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Category Archives: Sea Level Rise
The Love Lives of Horseshoe Crabs, Not Cannibals
Amidst the studies on Hurricane Sandy's impacts on coastal communities—which affected the lives of people, most notably—some recent studies have examined the impacts on the lives of a strange ancient creature: horseshoe crabs. Distant relatives of scorpions and spiders, horseshoe crabs are not true crabs, or crustaceans. They've been around for over 1 billion years and lived alongside dinosaurs. See "The Life and Times of the Earliest Horseshoe Crabs," (Rudkin, Royal Ontario Museum). Unlike a scorpion, crab or spider, horseshoe crabs don't bite, sting or pinch. And unlike cannibalistic crustaceans, adult horseshoe crabs do not congregate (except to spawn seasonally), which is possibly a way to avoid large crabs attacking smaller horseshoe crabs—thus, avoiding cannibalistic behavior as a species. (Sekiguchi, Shuster, Jr., 1999) Their anatomy is interesting, as illustrated below.
Each spring, horseshoe crabs spawn along creek-mouth beaches and shoals. They like sandy beaches. Naturally, these coastal areas, rich in wetlands, peat bogs and saltwater marsh, were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. What's more, sea level rise has eroded certain coastal beaches where horseshoe crabs used to spawn, decreasing the habitat suitable for spawning. See Sea Level Rise and the Significance of Marginal Beaches for Horseshoe Crab Spawning (Botton and Loveland, 2011).
In the Delaware Bay, for example, the American Littoral Society, along with the Wetlands Institute, the New Jersey Department of Environment Protection and New Jersey Audubon, have assessed the impacts of Hurricane Sandy on horseshoe crab populations in the Bay. Watch this video of horseshoe crab spawning in Delaware. Read Hurricane Sandy Race To Restore Horseshoe Crab Spawning Grounds (March 2013). Videos depict horseshoe crabs spawning, swimming upside down and righting themselves.
In a joint report by the Wetlands Institute, NJ Audubon Society and NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife ("Damage from Superstorm Sandy to Horseshoe Crab Breeding and Shorebird Stopover Habitat on Delaware Bay," December 2012), wetlands did well overall, despite some "wash over" during storm surges of Hurricane Sandy, according to Lenore Tedesco, Ph.D. Director of Research at the Wetlands Institute. Yet a major finding was a 70% decrease in suitable breeding habitat for horseshoe crabs. In addition, there was about the same amount of increase in unsuitable habitat for horseshoe crab spawning. Specifically, the scientists classified the types of habitat into five categories:
Optimal: undisturbed sand beach;
Suitable: sand beach with only small areas of peat and/or backed by development
Less Suitable: exposed peat in lower/middle intertidal zone;
sand present in upper intertidal;
Avoided habitat: exposed peat or active salt marsh fringing the shoreline;
no sand present
Disturbed due to beach fill, riprap or bulkheading.
(Niles, Tedesco, Sellers, et. al. 2012)
In areas where the habitat is less suitable, with exposed peat, there is less sand for the horseshoe crabs to lay their eggs. The full report includes recommendations for habitat restoration. For more information about post-Sandy restoration recommendations, visit the Wetlands Institute's website here.
Many years ago, I learned that horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) lay at the heart of some medical advances in immunology research. Apparently, horseshoe crab blood and immunology can serve scientists with a model to develop treatments for patients with HIV, AIDS or other immune deficiency disorders. Its "blue blood" contains Limulus Amebocyte Lysate, which allows medical researchers to detect bacterial toxins. In ecological projects, the spawning and genetic diversity of horseshoe crabs is the focus, or the relationship between horseshoe crabs and fisheries. For an overview of various research projects on horseshoe crabs happening in 18 states and two countries, see these project summaries. There's some fascinating research underway.
The Wetland Institute has a number of publications on its website related to horseshoe crab research and conservation. There's also an "Adopt a Horseshoe Crab" program and horseshoe crab census data available from 1999-2009. In May, the Institute holds festival activities, including teaching tank/aquarium talks on saltmarsh ecology, shorebirds and horseshoe crabs. For more information about the Horseshoe Crab Festival in May,click here.
See horseshoe crab counting (Washington Post video, June 2012)
NATURE program on horseshoe crabs (PBS, 2008)
Horseshoe crab documentary (Nick Baker, Science Channel)
For more on horseshoe crab biology and ecology, see this National Park Service webpage and materials developed by the Mid-Atlantic Sea Grant and NOAA joint programs on horseshoe crab research. Finally, check outhttp://horseshoecrab.org/ which houses an online warehouse of information on the biology, conservation and research of horseshoe crabs.
Posted in Beaches & Coasts, Conservation & Restoration, Environmental Issues, Fish, Healthy Waters, Hurricanes & Storms, Marine & Estuarine Life, natural history, Nature, Sea Level Rise, Water Resources, Wetlands
Tagged beach restoration, coastal habitat, Delaware Bay, horseshoe crabs, Strange Wetlands, wetland restoration, Wetlands Institute
Climate Change Films: Sea Level Rise in the Lens
Since Strange Wetlands' post on wetland videos anddocumentaries a few years ago, climate change adaptation and wetlands, including sea level rise and water conservation—have taken center stage in recent films. Some films address climate change adaptation, water resources, sea level rise and/or other impacts of climate change affecting wetlands. Others deal with the stressors on wildlife and natural resources, including wetland habitats. The IMAX documentary film, "To the Arctic," about a family of polar bears and the issues facing wildlife in the Arctic, narrated by Meryl Streep, premiers this spring (2012). Another award-winning film, "The Island President," illuminates the threat of sea level rise to the Maldives, a developing nation of 2000 islands off the coast of India.
The American Museum of Natural History posted a short video on arctic ecosystems in the face of climate change called "The Ecology of Climate Change" earlier this month. The film presents some research on boreal forests from Woods Hole Research Center and University of Florida. Like other recent films, it turns the attention to natural resources and adaptation as opposed to a focus on reducing carbon emissions, which was a more common theme in media a few years ago.
NOAA Climate Services and its Digital Coast webpages have a lot to offer for videos and visual presentations, including a short general video called "Climate Change: Impacts, Solutions and Perceptions" and a number of other climate change videos.
A simple search for "sea level rise" on Youtube lists over 5000 videos, including this USGS video: "Sea level rise, subsidence and wetland loss." A number of videos look at the planning and analysis that went into coastal adaptation management plans in states like Florida such as this 2012 video: Adapting Coastal Communities to Sea-Level Rise: Why Isn't Anybody Doing Anything? And this New York City (Wall Street Journal) video on sea level rise. Some of the Youtube sea level rise videos explore the topic in other areas of the world, such as islands, internationally. For example, a series of short videos look at climate change adaptation in Tanzania.
States working on climate change adaptation plans have presented their analyses in short films to help educate citizens. For example, a Wisconsin's Changing Climate video was produced by the WICCI Climate Working Group, looking at climate impacts in the state of Wisconsin projected to 2055. There are a number of other similar educational videos if you look for them state-by-state, or visit state universities' websites to search for current research projects, which often have videos or short documentaries about the work. Student-made films can be very good, too. A creative example is the Beneath the Waves Film Fest Student Film Winner: "Tropic Cascades" (2012). A Brown University student made a film on Cape Cod salt marsh ecology.
The U.S. Forest Service has compiled a good list of climate change videos and presentations that pertain to impacts to natural resources, including water and fish, forests and carbon and adaptation. For example, a presentation on "Challenges for Conserving and Managing Headwater Aquatic Ecosystems Under a Changing Climate" is available on its website.
ASWM's Climate Change—and specifically the Sea Level Rise Tools webpages—have a number of resources, including USGS's video on "Effects of Sea-Level Rise on Coastal Wetlands in the Mississippi Delta" and this video, "Converging Currents in Climate: Relevant Conservation: Water, Infrastructure and Institutions" by Conservation International (2011). Communicating to the public about climate change is often difficult when the language is constantly changing. See NOAA's video on Communication & Climate Change (2012). Other short films illustrate the dynamics of coastal wetlands protection in the climate change context such as this one on mangrove forests by Wetlands International (2011). The Sea Level Rise Tools section of ASWM's website also points to Coastal Climate Learning Tools (includes videos, wikis, webinars, training, etc.) and a video presentation on "Sea Change: Researchers Use Computer Modeling to Understand Rising Seas and Coastal Risks."
Earlier this winter, Strange Wetlands looked at the link between Red Cross, extreme weather events and climate change. The Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre has a webpage with a number of short films and videos presenting topics ranging from hurricanes and climate change to preparing for climate change and adaptation.
If there are other good (and recent) videos, films or documentaries that I missed on this short list, please leave a comment below with the title and link. Thank you!
Update: November 2012: Chasing Ice, a film capturing the faster-than expected melting of glaciers http://www.chasingice.com/ is a breathtaking documentary and award-winning film. Watch the trailer here: http://www.chasingice.com/
Posted in Art & Lit, Beaches & Coasts, Birds and Wildlife, Climate Change, Films & Movies, Pop Culture, Science, Sea Level Rise, Sustainability
Tagged Chasing Ice, climate change documentary, polar bears, sea level rise, wetland films
So Excellent a Fishe ~ Sea Turtle Conservation History
Last week I received a publisher's copy of the newly released 2011 edition of Archie Carr's book, So Excellent a Fishe, A Natural History of Sea Turtles (University of Florida Press) with a new forward by Karen A. Bjorndal. She is the current Director of the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research at the University of Florida. Bjorndal muses on her mentor's good humor and the invaluable legacy that world-renowned ecologist Dr. Archie Carr left to the field of sea turtle research and conservation. She outlines the progress that scientists have made since Dr. Carr's book was originally published in 1967, when sea turtle populations were very low. Sea turtles continue on the endangered species list, but in the case of green turtles, the populations have somewhat recovered since Carr's field work in the Caribbean in the 1950s and '60s. Carr cites the work of his predecessors, offering insights on the improvements and changes over decades of marine and coastal conservation. But what does it have to do with wetlands?
Sea turtle conservation work used to be done solely on shore. This required slogging through creeks and swamps to observe turtle nesting sites. This meant studying the behavior of wetland-dependent predators, including swamp pigs, lizards, wild dogs and jaguars in the coastal scrub, as researchers observed the success rates of the female green turtle and her nesting rituals. It included studies of sea grasses. It also meant that sea turtle scientists worked in remote, challenging coastal landscapes, self-marooned in the jungles of islets and islands of the Caribbean and off of South America forever waiting for a locally-operated plane to pick them up, transport hundreds of baby turtles, or bring supplies. At least, that was before the U.S. Navy got involved in the mid-1960s, when a naval officer took interest in the unparalleled navigation abilities of sea turtles. Then Carr and his colleagues had assistance—including more dependable planes, provided by the Navy. The adventures and challenges presented by sea turtle conservation work may be partly why Carr uses the word "swamped" on nearly every other page to emphasize the obstacles that both the researchers endured on the landscape and sea turtles faced in their steadfast quest for survival, e.g. "swamped by predators," which happened to descend from "swamp forests."
What's remarkable in reading about Carr's field work certainly pivots on his ability to postulate and pose theories—many of which were proven true with corroborating data decades later—but notably his sense of humor. Readers learn of all sorts of fascinating experiments. For example, one scientist puts a pair of glasses with colored lenses on a sea turtle to test her preference for colors in the journey between shore and sea. Further, Carr describes the rarely-witnessed violent, near-impossible feat of the male green turtle courting with the female and maneuvering onto her smooth, wet carapace in the waves, surrounded by competing males. These observations led to changes in monitoring programs, in which researchers had previously tagged the carapace, not fully understanding the violent nature of courtship and the likelihood of the male sea turtle removing the metal tags from his mate. In other observations, female green turtles drag logs and marine equipment to shore. Anything that happened to a turtle offshore remained a mystery for the time being. This brought about a new tagging program to help sea turtle conservation researchers gather clues.
In a chapter entitled, Señor Reward Premio, it's a delight to read the letters Dr. Carr received by fishermen who found tagged sea turtles that were part of a monitoring program. The sea turtles had metal tags with return instructions (in Spanish and English) with the promise of a $5 reward—paid by the U.S. government. The $5 reward program for collecting the tags was very successful, returning far more tags to Carr and his colleagues than prior tagging programs that did not offer a reward. Because of the language barrier, fishermen misinterpreted the directions on the tags and directed letters to Señor Reward Premio, and the University of Florida's mail system had to get used to Carr's new alias. What's neat about the letters and the eager response of the fishermen is that the value of a sea turtle, especially when poached, at the time exceeded the $5 reward, and yet the fishermen who returned tags wrote of their great interest in the project. They seemed rather proud in participating. The $5 reward program, in essence, swayed the behaviors of some fishermen and sea turtle poaching activities decreased as a result. In general, the presence of sea turtle researchers on Caribbean islands and off the coast of South America (especially Columbia) in the 1950s and '60s made poaching less popular, or more readily observed and therefore, less convenient for poachers. In fact, the title of Carr's book, So Excellent a Fishe, is a phrase borrowed from a sea turtle conservation law passed by the Bermuda Assembly in 1620. Considering that sea turtle conservation had been ongoing for over 300 years by the time Dr. Archie Carr and his colleagues began researching green turtles and hawksbills, among other species, it's fair to say that Carr's work was groundbreaking.
But he would have put it differently. He admits that sea turtle conservation researchers are an insecure bunch, especially when asked about the number of sub-species of sea turtles. Sure, there are seven species of sea turtles: the Loggerhead, the Green Turtle, the Leatherback, the Hawksbill, Kemp's ridley, Olive ridley and the Flatback. But the jury is still out on the number of sub-species. The reader will enjoy Carr's sense of humor and humility, even when he makes remarkable discoveries. In one discussion on the magic number of eggs that a female green turtle lays—100 eggs, not more, not less, Carr says this number is "packed with ecology and evolution." He further ponders why natural selection did not build "child care" into the ancient sea turtle, as the adult neither cares nor knows the fate of her offspring, to the single-mindedness degree that wild dogs will stand around a nest and eat the eggs as the female is laying them. Perhaps among the most fascinating descriptions in the book is an experiment in which Carr and his colleague set up a glass pane on one side of a sea turtle nest and observed baby green turtles erupt from their shells and climb to the surface in a synchronized phenomenon that Carr calls a "brotherhood" acting as a survival group. They proved that a sea turtle nesting by itself had a dismal fate—and would not make it to the surface. But a hundred eggs in a nest meant dozens of sea turtles used each other instinctually to guide each other out of the nest and to the surf.
Carr credits many of his colleagues with their contributions to sea turtle conservation. Fused with the natural history of sea turtles is the evolution of certain conservation groups, such as the Brotherhood of the Green Turtle, which later became known as the Caribbean Conservation Corporation (founded in part by Dr. Carr), and is now called the Sea Turtle Conservancy. This group and several others work to protect sea turtles, including protection of nesting sites on shore. In particular the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, a 20-mile stretch of beach on Florida's east central coast, was established in 1989. For more information about the book, visit the Wetland Bookshelfor the University of Florida Press.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries just announced new populations of sea turtles (namely the Loggerhead) under the Endangered Species Act:http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turtles/loggerhead.htm
Mating sea turtles in the Pilbara (Australia Dept. of Conservation)http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-02/mating-turtles-in-the-pilbara/2868086
Fact sheet on the Green Turtle:http://www.fws.gov/northflorida/SeaTurtles/Turtle%20Factsheets/green-sea-turtle.htm
Update: NOAA Designates Critical Leatherback Habitat Along West Coast
On January 23rd, NOAA announced the designation of additional critical habitat to provide protection for endangered leatherback sea turtles along the U.S. West Coast. NOAA is designating 41,914 square miles of marine habitat in the Pacific Ocean off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington. The regulation, formally published in theFederal Register on January 26th, will become effective on February 25, 2012.
Tortuguero:Epicenter for Sea Turtle Conservation
Posted in Beaches & Coasts, Conservation & Restoration, Environmental Issues, Islands, Marine & Estuarine Life, natural history, Sea Level Rise, Sustainability, Travel & Adventure
Tagged Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, Caribbean, Florida, sea turtle, sea turtle conservation
Fringe Corals – Wetlands at the Outer Edge
Fringe. It's the outer edge. Peripheral. Fringe, or fringing, reefs are connected to land and point toward sea; they occur in shallow water along coasts all over the world. Some wetlands are the boundary between land and deep water habitat; fringing corals fall into this group. Corals form in shallow, warm salt water habitats, usually tropical waters. Thousands of hard coral polyps grow together in masses and create a reef, whereas soft corals, like sea fans, do not form reefs. Fringe corals are similar to fringe mangrove ecosystems in that they grow at the edges of the land; sometimes the fringe coral and mangroves are neighbors in a closely-entwined habitat that provides a nursery for many marine animals. What lives in a fringe coral reef? Brittle stars, horseshoe crabs, sea anemone, sea urchins, snails and mollusks inhabit this strange ecosystem.
Darwin asserted that fringe reefs were the first kind of coral reef to form around a landmass in a long-term reef growth process. Until 1753, people did not know that corals were living organisms. Darwin's Subsidence Theory, which focused on fringing reefs as an explanation for atolls and barrier reefs in the deep ocean, (aka the"coral reef theory") is still the basis for the understanding of coral reefs today.http://www.darwin-literature.com/Coral_Reefs/1.html
Fringe coral communities are unusual. For instance, finger coral (Porites furcata) and coralline algae grow interspersed with sea grasses in less than one foot of water. The two types of coral reefs that are most commonly known—atolls and barrier reefs—live in deep ocean water. Sponges, echinoderms, crustaceans and mollusks may also be found living in the fragile habitat of fringe corals, which are easily damaged by boats that drop anchor or people who walk on them.
Right now marine scientists are calling a "code blue" on coral reefs worldwide. Fringe reefs are threatened by coastal development, dredging and run-off, while all types of corals are stressed by warming sea temperatures as a result of climate change, a phenomenon called "coral bleaching." The warming sea temperatures kill the algae that give the corals their color. http://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/index.html Another problem is acidification of sea water, caused by run-off, certain algae and pollution from dredging or other human activities. Sediment discharge from coastal development can have a very negative impact on coastal wetlands including fringe reefs and mangroves.
In southwest Florida, the Department of Environmental Protection is currently dealing with enforcement issues on a boat lift in a canal, which city developers dredged to build Cape Coral the 1970s. The city developers dredged the canal through fringe mangroves. The original design of the canal allowed the fresh waters to be trapped and prevented that water from flowing into the saltwater estuaries of Matlacha Pass Aquatic Preserve. The preserve is home to four species of sea grasses, three species of mangroves, over 100 species of invertebrates, 200 species of fish and 150 species of shore and wading birds.http://www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/sites/matlacha/ The barrier lift protected the saltwater mangrove habitat and preserve. In the 2000s, the city developers removed the lift, initially with the intention of replacing it—but several years after-the-fact, there is still no barrier lift protecting the estuary. http://www.pineisland-eagle.com/page/content.detail/id/511072/Stakeholders–votes-being-tallied-on-Cape-spreader-barrier.html?nav=5048
Hawaii's Conservation Resource Enhancement Program's strategy involves converting marginal pastureland into native grasses and wetlands. The state seeks to improve water quality and near-shore coral reef (fringe coral) communities by filtering agricultural run-off. http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/
dofaw/forestry/crep/crep/?searchterm
=coral%20reef Additionally the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources has identified a way to use sea urchins to manage invasive algae in coral reefs. State aquatic biologists vacuumed the invasive seaweed off the coral with a "Super Sucker," and have planted sea urchins to take on the job of eating the seaweed. http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/chair/pio/nr/2010/NR10-105.pdf/view?searchterm=coral%20reef For pictures, go here: http://hear.smugmug.com/Press-releases/DLNR-20100817/13368297_NJS3z#972086826_sRNE7 Besides invasive algae, two other threats to coral reefs are hurricanes and overfishing, which have an impact on all types of reefs.
Other interesting links on coral reefs can be found below:
EPA Office of Wetlands & Oceans:http://water.epa.gov/type/oceb/habitat/coral_links.cfm
http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/Library/nationalassessment/overviewcoastal.htm
A Return to the Reefs: Smithsonian article by Gordon Chaplin (2006) on the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/ecocenter/oceans/reefs.html
Coastal Living Habitats:http://www.heinzctr.org/ecosystems/2002report/coastal/habitats.shtml
Wetlands International – Coastal Wetlands (Coral reefs, mangroves, sand dunes, beaches)http://www.wetlands.org/Whatwedo/Adaptingtoclimatechange/Workonadaptationto
climatechange/Coastalmanagement/Aboutcoastalwetlandsandreefs/tabid/1204/Default.aspx
Florida DEP coral reefs http://www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/habitats/coral.htm
Florida's Coupon Bright Aquatic Preservehttp://www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/sites/coupon/
Reef Check (a nonprofit organization)
http://www.reefcheck.org/
Code Blue: A possible new coral reef in the Sargasso Sea? – Sylvia Earle's research (2010)http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2020806_2020805_2020
796,00.html
NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program http://coralreef.noaa.gov/
Coral reefs in a climate change context – Climate Change Impacts on the United States
The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change (2000)http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/Library/nationalassessment/overviewcoastal.htm
Posted in Beaches & Coasts, Climate Change, Conservation & Restoration, Islands, Marine & Estuarine Life, Science, Sea Level Rise
Tagged coral reef, coral restoration, fringe coral, reefs, wetlands
Posted in Islands, Marine & Estuarine Life, Sea Level Rise, Travel & Adventure, Wetlands
Tagged Caribbean, climate change, development, mangrove swamps, sea level rise, sustainable development, Virgin Islands, wetlands
Endangered Vacations
Summer vacation weather is finally upon us here in the Northeast. I recently spent a couple of days in Acadia National Park, where I swam in the ocean and attended a wedding on Sand Beach. I like to think that I can visit the beautiful park anytime I wish. But some vacation spots in the U.S. might be endangered. It's frightening to think that some of our favorite places—coastal estuaries, green space around a beloved lake, underfunded national parks and enchanting wetlands—may be diminished or lost in the years to come, so that the next generation won't be able to enjoy them except in pictures or videos. A couple of months ago, the New York Times ran a story on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/06/03/03climatewire-arranging-a-slow-farewell-to-a-coastal-wildl-84276.html?scp=1&sq=Alligator%20River%20National%20Wildlife&st=cse The USGS has begun to update wetland maps to show the losses along Louisiana's eroding coasthttp://www.houmatoday.com/article/20090810/ARTICLES/908109945?Title=Updated-maps-help-document-wetland-loss.
ASWM asked its members for suggestions for a "top ten" list of particularly threatened wetlands and wildlife refuges which allow public access. This list could actually be much longer. Here are the wetlands that made the list of "endangered vacations."
10. Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in MD's Chesapeake Bay area. Subsidence and sea level rise in particular are leading to open-water conversion. Visit:http://www.fws.gov/blackwater/
9. Ruby Valley Wildlife Refuge in Ruby Valley, Nevada –If climate experts are right in their predictions, the western U.S. will become even more arid than it is. There is a lot of groundwater-fed irrigation in this valley to grow hay for cattle and horses, which puts even more pressure on this resource. Visit:http://www.stateparks.
com/ruby_lake.html
8. Cheyenne Bottoms in Kansas is at risk due to water withdrawals and diversions. The nearby Quivira NWR has oil rigs that caused some spills during the last round of flooding there in 2007. For info on Cheyenne Bottoms, visit: http://www.cheyennebottoms.net/and http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/news/KDWP-Info/Locations/Wildlife-Areas/Region-3/Cheyenne-Bottoms/Area-News and for Quivira NWR, go to:http://www.fws.gov/quivira/
7. Cape Cod National Seashore is under pressure from sea level rise and more mysteriously–sudden wetland dieback for the past few decades.http://www.nps.gov/caco/naturescience/salt-marsh-dieback.htm andhttp://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs095-02/fs095-02.pdf
6. Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in NC is threatened by sea level rise (or threatened to turn into a brackish marsh from a wooded freshwater system) Visit:http://www.fws.gov/alligatorriver/ Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge in FL is another "poster child" for wildlife refuges under siege from climate change impacts. Visit:http://www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=41580
http://www.fws.gov/nationalkeydeer/
5. Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge in Southeast Louisiana is threatened by sea level rise and salt water intrusion. Visit: http://www.fws.gov/bigbranchmarsh/
4. Florida Everglades is dependent on nutrients (if it gets the slightest amounts of phosphorus, the vegetation turns to cattails.) Threat factors include population increases and development, sugarcane agriculture. Visit: http://www.nps.gov/ever/ and go to:http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/SouthFlorida/everglades/endangeredglades.html
3. Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge, HI The last natural wetlands on Hawaiian islands are under pressure from invasive species, e.g. mangroves.http://www.fws.gov/kealiapond/ Also see information on sea level rise and Hawai'i at:http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/coasts/sealevel/
2. Prairie Potholes – Isolated wetlands are under threat since their exclusion from federal protections post-SWANCC and Carabell/Rapanos decisions. Visit:http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/types/pothole.html andhttp://www.ducks.org/conservation/initiative45.aspx
1. Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge in AK. These wetlands are drying up as a result of climate change. Visit: http://alaska.fws.gov/nwr/yukonflats/wildland.htm
Finally, the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) recently published a report (June 2009) on the country's most imperiled refuges "Ten of the Most Vulnerable National Wildlife Refuges." While these aren't necessarily vacation spots, their top ten list is a relevant comparison.http://www.peer.org/docs/nwr/09_18_6_most_imperiled_refuges_2009.pdf
Posted in Climate Change, Nature, Sea Level Rise, Travel & Adventure
Tagged island vacations, islands, national parks, sea level rise, summer vacations


text:
66 evacuated after villa fire breaks out
The villa where the fire broke out.
Mohamed Yasin, Staff Reporter
Firefighters of the Ras Al Khaimah Civil Defence evacuated 66 people from two residential compounds as a precautionary measure to maintain their safety from a fire that broke out in a villa.
The entire villa was gutted and no casualties were reported, official sources confirmed.
Brigadier General Mohamed Abdullah Al Zaabi, Director of the Civil Defence in Ras Al Khaimah, said that the operations room was alerted about the fire at 2pm by a person who reported that a villa caught fire in Al-Barrayat.
He pointed out that a fire brigade immediately rushed to the site accompanied by national ambulances, where a five-bedroom villa was on fire. The villa's contents were gutted, including four passports, cash money, jewellery and accessories, in addition to watches and computers.
The neighbouring residential complex, which had 66 dwellers, was evacuated. The residents were gathered in a safe place before the firefighters began dealing with the fire. It was contained and prevented from extending to adjacent villas.
Fire Ras Al Khaimah UAE
Emirati mom saves kids from AC blast
An Emirati mother managed to save her three children before the air conditioning unit in their room exploded on Monday in Khuzam in Ras Al Kaimah.
VIDEO: Indian fisherman injured in RAK boat fire
An Indian fisherman was injured in a fishing boat explosion in the port area of Shaam, about 30 km north of Ras Al Khaimah.
Fire breaks out in RAK fishing boat
Two Asian fishermen suffered moderate burns when a fishing boat caught fire and exploded on Tuesday morning in the fishing port in the coast of Ghalila, about 29 kilometres north of Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) city.
VIDEO: Emirati mother jumps into fire to save her son in Ras Al Khaimah
The Emirati mother, 67, suffered burns that varied between second and third degrees.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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"Underestimated" (by Joseph Wallace)
Posted on June 11, 2014 by somethingisgoingtohappen
Joseph Wallace's short stories have appeared in a variety of anthologies, including Baltimore Noir, Hardboiled Brooklyn, and Bronx Noir, as well as in EQMM. His work is notable for unusual themes and settings, as well as for clever plotting. In this post, he lets readers in on one of his secrets. The author also writes novels and in his latest, the thriller Invasive Species (Berkley), he crosses genres to include elements of science fiction.—Janet Hutchings
"Diamond Ruby," the first of my stories published in EQMM, is set in 1930s Brooklyn and concerns baseball and the Great Depression. "Jaguar," my second—coming out in next month's issue—takes place largely in the rainforests of present-day Belize and focuses largely on human trafficking . . . and yes, on jaguars, too.
At first glance, the two stories seem to have almost nothing in common. After all, one's a noir story set in Brooklyn and featuring Babe Ruth, while the other takes place largely in Belize and includes a cameo by a large jungle animal. But two crucial things tie them together: The protagonist of each is a teenage girl, and both of these tough, strong young women were created by a fifty-plus-year-old man.
My two stories for EQMM are far from the only examples of this direction in my writing. The short story "Diamond Ruby" became a novel—my first—a big historical seen entirely through the eyes of Ruby Thomas, an eighteen-year-old girl. Other stories of mine have also relied on female narrators, probably most notably "Custom Sets," which first appeared in the Mystery Writers of America's 2009 anthology The Prosecution Rests and later in The Best American Mystery Stories 2010.
So obviously writing from the POV of women has worked for me. The question is: Why do I do it? And why do I continue returning to it, as I have in "Jaguar"?
Having suggested writing about this topic for this blog, I figured I'd better come up with an answer. (Merely saying, "Because I like to!" wouldn't be enough.) And then, just like that, I figured it out, or at least where it all began.
It all began with Dick Francis.
Wait, what? The Dick Francis who wrote about horseracing, often from a jockey's point of view? The Dick Francis who never wrote a single of his forty or so novels from a woman's perspective? The Dick Francis who always wrote in the first person, when my stories and novels are always third-person?
Yes. That Dick Francis.
I can explain. I began reading Dick Francis as a teenager (back in the early 1970s) and—even though his books nearly all follow the same formula, and even though I'm a fickle reader—I continued to read them for decades. I've finally figured out why: I find one essential part of the formula irresistible.
Not the part about horses, though that can be fascinating. Nor the part where each novel provides a different "information bonus" (photography, wine, survivalism, what it's like to live with a ruined hand).
What kept me coming back to these novels for decades, when my tastes in fiction otherwise changed substantially, was a simple, consistent theme: Everyone always underestimates Francis's heroes.
That's the link to my own work, and the inspiration for me. In every Dick Francis novel, the protagonist is a quiet, thoughtful young man, always with little power: jockey (or ex-jockey), stable boy, freelance writer, painter, photographer. Invariably he comes up against villains in positions of far greater influence (horse owners, racetrack stewards, newspaper magnates). Just as invariably, the villains see only each protagonist's youth, unflashy demeanor, and social status, and miss entirely his intelligence, bravery, and will to win.
And thus, by underestimating their opponent, the villains ensure their own doom.
Dick Francis was far from the first to employ this formula, but he did it better than most. When I started writing fiction, I found myself drawn to similar scenarios . . . but with one crucial twist: If quiet young men in non-influential positions are so easily underestimated, what about quiet young women in similar roles?
I'm the father of an extraordinary daughter now in her twenties, the uncle of a brave and intrepid teenage niece, and a writing mentor to a couple of dozen high-school students (mostly female) over the years. Without exception, these young women are smart, tough, funny, and resourceful. Yet many adults look at them and see only their clothes, their piercings, their smartphones, and, most of all, their gender.
Witnessing such shallow, judgmental reactions again and again in real life, I knew I could employ them in my fiction. In fact, I could exploit such knee-jerk responses in two equally effective ways. The first, of course, was the same way Dick Francis did: By creating likeable underdogs and pitting them against hateable, arrogant, powerful foes, he guaranteed that we'd have a rooting interest in the story's conclusion.
My own variation on that, however, was to double down: Gauging reader reaction to "Liminal," my early story featuring Tania, an unworldly Orthodox Jewish girl, I discovered that just as the villainous, controlling photographer in the story underestimated her, so did many readers.
Early on, we know that Dick Francis's heroes are far stronger and smarter than the villains expect; much of the pleasure comes in seeing the bad guys' realization set in too late. But my readers tell me that they never see my plot twists coming, because on some level (they confess) they've bought into the same expectations that the villains have. They're surprised because they didn't think that Tania, Ruby, Ana in "Jaguar," and the rest of my female protagonists had it in them.
Simply put: This middle-aged man creates a teenage girl or young woman who appears vulnerable, and right away readers accept the characterization without question. And that makes pulling the rug out, defying expectations, both satisfying and fun for me—while simultaneously making the story more surprising and powerful for those same unsuspecting readers.
This entry was posted in Characters, Fiction, Guest, Writers, Writing and tagged characters, dick francis, fiction, heroes, influence, inspiration, mystery, underdog, writing. Bookmark the permalink.
2 Responses to "Underestimated" (by Joseph Wallace)
Pingback: Male Writer, Female Protagonists » Marmaduke Writing FactoryMarmaduke Writing Factory
I loved "Jaguar." I am actually writing about it today at Little Big Crimes and will mention it this Wednesday at SleuthSayers. I once made a list of the reasons for which Francis's characters were understimated. I came up with: short, jockey, ex-jockey, illegitimate, aristocrat, actor, got job from his father, one-armed, bespectacled… I am sure I am missing some.


A congress like the ICI 2013 is a complex machine, which requires a lot of energy to be organized and function properly. On behalf of SIICA, I would like to thank the many friends and colleagues in the different committees that have contributed to the congress organization. I will not be able to go through all the names here, but there are a few that I would like to thank personally. In particular, Sergio Romagnani, Honorary President of the meeting, with whom I have prepared and presented the two bids to IUIS, Massimo Locati, Secretary General of ICI 2013 and Secretary of SIICA, who has helped me tremendously in the organization and with whom I have discussed every detail of the meeting to ensure a smooth operation, and Vincenzo Barnaba, President of the Italian Society for Immunology, SIICA, that has been able to foster the commitment of the entire Society towards the successful conclusion of this meeting. I would also like to give special thanks to Alberto Mantovani and Lorenzo Moretta, co-chairs of the Scientific Program Committee, who have assembled a really great scientific program.Last but not least, I would like to thank our Professional Congress Organizer, Triumph Group, for helping us to make this congress happening and for managing very efficiently all the logistic aspects.Finally, I would like to sincerely thank IUIS for awarding SIICA the opportunity to organize a memorable ICI, and for offering myself a very stimulating and exciting challenge.


text:
Why MySuper delivers inferior outcomes for members
(Pictured: Warren Chant)
by Greg Bright
Maverick superannuation researcher Warren Chant has stepped up his criticism of the mandatory MySuper default funds for disengaged members with a measured presentation at the Frontier Advisors annual conference. He added that the regulation was favouring retail funds over industry funds.
Chant, the principal of Chant West Financial said: "We have always been critical of MySuper and we still are… MySuper was meant to be a simple low-cost product for disengaged members with greater transparency… No-one in this room would call their fund a simple low-cost product. They are complex and sophisticated."
About 130 attendees at the conference included fund executives, trustees, managers and Frontier's consultants.
"What MySuper did was to offer the only way for retail funds to compete by introducing more indexing. Having more passive management is a step backwards," Chant said.
There were 29 retail MySuper funds, as at March 31, compared with 91 not-for-profit funds, 46 of which were industry funds. But only two of the 29 retail funds had reasonably active portfolios.
"Five of the biggest retail providers are now providing members with inferior products. That's why we're critical," he said.
The actively managed retail funds had an average stated total cost per member of 134bps, but this was misleading, Chant said, and industry funds – all of which are mainly active – should not think they are competing at that price.
The active retail funds were mainly in the corporate space, so very few clients paid the stated rate. In fact, Chant said, the retail funds "loaded up" the administration component of the total fee because that was the easiest from which a discount could be given during negotiations.
"You are not competing against 134bps. You are competing against a much lower price than that," he said. Frontier has a lot of industry funds among its client base and most of them had senior representatives in the room.
Another problem was that while industry funds on average over most periods delivered about 80bps better performance than retail funds, the comparative advantage no longer held as much weight because of the introduction of MySuper.
"Most of the funds you're competing against have only been around for six months, so they can dodge that bullet," he said.
"The good thing about MySuper is the increased transparency on costs. But we [Chant West] haven't really changed our minds. We think that most people will be worse off."
Interestingly, retail MySuper funds were much more likely to adopt 'lifestyle' strategies for member cohorts, whereby asset allocation becomes more defensive the closer the member gets to retirement. Of the 29 retail funds, 17 had lifestyle strategies. Of the 46 industry funds, only two had lifestyle strategies.
In response to a question from the audience, Chant said he was not endorsing lifestyle products. Chant West was neutral about them.
A criticism of lifestyle strategies is that they are unlikely to factor in anything other than age, although the QSuper MySuper default is generally considered the most sophisticated by taking account also of gender and a proxy for total net wealth, which is the member's total balance.
Some have argued that, given the average member retires with about $240,000 currently and this would enable him or her to get an old-age pension, lifestyle funds should have much higher allocations to growth assets on retirement. The Government pension has similar characteristics to a Commonwealth bond and its net present value on retirement is slightly more than $240,000 depending on individual life expectancy.
As Don Ezra, the former Russell Investments executive and researcher, has pointed out, 60 per cent of a person's spending in retirement comes from earnings in retirement. If people understood that, Chant asked, would they de-risk their investments prior to retirement?
Chant said he would like to see more research done on lifecycle funds before he gave them a tick.
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text:
Hana Tajima's Modest Uniqlo Collection Is Here
Story from Style
Hana Tajima's Modest Uniqlo Collection Is All About Women's Bodies
Eliza Huber
Modest fashion means something different depending on who you ask. In many cultures, dressing in a modest way is indicative of certain religious or spiritual beliefs. In others, it errs more on the side of a style choice. "Within mainstream fashion, there's been a movement toward more androgynous style, looser silhouettes, and a different take on femininity," says modest, or as she refers to it, 'understated' fashion designer Hana Tajima. "All those things exist within modest fashion."
Today, Uniqlo announced the launch of its spring '20 collaborative collection with Tajima. The beautiful 36-piece collection of long hemlines, high necks, and headscarves are all extremely on-trend, proving that regardless of the reason, fashion at large is embracing the modest.
For Tajima, designing clothing for women who prefer to dress in a more understated fashion is less about the fashion and more about women in general. "I've always found the name 'modest fashion' to be too loaded," she says. Instead, she "wants to connect to that feeling of beauty that exists in all women with each collection, regardless of labels."
Photo Courtesy of Uniqlo.
"What brings me the most joy is for these pieces to become part of the relationship between a woman and her body," Tajima says of designing understated fashion. So when it came time to create her latest collection for Uniqlo — the duo has worked together since 2015 — she knew she wanted to base it on the unique and ever-changing shape of women's bodies.
For the spring '20 collection, Tajima focused her attention on sizing in an attempt to create clothing that moved with a woman's body as it changes, "throughout the month, or even through the day."
"Our bodies are not static," she said, "and so I created adjustable details which could reflect that."
This concentration was a personal one. After feeling alienated by the changes she saw in her own body, she chose to speak out and see if other women felt the same way. In doing so, she realised the emotionally damaging effects of clothing that doesn't allow for bodies to fluctuate in size. "By allowing us to adjust waist size, and in creating loose but beautifully proportioned silhouettes, I felt like I could make a woman feel truly comfortable in her own body."
The collection goes on to feature bright colours and original patterns drawn by Tajima herself. "I wanted this collection to feel joyful. To bring a sense of play back into the way we dress," she recalls. The result: a 36-piece collection of flowing house dresses (perfect for staying inside right now), blouses, outerwear, and modest accessories that any woman, no matter her reason for dressing, could style comfortably this spring.
The Hana Tajima x Uniqlo collection will be available to shop online and in select Uniqlo stores on April 16th.
Hana Tajima x Uniqlo Spring Modest Collection 2020
Style • Designers • Fashion • Fashion News
written by Eliza Huber
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text:
Haiti's Achievements Under Aristide and Lavalas
by Stephen Lendman
http://towardfreedom.com/, January 5, 2006
The long-suffering people of Haiti suffered a catastrophic blow in February, 2004 when U.S. Marines kidnapped and deposed democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The U.S., supported by Canada and France, forced him into exile, forbade him from even returning to the hemisphere, and reestablished a despotic interim puppet government backed and enforced by so-called UN peacekeepers and a brutal Haitian National Police.
U.S. officials also threatened Aristide with a second abduction followed by a trial and imprisonment in the U.S. [on totally fraudulent charges of looting the Haitian treasury, money laundering and taking payoffs from drug traffickers] if he dared act or speak out forcefully against his ousting, forced exile and the deplorable situation now in Haiti. These charges are currently included in a baseless lawsuit the so-called Interim Government of Haiti has filed against President Aristide even as they carry out a reign of terror against the Haitian people. And as they do it, conditions in the country continue to deteriorate as the occupying forces clamp down on the people ahead of so-called Presidential and legislative elections in January. With Haiti an occupied country, the freedom and democracy they had is now lost and along with it a decade of impressive social, economic and political gains they never had before.
Why did the U.S. plan and carry out this act of savage banditry against a leader beloved by his people and last reelected in 2000 with 92% of the vote? It was because he cared about the 80% or more desperately poor and disadvantaged Haitians and was committed to improving their lives. He was determined to serve their interests rather than those of his dominant northern neighbor. That policy of any nation, especially less developed ones, is always unacceptable to the predatory neoliberal agenda of all U.S. administrations, the giant transnational corporations whose interests they serve, and in Haiti, their elite junior business partners. The Bush administration, in league with these dominant business interests, intends to return this nation of 8.5 million people, the poorest in the Americas, to its pre-Aristide status of virtual serfdom. To do it they destroyed Haiti's freedom and first ever democracy in its history and turned the country into a killing field. And to justify what they did, they conducted a shameless disinformation campaign, aided by a complicit and corrupted corporate media, falsely claiming the Aristide government was rife with corruption, trafficked drugs and violated human rights. They also claimed Haiti was poorly governed by inherently inept people [shameless racism]. They called it a failed state needing "reform" and "humanitarian intervention."
For U.S. corporations and the Haitian business elite, Haiti has always been a paradise for some of the cheapest labor on the planet. It's also had a long-term endemic problem of men, women and children being victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation, debt bondage and chattel labor. No one leader or party, no matter how well-intentioned, could solve all these problems easily or quickly. But Aristide tried. He wanted something better and for ten years accomplished impressive achievements with little outside financial support and against great odds. What Lavalas administrations accomplished is explained below.
SOCIAL GAINS UNDER LAVALAS
1. HEALTH CARE
The Aristide government renovated and built health clinics, hospitals and dispensaries and added improved medical services. It greatly increased the number of health care workers including doctors. It spent a larger percentage of its budget on health care than any previous Haitian government. It began a meaningful AIDS prevention and treatment program praised by international experts that reduced the HIV prevalence rate from 6.1% to 5% and the mother to child transmission rate from 30% to 9%. In a cooperative effort with Cuba it sent hundreds of Haitian medical students to that country to study to become doctors and were aided by many more hundreds of Cuban health care workers coming to Haiti to work in rural areas. It established a new medical school in Tabarre which provided free medical education for hundreds of Haitian students and planned to open a nursing school which the 2004 coup prevented.
Overall, health care availability and improvement made impressive gains from its formerly dismal state. One measure was the decline in infant mortality from 125 to 110 per 1000 and a drop in the percentage of underweight births from 28% to 19%.
Aristide and Fanmi Lavalas implemented a Universal Schooling Program intending to include all Haitian children. 20% of Haiti's budget was devoted to education, and between 2001 - 2004 school enrollment rates rose from 68% to 72%. Under Lavalas administrations, 195 new primary schools and 104 new public high schools were built including in rural areas where no schools ever before existed. To supplement further, Fanmi Lavalas provided thousands of scholarships for children to attend private schools. It subsidized schoolbooks and uniforms and expanded school lunch programs to serve 700,000 hot meals a day to children who otherwise might have had no meal.
The Aristide government also began a national literacy campaign, printed 2 million literacy manuals, and trained thousands of students as literacy workers. It opened 20,000 adult literacy centers many of which combined a literacy center with a community kitchen to provide low cost meals to communities in need. Between 2001 - 2003 this program taught 100,000 people to read, and from 1996 - 2003 reduced the illiteracy rate from 85% to 55%.
3. JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Contrary to the demonization and disinformation campaign against Aristide and Lavalas, human rights and conflict resolution achieved significant gains under Lavalas administrations. For the first time ever in Haiti, the rights of the accused were respected. Those arrested had a formal hearing before a judge usually within 2 days. Court proceedings were conducted in Creole, the French derivative language all Haitians understand. Since the 2004 coup, Lavalas supporters have been routinely murdered or jailed for months without charge and without recourse to a fair trial in court.
In 1995 the Lavalas government opened a school for magistrates. It graduated 100 new judges and prosecutors between 1996 and 2003. Also, courthouses and police stations were constructed and refurbished throughout the country. Special courts for children were established, and a special child protection unit was created within the Haitian National Police. Laws were also passed prohibiting all forms of corporal punishment against children. And in 2003 a new law was passed repealing a labor code provision allowing child domestic service [mostly unpaid and thus chattel labor], and additional legislation passed prohibiting all trafficking in persons [a long-term endemic abuse in Haiti affecting adults and children].
Aristide removed the main instrument of state repression and dozens of previous coups by disbanding the hated Haitian military - trained by the U.S. to be an instrument of civilian control and to use brutal and abusive tactics to do it. This allowed the Haitian people an unprecedented level of freedom of speech, assembly and personal safety unknown before. He also created the National Commission for Truth and Justice to investigate and report on the crimes committed during the 1991-1994 coup period. It made its recommendations for a measure of justice in 1996. As a result, former soldiers and paramilitaries were tried for their crimes and convicted when found guilty in fair trials.
POLITICAL GAINS UNDER LAVALAS
Until Aristide's election in 1990 Haiti had never before had a democratically elected President. Aristide took office in 1991, but his administration was short-lived because of a military coup that deposed him later in the year. But in a deal struck with the Clinton administration Aristide was restored to office in 1994 and served out the remainder of his term until 1996. Then, prohibited from succeeding himself by Haitian law, Aristide ally and Prime Minister in 1991, Rene Preval, was elected President with 88% of the vote. Aristide was then reelected in November, 2000 [representing the Fanmi Lavalas party he formed in 1996] and served until the February, 2004 coup deposing him.
Haiti's independent electoral commission oversaw the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections and 3 parliamentary and local elections. In May, 2000, 29,500 candidates ran for 7,500 posts. Four million Haitians registered for the election and 60% of them voted. Many women and peasant leaders were elected to the House of Deputies, formed a caucus and worked in Parliament to improve the lives of rural farmers. For the first time ever Haitian women held the posts of Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance and Chief of Police. Also, in 1995 President Aristide established a cabinet level Ministry of Women's Affairs to work for women's welfare. Its purpose was multifold and included help for rape victims, improving literacy and access to education, vital health services like pre-natal care and inclusion of women to benefit from increases in the minimum wage.
During this period, the Haitian people enjoyed unprecedented freedom to organize, speak out freely and assemble. The number of radio stations in Port-au-Prince expanded to 44 and another 100 outside the capitol. 16 TV stations were registered in the capitol and 35 more nationwide. Also, the Haitian Constitution of 1987 was printed in Creole and was widely distributed so Haitians were aware of their rights which, for the first time, they really had.
For nearly 10 years the Haitian people had its only democracy in its 500 year history and a government and leaders it chose who for the first time cared about the welfare of ordinary Haitians and established policies to improve their lives. All that was lost in February, 2004. The Haitian people want it restored and resistance is growing to try and achieve it.
ECONOMIC GAINS UNDER LAVALAS
Aristide raised the minimum wage in 1995 and doubled it in 2003. He instituted an extensive land reform program distributing 2.47 acres of land to each of 1500 peasant families in the Artibonite River Valley. His government provided tools, credit, technical assistance, fertilizers and heavy equipment to farmers. Irrigation systems were repaired bringing water to 7000 farmers. As a result, rice yields [from Haiti's main staple crop] rose from 2.7 tons per hectare to between 3 - 3.5 tons.
The government distributed tens of thousands of reintroduced Creole pigs to Haitian farmers. This reversed a 1980 U.S. International Development Agency [USAID] extermination policy done for fraudulent reasons to prevent Haitian farmers from competing with pig farmers in the U.S. This act cost Haitian farmers hundreds of millions of dollars for which they received no compensation.
The Aristide administration campaigned aggressively to collect unpaid tax and utility bills owed the government by wealthy and powerful elite businessmen. Through this effort they generated new revenues which were used for health care and education.
The government repaired and reopened the state owned sugar mill in Dabonne that enabled Haiti to process its own sugar. Also, 30,000 fishermen received technical aid and training to build boats, Haiti's lakes were planted with fish stocks and 50 new lakes were built.
The Lavalas administrations created hundreds of community stores and restaurants which sold food at discount prices forcing the wealthy elites' import monopolies to reduce their prices and make them more affordable to poor Haitians. As a result, by 2003 malnutrition dropped from 63% to 51%.
In 2002 and 2003 more than 1000 low cost housing units were built, and low interest loans enabled ordinary working-class Haitians to buy them.
In 1994 the Haitian government established a program to help refugees who fled the country after the 1991 coup to return. Programs included carpentry and sewing workshops and help in setting up agricultural cooperatives. This initiative helped 100,000 refugees return to their homes. The government also established an Office for Civil Protection to support the Haitian Red Cross send out early warnings of impending natural disasters and help those affected they occurred.
All of these vital gains are now being reversed or adversely affected by the current interim U.S. installed puppet government.
OTHER NOTABLE LAVALAS ACHIEVEMENTS
Despite misinformation to the contrary, Lavalas administrations passed legislation to combat drug trafficking and money laundering and worked cooperatively with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency [DEA] to interdict drugs and deport drug dealers wanted by U.S. authorities. In addition, the National Committee Against Money Laundering, the National Committee to Combat Drug Trafficking and Substance Abuse and a Financial Intelligence Unit were created to enforce the laws passed.
The government also campaigned against public corruption by producing public service announcements and instituting new procedures to combat this abuse. Investigations of government officials and other employees involved in improper or illegal activities were conducted, and those found guilty were fired or prosecuted.
The Lavalas administrations made major investments in projects to help the Haitian people. They included important improvements in infrastructure, public transportation and agriculture. Thousands of miles of drainage canals were constructed, repaired or dredged. In Jacmel a new electric power plant was built, and the port and wharf were renovated. In Port-au-Prince the international airport and national stadium were renovated. Dozens of open-air markets [an important Haitian institution] were built or renovated in cities around the country.
CONDITIONS IN HAITI TODAY SINCE THE 2004 COUP
All the achievements discussed above were impressive and remarkable considering Haiti's long and tragic history as a brutally exploited state - first by Spain and France and then by the U.S. However, since the 2004 coup ousting President Aristide, all of them have been adversely affected or reversed.
Most serious has been the destruction of real democracy and freedom in Haiti and the tragic and horrific fallout from it. To serve the interests of U.S. corporations and the elite Haitian rich, the Haitian National Police [PNH] and so-called UN peacekeepers [MINUSTAH] have unleashed a reign of terror against the Haitian people. President Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party has been destroyed and its officials jailed, murdered or forced to flee to avoid either fate. In addition, thousands of Lavalas supporters [the great majority of Haitians] and community and labor activists have been killed, jailed, disappeared or forced into hiding. Also, thousands of small businesses have been burned and destroyed as have the homes of large numbers of the poor. Jobs have been lost as well, including those of 4000 public sector workers hired under President Aristide immediately eliminated after the coup. As a result, the already very high level of unemployment has risen further.
The brutal and hated former Haitian military has also been reinstituted and now controls large areas of the country in an environment of martial law. In the cities the PNH operates as a de facto paramilitary force with a license to terrorize and kill with impunity. Along with MINUSTAH [led by contingents from Brazil and Chile, with a long history of repressing their home populations], the PNH conducts frequent violent sweeps through poor communities and neighborhoods, like Cite Soleil and Bel Air, attacking, arresting and murdering community leaders, activists and other Lavalas supporters.
In rural areas, absentee landlords along with armed paramilitaries have seized peasant farmer land given them as part of the Land Reform projects by Lavalas administrations. The new interim U.S. installed government headed by Prime Minister Gerard Latortue [imported from Florida for the job] ended subsidies on fertilizer vital to peasant rice farmers. As a result, the cost of fertilizer has more than doubled, and the price of rice [Haiti's main staple crop] has risen sharply, adversely affecting the poor majority [80% or more of the population]. The interim government also cancelled school subsidies for children and textbooks and stopped funding literacy programs. Many poor families have thus been unable to keep their children in school.
U.S. agencies like the U.S. International Development Agency [USAID] and the Washington based and nominally independent Haiti Democracy Project are also deeply involved in making Haiti policy. The latter is funded by the wealthy right-wing Haitian Boulos family, USAID funded Radio Vision 2000 and other Haitian business interests. Its board of directors includes former U.S. ambassadors to Haiti, others close to the U.S. State Department and Haitian business leaders. This organization [or independent think tank as they call themselves] along with U.S. acting ambassador Timothy Carney are likely making day-to-day policy decisions in Haiti while USAID is serving overall U.S. Haiti policy objectives by attempting to "pacify" the country. It's doing it through a sham and grossly inadequate fig leaf program of establishing a few nongovernmental organization [NGO] type operations to provide some essential services like "primary care" and "child survival services," in place of Lavalas, while at the same time administering with an iron fist. It started the first prison for children with others for children and adults likely to follow. The overall aim is to turn Haiti into a tranquil combined open air and enclosed "prison colony" to create a favorable climate for business.
In addition, the predatory international lending agencies, including the IMF and World Bank, are demanding their pound of flesh that will further deepen Haiti's already overwhelming and crushing poverty. In their business as usual fashion they have actively implemented their exploitative and destructive structural adjustment policies of forced privatizations and downsizings of state owned industries and elimination of Lavalas instituted social programs in return for financial aid, adding to Haiti's already onerous debt burden [most of it "odious" debt].
The dominant U.S. corporate media and international community overall have largely ignored the ongoing tragedy and horror in Haiti since the coup. With no pun intended, Haiti today is literally a black hole, out of sight and out of mind. The U.S. now calls the shots while their complicit and subservient in-country proxies have turned back the clock to its ugly despotic past of brutal repression and even more extreme poverty, depravation and human suffering.
SCHEDULED PRESIDENTIAL AND LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS
The so-called Interim Government of Haiti [IGH] has scheduled a first round of Presidential and legislative elections on January 8 with a runoff to follow on February 15 and local elections finally on March 5. This is the fourth reset of elections dates in the last 5 months. That's because the planning and preparation handled by the Provisional Electoral Commission [CEP] has been as flawed as the notion of a free and democratic process in a nation now led by a U.S. appointed Prime Minister in charge of a de facto military junta answerable to the Bush administration. Although reportedly 3.5 million of the estimated 4.2 million eligible to vote have registered, the list of candidates running excludes nearly all former Lavalas members. At present and subject to change, 32 candidates are running for President including Rene Preval who served a full term as Lavalas' democratically elected President from 1996 - 2000. With Lavalas a destroyed party and out of the political process, the fact that Preval has been allowed to run means it's likely he's been co-opted and has deserted his former democratic allies and accepted or joined with those now in power.
The most beloved and popular man still in Haiti, Father Gerard Jean-Juste, will not be allowed to run and has been imprisoned without charge to prevent his inclusion in the election. He currently has been diagnosed with a serious medical condition requiring his release to be able to be treated properly. Without a strong outcry and intervention for him it's doubtful he'll get it, and that may jeopardize his life. Most other candidates are those the Bush administration finds "acceptable" including Dumarsais Simeus, a Haitian born Texas millionaire, Guy Philippe [a former police chief and paramilitary thug who led the armed coup against President Aristide in 2004] and Dany Toussaint [a suspected murderer]. In addition, over 1100 candidates are running for parliament.
Whenever these so-called elections are finally completed, the result will not represent the will of the Haitian people. With Lavalas [the overwhelming choice of the Haitian majority] mostly destroyed as a political entity, the country under a repressive foreign military occupation, and the entire electoral process deeply flawed and effectively rigged, the hope for a democratic election is nil. In addition, the likelihood of electoral fraud is very great, and the Elections Canada Monitoring Mission there to detect it is unlikely to do so because of Canada's support for the U.S. led coup and its participation in MINUSTAH. There is also no way of knowing how many Haitians will actually vote despite the reported number registered. Those wanting to do so will be greatly hampered or unable to as the number of polling stations have been reduced from 12,000 in 2000 to 600 now, mostly in urban areas. The majority poor who supported Aristide/Lavalas are in the rural areas, hours away from where they could vote. Distance and the threat of electoral violence may stop them.
For now the dream of most Haitians remains unfulfilled and unlikely to improve any time soon. Still, in spite of their desperation and without outside support, the Haitian people remain resolute and courageous. Since the coup, they have rallied repeatedly and protested in the streets en masse for the release of political prisoners, the return of President Aristide and a restoration of their brief democracy. And despite the daily terror and violence against them, they have continued their resistance bravely. Their story needs to be told, and they deserve the full support of caring people everywhere.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net Photo from Uruguay.indymedia.org
Stephen Lendman page
Haiti watch


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Why Americans Spend Too Much, Save Too Little The 2008 financial crisis made it clear: Americans save too little, spend too much and borrow excessively, says Princeton professor Sheldon Garon. In Western Europe and East Asia, governments aggressively encourage people to save through special savings institutions and savings campaigns.
Hear NPR's Marilyn Geewax's Interview With Professor Sheldon Garon
Why Americans Spend Too Much
Marilyn Geewax
Shoppers look at a display at the Dadeland Mall in Miami on Nov. 25. Princeton professor Sheldon Garon says Americans spend too much and save too little compared to Europeans and Asians. Lynne Sladky/AP hide caption
Lynne Sladky/AP
Shoppers look at a display at the Dadeland Mall in Miami on Nov. 25. Princeton professor Sheldon Garon says Americans spend too much and save too little compared to Europeans and Asians.
The 2008 financial crisis made it clear: Americans save too little, spend too much and borrow excessively, says Princeton professor Sheldon Garon. In Western Europe and East Asia, governments aggressively encourage people to save through special savings institutions and savings campaigns.
Garon has just released a new book, Beyond Our Means: Why America Spends While the World Saves. He discussed his findings with NPR:
Do Americans spend more than people in Western Europe and Asia?
"They definitely do. You can look at consumption levels and control for purchasing power over the last several decades, and America is simply in a league of its own. The only people who come close are people in Britain, but they are about 85 percent of the level of American consumption. Germans, French and others are in the 70 percent range, Japanese even a little lower. So Americans spend like no one else."
From 'Tell Me More'
Hear Princeton Professor Sheldon Garon
Were we savers before? The Benjamin Franklin admonition was to save money. Did we do that up until a certain point?
"Benjamin Franklin had more of an effect on Europe and Japan in the 19th century than he did on us. [Still,] we were good savers [in earlier times] where we had good savings institutions, like savings banks, in New England and the mid-Atlantic and Upper Midwest.
"But many people in America, particularly in the South and West, didn't even have an accessible bank as late as 1910 in which they could save. We became very good savers during World War II and in the few decades after World War II."
What happened in the more recent decades from the '80s on out, where we seem to have greatly stepped up our use of credit cards and other kinds of debt?
"You've identified the 1980s as the right point — that's when you have almost a perfect storm in terms of deregulating financial institutions that results in a tremendous outpouring of credit in various ways. The credit card industry is deregulated after about 1980. They can charge whatever they want on interest rates; they tend to then see their credit-card operations as cash cows; they tend to target riskier and riskier customers.
U.S. Household Saving Rate
Percent of disposable personal income
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
Credit: NPR
"There's also the creation of the home equity loan, which more or less did not exist before the mid-1980s. But the 1986 tax law reforms made home equity loans — the interest on them — tax deductible just like home mortgages. No other form of credit was tax deductible.
"So you had an explosion of home equity, and that resulted in lots of middle- to upper-income homeowners actually draining the equity out of their homes as they expanded their lines of credit. And we got to a point where, in so many different ways, Americans came to the conclusion: Why would you save when it was so easy to get credit?"
These habits we've developed — shop till you drop — it seems like it's so much a part of our culture to overconsume that it's got to be hard to reverse that direction. What has to happen to make us better savers?
"One thing is the unfortunate: Many households — millions of households — don't have the means to get more credit and to spend more now, so that automatically is going to make people more cautious. But I think institutionally, we need to do several things. We need to improve the access of lower-income households to savings institutions.
"We just witnessed Bank of America and other banks trying to charge an extra fee on people with debit cards, particularly with low minimum balances. That tends to discourage people. [Among lower-income households] 25 percent of them are unbanked: They don't have bank accounts.
"So we need to incentivize banks to create ... small savers accounts [such as those in Europe]. They have a low or minimum balance, that have no fees, [and they] actually pay an interest rate that people can see. These can be subsidized by government working with banks — we can do that.
"We need to clearly do more to curb predatory lending, and I think we need to revise our tax laws, which right now incentivize really affluent taxpayers to contribute to their retirement accounts and to buy more and more housing, while not incentivizing lower- and middle-income households to put more of their money away in savings. In many countries, small savings accounts are tax exempt. Here we have the opposite — tax exempt advantages incentivize borrowing, not saving.
Money Counts: Young Adults And Financial Literacy
Calculate How Your Savings Can Grow
How optimistic are you that things could change?
"It's a long shot, and as you have implied, there's a lot of resistance out there. On the other hand, if we can't even talk about the problem, if we can't even talk about the benefits of some saving and we think that only consumer spending is good for the economy, then we're not even getting to first base on this. We have to begin talking about the benefits of saving, and how we might restore a balance between saving and spending."


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text:
Ithycythara rubricata, common name reddish mangelia, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Mangeliidae.

This species may be an older name for Ithycythara auberiana

Description
The length of the shell attains 6 mm.  The shell is very distantly ribbed, closely transversely striate. Its color is yellowish white to chestnut.

Distribution
This marine species occurs off Florida and the West Indies.

References

External links
  Tucker, J.K. 2004 Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Zootaxa 682:1–1295.
 Biolib.cz: images of Ithycythara rubricata

rubricata
Gastropods described in 1846

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


I am growing five different varieties this year of Asian eggplants. From the descriptions I have, looks like most are small and all but one are eaten when they are green except one that you eat before it turns yellow. That one I have no idea what the first color is.
Anybody else grown any Asian type eggplants? I've grown Black Beauty, a pink type and a white. I have never seen where you eat a green colored eggplant before. How do the Asian eggplants taste compared say Black Beauty, which is my favorite.
Also, do the Asian plants get flea beetles bad too?
I grew Ping Tung Long last year. I liked it. I wish that they didn't turn brown when cooked on a grill. They come off the grill looking like bratwurst.
This year I have a Thai Green, a round Thai purple, and "hairy eggplant."
In general, asian eggplants have thinner skin, less seedy, milder taste even when mature. I'd probably also argue they have a higher water content. They have less dense flesh and usually have more give or shrinkage when cooked, but the end result is usually more creamy texture.
Besides Ping Tung, Ma-Zu I really liked some of the japanese eggplants kamo and mitoyo.
One of the ones I have is S. ferox, the Hairy-fruited eggplant. The description that came with mine is a small fruit, the "hair" is similar to a kiwi fruit and is brushed off before cooking; harvest fruit before the color turns yellow.
Is that one of the same ones you have Cole?
Here is the descriptions I have on my other ones. Any sound familiar to you?
#28 medium size, pick fruit when about 1 1/2", light green in color, with some green striping, shape is a flattened round shape.
#00 Solanum melonga L. - Ma Khuea Khao, light green, harvest before fruits are 8" long, about 80 days from seed to harvest.
#27 - Slightly egg-shaped, pick fruit when light green in color, size can be larger than an egg and smaller than a coconut but tastes best when small.
#3 - 'normal size' small, round shape, bigger than a pea and smaller than a plum, harvest when light green in color.
Scooty... Is there alot of difference between the eggplants from Thailand and Japanese?
With some of the ones I got saying they are pea to plum size, it doesn't sound like they would easily make eggplant parmesan. So how do folks eat these?
I am attempting to grow Ping Tung this year. Attempting = I had three plants growing in 2" containers until our cat squashed one yesterday... 2 plants left.
I want to buy some eggplant transplants locally. It has been so long since we ate eggplant grown in a home garden - I forget what it tastes like.
I dunno about a difference in yield or taste between Thai or Japanese eggplants. I haven't grown the grown the first. I vaguely recall eating a Thai green eggplant when I was traveling once, but I'm not huge on eggplants to begin with, so I can't really remember enough to compare it. Though, I can say that the difference between the long thin chinese and japanese eggplants varieties is very subtle.
As far as using them, Kamo is probably half the size of something like Black Beauty. Due to availability, I've know of expats subbing in asian eggplants over those traditionally used in the mediterranean, and usually, they simply use more of them size fruit size is smaller. On the other hand, some people actually choose to use japanese eggplants over italian vars for their eggplant parmesan because they're looking for a creamer texture or milder taste. So it all depends.
Last edited by Scooty; March 12, 2016 at 09:34 PM.
Bad kitty. Do the leaves on your Ping Tung have any kind of smell that your kitty thinks it is like catnip plants?
I didn't put out any eggplants last year here. The year before I had the flea beetles so bad. I'd kill eggs off every leaf and come back a few hours later to find the nasty critters had laid double the egg amounts again. Other than hand squishing, I couldn't find anything to get rid of them.
I am thinking about netting the plants this year from the start, once they go outside and just raise the netting up as need be and hand pollinating.
Yeah, that's it, Starlight, same one.
Speaking of eggplant, I haven't had Rosa Bianca yet. I want to try that one. I am also tempted to order the mix of mini-eggplants that Johnny's sells: Hansel, Gretel, and Fairy Tale.
Sevin kills flea beetles. I try not to use it, but flea beetles on eggplant are the most compelling case I have seen for Sevin being necessary.
I appreciate the information. I may get some Kamo seeds. Add some culture to the garden. I had read on some other TV threads where folks said they liked it.
I have had Fairy Tale before. That was my first taste of one other than Black Beauty. The neighbor grew them. I thought it was really bitter, but since neither of us knew to pick them, it was probably our fault we didn't care for it.
I guess I better pick me up some while it is still available. Did you #5 or #10. I don't like chems on food plants if at all possible, but I can't spend all day, everyday trying to hand kill them.
Keep an eye on the backside of your leaves. Check each leaf. Even small seedlings will get flea beetles if you have them TX. If you see clusters of yellow eggs, squish em!
I do have some extra seeds of all the above if anybody wants some, just pm me.
Again, I'm really not a huge fan of eggplant, so my taste may vary from yours. However, if you're going to pick a japanese eggplant, I'd probably recommend mitoyo and kamo in that order. To me, Mitoyo is sweeter and with less "richness". It grows out to roughly the size of a navel orange or maybe a small red star grapefruit.
Oh I should add, if you cook eggplant Parmesan with asian eggplant instead of some traditional med variety, the end result is not something everyone is going to like. Expats usually have to mod their recipes to try to imitate original consistency. less dense eggplant + lots of sauce = a mushier dish. Of course not everyone likes a lot of sauce.... I think this is why a lot of faux steak dishes that use eggplants use mediterranean varieties when they grill, since they keep shape and don't shrink much.
Last edited by Scooty; March 12, 2016 at 10:51 PM.
Thank you for the advice. I have got to quit watching all these international cooking shows. Makes me want to try and grow some of the stuff I see them cooking with. I googled Mitoyo . It does look to be a good one to try.
Cole.... While I was googling for Mitoyo, I noticed Baker Creek said that Hansel attracted the most bugs. You may want to re-think that one.
I remember eating a japanese version of eggplant parmasean. It was using a japanese eggplant but they went quite light on the sauce. Tasted fine to me. Eggplant was super soft, even with skin on; thickcut you don't need a knife, but you barely taste the eggplant though. The slightly bitter/mature taste on some of the med varieties is something a lot of people like I think in heavier dishes.


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