Boyan Slat's 'Mega Expedition' Shows 'Our Oceans Are Riddled With Plastic'
A few years ago, when then-17-year-old Boyan Slat claimed he could rid the world's oceans of plastic, many thought it was just a nice idea. But flash forward four years and what appeared to be merely youthful idealism has turned into concrete action. Yesterday, Slat's nonprofit The Ocean Cleanup returned from a 30-day voyage through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Congratulations @BoyanSlat on arriving with the great expedition in San Francisco! Thank you for cleaning our oceans. pic.twitter.com/sQIxqJir8o
— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) August 23, 2015
The team was on a reconnaissance mission to determine just how much plastic is floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, "a swirling mass of human-linked debris spanning hundreds of miles of open sea where plastic outnumbers organisms by factors in the hundreds."
Researchers sample enormous #oceanic trash vortex ahead of clean-up proposal http://t.co/1ihz4QW5C7 #ZippedNews http://t.co/4W12Dzcv0f
— News in Summary (@news_in_summary) August 24, 2015
The researchers collected samples ranging from microscopic to as large as a 2,000-pound fishing net in what the group claims is "the largest ocean research expedition in history." Using a series of measurement techniques, including trawls and aerial surveys, the fleet of close to 30 vessels sampled the concentration of plastic—all in preparation for the largest clean up of the area set to begin in 2020.
The team's findings confirm the well-documented fact that our oceans are riddled with plastic.
“I’ve studied plastic in all the world’s oceans, but never seen any area as polluted as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” Dr. Julia Reisser, lead oceanographer at The Ocean Cleanup, said.
“With every trawl we completed, thousands of miles from land, we just found lots and lots of plastic.” In so-called "hot spots" of the garbage patch, "there were hundreds of times more plastics ... than there were organisms," Reisser told Reuters.
Although the samples collected during the expedition still have to be analyzed, preliminary findings indicate a higher-than-expected volume of large plastic objects floating in the ocean.
Filling container number 2 with ocean trash right now pic.twitter.com/D24sICEtPv — Boyan Slat (@BoyanSlat) August 23, 2015
We caught this monster ghost net in one of our trawls earlier this week #MegaExpedition pic.twitter.com/FwRDBi6UPc
— The Ocean Cleanup (@TheOceanCleanup) August 13, 2015
“The vast majority of the plastic in the garbage patch is currently locked up in large pieces of debris, but UV light is breaking it down into much more dangerous microplastics, vastly increasing the amount of microplastics over the next few decades if we don’t clean it up," says Slat. "It really is a ticking time bomb.”
The next phase begins in 2016 when the team will test out a one-mile barrier of its ocean-cleaning system near Japan. The system will contain "floating stationary booms tethered to the ocean floor and linked in a V shape intended to skim and concentrate surface plastics floating on top of ocean currents," according to Reuters. Ultimately, Slat's goal is to develop a 60-mile barrier in the middle of the Pacific.
Using a series of measurement techniques, including trawls and aerial surveys, the fleet of close to 30 vessels sampled the concentration of plastic during its month-long voyage through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Photo credit: The Ocean Cleanup
Some have criticized the effort as being too costly and ineffective, but one of the project's financial backers, Salesforce chairman, CEO and founder Marc Benioff had this to say: "Protecting the oceans should be a priority for all of Earth's citizens. The Ocean Cleanup is taking an innovative approach to preserving one of our most critical resources and raising visibility of this global challenge."
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The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' "Doomsday Clock" — an estimate of how close humanity is to the apocalypse — remains at 100 seconds to zero for 2021. Eva Hambach / AFP / Getty Images
By Brett Wilkins
One hundred seconds to midnight. That's how close humanity is to the apocalypse, and it's as close as the world has ever been, according to Wednesday's annual announcement from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a group that has been running its "Doomsday Clock" since the early years of the nuclear age in 1947.
<p>Although the scientists cite the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed 1.7 million people around the world and has "revealed just how unprepared and unwilling countries and the international system are to handle global emergencies properly," they acknowledge that the coronavirus does not pose an existential threat to Homo sapiens.</p><p>However, nuclear weapons and, increasingly, catastrophic global heating caused and exacerbated by human activity — the climate crisis — do. </p>
<div id="50af6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a4e6bd206bb6b37ab15f6f67cf4adfa0"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1354453612076822536" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Nuclear risk is rising as arms control treaties wither and die. Here’s the world of nuclear arms, in one graphic. V… https://t.co/5OE4L5LRps</div> — Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (@Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)<a href="https://twitter.com/BulletinAtomic/statuses/1354453612076822536">1611761880.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"Accelerating nuclear programs in multiple countries moved the world into less stable and manageable territory last year," the scientists say. "Development of hypersonic glide vehicles, ballistic missile defenses, and weapons-delivery systems that can flexibly use conventional or nuclear warheads may raise the probability of miscalculation in times of tension."</p><p>"Events like the <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/01/06/really-terrifying-stuff-us-senate-lockdown-after-pro-trump-supporters-storm-us" target="_blank">deadly assault</a> earlier this month on the U.S. Capitol renewed legitimate concerns about national leaders who have sole control of the use of nuclear weapons," they say. "Nuclear nations, however, have ignored or undermined practical and available diplomatic and security tools for managing nuclear risks."</p><p>"By our estimation, the potential for the world to stumble into nuclear war — an ever-present danger over the last 75 years — increased in 2020," they conclude. </p>
<div id="d24e5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4f3d50928c1a6d2bfe2328ef53d918e4"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1354461702360805376" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🚨The @BulletinAtomic just updated the Doomsday Clock, and we are PERILOUSLY close to midnight.
May this be a wake… https://t.co/txNJPZPBWE</div> — CODEPINK (@CODEPINK)<a href="https://twitter.com/codepink/statuses/1354461702360805376">1611763809.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Thirty years ago, by contrast, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the Doomsday Clock to<a href="https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/past-statements/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> 17 minutes to midnight</a> as the Soviet Union collapsed and the threat of thermonuclear annihilation ebbed to its lowest level since before the United States invented the atomic bomb and waged the only nuclear war in history against Japan in 1945. That was the year that Albert Einstein — who helped develop the first nuclear weapons—and other researchers formed the Bulletin.</p><p>Once again this year, the scientists stress that governments have also "failed to sufficiently address climate change," and although "a pandemic-related economic slowdown temporarily reduced the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming," much more needs to be done to rein in planetary warming. </p><p>"Over the coming decade fossil fuel use needs to decline precipitously if the worst effects of climate change are to be avoided," they state. "Instead, fossil fuel development and production are projected to increase. Atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations hit a record high in 2020, one of the two warmest years on record."</p><p>"The <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/09/10/stark-new-visualizations-show-how-climate-change-fueling-worsening-western-wildfires" target="_blank">massive wildfires</a> and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/16/unreal-heartbreaking-experts-highlight-climate-crisis-connection-category-5" target="_blank">catastrophic cyclones</a> of 2020 are illustrations of the major devastation that will only increase if governments do not significantly and quickly amplify their efforts to bring greenhouse gas emissions essentially to zero," they warn.</p>
<div id="22824" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f3a1bd8137b473f26c85df2a7b4e29a7"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1354457512058228741" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Governments around the world failed to take sufficient action to address the carbon dioxide emissions that cause cl… https://t.co/Xv6AkEYf7D</div> — Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (@Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)<a href="https://twitter.com/BulletinAtomic/statuses/1354457512058228741">1611762810.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Another warning came in the form of the scientists' condemnation of what they call the "threat multiplier" of "false and misleading information," both online and in more traditional media.</p><p>"This wanton disregard for science and the large-scale embrace of conspiratorial nonsense — often <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/12/10/trump-inciting-domestic-terrorism" target="_blank">driven</a> by political figures and partisan media — undermined the ability of responsible national and global leaders to protect the security of their citizens," the scientists posit. "<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/11/no-evidence-support-trumps-election-fraud-claims-new-york-times-finds" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">False conspiracy theories</a> about a 'stolen' presidential election led to rioting that resulted in the death of five people and the first hostile occupation of the U.S. Capitol since 1814."</p><p>"In 2020, online lying literally killed," they write. </p>
<div id="a79f2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a19ff41c054d5b79aba92b60e288a764"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1354461561138651137" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The COVID-19 pandemic has spawned what the @WHO has called an “infodemic” of mis- & disinformation. Here, the desig… https://t.co/RAFb6SDTTF</div> — Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (@Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)<a href="https://twitter.com/BulletinAtomic/statuses/1354461561138651137">1611763775.0</a></blockquote></div><p>However, this year's report is not all gloom and doom. </p><p>"The election of a U.S. president who acknowledges climate change as a profound threat and supports international cooperation and science-based policy puts the world on a better footing to address global problems," the scientists assert. "For example, the United States has already <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/20/paris-climate-agreement/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced</a> it is rejoining the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Biden administration has <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/01/21/hugely-consequential-first-move-biden-offers-extend-nuclear-start-treaty-russia" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">offered</a> to extend the New START arms control agreement with Russia for five years."</p><p>"In the context of a post-pandemic return to relative stability, more such demonstrations of renewed interest in and respect for science and multilateral cooperation could create the basis for a safer and saner world," they write.</p><p>"We continue to believe that human beings can manage the dangers posed by modern technology, even in times of crisis," the researchers conclude. "But if humanity is to avoid an existential catastrophe — one that would dwarf anything it has yet seen — national leaders must do a far better job of countering disinformation, heeding science, and cooperating to diminish global risks."</p><p>Ultimately, the scientists say, it's up to "citizens around the world" to "organize and demand — through public protests, at ballot boxes, and in other creative ways — that their governments reorder their priorities and cooperate domestically and internationally to reduce the risk of nuclear war, climate change, and other global disasters, including pandemic disease."</p><p><span></span><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/01/27/100-seconds-midnight-doomsday-clock-reveals-humanity-closer-ever-apocalypse" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>. </em></p>
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The 13th North Atlantic right whale calf with their mother off Wassaw Island, Georgia on Jan. 19, 2010. @GeorgiaWild, under NOAA permit #20556
North Atlantic right whales are in serious trouble, but there is hope. A total of 14 new calves of the extremely endangered species have been spotted this winter between Florida and North Carolina.
<p>The 14th and latest calf of the season was spotted Thursday off of Florida's Amelia Island, <a href="https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2021/01/22/welcoming-no-14-another-right-whale-calf-sighted-this-season/" target="_blank">News4JAX reported</a>.</p><p>"What a way to start the weekend - a new right whale!" the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Southeast announced on <a href="https://twitter.com/NOAAFish_SERO/status/1352619914146807809" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</p>
<div id="9c57f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="060d50122a2b9c0df8561b1b31b1ed2a"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1352619914146807809" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">What a way to start the weekend - a new right whale! Known mom "Champagne" and her calf were sighted off Amelia Isl… https://t.co/xNSbur6V3k</div> — NOAA Fish Southeast (@NOAA Fish Southeast)<a href="https://twitter.com/NOAAFish_SERO/statuses/1352619914146807809">1611324692.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Calf number 14 was born to a 12-year-old <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/whale" target="_self">whale</a> named Champagne and is her first known calf, the agency said.</p><p>The news came just two days after the 13th calf of the season was spotted off of Wassaw Island, Georgia, News4JAX reported. This baby was also born to a first-time mom who was 14 years old.</p>
<div id="8e78f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="16ed99074326abb76728f8aa46b8d501"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1352052054479482884" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">13 is lucky today! We have a new right whale calf - our 13th for the season! Mom and calf were sighted off Wassaw I… https://t.co/VjNacz4sxD</div> — NOAA Fish Southeast (@NOAA Fish Southeast)<a href="https://twitter.com/NOAAFish_SERO/statuses/1352052054479482884">1611189304.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>All of this is good news for the species, which ended 2020 on a low note. A NOAA <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-right-whale-population-2648532928.html" target="_self">report found</a> that there were no more than 366 of the animals left alive. Then, the first known calf of the season <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/north-atlantic-right-whale-calf-dead-2649042642.html" target="_self">washed up dead</a> off the North Carolina coast in November.</p><p>However, things have begun to turn around. The species has so far had its best calving season in years, <a href="https://defenders.org/newsroom/thirteenth-critically-endangered-right-whale-calf-of-season-spotted-near-georgia" target="_blank">Defenders of Wildlife noted</a> in a statement. Only 22 calves were reported between all of 2017 to 2020. The number of new calves this season is now more than half that total, and there are two months left during which scientists expect more babies will be born.</p>
<p>Despite the baby boom, conservationists noted that the species is not out of the woods. The whales have been undergoing an Unusual Mortality Event since 2017, with 32 whales dying in Canadian and U.S. waters and 14 sustaining non-survivable injuries. The leading causes of these casualties were vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing lines. In January, a right whale was seen entangled in fishing gear off the Georgia coast.</p><p>"While these births are an encouraging sign, the continued threats underscore that we still have to redouble our efforts to protect these vulnerable babies and their mothers," Defenders of Wildlife senior attorney <a href="https://defenders.org/people/jane-p-davenport" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jane Davenport</a> said in the statement.</p><p>The same week as the 13th and 14th births were announced, NOAA released a <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/endangered-species-conservation/reducing-vessel-strikes-north-atlantic-right-whales" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">report</a> finding that vessels were ignoring both suggestions and requirements to slow down in areas where right whales might be present. This has prompted conservation groups to call for more protections.</p>
<p>"NOAA agrees that more needs to be done to protect North Atlantic right whales from vessel strikes," Oceana campaign director Whitney Webber said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch. "Now it's time for the federal government to act. Voluntary speed restriction zones must be made mandatory, and the current mandatory speed restriction zones must be expanded and enforced. Oceana calls on NOAA to update the shipping regulations to protect these rare whales before it's too late."</p><p>Defenders of Wildlife also acted by joining with other conservation groups Jan. 13 to <a href="https://defenders.org/sites/default/files/2021-01/1_Complaint%201%2013%2021.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sue</a> NOAA over its failure to expand slow-down zones for the whales.</p><p>"Right whales face a daily gauntlet of fishing ropes and speeding vessels, which together have caused the deaths of more than 200 right whales in the last decade alone," Davenport said in the Defenders of Wildlife statement. "We're killing right whales far faster than they can reproduce. Unless we move quickly to abate these threats, we're running out of time to save the species from extinction."</p>
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There are new lifestyle "medicines" that are free that doctors could be prescribing for all their patients. Marko Geber / Getty Images
By Yoram Vodovotz and Michael Parkinson
The majority of Americans are stressed, sleep-deprived and overweight and suffer from largely preventable lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes. Being overweight or obese contributes to the 50% of adults who suffer high blood pressure, 10% with diabetes and additional 35% with pre-diabetes. And the costs are unaffordable and growing. About 90% of the nearly $4 trillion Americans spend annually for health care in the U.S. is for chronic diseases and mental health conditions. But there are new lifestyle "medicines" that are free that doctors could be prescribing for all their patients.
<p><a href="https://www.lifestylemedicine.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lifestyle medicine</a> is the clinical application of healthy behaviors to prevent, treat and reverse disease. More than ever, <a href="https://adventisthealthstudy.org/?rsource=publichealth.llu.edu/adventist-health-studies" target="_blank">research</a> <a href="https://www.nurseshealthstudy.org/" target="_blank">underscores</a> <a href="https://sites.sph.harvard.edu/hpfs/" target="_blank">that</a> <a href="http://www.commissiononhealth.org/Home.aspx" target="_blank">the "pills"</a> today's physician should be prescribing for patients are the six domains of lifestyle medicine: whole food plant-based eating, regular physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, addiction reduction or elimination, and positive psychology and social connection.</p><p>We are a primary care <a href="https://www.workpartnersblog.com/workpartners-thought-leaders-to-present-at-2019-health-benefits-conference-expo/" target="_blank">preventive medicine physician</a> and a <a href="https://mirm-pitt.net/our-people/faculty-staff-bios/yoram-vodovotz-phd/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">computational immunologist</a>, both committed to applying state-of-the-art research to <a href="https://www.ardmoreinstituteofhealth.org/lmrsummit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">inform the clinical practice of lifestyle medicine</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2020.585744" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Our findings and recommendations</a> were just published. We highlight the key take-home points for each of the areas below.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTU0MTcxNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNjU1OTYyMn0.vx49NmD7LdCrMdp7X5fspiRcqGsz0eb4sbub_5noFrI/img.jpg?width=980" id="e93c6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8ffb03955ed95a9c49ad34848dd8677b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="946" />
Use the Healthy Eating Plate as an evidence-based guide for creating healthy, balanced meals. ©2011, Harvard University, CC BY-NC
<h2>Whole-Food, Plant-Based Eating</h2><p>Diets high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains and lower in animal products and highly processed foods have <a href="https://eatforum.org/content/uploads/2019/01/EAT-Lancet_Commission_Summary_Report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">been associated</a> <a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/jama.288.20.2569" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">with prevention</a> of many diseases. These diets have also <a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/jama.288.20.2569" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">improved health</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.7812/TPP/17-025" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">and even reversed</a> common <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/costs/index.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cardiovascular, metabolic, brain, hormonal, kidney and autoimmune diseases as well as 35% of all cancers</a>.</p><p>We believe that future research should include larger trials or new research methods with <a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.2790" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">emphasis on quality of diet</a>. This would include more data on the micronutrient composition and protein sources of plant versus animal-based foods – not just proportion of fat, carbohydrates and protein. Such trials should include children, as many adult disorders are seeded as early as infancy or in utero.</p><h2>Regular Physical Activity</h2><p><a href="https://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/prevguid/m0042984/m0042984.asp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">For decades, surgeon generals' guidelines</a> have emphasized that daily moderate-to-vigorous aerobic physical activity has both immediate and long-term health benefits. For example, why we age and the rate at which we age – chronological age versus biological age – is determined by multiple molecular processes that are directly influenced by physical activity. And now scientists are gaining a better understanding of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2015.05.011" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cellular and molecular changes that exercise</a> induces to reduce disease risk.</p><p>Research priorities for scientists and physicians include obtaining a deeper understanding of the type, intensity and frequency of activity, and better insights into the molecular and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pmbts.2015.07.005" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cellular alterations</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.irn.2019.06.002" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">that occur with exercise</a>.</p>
<h2>Restorative Sleep</h2><p>Sleep helps the cells, organs and entire body to function better. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/how_much_sleep.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Regular uninterrupted sleep</a> of seven hours per night for adults, eight to 10 hours for teenagers and 10 or more for children is necessary for <a href="https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.3298" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">good health</a>.</p><p>Though understudied, there is evidence that high-quality sleep can reduce <a href="https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.3298" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">inflammation, immune dysfunction, oxidative stress, and epigenetic modification</a> of DNA, all of which are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S1389-9457(08)70013-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">associated with or cause chronic disease</a>.</p><p>Therefore, research into the biological mechanisms that underlie the restorative properties of sleep could lead to environmental or population-based and policy approaches to better align our natural sleep patterns with the demands of daily life.</p><h2>Stress Management</h2><p>Though some stress is beneficial, prolonged or extreme stress can overwhelm the brain and body. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2006.00450.x" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chronic stress increases the risk of cardiovascular disease</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cns.12490" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">irritable bowel disease</a>, <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tem.2016.04.007" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">obesity</a>, depression, asthma, arthritis, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, neurological disorders and obesity.</p><p>One of the most powerful mechanisms to reduce stress and enhance resilience is by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1917461" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">eliciting a relaxation response</a> using mind-body therapies and cognitive behavioral therapy.</p><p>More research is need to gain a better understanding of how these therapies work.</p>
<h2>Addiction Reduction and Elimination</h2><p>Many social, economic and environmental factors have fueled the national rise in substance abuse generally and, most tragically, the opioid epidemic.</p><p>Physicians and researchers are beginning to understand the underlying physiology and psychology of addiction.</p><p>Yet the <a href="https://doi.org/10.17226/25310" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">continued stigma and disjointed or absent access</a> to services remains a challenge. Clinicians and scientists need to explore how to predict who is more vulnerable to addiction and find ways of preventing it. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00952990.2018.1546862" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Treatment that incorporates integrated care</a> focused on all the patient's needs should be prioritized.</p><h2>Positive Psychology and Social Connection</h2><p>Maintaining a positive mindset through the practice of gratitude and forgiveness has a significant impact on psychological and subjective well-being, which are, in turn, associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-019-00082-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">physical health benefits</a>.</p><p>Social connectivity, namely the quantity and quality of our relationships, has perhaps <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674503816" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the most powerful health benefits</a>.</p><p>Conversely, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.119.3.488" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">social isolation</a> – such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303431" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">living alone, having a small social network</a>, participating in few social activities, and feeling lonely – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1212/01.WNL.0000147473.04043.B3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">is associated with greater mortality</a>, increased morbidity, lower immune system function, depression and cognitive decline.</p><p>Further study is needed to uncover how an individual's biology and chemistry change for the better through more social interactions.</p>
<h2>Inflammation's Role in Lifestyle-Related Diseases</h2><p>Unhealthy lifestyle behaviors produce a vicious cycle of inflammation. While inflammation is a healthy, natural way the body fights infections, injury, and stress, too much inflammation actually promotes or exacerbates the diseases described above.</p><p>The inflammatory response is complex. We have been using machine learning and computer modeling to <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030565091" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">understand, predict, treat and reprogram inflammation</a> – to retain the healing elements while minimizing the detrimental more chronic ones. Scientists are unraveling new mechanisms that explain how chronic stress can turn genes on and off.</p><h2>Overcoming Challenges and Barriers</h2><p>We and others who study lifestyle medicine are now discussing how we can leverage all of these approaches to improve <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/files/Articles/585744/fmed-07-585744-HTML/image_m/fmed-07-585744-g001.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">clinical studies on the impacts</a> of lifestyle interventions.</p><p>At the same time we and our colleagues realize that there are environmental challenges and barriers that prevent many people from embracing these lifestyle fixes.</p><p>There are food deserts where healthier foods are not available or affordable. Unsafe neighborhoods, harmful chemicals and substances create constant stress. Poor education, poverty, cultural beliefs and racial and ethnic disparities and discrimination must be addressed for all people and patients to appreciate and embrace the six "pills."</p><p>The application of lifestyle medicines is particularly important now because unhealthy lifestyles have caused a pandemic of preventable chronic diseases that is now exacerbating the COVID-19 pandemic, which disproportionately <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1559827620950276" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">afflicts those with these conditions</a>.</p><p>Ask your doctor to <a href="https://www.guidetogoodhealth.com/Articles/LifestyleMedicine.asp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">"prescribe" these six "pills"</a> for a longer and better life. After all, they're free, work better than or as well as medications and have no side effects!</p>
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<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/yoram-vodovotz-1193610" target="_blank">Yoram Vodovotz</a> is a </em><em>Professor of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh.<br/>
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<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-parkinson-1193974" target="_blank">Michael Parkinson</a> is a </em><em>Senior Medical Director of Health and Productivity, UPMC Health Plan & Workpartners, University of Pittsburgh.<br/>
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<em>Disclosure statement: </em><em>Yoram Vodovotz is a co-founder of, and stakeholder in Immunetrics, Inc. </em><em>Michael Parkinson, MD, MPH is founder of P3 Health (Prevention, Performance & Productivity).</em>
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<em></em><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/they-dont-come-as-pills-but-try-these-6-underprescribed-lifestyle-medicines-for-a-better-longer-life-152791" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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Candles spell out, "Fight for 1 point 5" in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany on Dec. 11, 2020, in reference to 1.5°C of Earth's warming. The event was organized by the Fridays for Future climate movement. Sean Gallup / Getty Images
Taking an unconventional approach to conduct the largest-ever poll on climate change, the United Nations' Development Program and the University of Oxford surveyed 1.2 million people across 50 countries from October to December of 2020 through ads distributed in mobile gaming apps.
<p>The survey found that 64 percent of people think climate change is a global emergency and only 10 percent think world leaders are doing enough to address it. The number of people who considered climate change an emergency was even higher – 69 percent – among those ages 14 to 18.</p>
<p>The survey also asked respondents to rank 18 specific policies to address climate change, and found that the most popular policies were restoring <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/forests">forests</a>, using <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a>, and using climate-friendly farming techniques. "There is a groundswell of people that are saying even during a pandemic that climate change is an emergency and here's how we want to solve it," Cassie Flynn, UNDP's strategic adviser on climate change and head of its Climate Promise initiative, told Al Jazeera.</p>
<p>As reported by <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/un-global-climate-poll-emergency-b1793331.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108324171&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9x2ijtybjo01Uk9iTfp3eNe6jazgollKX8XbI3eMA2rm_aZc8sKULEaVp-EqpyVVFEm50lR9S0Ba4jZivLcR27YY_eMg&utm_content=108324171&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">The Independent</a>:</p><blockquote>More than 30 million invites to the survey were issued to people when they played a popular mobile game – such as Words With Friends, Angry Birds, Dragon City or Subway Surfers.</blockquote><blockquote>The findings were weighted by polling experts at Oxford University to be as representative as possible for each country.</blockquote><blockquote>Cassie Flynn, the UNDP's strategic adviser on climate change, told <em>The Guardian</em>: "The voice of the people is clear – they want action on climate change.</blockquote><blockquote>"If 64 per cent of the world's people are believing in a climate emergency then it helps governments to respond to the climate crisis as an emergency.</blockquote><blockquote>"The key message is that, as governments are making these high-stakes decisions, the people are with them."</blockquote>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong><br/></p><p><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/1/27/64-of-people-surveyed-say-climate-change-calls-for-urgent-action?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108324171&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9YVrdbTrMv3vblDrs20eAJB379K0-v_pYc8RFC8_n02dH1g5zO9RqBWTvJucBfKHGuYDaZkoWkpgqI5ePvsFgeF5edQA&utm_content=108324171&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Al Jazeera</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-27/teenagers-in-top-emitting-nations-believe-climate-change-is-a-global-threat?utm" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/27/un-global-climate-poll-peoples-voice-is-clear-they-want-action?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108324171&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_TWnOIOpArVTX5eXJ-JYp21d2coAf04ZrHN_cVNV0rep9ARDYp6JmcKmG8c9YpJBIxupYqMpmTvCeXEc3rUhxYPnoD5g&utm_content=108324171&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-un/greta-thunbergs-generation-most-likely-to-believe-climate-change-is-a-crisis-poll-idUSKBN29W0EG?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108324171&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_BIEa1d6a4tl5dHib409_7p_G4tPhGeHoARqer5GlCTbW8fvoRPCCwM6rIXYEKKlTSKiSGPzBM-gYSxNpsvq7MFHqP1g&utm_content=108324171&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Reuters</a>, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/public-backs-climate-change-action-across-globe-massive-u-n-n1255811?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108324171&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8EvoO9ZuvBAYhoGY_ce6TuShnzmxqhM2nn1MlbhoEyY9R3oyh0B4F4uNasQ2SPdCn0YVjsB-4UuN8Zp-jkZp1x3CRXFQ&utm_content=108324171&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">NBC</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-55802902?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108324171&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9uuWZWs35P6pWmDxGtjiSR83nWSLvnnPMAVkwhwMnARJw3jtEfCBva1v5Zr-EqEPHIBIsMDSFP832oSRTKzd2pHV79-A&utm_content=108324171&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">BBC</a>, <a href="https://www.axios.com/climate-change-un-poll-backs-global-emergency-f442a7e8-77e3-4726-901b-bb6681e46a8f.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108324171&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_g6juwf0dzyFCEJ1SGZRvuLZkyyM2EXlijr5Ln_M7xWbqy4tkyJFfKS_3hAFzbDJqgAb4h101Ups4_3QQk28PPJYF3QA&utm_content=108324171&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Axios</a>, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/un-global-climate-poll-emergency-b1793331.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108324171&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9x2ijtybjo01Uk9iTfp3eNe6jazgollKX8XbI3eMA2rm_aZc8sKULEaVp-EqpyVVFEm50lR9S0Ba4jZivLcR27YY_eMg&utm_content=108324171&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">The Independent</a>, <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2265764-climate-change-seen-as-global-emergency-by-64-per-cent-of-people/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108324171&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8AVP2cuXnj7SlmEyZeyeGuMVfPE9y9rqP0oYBrYi0KFNJ8yd1NcFO2m5XRzm2y9Zn5x5-ZkI_DixunLtU2PdJk5xjKWw&utm_content=108324171&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">New Scientist</a>, <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/climate-change-is-an-emergency-majority-says-in-unique-gaming-app-survey-sent-to-1-2-million-people-in-17-languages-11611745558?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=108324171&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_p3MChLXRxhQjWjRt1d-iR8WygJGiueaP21XKyb_VQkjzSunZjVdh6-KLCJhCE0myfwkrrLBV8hyaXkTIXEq8CJKe2xQ&utm_content=108324171&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">MarketWatch</a><br/></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, sign up for daily </em><a href="https://www.linktrack.live/hot-news-sign-up" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>, and visit their news site, </em><a href="https://nexusmedianews.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Nexus Media News</em></a><em>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
- Guardian/Vice Poll Finds Most 2020 Voters Favor Climate Action ... ›
- Climate Change Seen as Top Threat in Global Survey - EcoWatch ›
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A monarch butterfly is perched next to an adult caterpillar on a milkweed plant, the only plant the monarch will lay eggs on and the caterpillar will eat. Cathy Keifer / Getty Images
By Tara Lohan
Fall used to be the time when millions of monarch butterflies in North America would journey upwards of 2,000 miles to warmer winter habitat.
<p>But these days the iconic butterfly's numbers are dwindling. The western migratory population is down 97% since the 1980s — a survey this month found <a href="https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/the-monarch-butterfly-population-is-in-danger-of-disappearing/5748017.html" target="_blank">fewer than 2,000</a> — and the eastern population has slipped 80% in just the past 15 years.</p><p>Because of these grim numbers the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-climate-change-wildlife-gardening-traverse-city-acf918688a623a77931a160e268dbc18" target="_blank">U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ruled</a> in December that monarchs deserved protection under the Endangered Species Act, but it would still be several years before the butterflies were listed as threatened or endangered.</p><p>It's time the species may not have.</p><p>Halting the precipitous decline of North American monarch populations hinges, in large part, on milkweed. It's the sole plant the caterpillars eat and where monarchs lay their eggs. It's also quickly disappearing with increasing urbanization and pesticide use.</p><p>Since monarchs can't survive without milkweed, conservation efforts have focused on planting more milkweed. But it's not as simple as it sounds.</p>
<p>"We've learned a good bit in the past two or three years about how to create these types of habitats, but there's not a whole lot of <em>evidence</em> guiding the way we create the plantings," says Adam Dale, an assistant professor in entomology at the University of Florida. "For example, the diversity of plants in a garden, the specific plants that are used and their arrangement — all of those things matter for how the butterflies are able to locate the hosts and move from one to the next."</p><p>In a <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/11/9/648" target="_blank">new study</a> published in the journal <em>Insects,</em> Dale and his colleagues tried to identify whether more diversity of wildflowers in milkweed gardens would be a boon for the beleaguered butterflies or whether plots should contain only milkweed plants.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTU0MTU4NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMDYxMzg1Mn0.zEZfV2vaa9u8XW3icHcnbjs6cCW40P1vINhjXM_X5_I/img.jpg?width=980" id="5e49b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2ed856e3471e09fd659b9f3d20b2be85" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="799" data-height="533" />
A monarch butterfly caterpillar feeds on common milkweed on Poplar Island in Maryland. Photo: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, (CC BY-NC 2.0)
<p>Biological diversity in ecosystems is usually a good thing, but a large body of research has shown that more diverse habitat may not be good for species like monarchs that are so specialized in what they eat.</p><p>"There's a potential for actually reducing monarch success by increasing the diversity of plants," in these conservation gardens, says Dale.</p><p>One reason is that a more varied garden can make it harder for the insects to find their host plants if they're obscured visually or chemically. A <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2019.00474/full" target="_blank">recent study</a> from researchers at the University of Kentucky found that monarchs did better when milkweed was planted on the perimeter of gardens.</p><p>Another reason has to do with the "enemies hypothesis," where greater plant diversity means more natural enemies for specialist herbivores like monarchs. Increase the plant diversity and increase the chance of larvae being eaten.</p><p>That's why, Dale says, they were surprised by some of their findings.</p>
<p>In the study, areas where they planted a mix of native swamp milkweed and other wildflowers saw an increase in monarch eggs compared to areas planted with just milkweed. And even though there was an increase in the number of predatory insects, as suspected, it didn't have an effect on the number of monarch larvae that survived.</p><p>"So what we were concerned about didn't come through," he says.</p><p>While the study was done in Florida, Dale says in general the findings should be applicable to monarch populations in other places.</p><p>"Our main goal is to try to create conservation habitat in urban areas where we're replacing natural habitat with human habitat," he says. "So ultimately we're trying to figure out ways to integrate these types of gardens into our yards and green spaces, and just try to make them as good as they can be."</p><p>With monarchs teetering on the edge of extinction, Dale hopes applying what they've learned from research like this can help make conservation efforts more successful.</p><p>"I hope that people who are interested in conserving monarchs and other insects will see this because I think it provides a little more evidence that helps inform how people create these types of gardens," Dale says. "Whether that's a homeowner, a green-space land manager in an urban area, a golf course superintendent looking to create conservation habitat or anyone who's creating these spaces, I think they could use this to improve the condition of the habitat they're creating."</p>
<a href="https://therevelator.org/author/taralohan/" target="_blank"><em>Tara Lohan </em></a><em>is deputy editor of The Revelator and has worked for more than a decade as a digital editor and environmental journalist focused on the intersections of energy, water and climate. Her work has been published by The Nation, American Prospect, High Country News, Grist, Pacific Standard and others. She is the editor of two books on the global water crisis.<br/><br/></em><em>Reposted with permission from T<a href="https://therevelator.org/monarch-milkweed-study/" target="_blank">he Revelator.</a></em>
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