talk to their patients about eating in a more healthy way, “there is little access to these kinds of foods in minority communities,” said Dr. Peter A. Selwyn, a department chairman at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
“There’s third-rate stuff around here if you can even find it,” said Tom Johnson, a 25-year-old maintenance worker, as he stood amid the frenzy at the cart. “I can buy here now.”
People working two jobs “are not going to get on a train, or two buses, to travel to get fresh vegetables,” said Laurie M. Tisch, president of the Illumination Fund, a charity that has donated $1.5 million over two years to provide capital for Green Cart micro-loans for basic purchases, like the $2,000 food carts, through Acción New York, a nonprofit organization that helps those who do not qualify for bank credit.
But not everyone in the Fordham neighborhood was in a celebratory mood. “It may be good for health, but it’s bad for business,” said George Katehis, manager of the Splendid Deli Restaurant at 387 East Fordham Road. “A guy might buy a piece of fruit there instead of coming in here for a soda.”
Fruits and vegetables were available, but the prices were higher, at the Compare Foods market at East 189th Street and Park Avenue, a few blocks away from the Green Cart. Bananas were 99 cents a pound instead of 50 cents, strawberries were $3.99 a container instead of $1.50 and peppers were $1.89 a pound instead of $1.
“Maybe we’ll lose some customers to them,” said the manager, who gave his name only as Fabio V., adding that his produce cost more because “I have to pay utilities, high rent, employees — and he doesn’t.”
If the avid buyers at Decatur Avenue were any indication, residents of produce-poor neighborhoods may welcome the green-umbrella invasion. “Research has demonstrated that the greater the access, the more the consumption,” said Elliott S. Marcus, an associate commissioner of the city’s health department.
Mr. Marcus, who knows of no similar program in any other city, is hopeful that the Green Carts operation will inspire imitators.
Kumar Gouranga, a 45-year-old immigrant from Bangladesh who for three months has operated a cart at 165th Street and Broadway in Manhattan, said that “business is so good that we are staying open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Mr. Gouranga said his worst problem had been the 15 tickets he had received from the police, despite his legal permit. He said that every ticket had been dismissed in court, but that new ones kept coming.
“My other problem is that the green umbrella you get breaks easily,” he said, “especially in high winds.”
Vegetables, that is. Certainly on Wednesday afternoon, an urgent line formed at a cheery new produce cart that had materialized at the corner of East Fordham Road and Decatur Avenue near Fordham University in the Bronx.
“These strawberries look great, and they’re a bargain,” said Michelle Cruz, a 38-year-old graphic designer who lives nearby and found herself jostling other produce hounds under the cart’s jaunty green umbrellas.
The cart’s debut was the centerpiece of the first public celebration of a new citywide effort to encourage street vendors to bring fresh vegetables and fruit to low-income neighborhoods that have been called “food deserts” because of the predominance of fast-food outlets offering high-fat, high-sugar fare and the dearth of healthful culinary fare.
The city has approved 1,000 new mobile food carts for neighborhoods in the five boroughs that have long been isolated from traditional supermarkets, grocery stores and farmers’ markets offering fresh produce at reasonable prices.
“There is an epidemic of obesity and diabetes among those who are poor,” said Linda I. Gibbs, the deputy mayor for health and human services.
So far, 200 Green Carts, as they are officially called, are now on the streets. “Already, people are telling us they’re glad we’re here,” said Michael Bracho, the 42-year-old proprietor of the Decatur Avenue cart, a downsized former Office Depot manager who describes his new occupation as “lucrative if you do it right.”
Some of the vendors who hit the streets last year complained about low-traffic locations, and it will take a while to determine whether there is enough demand to keep all the vendors in business in neighborhoods where processed foods are dominant. And some local merchants could see the carts as competition.
The carts do not accept food stamps, though a government-financed pilot program will soon provide $1,000 all-weather wireless terminals so 15 vendors can accept food-stamp debit cards.
The cart permits restrict operators to designated impoverished neighborhoods in the five boroughs and limit sales to raw fruits and vegetables.
The plan, approved by the New York City Council and signed into law by the mayor last year, is part of a public-private effort to make healthier food available to the poor while also providing 1,000 new jobs. Many vendors are immigrants from Latin America, Asia and elsewhere, said Karen Karp, a consultant to the project.
In low-income neighborhoods, “we know that it takes more time to build supermarkets,” said Benjamin Thomases, the food-policy coordinator for the Bloomberg administration, “but we can get carts on the streets right now.”
Even if doctors talk to their patients about eating in a more healthy way, “there is little access to these kinds of foods in minority communities,” said Dr. Peter A. Selwyn, a department chairman at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
“There’s third-rate stuff around here if you can even find it,” said Tom Johnson, a 25-year-old maintenance worker, as he stood amid the frenzy at the cart. “I can buy here now.”
People working two jobs “are not going to get on a train, or two buses, to travel to get fresh vegetables,” said Laurie M. Tisch, president of the Illumination Fund, a charity that has donated $1.5 million over two years to provide capital for Green Cart micro-loans for basic purchases, like the $2,000 food carts, through Acción New York, a nonprofit organization that helps those who do not qualify for bank credit.
But not everyone in the Fordham neighborhood was in a celebratory mood. “It may be good for health, but it’s bad for business,” said George Katehis, manager of the Splendid Deli Restaurant at 387 East Fordham Road. “A guy might buy a piece of fruit there instead of coming in here for a soda.”
Fruits and vegetables were available, but the prices were higher, at the Compare Foods market at East 189th Street and Park Avenue, a few blocks away from the Green Cart. Bananas were 99 cents a pound instead of 50 cents, strawberries were $3.99 a container instead of $1.50 and peppers were $1.89 a pound instead of $1.
“Maybe we’ll lose some customers to them,” said the manager, who gave his name only as Fabio V., adding that his produce cost more because “I have to pay utilities, high rent, employees — and he doesn’t.”
If the avid buyers at Decatur Avenue were any indication, residents of produce-poor neighborhoods may welcome the green-umbrella invasion. “Research has demonstrated that the greater the access, the more the consumption,” said Elliott S. Marcus, an associate commissioner of the city’s health department.
Mr. Marcus, who knows of no similar program in any other city, is hopeful that the Green Carts operation will inspire imitators.
Kumar Gouranga, a 45-year-old immigrant from Bangladesh who for three months has operated a cart at 165th Street and Broadway in Manhattan, said that “business is so good that we are staying open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Mr. Gouranga said his worst problem had been the 15 tickets he had received from the police, despite his legal permit. He said that every ticket had been dismissed in court, but that new ones kept coming.
“My other problem is that the green umbrella you get breaks easily,” he said, “especially in high winds.”
UK beaches set for clean-up following damning report
The government today vowed to boost efforts to clean up the coastline after the latest European beaches report criticised the quality of water at more than two dozen resorts.
The vast majority of the nation's favourite coastal areas meet strict EU bathing water cleanliness standards. But too much rain is being blamed for putting the chic Cornish resort of Rock on the dirty list, as well as Sandgate in Kent and 23 other swimming areas on the country's tourist map. Most of the UK bathing areas needing improvement were in the south-west – Devon and Cornwall – and in Scotland.
"We're working to improve sewerage systems and are aware of the effect heavy rain and flooding can have on our coastal bathing waters" said a government spokesman. "The proposal to make connections to sewers subject to meeting national standards will result in less water reaching sewerage treatment works, and consequently reduce the risk of flooding and pollution to our beaches."
The EU report echoed a survey last month, which recorded a fall in the number of English beaches awarded "blue flags" for cleanliness in 2009. The fall was attributed to the heavy rain and flooding in 2008 and 2007, which washed pollutants into the sea and affected water quality. Earlier this year, the Marine Conservation Society also claimed litter on British beaches had reached record levels, more than doubling in the past 15 years and putting marine life at risk.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says it is currently tackling pollution from agriculture source, including grants to build fences between livestock and watercourses, and advice to farmers on reducing water pollution.
The latest report is based on 2008 water cleanliness tests carried out at more than 21,000 bathing spots around the 27 EU countries. The large majority meet EU hygiene requirements – 96% of the total coastal bathing areas and 92% of bathing sites in rivers and lakes were found to be up to standard.
The commissioner for the environment, Stavros Dimas said: "High quality bathing water is essential for the well-being of European citizens and the environment – and this goes for all other bodies of water too. I am pleased to see that the overall quality of water in bathing areas is improving throughout the union."
The largest number of coastal bathing waters can be found in Italy, Greece, France, Spain and Denmark, while Germany and France have the highest number of inland bathing waters.
The UK beaches and inland swimming spots failing to meet minimum EU clean water standards in 2008 were:
Northern Ireland
Ballyholme
Scotland
Machrihanish ( Argyll and Bute)
Saltcoats/Ardrossan (North Ayrshire)
Sandyhills (Dumfries and Galloway)
Portobello Central (Edinburgh)
Rosehearty (Aberdeenshire)
Cruden Bay (Aberdeenshire)
Aberdeen
Wales
Llandanwag
South-west
Seaton (Cornwall)
East Looe (Cornwall)
Rock (Cornwall)
Readymoney (Cornwall)
Porthluney (Cornwall)
Plymouth Hoe East (Devon)
Plymouth Hoe West (Devon)
Exmouth (Devon)
Instow (Devon)
Coombe Martin (Devon)
North
Allonby (Cumbria)
St Bees (Cumbria)
Aldingham (Cumbria)
Windermere, Millerground landings (Cumbria)
Yorkshire and Humberside
Staithes (North Yorkshire)
South-east
Sandgate (Kent)
The vast majority of the nation's favourite coastal areas meet strict EU bathing water cleanliness standards. But too much rain is being blamed for putting the chic Cornish resort of Rock on the dirty list, as well as Sandgate in Kent and 23 other swimming areas on the country's tourist map. Most of the UK bathing areas needing improvement were in the south-west – Devon and Cornwall – and in Scotland.
"We're working to improve sewerage systems and are aware of the effect heavy rain and flooding can have on our coastal bathing waters" said a government spokesman. "The proposal to make connections to sewers subject to meeting national standards will result in less water reaching sewerage treatment works, and consequently reduce the risk of flooding and pollution to our beaches."
The EU report echoed a survey last month, which recorded a fall in the number of English beaches awarded "blue flags" for cleanliness in 2009. The fall was attributed to the heavy rain and flooding in 2008 and 2007, which washed pollutants into the sea and affected water quality. Earlier this year, the Marine Conservation Society also claimed litter on British beaches had reached record levels, more than doubling in the past 15 years and putting marine life at risk.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says it is currently tackling pollution from agriculture source, including grants to build fences between livestock and watercourses, and advice to farmers on reducing water pollution.
The latest report is based on 2008 water cleanliness tests carried out at more than 21,000 bathing spots around the 27 EU countries. The large majority meet EU hygiene requirements – 96% of the total coastal bathing areas and 92% of bathing sites in rivers and lakes were found to be up to standard.
The commissioner for the environment, Stavros Dimas said: "High quality bathing water is essential for the well-being of European citizens and the environment – and this goes for all other bodies of water too. I am pleased to see that the overall quality of water in bathing areas is improving throughout the union."
The largest number of coastal bathing waters can be found in Italy, Greece, France, Spain and Denmark, while Germany and France have the highest number of inland bathing waters.
The UK beaches and inland swimming spots failing to meet minimum EU clean water standards in 2008 were:
Northern Ireland
Ballyholme
Scotland
Machrihanish ( Argyll and Bute)
Saltcoats/Ardrossan (North Ayrshire)
Sandyhills (Dumfries and Galloway)
Portobello Central (Edinburgh)
Rosehearty (Aberdeenshire)
Cruden Bay (Aberdeenshire)
Aberdeen
Wales
Llandanwag
South-west
Seaton (Cornwall)
East Looe (Cornwall)
Rock (Cornwall)
Readymoney (Cornwall)
Porthluney (Cornwall)
Plymouth Hoe East (Devon)
Plymouth Hoe West (Devon)
Exmouth (Devon)
Instow (Devon)
Coombe Martin (Devon)
North
Allonby (Cumbria)
St Bees (Cumbria)
Aldingham (Cumbria)
Windermere, Millerground landings (Cumbria)
Yorkshire and Humberside
Staithes (North Yorkshire)
South-east
Sandgate (Kent)
Afghans issue first wildlife list
The list, compiled by the country's National Environment Protection Agency (Nepa), includes 20 mammal species, seven birds and four plants.
Officials hope to expand the number of protected species to as many as 70 by the end of the year.
The first wave of creatures to receive protection includes snow leopards, wolves and brown bears.
Conservationists hope the new measure will provide legal protection for the nation's wildlife, which has been badly disrupted by more than 30 years of conflict.
Small beginning
Steven Sanderson, chief executive of the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which helped compile the initial list, applauded Afghan conservationists' "continued commitment to conserving [their] natural heritage - even during these challenging times".
"WCS believes that conservation can often serve as diplomacy, and we are optimistic that this... will benefit all of Afghanistan's people," he added.
The evaluation of species began in 2008, using the same scientific criteria as the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species.
Many of the mammals featured on the list, such as the snow leopard, were under pressure from excessive hunting.
A presidential decree that banned hunting in Afghanistan recently expired, which meant the animals could have been shot and killed legally.
Campaigners hope the list of protected species will offer a legal framework that will allow conservation efforts to become established.
The only amphibian to feature on the list is the Critically Endangered Paghman mountain salamander (Batrachuperus mustersi).
According to the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the salamanders are entirely water-dwelling and restricted to three tributaries of the Paghman stream drainage system in eastern Afghanistan.
The cold, fast-flowing water, which the species favours, originates from melting glaciers.
Should the glacial flow dry up, the creatures' habitat will quickly disappear, warn scientists.
Conservationists estimate that fewer than 2,000 of the salamanders remain in the wild.
Nepa officials will be responsible for managing the list, as well as drawing up recovery plans for the featured species.
The list will be re-evaluated every five years to determine whether any of them have recovered enough to be removed from the list.
In April, Afghanistan established its first national park in a spectacular region of deep blue lakes separated by natural dams of travertine, a mineral deposit.
Band-e-Amir is a region visited by thousands of Afghans and pilgrims, though foreign tourism dropped away as violence increased in 1979.
Officials hope that the creation of the park will be another step along to road to recovery for the nation's battered environment
Officials hope to expand the number of protected species to as many as 70 by the end of the year.
The first wave of creatures to receive protection includes snow leopards, wolves and brown bears.
Conservationists hope the new measure will provide legal protection for the nation's wildlife, which has been badly disrupted by more than 30 years of conflict.
Small beginning
Steven Sanderson, chief executive of the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which helped compile the initial list, applauded Afghan conservationists' "continued commitment to conserving [their] natural heritage - even during these challenging times".
"WCS believes that conservation can often serve as diplomacy, and we are optimistic that this... will benefit all of Afghanistan's people," he added.
The evaluation of species began in 2008, using the same scientific criteria as the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species.
Many of the mammals featured on the list, such as the snow leopard, were under pressure from excessive hunting.
A presidential decree that banned hunting in Afghanistan recently expired, which meant the animals could have been shot and killed legally.
Campaigners hope the list of protected species will offer a legal framework that will allow conservation efforts to become established.
The only amphibian to feature on the list is the Critically Endangered Paghman mountain salamander (Batrachuperus mustersi).
According to the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the salamanders are entirely water-dwelling and restricted to three tributaries of the Paghman stream drainage system in eastern Afghanistan.
The cold, fast-flowing water, which the species favours, originates from melting glaciers.
Should the glacial flow dry up, the creatures' habitat will quickly disappear, warn scientists.
Conservationists estimate that fewer than 2,000 of the salamanders remain in the wild.
Nepa officials will be responsible for managing the list, as well as drawing up recovery plans for the featured species.
The list will be re-evaluated every five years to determine whether any of them have recovered enough to be removed from the list.
In April, Afghanistan established its first national park in a spectacular region of deep blue lakes separated by natural dams of travertine, a mineral deposit.
Band-e-Amir is a region visited by thousands of Afghans and pilgrims, though foreign tourism dropped away as violence increased in 1979.
Officials hope that the creation of the park will be another step along to road to recovery for the nation's battered environment
Reindeer herds in global decline
Reindeer and caribou numbers are plummeting around the world.
The first global review of their status has found that populations are declining almost everywhere they live, from Alaska and Canada, to Greenland, Scandinavia and Russia.
The iconic deer is vital to indigenous peoples around the circumpolar north.
Yet it is increasingly difficult for the deer to survive in a world warmed by climate change and altered by industrial development, say scientists.
Reindeer and caribou belong to the same species, Rangifer tarandus.
Caribou live in Canada, Alaska and Greenland; while reindeer live in Russia, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
Worldwide, seven sub-species are recognised. Each are genetically, morphologically and behaviourally a little different, though capable of interbreeding with one another.
These differences between sub-species dictate how each is affected by human impacts.
For example, it has been known for a while that populations of woodland caribou in Canada have declined as human disturbance has increased, caused by logging, oil and gas exploration, and road building, says Liv Vors of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.
But then reports started coming in that the numbers of other herds were also falling.
"When we discovered that many herds of reindeer also were declining we decided to compile a comprehensive survey to see if this indeed was a global pattern," says Vors.
Vors and Mark Boyce at the University of Alberta contacted other researchers and scoured the published literature and government databases for all the information they could find about reindeer and caribou numbers. They compiled data on 58 major herds around the Northern Hemisphere.
The scientists were shocked to discover that 34 of the herds were declining, while no data existed for 16 more. Only eight herds were increasing in number. Many herds had been declining for a decade or more.
"We were surprised at the ubiquity of the decline," says Vors.
"We knew that woodland caribou in North America were in bad shape." There is also some evidence that populations of migratory caribou in the Canadian Arctic have fluctuated in recent history.
But the researchers were surprised at how migratory caribou and reindeer numbers seem to be falling in synchrony across the Northern Hemisphere.
"When we delved into the status of European reindeer herds, we were surprised that so many were declining. We expected them to be in better shape than North America herds because reindeer, namely the semi-domestic herds, are closely managed by humans."
The scale of the problem is shown by a map upon which the researchers plotted their data, which is published in Global Change Biology.
THE SEVEN SUB-SPECIES
R. t. tarandus. Semi-domestic and wild reindeer that live across northern Scandinavia and Russia. Wild reindeer undertake long, seasonal migrations between summer and winter ranges.
R .t. fennicus. Wild forest reindeer that live in the forests of Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia.
R. t. platyrhynchos. Svalbard reindeer that live only on the Spitsbergen Archipelago, which belongs to Norway. Svalbard reindeer have light-coloured fur, and shorter legs than other subspecies.
R. t. granti. Grant's caribou found in Alaska and the Yukon. They reside in large groups and undertake long, seasonal migrations.
R. t. groenlandicus. Migratory barren-ground caribou found across the tundra of Canada and Greenland.
R. t. pearyi. Peary caribou, of which perhaps 700 persist on Canadian high Arctic islands.
R. t. caribou. Woodland caribou residing in the boreal forest, mountains and tundra lowlands of Canada.
"Seeing that sea of red was a sobering moment," Vors says.
"If global climate change and industrial development continue at the current pace, caribou and reindeer populations will continue to decline in abundance," says Vors.
"Currently, climate change is most important for Arctic caribou and reindeer, while anthropogenic landscape change is most important for non-migratory woodland caribou."
For example, climate change is affecting migratory caribou in a number of ways.
Warmer summers mean more insect activity, and caribou and reindeer that are harassed by insects are not able to feed as much to put on weight before winter.
Earlier springs mean plants may be past their prime by the time migrating animals reach their calving grounds, while warmer winters include more freezing rain which can form layers of ice over the ground. The caribou and reindeer cannot dig through the ice to feed, and can then starve en masse.
"In time, however, climate change will become more important for woodland caribou, and landscape change will have a greater effect on arctic caribou and reindeer," Vors continues.
"There likely will be more forest fires in woodland caribou habitat, as well as diseases and parasites transmitted to caribou from white-tailed deer, whose range is expanding northward in Canada. More roads are being built in the Arctic, as well as infrastructures like diamond mines, and these sometimes interfere with migration routes."
Unless something is urgently done, all seven sub-species of Rangifer face a bleak future, says Vors.
"The concern is that their habitat and the climate are changing too quickly for them to adapt."
The annual treks of migratory caribou form one of the last remaining large-scale ungulate migrations in the northern hemisphere.
Different sub-species also provide a cornerstone to many indigenous cultures around the circumpolar north, from subsistence hunting of caribou by Aboriginal peoples in Canada, Greenland and Alaska to reindeer husbandry by numerous cultures across Scandinavia and Siberia.
"From a Canadian perspective, the caribou is part of our national identity," says Vors. "Canada's caribou migrations have frequently been identified as one of this country's natural wonders, and the species even appears on our 25-cent coin."
The first global review of their status has found that populations are declining almost everywhere they live, from Alaska and Canada, to Greenland, Scandinavia and Russia.
The iconic deer is vital to indigenous peoples around the circumpolar north.
Yet it is increasingly difficult for the deer to survive in a world warmed by climate change and altered by industrial development, say scientists.
Reindeer and caribou belong to the same species, Rangifer tarandus.
Caribou live in Canada, Alaska and Greenland; while reindeer live in Russia, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
Worldwide, seven sub-species are recognised. Each are genetically, morphologically and behaviourally a little different, though capable of interbreeding with one another.
These differences between sub-species dictate how each is affected by human impacts.
For example, it has been known for a while that populations of woodland caribou in Canada have declined as human disturbance has increased, caused by logging, oil and gas exploration, and road building, says Liv Vors of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.
But then reports started coming in that the numbers of other herds were also falling.
"When we discovered that many herds of reindeer also were declining we decided to compile a comprehensive survey to see if this indeed was a global pattern," says Vors.
Vors and Mark Boyce at the University of Alberta contacted other researchers and scoured the published literature and government databases for all the information they could find about reindeer and caribou numbers. They compiled data on 58 major herds around the Northern Hemisphere.
The scientists were shocked to discover that 34 of the herds were declining, while no data existed for 16 more. Only eight herds were increasing in number. Many herds had been declining for a decade or more.
"We were surprised at the ubiquity of the decline," says Vors.
"We knew that woodland caribou in North America were in bad shape." There is also some evidence that populations of migratory caribou in the Canadian Arctic have fluctuated in recent history.
But the researchers were surprised at how migratory caribou and reindeer numbers seem to be falling in synchrony across the Northern Hemisphere.
"When we delved into the status of European reindeer herds, we were surprised that so many were declining. We expected them to be in better shape than North America herds because reindeer, namely the semi-domestic herds, are closely managed by humans."
The scale of the problem is shown by a map upon which the researchers plotted their data, which is published in Global Change Biology.
THE SEVEN SUB-SPECIES
R. t. tarandus. Semi-domestic and wild reindeer that live across northern Scandinavia and Russia. Wild reindeer undertake long, seasonal migrations between summer and winter ranges.
R .t. fennicus. Wild forest reindeer that live in the forests of Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia.
R. t. platyrhynchos. Svalbard reindeer that live only on the Spitsbergen Archipelago, which belongs to Norway. Svalbard reindeer have light-coloured fur, and shorter legs than other subspecies.
R. t. granti. Grant's caribou found in Alaska and the Yukon. They reside in large groups and undertake long, seasonal migrations.
R. t. groenlandicus. Migratory barren-ground caribou found across the tundra of Canada and Greenland.
R. t. pearyi. Peary caribou, of which perhaps 700 persist on Canadian high Arctic islands.
R. t. caribou. Woodland caribou residing in the boreal forest, mountains and tundra lowlands of Canada.
"Seeing that sea of red was a sobering moment," Vors says.
"If global climate change and industrial development continue at the current pace, caribou and reindeer populations will continue to decline in abundance," says Vors.
"Currently, climate change is most important for Arctic caribou and reindeer, while anthropogenic landscape change is most important for non-migratory woodland caribou."
For example, climate change is affecting migratory caribou in a number of ways.
Warmer summers mean more insect activity, and caribou and reindeer that are harassed by insects are not able to feed as much to put on weight before winter.
Earlier springs mean plants may be past their prime by the time migrating animals reach their calving grounds, while warmer winters include more freezing rain which can form layers of ice over the ground. The caribou and reindeer cannot dig through the ice to feed, and can then starve en masse.
"In time, however, climate change will become more important for woodland caribou, and landscape change will have a greater effect on arctic caribou and reindeer," Vors continues.
"There likely will be more forest fires in woodland caribou habitat, as well as diseases and parasites transmitted to caribou from white-tailed deer, whose range is expanding northward in Canada. More roads are being built in the Arctic, as well as infrastructures like diamond mines, and these sometimes interfere with migration routes."
Unless something is urgently done, all seven sub-species of Rangifer face a bleak future, says Vors.
"The concern is that their habitat and the climate are changing too quickly for them to adapt."
The annual treks of migratory caribou form one of the last remaining large-scale ungulate migrations in the northern hemisphere.
Different sub-species also provide a cornerstone to many indigenous cultures around the circumpolar north, from subsistence hunting of caribou by Aboriginal peoples in Canada, Greenland and Alaska to reindeer husbandry by numerous cultures across Scandinavia and Siberia.
"From a Canadian perspective, the caribou is part of our national identity," says Vors. "Canada's caribou migrations have frequently been identified as one of this country's natural wonders, and the species even appears on our 25-cent coin."
Typhoons trigger slow earthquakes
Scientists report in the journal Nature that, in a seismically active zone in Taiwan, pressure changes caused by typhoons "unclamp" the fault.
This gentle release causes an earthquake that dissipates its energy over several hours rather than a few potentially devastating seconds.
The researchers believe this could explain why there are relatively few large earthquakes in this region.
Alan Linde from the Carnegie Institution for Science in the US and colleagues monitored movement of two colliding tectonic plates in eastern Taiwan.
They used three borehole "strainmeters" - highly sensitive instruments deep below the ground.
"These detect otherwise imperceptible movements and distortions of rock," explained co-author Selwyn Sacks, also from the Carnegie Institution.
Gentle relief
The instruments picked up 20 "slow earthquakes", each lasting from several hours to more than a day. Of these, 11 co-incided exactly with typhoons.
The authors described the possibility that this coincident timing was by chance as "vanishingly small
It's rare that you see something so definitive, especially when it's something new," Dr Linde told BBC News.
Their findings could provide clues about why there are relatively few large earthquakes in this region.
Here, the colliding plates move so rapidly that they build mountains at a rate of almost 4mm per year. Dr Linde said that in geological terms that was almost like "growing mushrooms".
"It's surprising that this area of the globe has had no great earthquakes and relatively few large earthquakes," Dr Linde commented.
"By comparison, the Nankai Trough in southwestern Japan has a plate convergence rate of about 4cm per year, and this causes a magnitude 8 earthquake every 100 to 150 years.
"The activity in southern Taiwan comes from the convergence of the same two plates, and there the Philippine Sea Plate pushes against the Eurasian Plate at twice that rate.
"This fault experiences more or less constant strain and stress build-up."
He described how the fault "dipped steeply" westward from near the east coast so that it is under the land area. So the landward side is under constant strain to move upward.
When a typhoon passes over the land, the air pressure on the land is lowered. That slight change in force "unclamps" the fault and allows it to move.
"But this change is quite small," said Dr Linde. "So for the typhoon to be a trigger, the fault must be precariously close to failure."
The frequent, slow earthquakes this causes are "totally imperceptible" from the ground. And Dr Linde thinks it is sensible to assume that they may reduce the frequency of larger, more damaging earthquakes.
But this is extremely hard to show because, as he puts it, "how do you prove something that doesn't happen?"
This gentle release causes an earthquake that dissipates its energy over several hours rather than a few potentially devastating seconds.
The researchers believe this could explain why there are relatively few large earthquakes in this region.
Alan Linde from the Carnegie Institution for Science in the US and colleagues monitored movement of two colliding tectonic plates in eastern Taiwan.
They used three borehole "strainmeters" - highly sensitive instruments deep below the ground.
"These detect otherwise imperceptible movements and distortions of rock," explained co-author Selwyn Sacks, also from the Carnegie Institution.
Gentle relief
The instruments picked up 20 "slow earthquakes", each lasting from several hours to more than a day. Of these, 11 co-incided exactly with typhoons.
The authors described the possibility that this coincident timing was by chance as "vanishingly small
It's rare that you see something so definitive, especially when it's something new," Dr Linde told BBC News.
Their findings could provide clues about why there are relatively few large earthquakes in this region.
Here, the colliding plates move so rapidly that they build mountains at a rate of almost 4mm per year. Dr Linde said that in geological terms that was almost like "growing mushrooms".
"It's surprising that this area of the globe has had no great earthquakes and relatively few large earthquakes," Dr Linde commented.
"By comparison, the Nankai Trough in southwestern Japan has a plate convergence rate of about 4cm per year, and this causes a magnitude 8 earthquake every 100 to 150 years.
"The activity in southern Taiwan comes from the convergence of the same two plates, and there the Philippine Sea Plate pushes against the Eurasian Plate at twice that rate.
"This fault experiences more or less constant strain and stress build-up."
He described how the fault "dipped steeply" westward from near the east coast so that it is under the land area. So the landward side is under constant strain to move upward.
When a typhoon passes over the land, the air pressure on the land is lowered. That slight change in force "unclamps" the fault and allows it to move.
"But this change is quite small," said Dr Linde. "So for the typhoon to be a trigger, the fault must be precariously close to failure."
The frequent, slow earthquakes this causes are "totally imperceptible" from the ground. And Dr Linde thinks it is sensible to assume that they may reduce the frequency of larger, more damaging earthquakes.
But this is extremely hard to show because, as he puts it, "how do you prove something that doesn't happen?"
WHO 'declares swine flu pandemic'
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global flu pandemic after holding an emergency meeting, according to reports.
It means the swine flu virus is spreading in at least two regions of the world with rising cases being seen in the UK, Australia, Japan and Chile.
The move does not necessarily mean the virus is causing more severe illness or more deaths.
The swine flu (H1N1) virus first emerged in Mexico in April.
It has since spread to 74 countries.
Official reports say there have been 28,000 cases globally and 141 deaths and figures are rising daily.
Hong Kong said it was closing all its nurseries and primary schools for two weeks following 12 school cases.
It is the first flu pandemic in 40 years - the last in 1968 with Hong Kong flu killed about one million people.
The current pandemic seems to be moderate and causing mild illness in most people.
One factor which may have prompted the move to a level six pandemic was that in the southern hemisphere, the virus seems to be crowding out normal seasonal influenza.
It is thought the move was not prompted by the situation in any one country but the reports of several pockets of community spread.
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes, in Geneva, says that while the number of cases has made the declaration inevitable, the problem is that the pandemic phase system is designed for a very different type of virus.
WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said it had been expecting something more like the deadlier bird flu.
"It was believed that the next pandemic would be something like H5N1 bird flu, where you were seeing really high death rates, and so there were people who believed we might be in a kind of apocalyptic situation and what we're really seeing now with H1N1 is that in most cases the disease is self-limiting," he told the BBC.
The WHO will have to manage the global anxiety the declaration of a pandemic will generate, our correspondent says.
Pandemic planning
There have been more than 800 cases in the UK with some areas of Scotland being particularly hard hit.
The government has been stockpiling antivirals such as Tamiflu and has ordered vaccine, some doses of which could be available by October.
Chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson said the WHO declaration of a pandemic would not significantly change the way the UK was dealing with swine flu at the moment.
But he added there could be some minor changes to who received antivirals.
"The declaration of a pandemic per se doesn't make a big difference to the to the way we are handling the outbreaks we have.
"We are going to continue to investigate every case that occurs and treat their contacts with antivirals even though they may not be ill.
"The difference is that the Health Protection Agency has learnt a lot about approaching this question of antiviral prophylaxis and they are going to be treating the closer contacts of the cases, rather than the more far-flung contacts, because they feel that that is supported by what they know so far about how the disease is transmitting.
He added: "These flu viruses can change their pattern of attack, so when we come into the flu season in the autumn and winter in this country, when we expect a big surge of cases, we need to watch very carefully to see if the character of the virus is changing."
Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said a move to level six means that countries need to be ready to implement pandemic plans immediately but the UK was already operating at a "heightened state of readiness".
But it could affect the speed at which the UK gets pandemic vaccine supplies but that had been factored into pandemic planning.
Flu expert Professor John Oxford, said people should not panic as the outbreak was milder than others seen in the past century.
"It is global and fulfilling the requirements of a pandemic but I don't think anyone should worry because nothing drastic has happened between yesterday and today
It means the swine flu virus is spreading in at least two regions of the world with rising cases being seen in the UK, Australia, Japan and Chile.
The move does not necessarily mean the virus is causing more severe illness or more deaths.
The swine flu (H1N1) virus first emerged in Mexico in April.
It has since spread to 74 countries.
Official reports say there have been 28,000 cases globally and 141 deaths and figures are rising daily.
Hong Kong said it was closing all its nurseries and primary schools for two weeks following 12 school cases.
It is the first flu pandemic in 40 years - the last in 1968 with Hong Kong flu killed about one million people.
The current pandemic seems to be moderate and causing mild illness in most people.
One factor which may have prompted the move to a level six pandemic was that in the southern hemisphere, the virus seems to be crowding out normal seasonal influenza.
It is thought the move was not prompted by the situation in any one country but the reports of several pockets of community spread.
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes, in Geneva, says that while the number of cases has made the declaration inevitable, the problem is that the pandemic phase system is designed for a very different type of virus.
WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said it had been expecting something more like the deadlier bird flu.
"It was believed that the next pandemic would be something like H5N1 bird flu, where you were seeing really high death rates, and so there were people who believed we might be in a kind of apocalyptic situation and what we're really seeing now with H1N1 is that in most cases the disease is self-limiting," he told the BBC.
The WHO will have to manage the global anxiety the declaration of a pandemic will generate, our correspondent says.
Pandemic planning
There have been more than 800 cases in the UK with some areas of Scotland being particularly hard hit.
The government has been stockpiling antivirals such as Tamiflu and has ordered vaccine, some doses of which could be available by October.
Chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson said the WHO declaration of a pandemic would not significantly change the way the UK was dealing with swine flu at the moment.
But he added there could be some minor changes to who received antivirals.
"The declaration of a pandemic per se doesn't make a big difference to the to the way we are handling the outbreaks we have.
"We are going to continue to investigate every case that occurs and treat their contacts with antivirals even though they may not be ill.
"The difference is that the Health Protection Agency has learnt a lot about approaching this question of antiviral prophylaxis and they are going to be treating the closer contacts of the cases, rather than the more far-flung contacts, because they feel that that is supported by what they know so far about how the disease is transmitting.
He added: "These flu viruses can change their pattern of attack, so when we come into the flu season in the autumn and winter in this country, when we expect a big surge of cases, we need to watch very carefully to see if the character of the virus is changing."
Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said a move to level six means that countries need to be ready to implement pandemic plans immediately but the UK was already operating at a "heightened state of readiness".
But it could affect the speed at which the UK gets pandemic vaccine supplies but that had been factored into pandemic planning.
Flu expert Professor John Oxford, said people should not panic as the outbreak was milder than others seen in the past century.
"It is global and fulfilling the requirements of a pandemic but I don't think anyone should worry because nothing drastic has happened between yesterday and today
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