It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Reporters looking for insight and research around the phenomena of "missing white woman syndrome," please see comments from Syracuse University professor of communications Carol Liebler of the Newhouse School.
"Missing white woman syndrome" is a term that refers to the practice of news media focusing exclusively on the missing person cases of white women. This is not to say these cases are not newsworthy but rather that similar cases of Black, Latino and Indigenous men and women get overlooked or not given the same sort of intense coverage.
Liebler, who has studied this issue and has commented on it as early as the Jon Benet Ramsey case, says that "missing white woman syndrome" or MWWS, is nothing new and it is time to start delving deeper into the factors that cause it.
"The news media have once again 'discovered' the MWWS following criticism of their saturation coverage of Gabby Petito. We should not be satisfied with this self-reflection, as it's happened before after other similar cases," said Lielber.
"The causes for MWWS are complex and reflective of dominant ideologies of white supremacy and beauty ideals. It's not just that Gabby Petito was white: She was young, thin, fit, blond. In other words, she fit societal definitions of beauty," said Liebler.
"News media are extremely reliant on law enforcement in covering missing people. My research shows that police, not journalists, are the real gatekeepers in determining which missing people media pay attention to," said Liebler. "Racial and misogynistic biases in police work are then reflected in what missing person cases are communicated to news media. Families are often shut out because news media rely on official sources."
Mondello, Palermo, PA, Italy. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain
How should we relate to the traditional historiography on ancient Sicily? The prevailing view has been that the indigenous population had neither territory, power nor economic resources. But with the aid of interdisciplinary methods, a new thesis shows that trade was a big part of the economy for the inhabitants of the settlement of Monte Polizzo.
In general, historiography concerning ancient Sicily is overwhelmingly Greco-centric, i.e. focused on its Greek immigrants. Because the indigenous population's architectonic remains are relatively invisible, whilst those of the Greek immigrants are monumental, the accepted historiography has been that the indigenous population had neither territory, power nor economic resources. It was instead accepted that as soon as the Greeks had established themselves on the island (on the western side in 628 BCE) they colonized and controlled the majority of the Sicilian lowlands, the economy and thus also the indigenous population.
This outlook has contributed to an imbalance and a distorted picture of the role of the indigenous population—the people that Greek historian Thukydides called the Elymians—in the natural, cultural and economic landscapes of western Sicily during the Archaic period (700-500 BCE), according to Cecilia Sandström, a doctoral student in classical archaeology and ancient history at the University of Gothenburg.
"My aim with the thesis was to shift the focus. The indigenous population should not be viewed as a homogeneous group but as independent actors with their own agendas, tastes and preferences."
Monte Polizzo abandoned after a fire
The site of her study is the Elymian settlement of Monte Polizzo, situated in western Sicily and strategically positioned on a mountain, about 700 meters above sea level and around 20 km from the west coast—midway between the Phoenician settlement of Motya, the Greek settlement of Selinunte and the bigger Elymian settlement of Segesta.
"Monte Polizzo was only inhabited for 75 years, between 625 and 550 BCE. The roughly 20 hectare settlement was abandoned after a major fire that destroyed every building except the religious temple at the acropolis."
Interdisciplinary methods
Cecilia Sandström has used interdisciplinary methods in her study. In addition to the archaeological material, which clearly shows trade contacts with the various peoples of the Mediterranean, she used palynological, macrobotanical and geomorphological analyses of the neighboring landscape, and charted the conditions for trade at the site. A further important factor was her investigation of whether the rivers were navigable and could be used as transport routes.
"The inhabitants of Monte Polizzo were themselves active traders," says Cecilia Sandström.
Large number of amphorae
The large number of imported transport amphorae (the two-handled vessels that were common in ancient times) deviate from the fairly modest amphorae material found at other indigenous settlements in the area.
"A common idea in the research tradition is that the content of these imported amphorae was only for the elite, who often received them as gifts from Greeks and Phoenicians, but there is no evidence for this gift-giving system at Monte Polizzo. The findings instead show that trading was an important part of the settlement's economy."
A very unusual factor in comparison with Greek, Phoenician and other Elymian settlements in western Sicily is the fact that a very large number of amphorae (mostly Etruscan) are scattered across the whole settlement—not just in temples and 'wealthy' houses.
"The variation in the origins of the amphorae also shows that the people there had access to different networks that could be indirectly reached through the Greek and Phoenician settlements. But the study also shows that there were many opportunities for direct contacts via the rivers' estuaries."
Ecological and economic conditions
Studies of the ecological and economic conditions in the area investigated reveal unique findings.
"The fact that the local economy at Monte Polizzo comprised animal husbandry and agricultural products, which were possibly exported together with timber, is not surprising per se. River sediment analyses, however, show that in fact they totally deforested their surrounding area, and that they farmed the land so intensively that the fertile, humus-rich soil was completed eroded away in less than 75 years."
Furthermore, the geomorphological studies show that large parts of the area between the west coast and the interior where Monte Polizzo was situated started to turn into marshes.
"But whether diseases such as "Mal'aria," which is documented in Sicily during the 5th century BCE, were already rife as early as in the 6th century BCE cannot yet be proven. In combination with the deforestation and the less fertile soil left behind by the Elymians, this was perhaps reason enough to leave the site, and meant that it was never settled again."
Thesis: Encountering Environments: Natural conditions for subsistence and trade at Monte Polizzo, Sicily, 650-550 BC was publicly defended on 24 September.
In order to investigate how the use of biochar affects the soil, it is sieved through. The meshes of the sieve measure two millimetres. Credit: Damian Gorczany
Ensuring a steady food supply is a problem in many regions of Africa—and the strong population growth will only exacerbate it in the future. Yet the agricultural sector could definitely produce greater yields. Experts estimate that current harvests are 20 to 60 percent lower than they could be.
One of the reasons is the poor soil quality. Isaac Asirifi, a doctoral student at the RUB Department of Soil Science and Soil Ecology headed by Professor Bernd Marschner, is exploring how this can be improved. Having already worked as a Master's student on the previous project Urban Food plus, which was completed in 2018, he is now devoting himself to the biological aspects of soil quality in different vegetation zones in Ghana.
Too much and not enough
"Many vegetable farmers in urban Ghana water their dry soils with wastewater, which is not only contaminated by heavy metals and other substances, but also very nutrient-rich due to feces," explains Asirifi. "Yet they also use mineral fertilizers—it's all way too much, and fails to meet the real needs." There is no soil management, the way the scholarship holder of the German Academic Exchange Service got to know it while conducting research in Germany.
To find out how to improve soil quality, Isaac Asirifi focused on three vegetation zones in Ghana and took soil samples there: in the coastal savannah in the south-east of the country, in the mixed deciduous forest in the heartland, and in the Guinea savannah in the north, where it rains only once a year. The studies have shown that one problem in particular stands in the way of high-yield harvests: the pH level is much too low. "The soils are too acidic to be a good habitat for microorganisms that contribute to soil fertility in many ways," he explains. "They eat, breathe, consume energy, and they give a lot back to the soil, for example phosphorus or nitrogen, both of which plants need to grow."
Preincubation of ash and calcium carbonate (CaCO2) treated soil for the liming experiment Credit: Damian Gorczany
The potential of harvest residues
There is a way to make it easier for them: biochar. "In Ghana, plant residues that can't be eaten or fed to livestock aren't used after harvesting, but are simply burned," says Asirifi. This also creates the problem that a lot of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, which fuels climate change. But there is great potential in the crop residues: if they are burnt in containers in the absence of oxygen, biochar is produced. It can be made from anything left over from the harvest, and no complex or expensive technology is needed. "If it is introduced into the top 15 to 25 centimeters of the soil, it works its magic," explains Asirifi. That means: once applied, it improves soil quality for years to come.
Analytical methods for determining plant-available nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil and biochar Credit: Damian Gorczany
"It's not so much that the biochar itself adds nutrients to the soil, like when you add compost," continues Asirifi. Rather, the charcoal ensures that microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi can settle and thrive more easily. "It reduces acidity, and the many small cavities in the biochar provide protection from predators." In addition, it doesn't wash out. As a result, introducing biochar once has a positive effect on soil quality for years to come, whereas compost has to be spread anew almost every year. A welcome side effect is that the carbon contained in the biochar remains bound in the soil and is not released into the atmosphere as is the case with open burning.
Studies of soil samples have shown that the carbon content in the top ten centimeters of soil, which was 0.8 percent without biochar, increased by 60 to 70 percent after the biochar was incorporated.
Ultrasonic vortexing for the extraction of extracellular enzymes from the biochar Credit: Damian Gorczany
A quarter more yield
Isaac Asirifi still considers the amount of biochar needed for soil improvement to be problematic. Calculations show that 20 tons per hectare of cultivated land would be needed to improve the quality significantly. "That's almost impossible for the local people to achieve," says Asirifi, who, however, also knows a way to solve the problem: namely by supplementing the biochar with ash. There is no shortage of that, as about 80 percent of all Ghanaian families cook with wood or coal fires. By mixing 0.5 to one percent ash into the biochar and spreading the mixture on the fields, ten to 15 tons per hectare of land will suffice—a feasible amount, as Asirifi estimates. Farmland treated in this way yields about a quarter more than an untreated one.
The structure of the biochar can be seen under the microscope. It offers a lot of space for microorganisms. Credit: Isaac Asirifi
While in Germany, he is currently researching soil biology in greater depth using sophisticated analytical technology. Back in Ghana, he wants to help ensure that the findings are applied in practice. Application notes, target group discussions and workshops with stakeholders such as ministerial staff are being planned.Unconventional farming methods could help smallholders fight back against climate change
But that connection also is an opportunity. Protecting places that are both carbon- and species-rich can help slow climate change and biodiversity loss at the same time. For example, in a June 2021 report, U.N. biodiversity experts urged nations to establish strict protected areas and govern forests through "locally adjusted sustainable management practices."
I study Mexican community forests, and believe they are the world's best model of local sustainable management. My research over 30 years has shown that when Indigenous and local communities control their forests for commercial timber production, both humans and the land benefit.
This 2014 image, derived from ground-based and satellite images, shows the amount of organic carbon stored in the trunks, limbs and leaves of trees in Mexico. The darkest greens reveal the areas with the densest, tallest and most robust forest growth. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
As a result of the 1911–1917 Mexican Revolution, ownership of around 60% of the nation's forests, totaling some 104 million acres (42 million hectares), was transferred to local communities. Over the following decades, reformers subsidized equipment and provided training in logging and business for the people who took over these important resources. Community members seized the opportunity.
This decades-long experiment, with government support and market incentives, has produced surprising results. Today Mexican community forest enterprises administer their common property woodlands at a scale and current maturity unparalleled anywhere else in the world.
Cutting down trees may seem like a counterintuitive way to slow climate change and species loss, but in Mexico it works. Community forest businesses sell profitable products like timber and bottled spring water. Some 1,600 communities sustainably log over 17 million acres of forest. They carefully select only certain trees for harvesting so that forests will vigorously regrow.
Measuring results
Research shows that Mexico's model supports conservation. One study of 733 municipalities in eight states found that deforestation rates were lower in managed forests with high percentages of commonly owned land. Community forests in the tropical state of Quintana Roo have lower deforestation rates than public protected areas in southern Mexico, using logging practices that preserve habitat for wintering migratory birds.
A worker measures logs harvested from community forests in Durango. Credit: David Bray, CC-BY-ND
In the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca, 23 communities with a total area of over 500,000 acres have zoned their territory so that 78% of it is forested for sustainable production and conservation, leaving the remainder for agriculture and other uses.
The Sierra Norte community of Pueblos Mancomunados manages its 78,000 acres mostly as a community park focused on ecotourism. Foresters cut trees only to control bark beetle outbreaks. Zapotec Indigenous people have lived here for over 1,000 years, and residents have practiced sustainable logging for decades.
Over a 20-year period, from 1993 to 2013, the thickly forested landscape of Sierra Norte has also produced 3 million metric tons of timber and carbon, mostly stored in furniture and construction materials. By storing carbon in long-lasting products, sustainably managed forests actually capture more carbon than strictly conserved forests
These operations also benefit local economies. In a 2019 study, Mexican researcher Juan Manuel Torres-Rojo and colleagues found that in a sample of over 5,000 Mexican forest communities, government support for forestry, particularly for investments in social and human capital, significantly reduced poverty.
The most serious challenges confronting community forests are the impacts of organized crime. Gangs charge communities in several states protection money and reportedly have physically taken over community forest businesses in some northern states.
Illegal logging is also a serious problem, but it is concentrated in communities that are not managing their forests. Mexican community forests are less vulnerable to stresses like the deforestation, fire and drought that threaten large swaths of the Amazon basin because neighboring communities depend on their forests for their livelihoods and constantly monitor them.
Giving communities control helps land
Governments of developing countries often have little money to manage protected land. Giving communities control over valuable forests and the resources to manage them is an affordable alternative.
Mexico's community forests sustain themselves and generate profits. They do not depend on government subsidies, although they have received them over the years, as a pro-community forest public policy initiative. In my view, mobilizing community collective action around timber—a product that, unlike most small farmer crops, virtually always has a good price—is a market-oriented way to stop deforestation and conserve biodiversity.
However, many governments don't have the political will to give this kind of ownership, management authority, training and equipment to local communities. I believe that if the results achieved in Mexico were more widely known, they could help convince other governments that promoting community forestry can deliver political stability, poverty reduction and a more livable climate.
Scientists have shown that orangutan call signals believed to be closest to the precursors to human language, travel through forest over long distances without losing their meaning. This throws into question the accepted mathematical model on the evolution of human speech according to researchers from the University of Warwick.
The currently accepted model, developed by mathematicians, predicts that human ancestors strung sounds together in their calls in order to increase their chances of carrying a signal's content to a recipient over distance. Because signal quality degrades over larger distances, it is proposed that human ancestors started linking sounds together to effectively convey a package of information even if it is distorted.
Researchers from the University of Warwick's Department of Psychology set out to collect empirical data to investigate the model. They selected a range of sounds from previously collected audio recordings of orangutan communications. Specific consonant-like and vowel-like signals were played out and re-recorded across the rainforest at set distances of 25, 50, 75 and 100 meters. The quality and content of the signals received were analyzed. The results are revealed in the study "Orangutan information broadcast via consonant-like and vowel-like calls breaches mathematical models of linguistic evolution" published today in Biology Letters.
The team found that although the quality of the signal may have degraded, the content of the signal was still intact—even at long distance. In fact the informational characteristics of calls remained uncompromised until the signal became inaudible. This calls into question the existing and accepted theory of language development.
Dr. Adriano Lameira, an evolutionary psychologist from the University of Warwick, led the study. He said:
"We used our bank of audio data recordings from our studies of orangutan in Indonesia. We selected the clear vowel-like and consonant-like signals and played them out and re-recorded them over measured distances in a rainforest setting. The purpose of this study was to look at the signals themselves and understand how they behaved as a package of information. This study is neat because it is only across distance that you can hope to assess this error limit theory—it disregards other aspects of communication like gestures, postures, mannerisms and facial expressions.
"The results show that these signals seem to be impervious to distance when it comes to encoding information.
"It calls into question the existing thinking based on the model set out 20 years ago by Harvard scientists. Their work assumes that the signals that our ancestors were using were reaching an error limit—a moment when a signal is received but stops being meaningful. They concluded that our ancestors linked sounds together to increase the chance of content traveling over distance.
"We know sound degrades the further away from the source you are. We have all experienced this effect when shouting for your relative or your friend. They don't hear all the words you say—but they recognize you are talking to them and that it is your voice. By using actual great ape communication sounds, which are the closest to those used by our hominid ancestors, we have shown that although the sound package is being distorted and pushed apart, the content remains unaltered. It's a call to the scientific community to start thinking again about how language evolved."
Dr. Adriano Lameira and his team used orangutan calls because they were the first species to diverge from the great ape lineage but are the only great ape which uses the vowel and consonant like sounds in a complex way—giving a parallel with human speech.
His research team is now moving on to deciphering the meaning of their calls. The research involves pulling together all the ways orangutan combine calls, putting the consonant and vowel sounds together to get meaning.
He said: "We still don't know what they are referring to, but right now what is completely clear is that the building blocks of language are present. Although other animal sounds and signals are complex, they are not using the same building blocks. We are focussed here on the building of language—exactly the component the great apes use. It gives us the parallel to human language.
"The Harvard model has been the accepted theory for years and if you ask a mathematician if language origins were still a puzzle they'd say no—but evolutionary psychologists are still working on it. But we haven't solved the puzzle either—if anything we have just gone deeper down the rabbit hole.
Chinese President Xi Jinping recently announced at the UN General Assembly that China "will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad."
Chinese banks have already swung into gear. Three days after Xi's speech, the Bank of China declared it would no longer provide financing for new coal mining and power projects outside China from the last quarter of 2021.
Xi's statement is expected to affect at least 54 gigawatts of proposed China-backed coal plants that are not yet under construction. Shelving these would save CO₂ emissions equivalent to three months of global emissions.
This pledge from the world's largest public financier of overseas coal plants could usher in a new era of low-carbon development. But that depends on what happens in the countries where China had funneled money into coal power. Many of these places urgently need new energy infrastructure. Will China's investments here be redirected to renewable energy—or simply disappear?
Chinese support for renewables abroad
One positive sign came in the same speech to the UN, when Xi indicated that "China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy."
China's overseas energy investments grew as part of the belt and road initiative. Launched in 2013, Xi's signature foreign-policy effort increased China's cooperation with the rest of the world through infrastructure development, unimpeded trade, financial integration and policy coordination. China has continued to provide finance for the belt and road initiative during the pandemic, and investment in renewables made up most (57%) of the country's financial support for overseas energy projects in 2020—up from 38% in 2019.
Beijing has supported wind and solar projects in more than 20 developing countries since 2013, including Ethiopia and Kenya. And Chinese banks and companies have also expanded their overseas investments in renewable energy over the last decade.
While the trends are positive, challenges remain. China's overseas investment policy remains guided by the non-interference principle. This means that Beijing is supposed to let host countries determine the type of energy projects, and only requires Chinese firms to comply with host-country regulations.
Research shows that China's finance for coal in Asia was largely driven by demand in recipient countries. This is because the domestic policies of these countries prioritized improving energy access over reducing emissions, and coal was a cheap and proven source. Inadequate grid infrastructure and politicians skeptical of renewable energy in countries receiving Chinese investment have also hampered development. In Indonesia, business leaders and politicians formed pro-coal lobby groups to influence the design of China-backed projects.
China's new pledge tells prospective recipient countries that coal finance is no longer an option. China must now promote its offer of investment in renewables. Drawing on its domestic experiences, Beijing should provide subsidies or tax cuts to companies willing to build renewable energy projects outside China.
Chinese energy developers are often wary of investment risks in developing countries due to their unfamiliarity with local politics. The Chinese government can help by increasing coordination between Chinese companies and local governments, businesses, and communities in host countries.
Over the past decade, China has supported many developing countries to increase their energy generating capacity with financing, affordable technology and quick project delivery. China has taken the first step to stop funding coal. It's now time to adopt policies that support the overseas activities of its renewable energy developers.
Teens today have grown up on the internet, and social media has served as a space where LGBTQ youth in particular can develop their identities.
Scholarship about the online experiences of LGBTQ youth has traditionally focused on cyberbullying. But understanding both the risks and the benefits of online support is key to helping LGBTQ youth thrive, both on- and offline.
Our 2019 survey of 1,033 children ages 10 to 16 found no difference between the amount of cyberbullying reported by straight versus sexual minority youth residing in a relatively progressive part of the U.S. known for legalizing gay marriage. Some social media platforms like Tumblr are considered a safer haven for sexual minorities than others, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown. This is despite past censorship of LGBTQ content on certain platforms due to biases in the algorithm.
LGBTQ youth tend to have smaller online social networks than their straight peers. We found that LGBTQ youth were significantly less likely than their straight peers to engage with their online friends. Conversely, LGBTQ youth are more likely to have friends they know only online, and to perceive these online friends as significantly more socially supportive than their in-person friends.
The LGBTQ youth we surveyed in our study were more likely to join an online group in order to reduce social isolation or feelings of loneliness, suggesting that they were able to reach out to and engage with social media networks outside of their in-person peer circles in supportive and fortifying ways.
Despite living in an area with higher levels of acceptance toward sexual minorities, our study participants felt a need to keep parts of their identities separate and hidden online. They were less likely than non-LGBTQ kids to be friends with family members online and more likely to join social media sites their parents would disapprove of. And about 39% said they had no one to talk to about their sexual orientation at all.
Not just surviving, but thriving online
Despite the risk of online harassment and isolation, social media can give LGBTQ youth space to explore their sexual identities and promote mental well-being.
In 2007, Australian researchers conducted one of the earliest studies on how internet communities serve as safe spaces for LGBTQ youth who face hostile environments at home. Their surveys of 958 youth ages 14 to 21 found that the anonymity and lack of geographic boundaries in digital spaces provide an ideal practice ground for coming out, engaging with a communal gay culture, experimenting with nonheterosexual intimacy and socializing with other LGBTQ youth.
Finally, online platforms can serve as springboards for LGBTQ activism. A 2013 report by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network surveying 1,960 LGBTQ youth ages 13 to 18 found that 77% had taken part in an online community supporting a social cause. While 68% of LGBTQ youth also volunteered in-person, 22% said they only felt comfortable getting involved online or via text. This signals that online spaces may be critical resources to foster civic engagement.
While social media is not without its dangers, it can often serve as a tool for LGBTQ youth to build stronger connections to both their local and virtual communities, and communicate about social issues important to them.
