Overfishing and climate change impacts on New Zealand's fish populations were hidden—until now

by Sea Around Us

New Zealand fishing boat. Credit: QFSE Media, Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Zealand_Fishing_Boat-3388.jpg)

Pelagic-oceanic fish commonly caught in warmer waters, such as skipjack tuna and blue mackerel, have been increasing in New Zealand's waters since the 1950s, while cold-water species such as southern bluefin tuna display strong reductions in overall catch from the 1970s onwards, new research has found.

In a paper published in the journal PeerJ, an international team of researchers shows that, despite ocean water temperature around the island country modestly increasing by 0.04°C per decade from 1950–2019, the presence of warmer-climate species is a clear indicator of the impacts of climate change on marine life.

"The problem is that these trends had been 'hidden' or masked because, as technology progressed, fishing fleets have been able to continue catching cold water species. These, however, are not the same species as before but rather deep-sea fish—where the water is cooler," Charles Lavin, lead author of the study and a doctoral fellow at Nord University, explained. "As gear development promoted further expansion into deeper and cooler waters, snoek or barracouta, southern blue whiting and hoki started dominating New Zealand's fisheries catches."

To reach these conclusions, Lavin and his co-authors applied the Mean Temperature of the Catch (MTC) to New Zealand's catch data for the past 60+ years. This indicator measures the average temperature preference of exploited fish species weighted by their annual catch for a given area. If it goes up—as it did in this case –, it means that the proportion of species associated with warmer waters has risen.

"Given the growing ability of fleets to fish deeper and further offshore, we estimated the MTC not for the entire Exclusive Economic Zone altogether but rather by habitat classification and fishing gear. This allowed us to group species based on similar environmental conditions and habitats," Lavin said.

The expansion of fishing operations hasn't only occurred in terms of depth but also in terms of width. The study notes that starting in the late 1960s, New Zealand's fishing operations began moving further offshore as they were given economic incentives including subsidies for new vessels and an expanded list of exploitable species.

"This expansion also helped mask the fact that they were fishing down the marine food web as nearshore stocks were depleted," said Daniel Pauly, co-author of the study and the principal investigator of the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia. "Once the largest species, often of the highest trophic levels and long-lived, were depleted near the coast, fishing pressure shifted to smaller, shorter-lived species of lower trophic levels and also further offshore."

By going farther, fisheries were able to tap into previously untapped stocks of big fish higher in the food chain, at least for a while.

By combining two indexes that help determine the trophic level of the species dominating the catch, the researchers noted that from 1950 to 2000, high trophic level species were caught but thereafter, low trophic level fish became more common.

"Using these indicators, we were able to identify that from 1950 to about 1965, fisheries were targeting a couple of fish stock assemblages along the New Zealand shelf. As the fishing industry developed, high trophic level fish stocks became fully exploited and the catch started showing signs of fishing down," said Mark Costello, co-author of the paper and a researcher at Nord University. "This incentivized the expansion, in 1969, into a previously unexploited stock assemblage located offshore."

So far, this offshore stock assemblage has allowed New Zealand's fisheries to maintain big fish catches, but this is due to the dominance of hoki or blue grenadier, which is commercially important but also a deeper-water species.

"Our results highlight the pervasiveness of fishing down the food web in New Zealand fisheries and how this trend can be obscured by technological developments that enabled fisheries' geographic expansion," Costello said. "When designing policies, management must consider the compound effects of fishing pressure and ocean-warming-induced changes in fish populations. This means that fishing effort should probably be reduced on stocks that are overexploited and/or shifting their geographic distribution away from areas where they have been historically fished."

More information: Lavin CP, Pauly D, Dimarchopoulou D, Liang C, Costello MJ. 2023. Fishery catch is affected by geographic expansion, fishing down food webs and climate change in Aotearoa, New Zealand. PeerJ(2023). DOI: 10.7717/peerj.16070

Journal information: PeerJ 

Provided by Sea Around Us New study reveals global patterns in marine fish body size and trophic traits with latitude and depth

 

Investigating invasive plants as roadside contaminant removal tools

by Elaina Hancock, University of Connecticut

Equipment harvesting the invasive plants. 

Credit: Sam Schurkamp/Loyola University Chicago Photo

Tall, densely growing Phragmites and cattail (Typha) are familiar plants alongside highways and byways in the northern United States, flourishing in salty roadsides and degraded wetland environments created by chemicals applied to roads in the colder months known as deicers.

Recently, a team of researchers from UConn's College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources and Loyola University Chicago decided to investigate whether these invasive species can help remove some of the salt and metal contaminants along those same roads. Their findings are published in Ecological Engineering.

Department of Natural Resources and the Environment Associate Professor Beth Lawrence has been working with researchers at Loyola interested in the management and restoration of wetlands in the Great Lakes region, focusing primarily on invasive plant species. After wetlands are invaded by tall, nutrient-loving, and salt-tolerant species like Phragmites and cattail, conditions become too shady and crowded for native species to thrive, eventually resulting in a homogenized environment that reduces wildlife habitat viability, changes nutrient cycling, and alters greenhouse gas emissions.

"When these invasive species come in, they change the nature of the ecosystem. We are interested in promoting biodiversity and oftentimes managers want to get rid of those invasive species," Lawrence says.

Typically, herbicides are used to kill invasive plants, but this approach is limited in effectiveness, says Lawrence, so the researchers were interested to see if mechanical harvesting methods could be a sustainable option for restoring the ecosystem.

Lawrence says that after World War II, the quantity of road salt application has grown exponentially, and there are growing concerns about their impact on the environment. Roadside ecosystems are increasingly saline and contain high loads of heavy metals like zinc and lead from cars and their emissions. The chemistry of salt ions mobilizes heavy metals in soil, making it easier for them to move around the environment and cause problems.

"There is pressure from the public and environmental groups to mitigate road salt impacts. As a society, we demand drivable roads after storms, but there are clear environmental costs. Once road salts get out into the environment they can contaminate our aquifers, groundwater or surface waters," says Lawrence.

Once the salt is in the environment, it is very difficult to remove; however, some plants that grow in brackish conditions take up and store salt in their tissues. The researchers wondered if cattail and Phragmites are taking up salts and metals along busy roads, and if so, whether harvesting the plant material would reduce the contaminants in the environment.

The team worked with the Illinois Tollway to identify 10 wetland detention basins that were all between half a hectare to one-and-a-half hectares in size. Lawrence says what's unique about this study is the scale: much of this kind of work has been done experimentally in the greenhouse in small pots, but the researchers here got to work with hectares of land.

The locations were all dominated by either cattail or Phragmites, and the team estimated the percentages of each. Half of the locations were randomly designated as controls and the team harvested biomass from the other half for two growing seasons. They also measured a variety of conditions before they started the experiment, such as biomass, soil chemistry, and the chemistry of the plant tissues.

After harvest, the researchers analyzed the plant materials for salts and metals and they found that cattail was more effective at taking up salts, with the highest amounts stored in green tissue.

Credit: University of Connecticut

"Plants have different strategies for dealing with salt and cattail is a salt accumulator," Lawrence says. "This makes it an ideal plant to target for salt remediation, especially the green tissue, because we found much higher sodium and chloride content in the green live tissue than the senesced litter, or dead plant material from previous years."

In contrast, Lawrence says Phragmites tended to be better at accumulating metals and contained higher levels of zinc and copper stored evenly between the green and dead tissue.

"Your target contaminant should determine when and what to harvest. If you're focusing on metals, maybe focus on Phragmites and you could probably harvest in the winter, whereas if you are focusing on removing salts, it makes more sense to harvest cattail during the growing season."

These results sound promising, but Lawrence says that when the amount of salt applied to roads each year is compared to the amount of salt these plants take up, this method is not a silver bullet for removing road salts and metals.

"We really need to focus on reducing the amount of salt that we're applying to this already very salty system," says Lawrence. "Assuming the rates of salt applications along with our estimates of how much biomass was growing, a complete removal of all above-ground biomass within a one-hectare basin would remove less than half of a percent of the salts that were applied along a one kilometer section of the Illinois Tollway. The percent of salts that are removed is dependent on the rate of application, how robustly the plants are growing, and the residence time of the water."

Fortunately, Lawrence says in a lot of areas of Connecticut, less salt is added to the roads compared to application rates on Chicago area roads, so harvesting cattail would likely remove a higher percentage of the salt in less-urban areas of the Nutmeg State.

Another issue for consideration is what to do with the contaminated biomass once it's been harvested.

"In our work over the last decade or so looking at invasive species and biomass harvest, we've pursued different avenues for what we can do with this. We're trying to close the loop and be more sustainable," says Lawrence.

"We've had projects where we've made pellets for pellet stoves out of invasive species biomass, and that's potentially viable, but it needs to be done at scale with an industrial partner to move forward. We've taken invasive species biomass and digested it in anaerobic digesters in the Midwest, and it's a viable feedstock but it really depends on where the feedstock or the biomass is collected because the potential for contaminants is a big deal. If there's salt and metal in your plant tissue, you don't necessarily want to compost it and then spread it in a garden because you're just spreading the salt and metals elsewhere, you're just moving the problem."

Lawrence says her main take-home message from the project is that plant remediation by harvesting plants along road edges could be a viable strategy to reduce downstream salt and heavy metal loads, but what we really need to do is reduce how much salt we're adding to the environment in the first place.

"It takes a lot of energy to run the harvesting equipment and to move the biomass around. Then can we remove the pollutants from the biomass? Yes, I'm sure we could, but again, it's going to take a lot of energy to extract. We need to be more conservative with how much salt we're releasing into the environment in the first place, but this is a tool in the roadside manager's toolbox to improve environmental quality."

More information: Andrew M. Monks et al, Complementarity of road salt and heavy metal pollutant removal through invasive Typha and Phragmites harvest in urban wetland detention basins, Ecological Engineering (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2023.107058

Journal information: Ecological Engineering

Provided by University of Connecticut Road salt pollution in many US lakes could stabilize at or below thresholds set by the EPA

 

Video: Firefoxes and whale spouts light up Earth's shield

by European Space Agency

Credit: All-sky camera, Kiruna Atmospheric and Geophysical Observatory (KAGO) within 

the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF).

 Data provided as part of ESA’s Space Weather Service Network

Did you know the Northern lights or Aurora Borealis are created when the mythical Finnish "firefox" runs so quickly across the snow that its tail causes sparks to fly into the night sky?

At least, that's one of the stories that has been told in Finland about this beautiful phenomenon. Another that we love comes from the Sámi people of Finnish Lapland (among others), who describe them as plumes of water ejected by whales.

What do they look like to you?

Today's scientific explanation for the origin of the Aurora wasn't thought up until the 20th century, by the Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland. Charged particles, electrons and protons, are constantly emitted by the sun, making up the solar wind. This wind slams into Earth's ionosphere—sometimes sped up to vast speeds by solar storms—and the charged particles are deflected towards the poles by the magnetosphere.

Molecules in our atmosphere then absorb energy from these charged particles from the sun, and re-release it in their own unique set of colors. Oxygen produces green, but at high altitudes can create red, nitrogen creates blues, and colors can overlap creating purple. Waves, twists and streams are caused by variations in Earth's magnetic fields.

This striking video shows the Aurora over Kiruna, the northernmost city in Sweden. It's composed of images taken by the Kiruna all-sky camera every minute for about ten hours over 18–19 September 2023.

Credit: All-sky camera, Kiruna Atmospheric and Geophysical Observatory (KAGO) within the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF). Data provided as part of ESA’s Space Weather Service Network

The all-sky auroral camera is operated by the Kiruna Atmospheric and Geophysical Observatory (KAGO) within the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), and data from here is provided as part of ESA's network of space weather services within the Agency's Space Safety Program.

Recently, a sequence of multiple coronal mass ejections—large, sudden ejections of plasma and magnetic field from the sun—struck Earth and we are still recovering from the passage of the last one. The fastest was traveling at around 700 km/s, considered a small event.

The sun is getting close to its time of peak solar activity—predicted for 2024/2025—in its current 11-year cycle, Solar Cycle 25. Solar storms are causing an increase in geomagnetic activity; temporary disturbances in Earth's magnetosphere, which has led to increased light shows at Earth's poles.

A modern interpretation of the meaning of the Aurora could focus on Earth's remarkable way of protecting life, so far, the only life we know of in the universe. The colors of the Aurora reveal the normally invisible complex molecular soup in just the right composition for life to thrive. Those molecules form our atmosphere, a thin shield against electromagnetic radiation and even the small asteroids that constantly bombard our home.

The shapes of the Aurora tell the story of the usually invisible protective magnetic field, holding back dangerous elements from reaching us on the ground, like charged particles from the sun. It also pulls every compass needle north, helping us navigate stormy seas.

While humans on Earth are protected by Earth's magnetic field, space weather can have an extreme and disruptive impact on satellites in orbit and infrastructure on Earth, and ultimately our society. For this reason, ESA's Space Weather Service Network continues to monitor our star and the conditions around Earth, to provide information to keep our systems safe.

In 2030, ESA will launch the first-of-its-kind Vigil mission to monitor the sun from a unique vantage point. Studying our star from the side, it will provide a stream of data that will warn of potentially hazardous regions before they roll into view from Earth.

Provided by European Space Agency 

Solar storm stirs stunning aurora

 

Exploring Earth's mantle through microseisms

by Rebecca Owen, Eos

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The ocean is constantly whirring with activity. The pressure from this constant roiling and swelling is one cause of microseisms—random, nearly imperceptible vibrations of Earth that also can be produced by human activities like vehicular traffic.

Microseisms release far less energy than earthquakes, but they still offer scientists important information. Instead of the isolated shock of an earthquake, microseisms happen all the time, producing a constant background hum that can provide insights into deep-Earth structure not available from studies of larger seismic events.

As with larger seismic waves, microseisms can travel along Earth's surface as surface waves, or through its interior as body waves. In new research published in Geophysical Research Letters, Kato and Nishida study body wave microseisms emerging from the ambient noise of the ocean and traveling through the mantle.

The researchers looked at data from 690 seismic stations recording 5,780 microseisms that occurred in the North Atlantic Ocean as well as the North and South Pacific. Instead of analyzing the microseisms using seismic interferometry—a technique often used to study seismic noise under the assumption that microseisms are generated everywhere—they examined the tiny tremors more like they would larger earthquakes.

By developing a novel receiver function method and treating the microseismic body waves as having spatially isolated source locations, they produced 3D imaging of Earth's mantle structure.

The imaging corroborated the depths of mantle discontinuities—changes in rock density and composition that mark the transition zone between the upper and the lower mantle—at 410 and 660 kilometers below the surface. According to the authors, the new technique for unpacking microseismic body waves could lead to a more thorough understanding—and future exploration—of Earth's enigmatic inner structure.

More information: S. Kato et al, Extraction of Mantle Discontinuities From Teleseismic Body‐Wave Microseisms, Geophysical Research Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1029/2023GL105017

Journal information: Geophysical Research Letters

Provided by Eos

This story is republished courtesy of Eos, hosted by the American Geophysical Union. Read the original story here.Internet cable reveals the source of underwater vibrations

Newer diabetes treatments are understudied in Black populations and may be less beneficial

by SAGE Publications

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

New research analyzing the effects of two drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes indicates a consistent lack of cardiovascular and renal benefits in Black populations. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of severe illness and death associated with type 2 diabetes. Renal disease is also a common complication of type 2 diabetes.

The drugs, called sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2-Is) and glucogen-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP1-RAs), are some of the newer treatments prescribed to lower blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes.

The research findings, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, show that for white and Asian populations, SGLT2-Is and GLP1-RAs have beneficial effects on blood pressure, weight control and renal function, and significantly reduce the risk of severe heart problems and kidney disease. However, the research shows no evidence of these beneficial effects in Black populations.

Researchers at the Diabetes Research Centre at the University of Leicester analyzed the results of 14 randomized controlled trials of SGLT2-Is and GLP1-RAs reporting cardiovascular and renal outcomes by race, ethnicity and region.

Lead researcher Professor Samuel Seidu, Professor in Primary Care Diabetes and Cardio-metabolic Medicine at the University of Leicester, said, "Given the well-documented evidence that Black and other ethnic minority populations are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and at a younger age, the consistent lack of benefits we observed among Black populations is concerning.

"Minimizing racial and ethnic variations in the cardiovascular and renal complications of type 2 diabetes requires targeted improved access to care and treatment for those most at risk."

The researchers suggest there are many factors that could have contributed to the lack of evidence of beneficial effects for Black and other non-white populations. Low statistical power due to small sample sizes of these populations may be partly responsible.

"It is quite clear from the current data that some racial/ethnic groups such as Black populations were underrepresented in all the included trials," pointed out Professor Seidu.

Enrollment in the trials ranged from 66.6% to 93.2% for white populations, 1.2% and 21.6% for Asian populations, and 2.4% to 8.3% for Black populations.

However, the researchers suggest that given the consistent nature of the significant lack of beneficial effects across the majority of outcomes for Black populations, other factors may also be at play.

"Whether the differences are due to issues with under-representation of Black populations and low statistical power or to racial/ethnic variations in the way the body and these drugs interact with each other needs further investigation," said Professor Seidu. "It is therefore important that prescribers don't hasten to deny these newer treatments to Black populations on the back of this research."

More information: Racial, ethnic and regional differences in the effect of sodium–glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists on cardiovascular and renal outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cardiovascular outcome trials, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1177/01410768231198442

Journal information: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 

Provided by SAGE Publications SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP1 receptor antagonists improve type-2 diabetes outcomes, but are not cost effective

 

Suicide in Ghana: Society expects men to be providers. A new study explores this pressure

by Johnny Andoh-Arthur, The Conversation

Credit: Nick Youngson/Alpha Stock Images, CC BY-SA

Suicide is a complex behavior that is widely regarded as a significant public health issue across the globe. It is influenced by psychiatric, psychological, biological, social, cultural, economic and existential factors. In most countries, the rate of male suicides is between 3 and 7.5 times higher than that of females even though suicide ideation (thoughts) and attempts are more frequent for females.

The World Health Organization reported in 2020 that approximately 1,993 suicides occurred in Ghana annually. A report in Ghana on suicide attempt trends over four years also revealed that 707 suicide attempts occurred in 2018, 880 in 2019, 777 in 2020 and 417 as of June 2021.

Studies continue to reveal a disproportionately high number of males in both suicide and attempted suicide in Ghana. Suicidal behavior in Ghana is a predominantly male problem—which is one reason it's of interest to me as a psychologist who studies men's mental health.

I undertook a study that focused on the way loss of job and income influenced relationships with close family members prior to suicide. This is not to suggest that loss of income or job is the only cause of men's suicide in Ghana. Other studies have highlighted chronic illness, substance use, interpersonal conflict and loss, marital challenges, economic difficulties, perceived shame, and mental illness as other contributing factors.

My study used a qualitative research approach, interviewing 21 close relatives and friends of nine men who had all suffered some economic challenges in ways that affected their relationships with family members. All nine had died by suicide.

Even though these men lived in social settings that valued mutual support and reciprocal obligations, some of them suffered abandonment during their economic difficulties. Even those who could depend on spouses in their situation appeared to find that dependency emasculating.

Men and suicide

The term gender paradox in relation to suicide describes the observation where females have higher rates of suicidal thoughts and behavior than males, yet mortality from suicide is typically lower for females compared to males.

Biologically, it is suggested that testosterone, which is linked to impulsivity and aggression, is about ten times higher in males than in females. Thus the likelihood for males to engage in risky behaviors including aggression towards themselves is linked to high testosterone levels.

The high male suicide rate is also connected to gender stereotypes and role socialization. Society expects certain things of men.

The patriarchal nature of most societies in Africa makes being economically independent a key social expectation of being a man. Men are expected to be employed, with a regular income, and to start a family.

Family support in Ghana

My study highlighted Ghana's extended family system. This system encourages support and care for one another, belonging and seeking help in times of adversity. The study found that the deceased men had perceived being a burden, loss of respect, social abandonment and anxiety when faced with crises like job losses and financial difficulties. The relative of one of the deceased stated:

"I even got angry the day this incident (suicide) happened. People even said we have been starving him, etc, etc. For Christ sake, he was 27 years. Must I keep on taking care of him? "

A friend of another deceased person said, "His relatives visited him a lot when he was doing well in business but they stopped visiting when his problems started. "

Thus a dysfunctional, transactional social system existed around them. The implicit rule appeared to be that the victims were as valuable as their ability to provide for others and be economically independent.

The finding aligns with an earlier study in Ghana that shows that the motivation for male suicides is not that men seek to reject their social responsibilities. Instead, "it is an intense sense of personal responsibility towards meeting prescribed social norms and roles associated with gender. "

My study also found that even though it was possible for some of the men to depend on their wealthier wives during economic difficulty, doing so created distress. Depending on their wives and seeing them assume hitherto "male" roles were seen as emasculating.

A spouse illustrated: "He felt that due to the problems he was going through, there were some responsibilities I was not supposed to do as a wife that I was doing and all of those thing got him worried. "

Where they were intent to live as benevolent patriachs in line with internalized masculine codes, their economic predicament constrained the men's social roles and created distress.

As another spouse explained: "Things were not going so well with his job, it got to the extent that he could not help people the way he wanted to, and he was worried."

Men as providers

The findings of this study highlight the patriachal system that defines men partly in terms of their capacity to provide materially for others. Men who strictly adhere to such male norms may struggle to adjust when they have to depend on others, including their spouses. The extended family system should support such men emotionally and materially, but some family members chose to abandon them.

Public education is vital to change unhealthy gender norms that affect men in social and economic adversity. It will enable men to learn effective ways of coping and alternative ways of being men. Education will also help change societal notions of who a man is and foster more support in times of adversity.

Provided by The Conversation 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Philosophybreak.com

https://philosophybreak.com/articles/absurdity-with-camus

Albert Camus on Coping with Life's Absurdity - Philosoph... 

French thinker Albert Camus believed the myth of Sisyphus to be a brilliant metaphor for our everyday existence — and a perfect encapsulation of all ...

Gacbe.ac.in

https://www.gacbe.ac.in/images/E%20books/Durkheim%20-%20Suicide%20-%20A%20study%20in%20sociology.pdf

Durkheim - Suicide - A study in sociology

“Suicide is used by Durkheim as a means of demonstrating the key impact of social factors on our personal lives and even our most intimate motives. The book ...

 

 

Q&A: Is hopelessness a US public health crisis?

by Maggie Haslam, University of Maryland

Credit: Princeton University Press

How can the world's wealthiest country be so poor in hope? It's a question that a University of Maryland economist is asking about the United States, where unprecedented levels of despair have manifested in a national mental health crisis, a surge in opioid abuse and suicide, and increased workforce dropout.

In College Park Professor of Economics Carol Graham's most recent book, "The Power of Hope: How the Science of Well-Being Can Save Us from Despair," Graham explores the scientific drivers behind well-being and reveals a compelling finding: People imbued with hope are not only happier and healthier, but are also more likely to pursue opportunity, hold jobs and work for a better future.

An authority on "well-being economics," Graham studies happiness and hope as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Her research has tracked markers of hope and despair and their implications on health, education and prosperity in Latin America and the United States, particularly among young people, for over two decades. It has spurred countries like England and New Zealand to factor well-being metrics into policymaking, but she says the United States lags behind.

"Hope is key to aspirations and future investment, but also life expectancy," she said. "And in the United States, we are in trouble. It's something we really need to be paying attention to."

Graham spoke to Maryland Today about the dangerous side of despair, the link between hope and longevity and the demographic most at risk:

What is hope?

I make a distinction between hope and optimism. They share some similarities—both are the belief that things will get better. The difference, though, is that the optimist just believes it's going to get better, but hope entails individual agency. It isn't just the belief that things will get better, it's the belief that you can do something to make it better, and that creates a big difference in terms of the outcomes.

Your research has linked levels of hope with early mortality. Can hopelessness kill you?

Of all the metrics our research team used to track trends in despair in different cohorts and how they linked to deaths of despair later, lack of hope was the most important one. People with hope have a higher life satisfaction—they are likely to be healthier, to live longer, to work longer and invest in themselves. And we see this across all age groups and demographics. One definition of despair is not caring if you live or die. If that's your emotional state, you're not going to take opportunities to invest in your future.

What's surprised you in your research about hope in the United States?

Our data has shown that African Americans are much more hopeful than whites—there is much more resiliency. We see an even bigger gap between low-income Blacks and whites. When we first observed this, I thought it was a coding error, but it's been confirmed over and over again, and I think part of it is the role of communities.

White Americans on average have historically had more secure and stable lives, but they don't typically have the big extended communities found among Black Americans. Given that minorities have a history of discrimination, there's a very different sense of falling behind and helping each other out, versus the individualistic viewpoint of the American dream largely adopted by blue-collar whites. The problem is, when they started falling behind, they didn't have another narrative.

How is despair bleeding into public discourse?

One of the things I've been working on recently is the link between despair and vulnerability to misinformation and conspiracy theories. White prime-age males who've left the labor force feel very displaced and tend to be isolated. Those are the people who are very easy to radicalize. And if you look at where they're concentrated, they tend to not have local newspapers, they don't have educational opportunities beyond high school—they tend to be in hollowed-out manufacturing places.

We have some preliminary data on the makeup of individuals who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6; the majority were isolated from their families and communities. If you're in that frame of mind, you don't have anything to lose.

How do we restore hope?

It's a hard question. Part of the solution is just having an accurate diagnosis: Why don't we measure well-being like other countries do so we can direct our efforts at the most vulnerable populations? Places that track well-being, like England, are now piloting interventions—programs as simple as access to volunteering, which get people out of their homes and gives them meaning and purpose. These are the things that people in despair lack.

They have a program introducing middle and high school students to soft skills and socio-emotional skills, like self-esteem and combatting loneliness. Then they evaluate the kids on their academic performance and level of well-being three years later, and it actually works on both fronts. In my interviews with adolescents who had just graduated high school in the States in low-income neighborhoods, they had no clue what was next.

And it's exactly those soft skills, those socio-emotional skills that are most valued in the labor markets of tomorrow. That's the kind of stuff we really need to think about.

Provided by University of Maryland Ignoring Native American data perpetuates misleading white 'deaths of despair' narrative, says study

Albert Camus on the Meaning of Life: Faith, Suicide, and Absurdity (thecollector.com)

Bigthink.com

https://bigthink.com/personal-growth/the-meaning-of-life-albert-camus-on-faith-suicide-and-absurdity

Albert Camus on suicide, absurdity, and the meaning of life ... 

Mar 20, 2023 ... Camus' entire philosophy is based on the idea of the absurd. Humans have a drive to find meaning in things and where it doesn't exist we usually ...