Urban gardens are good for ecosystems and humans

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

 

IMAGE: URBAN GARDENS, LIKE THIS ONE IN CALIFORNIA, HAVE BEEN FOUND TO BENEFIT LOCAL ECOSYSTEMS AS WELL AS HUMANS. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Traditionally, it has been assumed that cultivating food leads to a loss of biodiversity and negative impacts on an ecosystem. A new study from researchers at multiple universities, including The University of Texas at Austin, defies this assumption, showing that community gardens and urban farms positively affect biodiversity, local ecosystems and the well-being of humans that work in them.

The study, published in Ecology Letters, looked at 28 urban community gardens across California over five years and quantified biodiversity in plant and animal life, as well as ecosystem functions such as pollination, carbon sequestration, food production, pest control and human well-being.

“We wanted to determine if there were any tradeoffs in terms of biodiversity or impacts on ecosystem function,” said Shalene Jha, an associate professor of integrative biology who was lead author on the paper. “What we found is that these gardens, which are providing tremendous nutritional resources and increasing well-being for gardeners, are also supporting incredibly high levels of plant and animal biodiversity. It’s a win-win.”

Previous assumptions by scientists about the negative effect of food production on biodiversity have been almost entirely based on intensive rural agriculture enterprises that tend to grow only one or two types of crops, often at a massive scale. Urban community gardens, private gardens, and urban farms and orchards tend to grow more types of plants in smaller areas. This new study is the first to explore the effects of urban gardens across a wide range of biodiversity measures and ecological services.

“It’s estimated that by 2030, about 60% of the world’s population will live in cities,” Jha said. “And urban farms and gardens currently provide about 15%-20% of our food supply, so they are essential in addressing food inequality challenges. What we’re seeing is that urban gardens present a critical opportunity to both support biodiversity and local food production.”

The study also found that the choices that gardeners make can have a large impact on their local ecosystem. For instance, planting trees outside crop beds could increase carbon sequestration without limiting pollinators or decreasing food production from too much shade. And mulching only within crop beds could help improve soil carbon services, while avoiding negative effects on pest control and pollinators.

The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the National Science Foundation, and grants from the University of California. Monika Egerer, Peter Bichier, Hamutahl Cohen, Stacy M. Philpott and Azucena Lucatero of UC Santa Cruz, Heidi Liere of Seattle University and Brenda Lin of CSIRO Land and Water Flagship in Australia were co-authors of the study.

A green sweat bee on a native wildflower.

CREDIT

University of California

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JOURNAL

Ecology Letters

DOI

10.1111/ele.14146 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Multiple ecosystem service synergies and landscape mediation of biodiversity within urban agroecosystems

Fields, Factories And Workshops

by Kropotkin, P.

Publication date 1909

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.37612/mode/2up

Coral reefs in the Eastern Pacific could survive into the 2060s, new study finds

Some reefs increase their resilience to elevated temperatures by being built by corals that shuffle algal partners following ocean heatwaves

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL OF MARINE, ATMOSPHERIC, AND EARTH SCIENCE

 

IMAGE: ANA PALACIO, PH.D., LEAN AUTHOR OF THE STUDY. SURVEYS A CORAL REEF IN THE EASTERN PACIFIC DOMINATED BY POCILLOPORA CORALS. view more 

CREDIT: VIKTOR BRANDTNERIS

Scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science found that some reefs in the tropical Pacific Ocean could maintain high coral cover into the second half of this century by shuffling the symbiotic algae they host. The findings offer a ray of hope in an often-dire picture of the future of coral reefs worldwide.

While global warming is causing the loss of coral reefs globally, scientists believe that some corals are increasing their tolerance to heat by changing the symbiotic algae communities they host, which through photosynthesis provide them with the energy they need to live.

“Our results suggest that some reefs in the eastern tropical Pacific, which includes the Pacific coasts of Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Colombia, might be able to maintain high coral cover through the 2060s,” said coral biologist Ana Palacio-Castro, lead author of the study, alumna of the Rosenstiel School, and a postdoctoral associate at the school’s Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies. “However, while this may be seen as good news for these reefs, their survival may not continue past that date unless we reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and curtail global warming on a larger scale.”

Shallow coral reefs in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean are predominantly built by branching corals in the genus Pocillopora, which are extremely important for the reefs in the region. The microscopic algae they host in their tissue harvest light to help the coral produce energy to grow. The loss of these symbiotic algae causes the coral to turn white, or bleach, and the coral struggles to meet their energy needs, which can often prove fatal. 

To better understand how corals improved their tolerance to heat stress, the researchers examined over 40 years’ worth of coral reef-monitoring data from Panama, one of the longest datasets of its kind in the world. They analyzed temperature, coral cover, bleaching and mortality data spanning three ocean heatwaves – in 1982–1983, 1997–1998, and 2015–2016 – along with data on algal symbiont community data during the last two.

The analysis showed that the 1982-83 heatwave significantly reduced coral cover on the reef, but the effects of the 1997-98 and 2015-16 El Niño were milder, especially for corals in the genus Pocillopora — sometimes known as cauliflower coral — the predominant reef-building coral in the eastern tropical Pacific. They also confirmed that during strong ocean heatwaves, the heat-tolerant alga Durusdinium glynnii becomes increasingly common in this particular lineage of corals, allowing them to better withstand periods of elevated temperatures. When combined with climate projections of future heat stress, the reefs that were predominantly composed of Pocillopora corals and that hosted this heat-tolerant alga were found to be better equipped to survive and maintain high levels of coral cover well into the second half of the current century, indicating that some reef systems may be more resilient to warming than previously thought.

“This study shows that there are some unusual reefs that may be able to survive for several decades as a result of their ability to shuffle symbionts,” said Andrew Baker, professor of marine biology and ecology at the Rosenstiel School, and senior author of the study. “While we don’t think that most reefs will be able to survive in this way, it does suggest that vestiges of our current reefs may persist for longer than we previously thought, although potentially with many fewer species. Coral reefs are incredibly valuable natural assets, providing coastal protection and fisheries benefits, and supporting many local communities. We can still make a difference by protecting them.”

The study, titled “Increased dominance of heat-tolerant symbionts creates resilient coral reefs in near-term ocean warming,” was published on Feb.13, 2023, in the journal PNAS. The study’s authors include: Ana M. Palacio-Castro, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies and NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory; Andrew C. Baker, Grace A. Snyder and Peter W. Glynn, University of Miami Rosenstiel School; Tyler B. Smith and Viktor Brandtneris, Center for Marine and Environmental Studies, University of the Virgin Islands; Ruben van Hooidonk, Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies and NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory; Juan L. Maté, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Derek Manzello, Coral Reef Watch, NOAA and Peggy Fong, University of California Los Angeles.

The study was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) grants (OCE 1447306 and OCE-1358699) and COLCIENCIAS Scholarship for doctoral studies abroad (#529).

 

About the University of Miami

The University of Miami is a private research university and academic health system with a distinct geographic capacity to connect institutions, individuals, and ideas across the hemisphere and around the world. The University’s vibrant and diverse academic community comprises 12 schools and colleges serving more than 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students in more than 180 majors and programs. Located within one of the most dynamic and multicultural cities in the world, the University is building new bridges across geographic, cultural, and intellectual borders, bringing a passion for scholarly excellence, a spirit of innovation, a respect for including and elevating diverse voices, and a commitment to tackling the challenges facing our world. Founded in the 1940’s, the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science is one of the world’s premier marine and atmospheric research institutions. Offering dynamic interdisciplinary academics, the Rosenstiel School is dedicated to helping communities to better understand the planet, participating in the establishment of environmental policies, and aiding in the improvement of society and quality of life. www.earth.miami.edu.

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2202388120 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Increased dominance of heat-tolerant symbionts creates resilient coral reefs in near-term ocean warming,

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

13-Feb-2023

COI STATEMENT

Survivors of Utah’s eugenic sterilization program still alive in 2023

New study reveals scale of coerced sterilization in Utah

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

At least 830 men, women and children were coercively sterilized in Utah, approximately 54 of whom may still be alive. They were victims of a sterilization program that lasted for fifty years in the state and targeted people confined to state institutions. Many were teenagers or younger when operated upon; at least one child was under the age of ten.

“For the first time, we have a sense of the human scale of the eugenic assault here in Utah, as well as the lasting legacy of that assault in the form of survivors still living in 2023,” said James Tabery, a professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Utah and lead author of the paper reporting the results, which appeared today in The Lancet Regional Health - Americas.

Eugenics in America and in Utah

Utah was one of 32 states that passed legislation permitting the sterilization of people on eugenic grounds. The eugenic movement was popular across the United States in the early-20th century. It mixed pseudoscientific ideas about the existence of genes for complex traits like criminality and poverty with racist and ableist biases about what lives were worth living to make judgments about who in society was “fit” and worthy of bearing children and who was “unfit” and unworthy. All told, more than 60,000 people were sterilized across America as part of the effort to mold human populations into the eugenic ideal. 

Utah’s sterilization law was first passed in 1925, authorizing the sterilization of people institutionalized at the Utah State Hospital, Utah State Prison and Utah State Industrial School and deemed to be “habitually sexually criminal, insane, idiotic, imbecile, feeble-minded or epileptic, and by the laws of heredity is the probable parent of socially inadequate off-spring likewise afflicted.” When the Utah State Training School (now Utah State Developmental Center) opened in the early 1930s to care for the “feebleminded,” the law was revised to include patients there too.  

The Victims of Eugenic Sterilization

Tabery and his coauthors – Nicole Novak, assistant professor at the University of Iowa, as well as Lida Sarafraz and Aubrey Mansfield, two graduate students at the University of Utah – provide several examples of the terrible harm done by Utah’s sterilization program. In one case, when a teenage girl, in 1928, told her local religious leader that she’d been repeatedly raped by a family member, the man did not believe her. Instead, she was admitted to the Utah State Hospital, diagnosed as a “moron” and sterilized. After her release, that same man admitted she was probably being sold as a sex worker by another family member. In another case, in the 1970s, a teenage boy at the Utah State Training School learned that he was scheduled for sterilization. His initial reaction was violent objection, motivated by his desire to have children. As time went on, however, he resigned himself to the fact that there was little he could do to prevent the operation.

The paper, “Victims of Eugenic Sterilisation in Utah” documents how those tragic cases evolved over time. When the state-sanctioned sterilizations began in 1925, they occurred almost exclusively at the Utah State Hospital in Provo, UT and more often targeted men than women. When the Utah State Training School opened several years later, the vast majority of the sterilizations shifted to that institution in American Fork, UT, where the program captured a younger population and shifted to sterilizing more females than males. The institutionalized program peaked in Utah in the 1940s and didn’t end until 1974. 

Utah had a particularly aggressive sterilization program. Eugenics leaders, in fact, hailed Utah for sterilizing a far greater proportion of its residents than any other state in 1947 as an “important achievement in public health.”

The “Stubborn Persistence” of Sterilizations in Utah

“One striking feature of Utah’s sterilization program,” according to Tabery, “is just how long it lasted.” Many states ramped down their sterilization programs in the 1940s and 1950s. This was partly in response to the horrific revelations that came at the conclusion of World War II. Nazis in Germany eagerly embraced American eugenics, taking it to its grisly zenith by declaring entire racial and ethnic groups “unfit.” As concentration camps were uncovered across Europe, the shocking culmination of that eugenic vision became plain for all to see. There were also scientific forces working against eugenics. Human geneticists, by the mid-20th century, made it clear that there were no simple genes for criminality or poverty, and so no amount of sterilization would eliminate those problems from society.                              

The Utah legislature worked around those developments by changing the rationale for its sterilization program in 1961. With no biological support for the program, the lawmakers swapped out the genetic justification with a new rationale for sterilization, arguing that institutionalized people could be sterilized if they were deemed “unlikely to be able to perform properly the functions of parenthood.” As one Utah newspaper from the era summarized the legislative shift, “Instead of having to prove a genetic defect, it is now necessary only to show that a person is not and has no chance of becoming a fit parent.” 

Tabery and his co-authors describe the “stubborn persistence” of the sterilization program in Utah as particularly egregious. Intentionally seeking a lower scientific threshold for sterilizations allowed the program to continue well into the 1970s, long after many other states shuttered their eugenic initiatives.

A Nearly Complete Picture of Eugenic Sterilization in Utah

The publication includes demographic information (e.g. sex, race/ethnicity, year of birth) on almost every documented case of eugenic sterilization that took place in Utah. Of all the known cases that occurred, only about two dozen are missing from the data set, providing a nearly complete picture of who the eugenic program targeted over the years. 

This is particularly noteworthy because there was no single eugenics board overseeing the sterilizations in Utah. Instead, they were controlled by administrative staff at the state hospital, state prison and state training school. (The Utah State Industrial School, formerly of Ogden, UT, was authorized to perform sterilizations, but no procedures were recorded there.) 

Data for the study was derived from a deidentified database compiled by staff at the Utah State Developmental Center, as well as a masters thesis written by a University of Utah graduate student from 1932 which reported on cases of eugenic sterilization from that time. The research was funded by grants from the National Human Genome Research Institute at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Neither the Utah state institutions nor the funder played any role in the design or administration of the study. 

Estimating the Number of Survivors Living in 2023

With information about sex, year of birth and age at sterilization, the research team was able to estimate the number of sterilizations survivors still living in 2023: approximately 54 (36 women and 18 men), with an average age of 78. 

Other states, when faced with their own abhorrent history of eugenics, have begun reckoning with that awful past. Governors and legislators have issued official apologies. Historical markers have been installed. Several states have even created compensation programs for the survivors of their programs. Utah, on the other hand, has expressed no such regret, lacking even an official acknowledgement of the history. 

Given the advanced age of potential survivors in Utah, Tabery and his co-authors conclude that “time is running out for a reconciliation that can be experienced by those who were most harmed by the medical practice.”

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JOURNAL

The Lancet Regional Health - Americas

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

15-Feb-2023

Leonardo da Vinci’s forgotten experiments explored gravity as a form of acceleration

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: ENGINEERS AT CALTECH RECREATED THE EXPERIMENT DEPICTED IN LEONARDO DA VINCI'S JOURNAL, SHOWING THAT IF THE MOTION OF A PITCHER POURING OUT WATER OR GRANULAR MATERIAL IS ACCELERATED AT THE SAME RATE THAT GRAVITY ACCELERATES THE FALLING MATERIAL, IT CREATES AN EQUILATERAL TRIANGLE. view more 

CREDIT: CALTECH

Engineers from Caltech have discovered that Leonardo da Vinci’s understanding of gravity—though not wholly accurate—was centuries ahead of his time.

In an article published in the journal Leonardo, the researchers draw upon a fresh look at one of da Vinci’s notebooks to show that the famed polymath had devised experiments to demonstrate that gravity is a form of acceleration—and that he further modeled the gravitational constant to around 97 percent accuracy.

Da Vinci, who lived from 1452 to 1519, was well ahead of the curve in exploring these concepts. It wasn’t until 1604 that Galileo Galilei would theorize that the distance covered by a falling object was proportional to the square of time elapsed and not until the late 17th century that Sir Isaac Newton would expand on that to develop a law of universal gravitation, describing how objects are attracted to one another. Da Vinci’s primary hurdle was being limited by the tools at his disposal. For example, he lacked a means of precisely measuring time as objects fell.

Da Vinci’s experiments were first spotted by Mory Gharib, the Hans W. Liepmann Professor of Aeronautics and Medical Engineering, in the Codex Arundel, a collection of papers written by da Vinci that cover science, art, and personal topics. In early 2017, Gharib was exploring da Vinci’s techniques of flow visualization to discuss with students he was teaching in a graduate course when he noticed a series of sketches showing triangles generated by sand-like particles pouring out from a jar in the newly released Codex Arundel, which can be viewed online courtesy of the British Library. 

“What caught my eye was when he wrote ‘Equatione di Moti’ on the hypotenuse of one of his sketched triangles—the one that was an isosceles right triangle,” says Gharib, lead author of the Leonardo paper. “I became interested to see what Leonardo meant by that phrase.” 

To analyze the notes, Gharib worked with colleagues Chris Roh, at the time a postdoctoral researcher at Caltech and now an assistant professor at Cornell University, as well as Flavio Noca of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland in Geneva. Noca provided translations of da Vinci’s Italian notes (written in his famous left-handed mirror writing that reads from right to left) as the trio pored over the manuscript’s diagrams.

In the papers, da Vinci describes an experiment in which a water pitcher would be moved along a straight path parallel to the ground, dumping out either water or a granular material (most likely sand) along the way. His notes make it clear that he was aware that the water or sand would not fall at a constant velocity but rather would accelerate—also that the material stops accelerating horizontally, as it is no longer influenced by the pitcher, and that its acceleration is purely downward due to gravity.

 

If the pitcher moves at a constant speed, the line created by falling material is vertical, so no triangle forms. If the pitcher accelerates at a constant rate, the line created by the collection of falling material makes a straight but slanted line, which then forms a triangle. And, as da Vinci pointed out in a key diagram, if the pitcher’s motion is accelerated at the same rate that gravity accelerates the falling material, it creates an equilateral triangle—which is what Gharib originally noticed that da Vinci had highlighted with the note “Equatione di Moti,” or “equalization (equivalence) of motions.” 

Da Vinci sought to mathematically describe that acceleration. It is here, according to the study’s authors, that he didn’t quite hit the mark. To explore da Vinci’s process, the team used computer modeling to run his water vase experiment. Doing so yielded da Vinci’s error.

“What we saw is that Leonardo wrestled with this, but he modeled it as the falling object’s distance was proportional to 2 to the t power [with t representing time] instead proportional to t squared,” Roh says. “It’s wrong, but we later found out that he used this sort of wrong equation in the correct way.” In his notes, da Vinci illustrated an object falling for up to four intervals of time—a period through which graphs of both types of equations line up closely.

“We don’t know if da Vinci did further experiments or probed this question more deeply,” Gharib says. “But the fact that he was grappling with this problem in this way—in the early 1500s—demonstrates just how far ahead his thinking was.”

The paper is titled “Leonardo da Vinci’s Visualization of Gravity as a Form of Acceleration.”

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JOURNAL

Leonardo

DOI

10.1162/leon_a_02322 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Content analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Leonardo da Vinci’s Visualization of Gravity as a Form of Acceleration

Public awareness of ‘nuclear winter’ too low given current risks, argues expert

Reports and Proceedings

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

There is a lack of awareness among UK and US populations of “nuclear winter”, the potential for catastrophic long-term environmental consequences from any exchange of nuclear warheads.

This is according to the researcher behind new polling conducted last month and released today by the University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER)

Paul Ingram, CSER senior research associate, says that – despite risks of a nuclear exchange being at their highest for 40 years due to Russian warmongering – what little awareness there is of nuclear winter among the public is mainly residual from the Cold War era.

The scientific theory of nuclear winter sees detonations from nuclear exchanges throw vast amounts of debris into the stratosphere, which ultimately blocks out much of the sun for up to a decade, causing global drops in temperature, mass crop failure and widespread famine.

Combined with radiation fall-out, these knock-on effects would see millions more perish in the wake of a nuclear war – even if they are far outside of any blast zone. Ideas of nuclear winter permeated UK and US culture during the Cold War through TV shows and films such as Threads and The Day After, as well as in novels such as Z for Zachariah.    

The latest survey, conducted online in January 2023, asked 3,000 participants – half in the UK, half in the US – to self-report on a sliding scale whether they felt they knew a lot about “nuclear winter”, and if they had heard about it from:

• Contemporary media or culture, of which 3.2% in the UK and 7.5% in the US said they had.
• Recent academic studies, of which 1.6% in the UK and 5.2% in the US claimed they had.
• Beliefs held during the 1980s, of which 5.4% in the UK and 9% in the US said they had heard of or still recalled.*

“In 2023 we find ourselves facing a risk of nuclear conflict greater than we’ve seen since the early eighties. Yet there is little in the way of public knowledge or debate of the unimaginably dire long-term consequences of nuclear war for the planet and global populations,” said Ingram.

“Ideas of nuclear winter are predominantly a lingering cultural memory, as if it is the stuff of history, rather than a horribly contemporary risk.”   

“Of course it is distressing to consider large-scale catastrophes, but decisions need to account for all potential consequences, to minimise the risk,” said Ingram.  

“Any stability within nuclear deterrence is undermined if it is based on decisions that are ignorant of the worst consequences of using nuclear weapons.”

The survey also presented all participants with fictional media reports from the near future (dated July 2023) relaying news of nuclear attacks by Russia on Ukraine, and vice versa, to gauge support in the UK and US for western retaliation.

In the event of a Russian nuclear attack on Ukraine, fewer than one in five people surveyed in both countries supported in-kind retaliation, with men more likely than women to back nuclear reprisal: 20.7% (US) and 24.4% (UK) of men compared to 14.1% (US) and 16.1% (UK) of women.

The survey used infographics summarising nuclear winter effects laid out in a recent study led by Rutgers University (published in Nature Food in August 2022).The Rutgers research used climate modelling and observations from forest fires and volcanoes, and found that even a limited nuclear war could see mass starvation of hundreds of millions in countries uninvolved in any conflict.

Half the survey sample in each country (750 in the UK and US) were shown the infographics before they read the fictional news of nuclear strikes, while the other half – a control group – were not.

Support for nuclear retaliation was lower by 16% in the US and 13% in the UK among participants shown the “nuclear winter” infographics than among the control group.**

This effect was more significant for those supporting the parties of the US President and UK Government. Support for nuclear retaliation was lower by 33% among UK Conservative Party voters and 36% among US Democrat voters when participants were briefly exposed to recent nuclear winter research.***  

Added Ingram: “There is an urgent need for public education within all nuclear-armed states that is informed by the latest research. We need to collectively reduce the temptation that leaders of nuclear-armed states might have to threaten or even use such weapons in support of military operations.”

Ingram points out that if we assume Russia’s nuclear arsenal has a comparable destructive force to that of the US – just under 780 megatons – then the least devastating scenario from the survey, in which nuclear winter claims 225 million lives, could involve just 0.1% of this joint arsenal.

The findings are published in a report on the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk website.

NOTES:

*The responses to each of these three questions were not mutually exclusive, with some participants claiming to know about nuclear winter from two or three different sources.

** Support for nuclear retaliation in the UK was 18.1% in the group that were presented with the infographic, against 20.8% in the control group. 
Support for nuclear retaliation in the US was 17.6% in the group that were presented with the infographic, against 21% in the control group. 

***22.3% of informed UK Conservative Party voters supported nuclear retaliation, against 33.3% of those uninformed. Among US Democrats these figures were 15.8% and 24.6% respectively.

The fieldwork was conducted online by polling company Prolific on the 25 January 2023, with a total of 3000 participants (1500 in the UK and US respectively).

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Public awareness of nuclear winter and implications for escalation control

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

14-Feb-2023

Disclaimer: AAA

UK ANTI MIGRANT TORIES 
Calls for the Government to take a stand against violence towards asylum seekers


Monday 13 February 2023

Police were called to an anti-refugee protest outside a Knowsley hotel on Friday 10 February.

Credit: Liverpool Echo

Political leaders must "take a clear stand" and condemn violence against asylum seekers, charities have said in an open letter to the government.

They warn the "horrifying scenes" seen in Merseyside could be repeated across the country if nothing is done.

The charities criticised the "inflammatory language" and policies that "demonise" people seeking refuge, and warned of a "high risk of more premeditated extremist attacks around the country" following the violence outside the Suites Hotel in Knowsley where Asylum seekers were being housed.

Fireworks were thrown at police, while a police van was attacked with hammers and set alight, during the disturbance on Friday 10 February.

Since then 15 people between the ages of 13 and 54 have been arrested, with one teenager charged with violent disorder and assault by beating of an emergency services worker.

The other 14 have been bailed pending further investigation.

The demonstration was said to be prompted by a viral video that was recorded and put on social media

.

A burnt out police van after a demonstration outside the Suites Hotel in Knowsley, Merseyside, on Friday night

Credit: Peter Powell/PA

The letter, co-ordinated by the coalition campaign Together With Refugees, was signed by more than 100 organisations and charities from across the country, including Liverpool City of Sanctuary, Care4Calais, Share Knowsley and the Refugee Council.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has faced repeated criticism for her rhetoric describing migrants crossing the English Channel.

She prompted an outcry in November when she told MPs that the south coast was facing an "invasion" of illegal migrants.

The charities said people in the asylum system "have already suffered terribly", fleeing war and persecution in places like Afghanistan, Sudan, Syria and Iran.

Describing Britain's asylum system as "broken", the organisations said people are forced into a period of "limbo" as they wait for a decision on their claim to stay in the UK, and end up in hotels which they called "a completely inappropriate form of accommodation".

"This is not the Liverpool that I know" - Care4Calais charity founder Clare Mosely 


The charities called on those in charge to "create a system that is fair and compassionate, and brings cohesion instead of division".

They said: "Having already experienced great hardship, these men, women and children who come here for protection are now faced with violence, fuelled by inflammatory language of 'invasion' and policies that demonise them.

"The responsibility to create a system that is fair and compassionate, and brings cohesion instead of division, lies with our decision makers.

"With the high risk of more premeditated extremist attacks around the country, leaders of all parties must now take a clear stand and condemn any further violence against those who come here to find safety, and set out the action they will take to prevent it."

The charities said those responsible for inciting anger and violence "bring shame on this country" and are in the minority.

They added: "This does not reflect the people of Britain. This is not who we are."

A police van was set alight during the protest.

Credit: PA Images

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Home Secretary has publicly condemned the appalling scenes outside the hotel and violence toward police officers on Friday night in Merseyside.

“The welfare of asylum seekers in our care is of the utmost importance and we will work with the police to ensure their safety.”

Ewan Roberts, centre manager of Asylum Link Merseyside, said his area has a "proud history of welcoming refugees and the horrifying incident on Friday night does not represent the people of Knowsley".

He said: "The people staying in temporary accommodation came to us seeking our help, and instead had the experience of being under siege by a violent mob.

"We urge politicians to stop using rhetoric that fuels such hatred, condemn this violence and start doing the real work of clearing the backlog instead."

Former refugee Sabir Zazai, who is now chairman of Together With Refugees - a coalition of more than 500 national and local organisations - said the issue is not about party politics but rather "basic human decency".

He said: "The very least all political leaders could do is to condemn the attack on people seeking sanctuary in our communities.

"Leaders of all political parties must call for the ending of these hostile policies and hateful language that only fuels division and anger."

Jared Skeete, 19, of Irwell Close, Aigburth, Liverpool, was remanded in custody to appear before Liverpool Crown Court on 13 March.

The remaining 14 people who were arrested, 12 men and two women who are mainly from the Knowsley area, were conditionally bailed pending the outcome of police inquiries.

Charities urge UK politicians to oppose attacks on migrants

The open letter, co-ordinated by coalition campaign Together With Refugees and signed by 180 charities, condemned the “horrifying” scenes on Friday outside the hotel near Liverpool. 

14 February, 2023

(Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

By: Mohnish Singh

Nearly 200 charities on Tuesday urged the UK’s political leaders to “take a clear stand” against attacks on asylum seekers, days after an anti-immigrant protest descended into violent disorder.

Clashes broke out when troublemakers disrupted a pro-refugee gathering outside a hotel housing asylum seekers near Liverpool, police said.

A far-right, anti-immigrant group had protested outside the same hotel earlier this month.

The open letter, co-ordinated by coalition campaign Together With Refugees and signed by 180 charities, condemned the “horrifying” scenes on Friday outside the hotel near Liverpool.

Merseyside Police arrested 15 people after fireworks were thrown at officers and a police van was attacked with hammers and set alight during several hours of mayhem.

One of those arrested, a 19-year-old man, appeared in court on Monday charged with violent disorder and assault for beating an emergency services worker.

“With the high risk of more premeditated extremist attacks around the country, leaders of all parties must now take a clear stand and condemn any further violence against those who come here to find safety,” the charities’ letter stated.

It also urged political leaders to “set out the action they will take to prevent it”.

Hardline interior minister Suella Braverman has faced sustained criticism for her inflammatory rhetoric over immigration, in particular her description of the growing number of migrants crossing the Channel.

Opponents accuse her of demonising asylum seekers and fuelling hostility towards people seeking sanctuary.

In November, she sparked an outcry by saying in parliament that England’s south coast was facing an “invasion” of illegal migration.

Tens of thousands of people arrived in southeast England on small boats from the European mainland last year, dramatically increasing a trend that began on a large scale in 2018.

A spokesperson for the interior ministry noted that Braverman had condemned the “appalling scenes outside the hotel and violence toward police officers” seen on Friday.

“The welfare of asylum seekers in our care is of the utmost importance and we will work with the police to ensure their safety,” the spokesperson added.

Friday’s violence in Merseyside erupted when troublemakers came to a planned demonstration by refugee advocacy groups outside the hotel, police said.

The far-right group Patriotic Alternative had protested outside the hotel earlier this month, although the group denied it was the organiser of the latest rally.

Police linked the protest to social media and rumours that a man had made “inappropriate advances” to a 15-year-old girl in the area, saying this was used as “an excuse to commit violence”.

Modern slavery victims 'at risk of being re-trafficked' in UK due to lack of services

Charities say they simply do not have enough resources to deal with all referrals

British charities say victims of modern slavery are at risk of being re-trafficked

 after their case has been raised due to a chronic lack of services. Getty

Laura O'Callaghan

Feb 14, 2023

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Victims of modern day slavery who have escaped the clutches of abusers are at serious risk of falling back into networks of exploitation due to a lack of resources to support them, charities say.

While the UK government has said the country’s modern slavery laws are being misused by some migrants lodging bogus claims, campaigners have warned that genuine victims are not being given adequate help.

About 10,000 people are trapped in slavery across Britain, according to government statistics. But the actual number is estimated to be in excess of 100,000, according to Unseen, a UK-based anti-slavery charity.

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Almost half of referrals made to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), the government’s system for supporting slavery victims, relate to child victims.

The Salvation Army has a contract with the government to support victims of slavery who have been accepted in to the NRM, which allows cases to be considered by the Home Office.

A recent influx of cases has forced the charity to implement an “unprecedented emergency measure” to suspend accepting new referrals of potential victims.

Kathy Betteridge, the charity’s director of anti-trafficking and modern slavery, told The Guardian the first responder service “has not closed, but we took the decision to temporarily suspend accepting new referrals for a short period so we could give proper attention to the large number of new cases recently referred to us.”

She said the decision highlighted “how much strain” the system is under.

Kalayaan, a West London charity supporting migrant domestic workers, suggested its services were also struggling to cope. It said the situation has led to victims becoming "at real risk of further harm and abuse".

The group, based in Holland Park, issued a public announcement, saying that a recent sharp rise in the number of referrals, particularly since mid-December, has swamped the system. It said for several years "there has been a lack of acknowledgment by the UK government of the need to recruit and train more, as well as existing, First Responder Organisations."

"The system has become overwhelmed and appears to be at breaking point," the warning continued. "Some statutory First Responder Organisations remain unaware of their legal responsibilities, and non-statutory First Responders do not have the capacity to cope. This has the very real result that survivors, already victims of severe human rights violations, are unable to be referred to the NRM and access support.

"Without being identified and provided support, survivors are at real risk of further harm and abuse, including treatment that amounts to slavery."

The Home Office’s definition of modern day slavery relates to human trafficking, slavery, forced or compulsory labour and servitude.

Kalayaan, which also has a contract with the government, suggested servitude is among the less-well known forms of modern day slavery. On its website, it says this category encompasses people who are “strictly controlled by their employer, have no freedom to leave the house, ill-treated, humiliated, subjected to exhausting working hours”. Employees who are forced to live and work in unbearable conditions or denied pay or given meagre salaries also fall into this classification.

In a statement, a Home Office representative said the department is “committed to do everything we can in supporting modern slavery victims as they rebuild their lives and it is crucial that first responders — such as charities and the police — who refer them to our system are robustly trained.”

It continued: “We have a range of materials available to support this work and are developing a hub where organisations which aren’t responders can learn about modern slavery indicators, leading to better identification of victims.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has accused Albanian migrants of “gaming” Britain’s anti-slavery legislation by filing false claims after illegally crossing the Channel in small boats.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in December struck a deal with the East European nation to deport citizens who had entered Britain without permission. Amid growing pressure from Conservative MPs to get on top of the crisis, Mr Sunak earlier this month claimed regular flights were taking Albanian migrants back to their homeland, a key step to break a “ridiculous” cycle. Robert Jenrick, an immigration minister at the Home Office, later said the flights were taking place on a weekly basis.

Last year, Albanians accounted for about a third of the 45,755 men, women and children who entered the UK illegally via the Channel.

Updated: February 14, 2023, 4:15 a.m.