Million-tree mission hopes to fix reforestation flaws

Mika Vanhanen has overseen the planting of 30 million trees across the globe via a network of 10,000 schools he recruited over two decades

 Alessandro RAMPAZZO AFP/File
Issued on: 15/03/2021 - 
Joensuu (Finland) (AFP)

It's an environmental policy embraced by heads of state, multinational businesses and even leading climate sceptic Donald Trump: plant more trees to help the planet and slow global warming.

But experts claim some recent mass tree-planting schemes have failed to reduce greenhouse gases when not done properly, and even harmed the environment.

Now a pair of Finnish environmentalists believe they have created a reforestation initiative that will avoid these problems and allow for millions of new trees every year, tracked by a smartphone app.



Former schoolteacher Mika Vanhanen has overseen the planting of 30 million trees across the globe via a network of 10,000 schools, the result of two decades work.

But "some of the trees died because we didn't have the resources to care for them", Vanhanen, founder of tree-planting charity ENO, told AFP in his hometown of Joensuu, eastern Finland.

Last year Turkey's forestry trade union said almost all of the 11 million trees planted during the country's National Forestation Day in 2019 had died after just a few months.

And in Chile, a study found landowners were taking advantage of financial tree-planting incentives by cutting down established, carbon-absorbing forests and replacing them with new ones.

- 25-year tree care -

So last year Vanhanen teamed up with "environmental technology" expert Pekka Harju-Autti to launch an innovative model for large-scale tree-planting with the emphasis on sustainability.

Their "TreeBuddy" scheme invites businesses and individuals to "buy" one or more trees, for instance as a gift to customers, employees or friends.

But unlike other initiatives, the consumer also pays for the upkeep of the tree for up to 25 years.

"When they plant a tree, locals take a photo which is geo-positioned and get one euro for the community. After one year ... they make a status update of the tree with another photo and they get again one euro, the same after five years and 10 years and so on," Harju-Autti told AFP.

The euro covers upkeep during the year, with care ranging from watering to, in Tibet for example, protecting the trees from yaks and wild horses.

A smartphone app enables users to keep track of their own "virtual forest", but most importantly the maintenance payments incentivise communities to keep their forests alive, Harju-Autti said.

CLICK ON TO ENLARGE

This map shows the total land available that can support trees across the globe (total of current forested areas and forest cover potential available for restoration). Credit: ETH Zurich/Crowther Lab

- Millions a year -

With each community seeing 7,000 to 10,000 trees planted, the sums add up over time.

"One reason the Amazon is burning is that locals do not always feel they get economic benefits from their forests, so some not-so-wise decisions are made."

So far TreeBuddy has seen 30,000 trees planted in the Philippines, Tibet and India, and has secured investment to scale up to "millions a year" in the near future, across Asia, Africa and the Americas.

Vanhanen and Harju-Autti say that because they already have a relationship with their 10,000 tree-planting communities around the globe, the scheme should also avoid problems such as introducing non-native species or damage to the existing ecosystem.

In January, a British study set out 10 'golden rules' of tree-planting to avoid the failures of some large-scale schemes, including for local people to be at the heart of projects and for the natural regrowth of forest to be prioritised wherever possible.

"We are getting questions from tree-planting organisations all over the world that would like to adopt the TreeBuddy model," Harju-Autti said, adding that he expects the focus to move away from planting towards "giving locals their fair share for efforts to preserve their trees".

This map shows the land available for forest restoration (excluding deserts, agricultural and urban areas; current forestland not shown). Credit: ETH Zurich/Crowther Lab

VIDEO AND MAPS FROM:

The Weather Network - Planting billions of trees could help save the climate, study finds

FILM

Wolfgang Petersen, director of 'The NeverEnding Story' and 'Das Boot,' at 80

He's one of the most successful German filmmakers in Hollywood. Wolfgang Petersen's "Outbreak" also gained renewed popularity during the pandemic.

11 FILMS BY GERMAN DIRECTOR WOLFGANG PETERSEN

Overwhelming success: 'Das Boot'

Wolfgang Petersen's war epic "Das Boot" was a spectacular movie success in the 1980s — first in Germany, and then in the US. Moviegoers got a strong adrenaline rush through this claustrophobic German submarine mission set in 1941 in the Atlantic Ocean. The film was nominated for six Oscars.

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When the COVID-10 pandemic broke out a year ago, many people turned to movies depicting the outbreak of a mysterious, deadly illness.

Wolfgang Petersen's Outbreak from 1995 was one of those titles that suddenly reappeared on the list of most-watched movies, ranking for instance as the fourth most popular film on Netflix in the US on March 13, 2020. Featuring an all-star cast, including Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman and Donald Sutherland, the medical disaster film was packed with action, helicopter chases and explosions.

But things turned out to be comparatively quiet in real life; the film director who was born on March 14, 1941 in the seaport city of Emdem, in north-western Germany, spent the past year mostly isolated in his Los Angeles home.

Vaccinated against COVID-19 shortly before his 80th birthday, he now feels "really free," he told German press agency dpa, describing the experience of getting the shots as an "amazing" one. He was among the people vaccinated at the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, a vaccine super site, with 12,000 cars driving through every day and passengers getting vaccinated without even leaving their vehicle.

 

An unknown deadly illness hits the fictional small town of Cedar Creek in California: Here, Rene Russo in 'Outbreak'

The director of cult films 'Das Boot' and 'The NeverEnding Story'

Wolfgang Petersen's films combine solid skills with art — at least often enough to secure the northern German filmmaker a place of honor among Hollywood's foreign directors.

No other German director, apart from Roland Emmerich, has worked so successfully in the US since the end of World War II.

It all began with television, where Petersen learned the trade. At some point producers realized that the friendly young director held more promise than simply creating solid TV fare — and asked whether Petersen might be interested in filming the lengthy war novel Das Boot by Lothar-Günther Buchheim. He said yes, and the rest is history: Das Boot was a huge success at home and abroad when it was released in 1981. The German film was even nominated for six Oscars.

In 1984, Peterson completed his next film, The NeverEnding Story — the most expensive film in German film history back then — back home in Germany. Just a year later, he was already working for an American studio, albeit in a film studio in Munich, where he shot the sci-fi film Enemy Mine.
Working with the Hollywood greats

Petersen's first real Hollywood movie was Shattered, in 1991. But it was In the Line of Fire two years later, a movie starring Clint Eastwood as a secret service agent, that made a difference.

Top US film stars including Dustin Hoffman, Harrison Ford, Glenn Close, George Clooney, Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt followed Petersen's direction over the following years. He had gained the reputation of being a reliable worker and a compassionate colleague.

Petersen never made a secret of his enthusiasm for the US. He explained it probably went back to the post-war era, when Germans were so fed up and demoralized by everything that had happened during WWII. In contrast, "These Americans on their ships, well-fed and laughing, were a salvation," he once said. For him, the Americans were "representatives of a better world, rich, powerful and friendly."

"That was deeply engrained in me," he added — a gratitude still noticeable many decades after the war in his patriotic US film Air Force One.

Petersen's last Hollywood film was the 2016 Poseidon. A decade later, he returned to Germany to direct the crime comedy Vier gegen die Bank (Four Against the Bank), starring four of Germany's most popular actors, Til Schweiger, Matthias Schweighöfer, Michael "Bully" Herbig and Jan Josef Liefers.

Not planning on retiring any time soon, the 80-year-old filmmaker still has projects up his sleeve. He told dpa that the film he is now working on is a love story between a KGB agent and a young East German woman, set shortly before the Berlin Wall was built and based on a true story. While the production was interrupted because of the pandemic, Petersen hopes to get to shoot the film, with scenes set in Germany, Moscow and the Ukraine, during the summer of 2022.

Opinion: After Fukushima, Germany must avoid nuclear energy

Ten years ago, Chancellor Angela Merkel decided unilaterally to dismantle all of the nuclear plants in Germany. Nobody has ever seriously questioned the decision, DW's Jens Thurau writes.



Germany has always had a very active anti-nuclear energy movement

According to the story from Berlin, on March 11, 2011, Chancellor Angela Merkel was in her office when alarming news started trickling in from Japan. She saw the devastating images of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Fukushimaand did something that she had rarely done in all her years in power.

Jens Thurau

Having built a reputation for always seeking consensus, she decided on her own to put an end to nuclear energy in Germany. Against the wishes of her party, to the horror of the energy sector and her party's liberal coalition party. Just like that.

At the time, there were 17 nuclear power stations in operation in Germany. Today there are six. The plan is for there to be none by the end of 2022.

Nuclear energy in Germany will soon be a thing of the past and it's hard to imagine that this might change in future. Younger generations might find it difficult to appreciate the heated debates there have been over this technical possibility for producing energy.

An infographic shows the status of nuclear plants around the world

Energy transition begins

Just a few months before the Fukushima disaster, Merkel's coalition government had decided to delay a decision to phase out nuclear energy in Germany by extending the lifespan of the country's reactors. So, the chancellor's announcement to put a moratorium on this extension and eventually close down all the reactors in the country marked an abrupt change of direction.

Germany embarked on a major transition toward lower-carbon and more environmentally sound energy. The idea was to develop wind and solar energy and to start phasing out coal as well. Ten years later, the transition is slow, with many feuding stakeholders involved, driven by international promises to be carbon-neutral by 2050.

It is surprising that there has never been a debate to call into question the decision to go ahead with this transition. Other countries reacted very differently to the nuclear disaster in Japan. France, the US and China continue to operate aging nuclear reactors. New reactors are very expensive and hard to impose on populations, at least in democracies.

But Germany has always had a very active anti-nuclear energy movement. For decades, activists campaigned against the building of a repository for nuclear waste in Gorleben in Lower Saxony and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 also shocked Germany. Fukushima was the final straw. Merkel knew this.

The country is now looking for another site to build a nuclear waste facility. Only in the middle of the century will the radioactive waste from nuclear reactors, which is sometimes stored in the plants themselves, disappear into the earth forever. At least, that's what those in charge hope. The former Asse salt mine where low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste has been stored for years is one of the most impressive and expensive sites of its type in the world.


An infographic shows the prognosis for energy costs using various technologies by 2030

A nuclear-free Germany

The few advocates of nuclear energy who remain keep saying that an industrial nation such as Germany will not meet the ambitious international climate goals with wind and solar energy alone. They argue that new nuclear reactors will be necessary. However, there is not much to justify such arguments: Nuclear plants are expensive, they require inordinate amounts of water for cooling, and they are monsters in an energy landscape that is becoming increasingly decentralized, particularly in poorer countries.

Anyone who has visited the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and experienced the oppressive silence in the death zone around the damaged reactor and in the nearby city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine, once home to 50,000 people, might draw the conclusion that Merkel's decision 10 years ago was right. The German chancellor was acting on political instinct. She never got involved in the heated ideological debates about nuclear energy but simply stated coolly that the stakes and costs of "carrying on” like before were too high.

Merkel understood that the population did not want the nuclear plants. This remains the case 10 years after Fukushim

WHERE IS THE JOB RESKILLING
Germany's VW announces job cuts as part of 'green' shakeup

The Wolfsburg-based auto giant says it is making savings to invest in new technologies as EU regulators crack down on emissions. A deal with trade unions prevents any forced layoffs before the end of this decade.



VW says it will boost investment in green technologies

The German automaker Volkswagen announced on Sunday that it will cut thousands of jobs to free up funds for investment in electric vehicles and other new technologies.

The Wolfsburg-based VW plans to focus on e-mobility, hybrid cars, a seamless software-based vehicle operating system and self-driving technologies.

The job cuts are part of VW's strategy to regain its crown as the world's largest carmaker as it enters a new green era. VW and its subsidiaries sold 9.3 million cars in 2020.

Toyota pipped to the top spot last year, selling 9.5 million units.

What has been agreed?

An agreement struck with labor unions will see savings through early retirement or semiretirement. A previous deal rules out any forced layoffs until the end of this decade.


Unions have already agreed a pact to prevent forced layoffs until the end of this decade

The German financial newspaper Handlesblatt reported on Sunday that the plans will cost some €500 million ($597 million) and 5,000 people could leave the company.

Volkswagen declined to give an overall figure, saying only it expected up to 900 workers to opt for early retirement and that thousands could take semiretirement.

The firm also extended a hiring freeze until the end of 2021. It had previously only been in place until the first quarter.

External hires can only be made in areas like electric cars, digitalization and battery cell development, the company said in a statement.

VW says COVID-19 woes 'successfully contained'

Volkswagen's personnel chief, Gunnar Kilian, said the firm's "continued strict cost management" would allow executives to "finance the necessary investments in the future."

Watch video 01:23 VW teams up with Microsoft

The firm, which also includes the Porsche, Audi and Seat subsidiaries, has earmarked nearly half of its €150 billion of its research and development budget for the plan.

Executives told investors last month that they believed that the effects of the coronavirus pandemic has been "'successfully contained."

They also pointed to the "rapid recovery" of Volkswagen's highly-profitable Chinese operations that had helped the corporation weather the recent economic turmoil.

Why are carmakers trying to go green?

A global clampdown on polluting technologies helped to trigger the company's renewed commitment to going green.

That was brought about, in part, by the diesel pollution scandal in 2015 that revealed the automaker had fitted some vehicles with cheat devices to pass emissions tests.

Watch video 02:36 VW gears up for global electric car production

EU regulators have set stringent emissions targets that will force Volkswagen to boost the proportion of hybrid and electric vehicles of its European car sales to 60% by 2030. That is up from a previous target of 40%.

It means car companies are bringing in low-emission technology, even for smaller mainstream models where profit margins are usually much lower.

Volkswagen said in October it was reviewing its ownership of its Italian sports car brand, Lamborghini, as part of the shake-up.

Opinion: China's autocrats end democracy in Hong Kong

VOTER SUPPRESSION 

CCP DOES IT BETTER THAN THE GOP

China's National People's Congress has passed new election rules for Hong Kong to ensure pro-Beijing forces can win the vote there. It's no longer a democracy, it just looks like one, says DW's Dang Yuan.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, top center, and Premier Li Keqiang, top center right, with other delegates during the closing session of the National People's Congress


China's Communist Party leaders and political theorists have never lacked imagination when it comes to making the impossible possible. In a bid to legitimize autocracy, they created new ideas that are full of contradictions.

The preamble of the Chinese constitution refers to China as a "people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class."

The economic system in place is a "socialist market economy," which combines private ownership (market) with a responsibility for the collective (socialism).

In the case of Hong Kong, they came up with "one country, two systems," "Hong Kong administration by Hong Kongers" and "a high-level of autonomy" — principles agreed upon by Beijing and London before the former British colony was handed over to China in 1997.

These principles resulted in Hong Kong's Basic Law, which meets international democratic standards

No popular sovereignty

The Basic Law, however, has a catch: The charter does provide for direct and general elections to elect the territory's parliament and chief executive, but it doesn't set a time frame for it to happen. This has given Beijing room to maneuver.

Free and representative elections are considered the benchmark for any democracy. In Hong Kong, elections do indeed take place, but always with an invisible player in action. The player's name does not appear anywhere, but pulls the strings everywhere.

The player wants to have everything under control in order to stifle even the slightest criticism at the outset. And its name is the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Since Hong Kong came under Chinese control, Beijing has prevented popular sovereignty in the territory. This is because only half of the 70-member city parliament is directly elected; the other half is appointed by selected community and social groups.

The election of the chief executive must be confirmed by a Beijing-friendly commission. The next legislative elections are scheduled for September, after they were delayed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. And the next chief executive election will be in 2022.

'One country, two systems,' 'Hong Kong administration by Hong Kongers' and 'a high-level of autonomy' are principles agreed upon by Beijing and London before the former British colony was handed over to China in 1997
Who is considered a 'patriot'?

The new resolution, passed on Thursday with 2,895 votes in favor, 0 against and one abstention, stipulates that all candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections, as well as candidates for the chief executive, will be screened for attitudes and approved by the same Beijing-friendly commission.

This is to ensure that all candidates for office are "patriots." To pick up on the propaganda's choice of words, "people who love the country rule Hong Kong." So not those who love Hong Kong, but the autocracy.

From Beijing's standpoint, opposition parties from the pro-democratic camp do not belong to the patriots.

After all, they criticize the Hong Kong administration's obedience to Beijing authorities and demand the right to general, free elections in accordance with the Basic Law.

Beijing wants to turn the Hong Kong City Parliament into a rubber-stamp legislature like the National People's Congress. Before the 1997 handover, China had promised to guarantee the rule of law in Hong Kong, but not to give way about who makes the laws.

VIDEO Beijing deals blow to Hong Kong electoral hopefuls

National law trumps regional law

In recent years, calls for direct elections have grown louder in Hong Kong. As a result, the pro-Beijing majority in the city parliament is no longer considered secure in the next elections.

That is why the CCP is now resorting to the last option: centralized legislation for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

From the outset, the Basic Law was placed within the framework of the Chinese constitution — national law simply trumps regional law.

In practice, however, this means an obvious violation of the principle of a "Hong Kong administration by Hong Kongers," and thus an agreement between China and Britain under international law.

How can the deputies in the Great Hall of the People determine Hong Kong election rules? The vast majority of them are neither elected by Hong Kongers, nor do they even understand the Hong Kong dialect.

In recent years, calls for direct elections have grown louder in Hong Kong
The underestimated autocrats

The National People's Congress already passed a law for Hong Kong last year, the so-called National Security Law for Hong Kong. Opposition politicians have been intimidated since the law came into force on June 30, 2020. Many of them have since been retroactively tried and imprisoned for allegedly "endangering state security." Others have fled the city fearing arrest.

The architects of Hong Kong's Basic Law wanted to ensure stability and prosperity in Hong Kong with the principle of one country, two systems.

In this democratic experiment, they completely underestimated the fact that the autocrats in Beijing are clearly in the driver's seat. And that the CCP leadership probably never seriously wanted to grant the people of Hong Kong what they had honestly hoped for after the end of the British colonial era: genuine democracy and self-government.

DW editor Dang Yuan writes under a pseudonym to protect himself and his family.

This article has been translated from German

World Leaders Urged To ‘Stop Ignoring Root Cause Of Pandemics’ And Address Risks Of Factory Farming

'It's become clear, that for complex matters of animal health, pharmaceutical responses are not the sole and long-term solution'

by Liam Giliver

Updated 12th March 2021

  

'More must be done to address the dysfunctional relationship between humans, animals, and nature' Credit: Adobe.

World leaders are being urged to ‘stop ignoring the root cause of pandemics’ and address the risks of factory farming.

Chiefs from organizations such as The World Health Organization (WHO) and The United Nations (UN) received a letter from FOUR PAWS.

It highlights how around 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases such as SARS come from animals – and that zoonoses cause a staggering one billion cases of illness in people and millions of deaths every year.
A ‘dysfunctional relationship’

“It’s become clear, that for complex matters of animal health, pharmaceutical responses are not the sole and long-term solution,” the letter reads.


“Instead, more must be done to address the dysfunctional relationship between humans, animals, and nature.”

FOUR PAWS says the conditions that a ‘huge proportion of animals’ are raised in ‘encourage pathogen excretion and uptake’.

Moreover, it says these ‘cramped and overcrowded’ environments create ‘an ideal situation for the exchange, genetic modification, and emergence of new pathogens’.
Prevent future pandemics

The letter continues: “While the recent outbreak was most likely from a live market… These conditions are reflected in almost every large-scale trade of animals.


“In light of the pandemic, your roles have become more relevant than ever. You can prescribe the necessary pathways to prevent future zoonotic disease outbreaks.

“This must cut across all sectors and societies as outlined in the points below. It’s imperative that we address the unsustainable use, financing, and promotion of animal exploitation. When they suffer, we suffer.”
Risks of factory farming

Moreover, the letter demands leaders to ban several practices such as fur farming, wet markets. And, calls for ‘a crackdown on risks created by factory farming’.

It also calls on the organizations to acknowledge the importance of reducing meat consumption. Citing both public health risks and the climate crisis.

You can read the full letter here

Liam Giliver
Liam is the Deputy Editor and Social Media Coordinator for Plant Based News. He has written for a number of top publications including Gay Times, Attitude Magazine, Oh Comely, and The Huffington Post - and is the author of 'We're Worried About

MORNING STAR, UK

CPGB
Editorial

Police violence on Clapham Common is a wake-up call to fight the Tories’ bid to ban protest



Police surround the band stand in Clapham Common, London, after the Reclaim These Streets vigil for Sarah Everard was officially cancelled

POLICE brutality unleashed on women holding a peaceful vigil to honour Sarah Everard will only inflame public anger.

Officers moved in, making arrests and trampling the flowers laid in memory of a young woman abducted and murdered — apparently by a policeman.

The Met’s attempt to defend this violence as a necessary Covid safety measure is disgraceful and authorities would do well to heed the message from women who chanted “Arrest your own” and “The police do not protect us.”

There is no blanket ban on protests under Covid safety regulations, and organisers of Reclaim These Streets tried to work with police to ensure a Covid-safe demonstration. Police cannot evade their responsibility for choosing to ban it.

These scenes should be a wake-up call ahead of this week’s parliamentary vote on the Policing, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

Labour’s announcement that it will oppose the Bill is welcome. The party’s original response — to complain that it doesn’t go far enough in increasing the penalties for attacks on police officers — suggested it would seek to compete with Priti Patel on “law and order” rather than mount a principled defence of our liberties against an increasingly overbearing state.

But a vote against is not enough. Public pressure must be raised to demonstrate the strength of opposition to the Tories’ authoritarian plans.

The call for a demonstration against violence against women tomorrow in Parliament Square is an important signal that women will not be silenced — and will continue to organise protest despite the state’s attempts to shut these down.

Tory MPs must be confronted with the weekend’s events and asked how they justify a dramatic increase in arbitrary police power.

The government says it wishes to grant police additional powers to “tackle non-violent protests that have a significant disruptive effect.”

Its motive is the same that led it to appoint Labour turncoat John Woodcock to direct a probe into “violent extremism” that equates far-right terror on the one hand with “climate change activist groups … overstepping the mark into anti-social behaviour” on the other.

The new Bill will intensify racial oppression in Britain.

It expands measures such as stop and search which are proven to result in increased police harassment of black people. It outlines additional powers to break up Gypsy and Traveller camps.

And an extraordinary increase in custodial sentences for damage to monuments shows a determination to wage culture war against the anti-racist movement after the year Black Lives Matter swept the world.

The Bill continues the work of the Spycops and Overseas Operations legislation in strengthening the repressive apparatus of the state.

It is not unconnected from the drive towards greater state and corporate censorship of alternative media.

Both are a response to the loss of public confidence in the political and economic system. The role of coercion in maintaining capitalist rule is growing as popular consent to it diminishes.

Britain’s rulers are acutely aware of this loss of legitimacy. In their distinct ways, the vote to leave the European Union and the resurgence of a mass socialist movement under the banner of Corbynism both spoke to a popular mood of revolt against the status quo.

The defeat of the latter has weakened the specifically socialist character of that revolt, but the pandemic has highlighted acute inequalities of sex, race and class.

The Black Lives Matter movement and now the public outcry over violence against women are exposing the integral role of racism and sexism in the existing system.

The burgeoning environmentalist movement is underlining its unsustainable character.

Capitalism cannot address these concerns. It seeks to repress them instead. Stopping it from doing so is a task for all of us.

We must stand with the women who will not be silenced over the despicable murder of Sarah Everard. And we must unite to fight back against a policing law aimed at criminalising protest.

Risk of death for men 60% higher than for women in study of 28 countries

CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL

Research News

 

A large study of people in 28 countries found men aged 50 and over had a 60% greater risk of death than women, partly explained by heavier rates of smoking and heart disease in men, although the gap varied across countries, according to new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) .

"Many studies have examined the potential impact of social, behavioural and biological factors on sex differences in mortality, but few have been able to investigate potential variation across countries," writes Dr. Yu-Tzu Wu, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, and Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, United Kingdom, with coauthors. "Different cultural traditions, historical contexts, and economic and societal development may influence gender experiences in different countries, and thus variably affect the health status of men and women."

The study examined different socioeconomic (education, wealth), lifestyle (smoking, alcohol consumption), health (heart diseases, diabetes, hypertension and depression) and social (spouse, living alone) factors that might contribute to the mortality gap between men and women aged 50 and older. The data included more than 179,000 people across 28 countries and more than half (55%) were women.

"[T]he effects of sex on mortality should include not only physiologic variation between men and women but also the social construct of gender, which differs across societies. In particular, the large variation across countries may imply a greater effect of gender than sex. Although the biology of the sexes is consistent across populations, variation in cultural, societal and historical contexts can lead to different life experiences of men and women and variation in the mortality gap across countries."

The findings are consistent with the literature on life expectancy and death rates.

"The heterogeneity of sex differences in mortality across countries may indicate the substantial impact of gender on healthy aging in addition to biological sex, and the crucial contributions of smoking may also vary across different populations," write the authors.

The researchers recommend that public health policies should account for sex- and gender-based differences and the influence of social and cultural factors on health.

###

National poll: Pandemic has negatively impacted teens' mental health

Nearly half of parents have noticed a new or worsening mental health condition in their teen since the pandemic started; 3 in 4 say COVID-19 has negatively affected teens' social interactions.

MICHIGAN MEDICINE - UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Research News

 

IMAGE: PARENTS OF TEEN GIRLS WERE MORE LIKELY TO SAY THEIR CHILD HAD A NEW ONSET OR WORSENING OF DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS AND ANXIETY THAN PARENTS OF TEEN BOYS. view more 

CREDIT: C.S. MOTT CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL NATIONAL POLL ON CHILDREN'S HEALTH AT MICHIGAN MEDICINE.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - For teens, pandemic restrictions may have meant months of virtual school, less time with friends and canceling activities like sports, band concerts and prom.

And for young people who rely heavily on social connections for emotional support, these adjustments may have taken a heavy toll on mental health, a new national poll suggests.

Forty-six percent of parents say their teen has shown signs of a new or worsening mental health condition since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, according to the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health at Michigan Medicine. Parents of teen girls were more likely to say their child had a new onset or worsening of depressive symptoms and anxiety than parents of teen boys.

"Just as young people are at the age of being biologically primed to seek independence from their families, COVID-19 precautions have kept them at home," says poll co-director and Mott pediatrician Gary L. Freed, M.D., M.P.H.

"Pandemic-related lifestyle changes have wreaked havoc on teens' lives, with many experiencing disruptions to their normal routines. Our poll suggests that pandemic-era changes may have had a significant mental health impact for some teenagers."

The nationally representative report is based on responses from 977 parents of teens ages 13-18.

One in three teen girls and one in five teen boys have experienced new or worsening anxiety, the poll suggests. More parents of teen girls than parents of teen boys note an increase in anxiety/worry (36% vs. 19%) or depression/sadness (31% vs. 18%).

But similar proportions of parents report negative changes in their teen's sleep (24% for girls vs. 21% for boys), withdrawing from family (14% vs. 13%) and aggressive behavior (8% vs. 9%).

Recent research has shown teen depression during the pandemic to be associated with teens' own fears and uncertainties, as well as high levels of parental stress, Freed notes.

"Isolation during the pandemic may be triggering new problems for some teens but for others, the situation has exacerbated existing emotional health issues," Freed says.

Parents in the poll say their kids seem hardest hit by changes in social interactions over the last year, with three in four reporting a negative impact on their teen's connections to friends.

Many parents say their teens have been texting (64%), using social media (56%), online gaming (43%), and talking on the phone (35%) every day or almost every day. Few parents say their teens have been getting together in person with friends daily or almost every day, indoors (9%) or outdoors (6%).

"Peer groups and social interactions are a critical part of development during adolescence. But these opportunities have been limited during the pandemic," Freed says. "Many teens may feel frustrated, anxious and disconnected due to social distancing and missing usual social outlets, like sports, extracurricular activities and hanging out with friends."

Parents who note negative changes in their teens' mental health have tried different strategies to help their teen, the Mott Poll suggests, including relaxing COVID-19 rules and family rules on social media, seeking professional help and even using mental health apps.

"Parents play a critical role in helping their teens cope with the stress of the pandemic," Freed says. "There are strategies parents can engage to help, whether or not their teen is showing signs of problems. One of the most important things for parents to do is keep lines of communication open; ask their teen how they are doing and create the space for them to speak honestly so they can provide help when needed."

More Mott Poll findings on methods parents have used to improve children's mental health and what Mott experts recommend:

1. Relaxing family rules

Half of parents have tried relaxing family COVID-19 rules to allow their teen to have more contact with friends, with most (81%) saying it has helped. Freed says families should encourage social interactions that follow COVID-19 safety guidelines, such as spending time outside or participating in activities wearing masks and socially distanced.

Half of parents have also loosened social media restrictions - and most (70%) say it helped. Experts recommend that families allow teens to engage with peers on age-appropriate platforms but to continue providing boundaries to ensure screen time doesn't interfere with other health-related behaviors, such as physical activity and sleep. This could mean banning electronics close to bedtime, encouraging or only allowing social media use during designated times of the day.

2. Talking to an expert

One in four parents sought help for their teen from a mental health provider, with three-fourths feeling it helped.

A third of parents also talked to teachers or school counselors, with over half (57%) saying that strategy was helpful.

"Teens may experience a wide range of severity of mental health problems, but if parents hear their teen express any thoughts of suicide or self-harm, they should seek mental health assistance immediately," Freed says.

3. Trying a Web-based program

A quarter of parents encouraged their teen to try a web-based program or app to improve their mental health, and 60% say it has helped. A third of parents in the poll also looked for information online (58% say it helped.)

Apps may make therapy more accessible, efficient, and portable, Freed notes, but parents should consult their primary care provider or other trusted sources for app recommendations as well as for online resources about teen mental health.

4. Keeping communication open but also giving space

One in seven parents in the poll reported their teen has withdrawn from family since the start of the pandemic.

Parents may try to show teens they're not alone by sharing some of their own worries and successful strategies that help them cope while asking questions that create a safe space for candid conversations.

At the same time, Freed notes, it's also normal for teens to crave privacy from their family. Giving them space for some quiet time, creative time or music time can be helpful to their mental health.

5. Encouraging sleep hygiene

Child health experts emphasize the importance of sleep for teens, especially when they are under stress. Almost one in four parents in the Mott Poll say their teens were experiencing negative changes in their sleep since the pandemic started.

Experts recommend helping teens craft a healthy and productive routine to their days and nights - whether they're in virtual or in-person school. This includes a regular sleep and wake cycle that fits with their online learning schedule, other responsibilities around the house and their interactions with peers and family. Making time to get outside is also helpful in regulating sleep.

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Model predicts urban development and greenhouses gasses will fuel urban floods

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

When rain began falling in northern Georgia on Sept. 15, 2009, little did Atlantans know that they would bear witness to epic flooding throughout the city. Neighborhoods, like Peachtree Hills, were submerged; Georgia's busiest expressway was underwater, as were roads and bridges; untreated sewage mingled with rising flood waters; cars and people were swept away. Then-Georgia-governor, Sonny Perdue, declared a state of emergency.

Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico fueled the flood of 2009. A decade later, Arizona State University researchers are asking whether a combination of urban development--and climate change fueled by greenhouse gasses--could bring about comparable scenarios in U.S. cities. Based on a just-published study, the answer is yes.

"When we account for these twin forcing agents of environmental change, the effect of the built environment and the effect of greenhouse gasses, we note a strong tendency toward increased extreme precipitation over future US metropolitan regions," said Matei Georgescu, associate professor in ASU's School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning and lead author of the study.

Previous studies have shown that urban development modifies precipitation, thanks to what's known as the urban heat-island effect, the difference between the temperature in a city and the surrounding rural area. As a city grows, it gets warmer. The added warmth adds energy to the air, which forces it to rise faster, condense, form precipitation and rain out over the city or downwind of the city. So, the amount of precipitation a city receives either increases or decreases in response to the urban heat-island effect.

However, when greenhouse gasses and urban development are both taken into account, regional climate modeling focused on the continental United States shows compensating impacts between the effect of urban development and greenhouse gas emissions on extreme precipitation.

The study was published online in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

Researchers have not previously looked at these two variables in tandem. Studies on future precipitation over urban environments typically examine effects for a limited number of events, and they do not account for the twin forcing agents of urban- and greenhouse-gas induced climate change.

"This new study is unique," said Georgescu. "We used climate-scale simulations with a regional climate model to examine potential changes in future extreme precipitation resulting from both urban expansion and increases in greenhouse gasses, across dozens of cities across the continental United States."

In essence, the new study showed that incorporating greenhouse gasses into a regional climate model offset the sometimes-diminishing effect of urban development on extreme precipitation, said Georgescu.

"These are the effects our cities are likely to experience when accounting for the twin forcing agents of urban expansion and greenhouse gas emissions, simultaneously," explained Georgescu. "What this means for U.S. cities in the future is the need for a consistent response to an increase in extreme precipitation. We're no longer likely to see a decrease in precipitation as we've seen before."

Like Atlanta, cities across the U.S., including Denver, Phoenix and Houston, appear to be vulnerable to extreme precipitation and its resultant flooding. Georgescu said the study's findings show the pressing need for cities to develop policies to address flooding that threatens each city's unique resilience and planned infrastructure investments.

"If we trust the models' capability to simulate average and extreme precipitation so well, and our results demonstrate such simulation skill, then we can conduct simulations that include future urbanization, future greenhouse gasses, separately and then together, and trust what the model will tell us," explained Georgescu.

But it's not just about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, he noted. "It's also about how you build cities. How extensive they are, how vertical they are, how dense they are, how much vegetation there is, how much waste heat you put into the environment through electricity use, through air conditioning, or through transportation. All of these things can impact future precipitation in our cities."

In fact, the study has important implications for climate change adaptation and planning. The study highlights the complex and regionally specific ways in which the competing forces of greenhouse gases and urban development can impact rainfall across U.S. metropolitan regions, explained Ashley Broadbent, assistant research professor in ASU's School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning.

"This complexity reinforces that future adaptation efforts must be informed by simulations that account for these interacting agents of environmental change," he said.

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Additional study authors include M. Wang and M. Moustaoui, ASU; and E. Scott Krayenhoff, ASU and University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation through the Urban Water Innovation Network.