Aquaculture — an untapped food security solution

Top doctor dies from Ebola after treating dozens

Top doctor dies from Ebola after treating dozens: "FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — A leading doctor who risked his own life to treat dozens of Ebola patients died Tuesday from the disease, officials said, as a major regional airline announced it was suspending flights to the cities hardest hit by an outbreak that has killed more than 670 people.

Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan, who was praised as a national hero for treating the disease in Sierra Leone, was confirmed dead by health ministry officials there. He had been hospitalized in quarantine.

Health workers have been especially vulnerable to contracting Ebola, which is spread through bodily fluids such as saliva, sweat, blood and urine. Two American health workers are currently hospitalized with Ebola in neighboring Liberia."



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Could California Go All in On Renewable Energy? : Discovery News

Could California Go All in On Renewable Energy? : Discovery News: "A Stanford professor has presented a plan to power all of the Golden State’s energy needs with renewable energy by 2050.

“If implemented, this plan will eliminate air pollution mortality and global warming emissions from California, stabilize prices and create jobs -- there is little downside,” said Mark Z. Jacobson, the study’s lead author and a Stanford professor of civil and environmental engineering, in a press release.



 It would take 25,000 onshore 5-megawatt wind turbines, 1,200 concentrated solar plants, 15 million residential rooftop photovoltaic systems, 72 geothermal plants, 5,000 wave devices and 3,400 tidal turbines."



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U.S. Officials Lay Out Case Against Russians - WSJ

U.S. Officials Lay Out Case Against Russians - WSJ: "U.S. intelligence officials presented reporters with their most detailed case yet Tuesday that Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists shot down a Malaysia Airlines  jetliner last week, in a bid to counter what American officials see as Russian efforts to muddy the waters with claims of Ukrainian culpability.

The officials relied on photographs, social media, and voiceprint analysis of Ukrainian communications intercepts to make their public case that a likely SA-11 antiaircraft weapon fired from separatist-controlled territory shot down the commercial airliner, killing 298 people on board."



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I Don't Think I Want to Be a Mother, and That Should Be Acceptable | Beth Leipholtz

I Don't Think I Want to Be a Mother, and That Should Be Acceptable | Beth Leipholtz:



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Making Flying While Brown Safe Again | American Civil Liberties Union

Making Flying While Brown Safe Again | American Civil Liberties Union: "When Shoshana Hebshi boarded Frontier Flight 623 on September 11, 2011, she was heading home to Detroit Metro Airport from a visit to her sister in San Francisco. She couldn't have foreseen that being seated next to two other brown-skinned people would end up with her handcuffed, detained, and strip-searched by law enforcement.

Shoshana, born in the United States, is half Saudi Arabian, and the two men who were seated in her row were South Asian. None of them knew each other before they boarded the plane. Still, the airline and the government lumped them all together as suspicious after the two men used the lavatory one after another, for what some passengers believed was an unusually long time."

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Wealthy Activist Vandana Shiva Is A Poor Advocate For The Poor

http://www.forbes.com/sites/henrymiller/2014/07/16/a-wealthy-activist-is-a-poor-advocate-for-the-poor/

Vandana Shiva advocates policies that will inflict widespread poverty, malnutrition, and death on the very people she claims to champion. And she’s no friend of the environment, either.

Henry I. Miller and Drew L. Kershen

Vandana Shiva, the Indian activist who opposes modern agriculture and modern science–and well, modernity in general–is a popular guest lecturer on American campuses. Last spring, she held the Weissberg Chair in International Studies (2013-2014) at Beloit College and this fall is scheduled to lecture at Arizona State and Wake Forest universities. Although she gets good press from left-wing and environmental publications, Shiva is widely considered by the scientific community to be unbalanced (in both senses of the word) for advocating unsound, anti-social policies and promulgating disproven theories about agriculture. One hopes her remarks to university students are placed in perspective by someone who knows better.

BBC News - Jose Antonio Vargas released after US border detention

BBC News - Jose Antonio Vargas released after US border detention: "A prominent activist and undocumented immigrant has been released by border agents in Texas after hours in custody.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who has lived in the US illegally since he was a child, was held at McAllen Airport on Tuesday.

The Philippines-born immigration activist, 33, said later in a statement on Facebook that he had been released."



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10 no-fee volunteer programs to kickstart your development career

10 no-fee volunteer programs to kickstart your development career: "

10 no-fee volunteer programs to kickstart your development career from Devex

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10 no-fee volunteer programs to kickstart your development career from Devex

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10 Volunteer Programs for Mid-Level Global Development Professionals

10 Volunteer Programs for Mid-Level Global Development Professionals: "

10 Volunteer Programs for Mid-Level Global Development Professionals from Devex

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10 Volunteer Programs for Mid-Level Global Development Professionals from Devex

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Packing for the Peace Corps: Volunteers share their must-haves | Devex

Packing for the Peace Corps: Volunteers share their must-haves | Devex: "As part of Devex’s Doing More, an online series on volunteering and its impact on global development, Devex asked current and returned volunteers to share what they packed to serve abroad, as well as their advice for what future volunteers should bring. Volunteers suggested taking items with sentimental value, like photos of family and friends, and noted that the items volunteers should bring differ depending on the climate and customs of their countries of service.

Here’s what current and former Peace Corps volunteers had to say about what they brought and what they think other volunteers should pack."



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Fishermen 'scraping the barrel' in English Channel - Telegraph

Fishermen 'scraping the barrel' in English Channel - Telegraph: "Fishermen are "scraping the bottom of the barrel" in the English Channel with stocks of cod and haddock fast running out, according to new research.
The common skate, a large iconic fish, which existed in huge numbers has all but disappeared from the channel.
Sharks, rays, and many other species at the head of the food chain are also at historic lows, with many having vanished from the sea altogether.
An analyses of catches over the past 90 years shows top predators that once filled the nets have been replaced by increasing amounts of shellfish - at the bottom of the food chain - scraped of the sea bed.
The phenomenon is known as 'fishing down the food web' and has been caused by decades of overfishing, reports the journal PLOS ONE."



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BBC News - Chicago police: Gun laws blamed for weekend killings

BBC News - Chicago police: Gun laws blamed for weekend killings: "Supt McCarthy said there was a "greater sanction" for gang members to have their gun taken away from them by their own gang than for being arrested.

There were dozens of shooting incidents over the long weekend in the city.

The Chicago Tribune called it the "greatest burst of gun violence Chicago has seen this year" and said the number of fatalities was actually as high as 14.

During a press conference on Monday, Mr McCarthy said investigations were continuing into shots fired by police over the weekend, including two teenagers who were fatally shot after allegedly refusing to put down their weapons."



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California school integrates play with learning | PBS NewsHour

California school integrates play with learning | PBS NewsHour: "These students have been taking part in a new experiment in educational innovation known as the PlayMaker School. PlayMaker is, thus far, only for sixth graders who attend the private K-12 New Roads school in Santa Monica, California. You won’t find desks, seating charts or even a normal grading system in their classroom.

Lessons often end up looking like this one, which, believe it or not, is an introduction to physics.

Nolan Windham and his classmates are playing a video game called Aero, wearing homemade wings which use repurposed controllers from a Nintendo Wii."



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How to feed our planet without devastating the environment | Devex

How to feed our planet without devastating the environment | Devex: "Picture a farmer who tends the land just as his father did, by slashing and burning, clearing the way for the same crops he ate when he was a child to feed his own children. Now imagine an expert in sustainable agriculture entering the community, telling him he should do things differently because, well, it would be better for the environment.

The international community has a major challenge on its hands when it comes to figuring out how to provide 70 percent more food to feed 9 billion people by the year 2050 while still protecting the planet. Rising temperatures are placing new strains on farmers at the same time that a growing population is placing new strains on the land, with climate change leading to food insecurity and environmental damage that will be difficult to reverse.

Solutions at the nexus of food security and the environment are necessary both to feed the hungry and save the earth. Here are some insights to drive the process."



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Who Is Conservation For? - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Who Is Conservation For? - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education:

By Paul Voosen

Once, Gretchen Daily only had eyes for the rain forest.

Eighteen years ago, as a young scientist on the rise, Daily arrived at a renowned research station in the hills of Costa Rica armed with nearly 100 shellacked plywood platforms. As a student at Stanford University, studying under the famed biologist Paul Ehrlich, she had seen how large birds, defying expectations, seemed to thrive on small bits of forest spackled in the area's coffee plantations, when theory predicted their demise. On her return, she planned to spread her feeding platforms in staggered densities to test that observation; local kids promised to monitor the mesitas.

But when the morning came, so did the bees.

Africanized honeybees had swarmed the mesitas. The locals, always supportive of research on their lands, were peeved; every year these killer bees claim a few lives in Costa Rica. No one died, but the experiment was an utter, fast failure. "It was an 'aha!' moment," Daily said later, "but it was, 'Aha, what an idiot I've been.'" She was at a loss. She already had a spot at the station. She couldn't just leave, nor could she learn how to study a different creature before her stint was over. She knew birds, of course, but was never great at sorting species by their song, which ruled out work in the cacophonous forest. On the farms, though, she realized, she could use her eyes and master a smaller list of warbles, tying the birds' incidence to cultivation methods and the forest's verge. It was pure survey work, but it hadn't been done. And so it was that Daily looked outside the forest.

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Vulnerability and Poverty: What does fish have to do with food and nutrition security?

Vulnerability and Poverty: What does fish have to do with food and nutrition security?: "What does fish have to do with food and nutrition security?
The short answer is: a lot. "



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Whole Sky Yoga – YOGA: A WAY OF BEING

Whole Sky Yoga – YOGA: A WAY OF BEING: "“Tonight, I decided my discipline to practice yoga is extremely important for me to overcome ego, fear, anxiety, and to contribute to the universe with loving energy. I want to live as if wide awake, feeling everything including sadness, hurt, grief, with acknowledgement of these feelings while making an effort to understand them constructively in relation to the world around me and myself. I want to let go of pointless worry, fear of negative criticism, and focus on developing myself rather than breaking down. I forgive, forgive, and forgive some more. Discipline, simplicity, and correct intentions are my present focus.”"



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IRIN Africa | Fury over Senegal’s private land buyers | Senegal | Economy | Food Security | Human Rights

IRIN Africa | Fury over Senegal’s private land buyers | Senegal | Economy | Food Security | Human Rights: "A liberal land regime in Senegal over the decade has favoured large-scale acquisitions of arable land by both foreign and local investors. Dramatic changes in ownership have coincided with serious food shortages in the sub-region, a global financial crisis and a growing emphasis on the promotion of bio-fuel, with Senegal heavily promoting the planting of the controversial Jatropha tree, the seeds of which are used for the production of fuel for diesel engines."



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That’s not autism: It’s simply a brainy, introverted boy - Salon.com

That’s not autism: It’s simply a brainy, introverted boy - Salon.com: "His story is a prime example of the type of brainy, mentally gifted, single-minded, willful boys who often are falsely diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder when they are assessed as young children. This unfortunate occurrence is partly due to defining autism as a “spectrum disorder,” incorporating mild and severe cases of problematic social communication and interaction, as well as restricted interests and behavior. In its milder form, especially among preschool- and kindergarten-age boys, it is tough to distinguish between early signs of autism spectrum disorder and indications that we have on our hands a young boy who is a budding intellectual, is more interested in studying objects than hanging out with friends, overvalues logic, is socially awkward unless interacting with others who share identical interests or is in a leadership role, learns best when obsessed with a topic, and is overly businesslike and serious in how he socializes. The picture gets even more complicated during the toddler years, when normal, crude assertions of willfulness, tantrums, and lapses in verbal mastery when highly emotional are in full swing. As we shall see, boys like William, who embody a combination of emerging masculine braininess and a difficult toddlerhood, can be fair game for a mild diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, when it does not apply."



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My own rape shows how much we get wrong about these attacks - The Washington Post

My own rape shows how much we get wrong about these attacks - The Washington Post: "My own rape shows how much we get wrong about these attacks"



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BBC News - India's long, dark and dangerous walk to the toilet

BBC News - India's long, dark and dangerous walk to the toilet: "The danger faced by women going to the toilet outdoors in rural India was made clear last month when two girls were ambushed, gang-raped and hanged from a tree. But defecation outside is normal for most Indian villagers - so how do they manage?

Less than 50 miles from India's capital Delhi, in a village called Kurmaali the women walk out to the fields twice a day - at the crack of dawn and the onset of dusk.

The fields are the only toilet most of them have ever known. Only 30 of the 300 homes in the village have their own private facilities, and none have drainage."



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